Business

National Park Service restores some jobs of fired employees, pledges to hire 7,700 seasonal workers

Feb. 22, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is restoring jobs for dozens of National Park Service employees fired amid government-wide reductions and hiring nearly 3,000 additional seasonal workers, following an uproar over an aggressive plan to downsize the agency. At least 50 jobs are being restored to help maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and collect admission fees, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The moves come as the park service said in a new memo that it will hire up to 7,700 seasonal positions this year, up from about 5,000 promised earlier this week and higher than the three-year average of 6,350 seasonal workers. The park service has about 20,000 employees.

Business

Trump says he may take control of the US Postal Service. Here’s what to know

Feb. 22, 2025

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said he may put the U.S. Postal Service under the control of the Commerce Department in what would be an executive branch takeover of the agency, which has operated as an independent entity since 1970. “We want to have a post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money,” Trump said. “We’re thinking about doing that. And it’ll be a form of a merger, but it’ll remain the Postal Service, and I think it’ll operate a lot better.” Trump made the remarks at the swearing-in of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. He called the move a way to stop losses at the $78 billion-a-year agency, which has struggled to balance the books with the decline of first-class mail.

Business

Differences bubble up between PepsiCo and Coca-Cola on diversity programs

Feb. 22, 2025

PepsiCo confirmed Friday that it’s ending some of its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, even as rival Coca-Cola voiced support for its own inclusion efforts. In a memo sent to employees, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said the company will no longer set goals for minority representation in its managerial roles or supplier base. The company will also align its sponsorships to events and groups that promote business growth, he said. Laguarta wrote that inclusion remains important to PepsiCo, whose brands include Gatorade, Lay’s potato chips, Doritos, Mountain Dew as well as Pepsi. The Purchase, New York-based company’s chief diversity officer will transition to a broader role focused on employee engagement, leadership development and ensuring an inclusive culture, he said.

Business

Frustrated by Trump’s threats, some Canadians canceling trips to the United States

Feb. 22, 2025

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Making the trip from Vancouver to Seattle to watch baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays play the Mariners has been a tradition for Peter Mulholland and his wife, but not this year. Mulholland was already frustrated over U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of crippling tariffs on imported goods from Canada and talk about the country becoming the 51st state. The final straw came when Trump referred to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a dictator. “We were starting to get leery,” said the 69-year-old, semiretired Vancouver resident. “The tariffs he’s trying to do is going to hurt both countries, that’ll become evident eventually, but it’s going to hurt us more.”

Business

AP sues 3 Trump administration officials, citing freedom of speech

Feb. 22, 2025

The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the blocking of its journalists. “We’ll see them in court,” the White House press secretary said in response. The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., 10 days after the White House began restricting access to the news agency. It was assigned to U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee. The AP says its case is about an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech — in this case not changing its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” as President Donald Trump did last month with an executive order.

Business

Musk’s cost-cutting team is laying off workers at the auto safety agency overseeing his car company

Feb. 22, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team is eliminating jobs at the vehicle safety agency that oversees Tesla and has launched investigations into deadly crashes involving his company’s cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has cut a “modest” amount of positions, according to a statement from the agency. Musk has accused NHTSA of holding back progress on self-driving technology with its investigations and recalls. Asked about whether the cuts would impact any probes into Tesla, the agency referred to its statement that says it will “enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment.” The job cuts at NHTSA enacted by Musk’s advisory group on shrinking the federal government, the Department of Government Efficiency, was earlier reported by The Washington Post.

International News

Climate change is shrinking glaciers faster than ever, with 7 trillion tons lost since 2000

Feb. 21, 2025

Climate change is accelerating the melting of the world’s mountain glaciers, according to a massive new study that found them shrinking more than twice as fast as in the early 2000s. The world’s glaciers lost ice at the rate of about 255 billion tons (231 billion metric tons) annual from 2000 to 2011, but that quickened to about 346 billion tons (314 billion metric tons) annually over about the next decade, according to the study in this week’s journal Nature.

Health

Common cancer treatment can have this painful side effect

Feb. 21, 2025

During active cancer treatment, patients face many smaller battles on the path to remission. One of those lesser-known struggles is a condition known as chemo mouth, a painful side effect of chemotherapy and radiation. For some, chemo mouth can result in mouth sores and other uncomfortable symptoms, like a limited ability to eat, drink or even speak, according to experts.

Health

New Mexico reports Texas measles outbreak has now crossed its border

Feb. 21, 2025

The Texas Department of State Health and Services (DSHS) has been tracking an ever-growing measles outbreak that has nearly doubled in the last two weeks. When first reported on Feb. 5 in Gaines County, officials warned there would be additional cases. "Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in Gaines County and the surrounding communities," the alert said.

International News

US official says Trump’s frustration with Zelenskyy is ‘multifold’ and blasts ‘insults’ from Ukraine

Feb. 21, 2025

A top White House official said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s increasingly tough criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy reflects the administration’s growing frustration with what they see as the Ukrainian leader creating roadblocks to finding an endgame to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The comments from White House national security adviser Mike Waltz came a day after Trump described Zelenskyy as a “dictator” and warned that he “better move fast” to negotiate an end to the war or risk not having a nation to lead. Zelenskyy earlier Wednesday had said Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.”