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May job openings stay strong

Local Business

WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings stayed at a surprisingly strong 7.6 million in May as the American labor market remains resilient in the face of the economic shock from the Iran war. Forecasters had expected employers to post just 7 million openings in May. The job market is sturdy but not exactly booming. Layoffs rose in May, and the number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their prospects — ticked up only slightly. That’s according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday. Employers are advertising openings, but they aren’t actually ...

Consumer confidence rises

Local Business

Americans’ attitudes toward the economy improved slightly this month as gas prices declined, but their outlook is still mostly negative by historical standards. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 0.6 point to 91.2 in June, a figure that is still below its year-ago reading of 95.2. Consumer attitudes worsened after the Iran war caused oil and gas prices to spike, accelerating inflation and causing Americans’ inflation-adjusted incomes to decline. Before the pandemic, the index regularly topped 120. The report suggests that consumer confidence ...

Ticker: Trump took in $1.2B from crypto last year

Local Business

President Donald Trump took in nearly $1.2 billion dollars from his crypto businesses last year, a federal filing released Monday shows. Trump got more than $500 million from his World Liberty Financial business selling new crypto products, including “governance tokens,” according to the required annual disclosure report. It also showed another crypto business, CIC Digital LLC, took in more than $600 million from sales of souvenir-type “meme” coins stamped with his face. Both have plunged in value since the sales. US stocks rise and trim their losses for June U.S. stocks rose ...

Norfolk Southern issues alert ahead of Big Boy visit

Local News

Norfolk Southern officials are asking Big Boy viewers to keep mainline access roads clear when the locomotive is coming through. Anyone who parks at the entrance of an access road to the Norfolk Southern mainline — so they can walk to the tracks to see the Big Boy steam locomotive as it passes through our area between July 8 and 11 — should make sure their vehicles don’t block the entrance. It’s possible the road may be needed for emergency vehicles or railroad equipment, according to an NS spokesperson.

Blair County approves labor contracts with union employees

Local News

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County commissioners recently approved separate contracts with two groups of unionized employees. A three-year contract addressing wages and benefits for unionized personnel at the county prison, as approved June 25 by commissioners Dave Kessling and Amy Webster, introduces a 15-step wage scale and a retroactive effective date of Jan. 1. That scale sets a starting hourly wage of $23.50 for corrections officers and pay increases per step, to maximum hourly pay of $30.50. It also sets a starting hourly wage of $25 for sergeants, with pay increases per step, to a ...

Tax cut to lower energy bills may impact state budget

Local News

HARRISBURG — Responding to public anger over soaring energy costs, Pennsylvania lawmakers in both parties have voted in support of a massive tax cut that would lower electric bills for customers across the state — although they have said little publicly about how to pay for the $1.7 ...