Working + The Economy
U.S. Senate averts freight rail strike, but bid to include worker sick leave fails
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to codify an agreement the White House brokered between rail unions and freight companies in order to avoid a catastrophic rail strike, but fell short of enough votes to include paid sick leave for workers. The Senate backed the rail deal on an 80-15 vote and rejected […]
Some fun, and not so fun, facts about Nevada from a ranking of the best states for business
How friendly to businesses is Nevada? If you ask Forbes Advisor, which on Wednesday released a ranking of the best and worst places to start a business, the answer is: Not very friendly. Forbes Advisor, a site that offers personal finance advice and reviews, looked at 18 metrics across five categories: business costs, business […]
U.S. House votes to avert calamitous rail strike, but Senate prospects murky
The U.S. House moved Wednesday to avoid an economically disastrous nationwide rail strike, voting to codify an agreement that members of some unions had already rejected and separately add paid sick leave that workers had demanded. The two-track approach allows Democrats to avert a strike that could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion […]
As utilities spend billions on transmission, support builds for independent monitoring
An aging electric grid, fossil fuel power plant retirements and a massive renewable electricity buildout are all contributing to a boom in transmission and distribution wire projects by electric utilities across the country. In 2020, investor-owned electric utilities spent $25 billion on transmission, up from $23.7 billion in 2019, figures that the Edison Electric Institute, […]
Student loan repayment pause extended by White House amid legal battles over relief plan
WASHINGTON — The Department of Education announced on Tuesday it is extending the pandemic-era pause on federal student loan repayments until June 30 while legal challenges to the administration’s student debt relief program are fought over in the courts. The agency said if the student debt relief program has not been put in place by […]
Congress needs to reinstate the expanded Child Tax Credit
If you could prevent millions of children from falling back into poverty, would you? Most of us, I imagine, would answer “yes” without hesitation. But not Congress. For nearly a year, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have dithered as the policy directly responsible for a dramatic decline in poverty last year lapsed. It’s time for Congress […]
Talk of recession lingers as fiscal analysts prepare to set Nevada state budget
Fiscal analysts are cautiously optimistic about Nevada’s economic future, even amid nationwide chatter about the possibility of a recession. Emily Mandel, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the U.S. economy is slowing after a stronger-than-expected recovery from the pandemic but is “clearly not in a recession yet” and that it is “far from certain” that […]
Six GOP-led states win national injunction against Biden student debt relief plan
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Monday issued a nationwide injunction indefinitely blocking the Biden administration’s student debt relief program in response to a challenge by six GOP-led states. The unanimous ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis came after the six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina […]
Nevada sheds two-tiered minimum wage, puts $12 per hour floor in constitution
Nevada’s unusual minimum wage system will soon be a thing of the past, unofficial election results show. As of Friday, the Nevada secretary of state was reporting that 54% of voters approved Question 2, which sets the state minimum wage at $12 per hour for all employees and removes a provision that allows employers to […]
4 takeaways on housing and the inflation report
Housing costs, including rental prices, are on the path to stabilizing but evidence of this won’t show up in inflation measures anytime soon, economists say. The latest Consumer Price Index numbers, which are used to measure inflation, came out on Thursday morning. But the survey used to measure shelter, a large component of inflation, lags […]
In first-of-its-kind antitrust win, DOJ fines firm for suppressing wages of school nurses in NV
The Department of Justice last week announced it had reached an agreement with a health care staffing company that conspired with a competitor to keep wages low for nurses working with medically fragile students. Legal experts say it is the first criminal case win of its kind and could potentially be a landmark antitrust case. […]
Options exist for first-time homebuyers, even in ‘perfect storm’
Housing prices are tumbling in Nevada, but with interest rates on a fixed loan at 7%, qualifying for a mortgage, even at lower prices, is a challenge for first-time buyers who often lack the income for the larger payment. Lee Barrett, incoming president of Las Vegas Realtors, calls it a “perfect storm.” But not one […]