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US employers defy economic shock from Iran war and add a surprisingly strong 115,000 jobs in April

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month despite an economic shock from the Iran war. Hiring beat the 65,000 jobs forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday. The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history and sent average U.S. gasoline prices surging past $4.50 a gallon this week. But the conflict hasn’t done much damage to the American job market so far. And the import ...

Federal court rules against new global tariffs Trump imposed after loss at the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court ruled Thursday against the new global tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed after a stinging loss at the Supreme Court. A split three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade in New York found the 10% global tariffs were illegal after small businesses sued. The court ruled 2-1 that Trump overstepped the tariff power that Congress had allowed the president under the law. The tariffs are “invalid” and “unauthorized by law,” the majority wrote. The third judge on the panel found the law allows the president more leeway on ...

Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year’s trade deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said in a Thursday social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year’s trade framework by July 4. The announcement appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25% tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a “great call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Still, the U.S. president was displeased that the European Parliament ...

Study: Lower-income Americans hit hardest by gas price spike, widening inequalities

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lower-income Americans sharply reduced their gas consumption in the month following the Iran war, yet spiking prices still forced them to spend more at the pump, worsening the economy’s economic disparities, new research released Wednesday showed. Higher-income households, meanwhile, ratcheted up their spending on gas while barely reducing their consumption, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Middle-income households fell in-between. The gaps between how each group reacted were larger than in 2022, when a similar gas-price shock ...

YSU students compete in national additive manufacturing competition

Staff report YOUNGSTOWN — A team of students from Youngstown State University recently showcased its engineering and manufacturing skills on a national stage at the Additive in Steel Competition. The competition, hosted by America Makes, brought together university teams from across the country to design and fabricate a functional, everyday-carry multi-tool using steel-based additive manufacturing. This was the first time YSU was represented in the event. Representing YSU under the team name “AddiSteel Engineering” were industrial and systems engineering students Aymen Kotb ...

Pennsylvania sues AI company, saying its chatbots illegally hold themselves out as licensed doctors

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania has sued an artificial intelligence chatbot maker, saying its chatbots illegally hold themselves out as doctors and are deceiving the system’s users into thinking they are getting medical advice from a licensed professional. The lawsuit, filed Friday, asks the statewide Commonwealth Court to order Character Technologies Inc., the company behind Character.AI, to stop its chatbots “from engaging in the unlawful practice of medicine and surgery.” The lawsuit could raise the question as to whether artificial intelligence can be accused of ...