Railroad traffic and freight volume shipments are dropping below levels seen around this same time in 2016, 2017 and 2018, data from the Association of American Railroads shows.
Why it matters: An efficiency strategy called precision scheduled railroading (PSR) could be North American railroads' "last hope for continued profit growth," Barron's magazine reports — amid concerns of global economic slowdowns, a trade war and recession across the U.S., particularly in Michigan, Hawaii, Montana, Maryland and Louisiana.
MoviePass ended all subscriber services on Saturday, after its parent company Helios and Matheson announced details of its financial troubles Friday.
Catch up quick: MoviePass' cheap ticketing plans launched with plenty of buzz in 2017, but the company never found a sustainable way to stay afloat. Helios and Matheson is now considering whether to sell the company as a whole to review its "strategic and financial alternatives." MoviePass, which had around 225,000 subscribers in August, sunk shares for Helios and Matheson by roughly 99% in 2018.
Tech companies are ramping up efforts to support news companies as they face pressure to elevate quality news and information ahead of the 2020 election.
Why it matters: Tech titans, particularly Google and Facebook, have been blamed for their role in spreading misinformation during the 2016 election that may have impacted voter turnout or results. They've also been blamed by publishers for cutting into media ad revenues.
A massive labor shortage is expected in the construction industry if the Trump administration wins its legal battle to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from El Salvador, Sudan, Honduras, Nepal, Haiti and Nicaragua, the New York Times reports.
The impact: Roughly 20% of D.C.'s construction workers are in the U.S. due to maintaining their TPS, while almost 46,000 people with TPS are in the Virginia, Maryland and D.C. area overall, per the Center for American Progress.
