CNN on Friday let go of John Harwood, a White House correspondent that was at times critical of the Trump Administration.
Why it matters: It's the second high-profile journalist the network's new leadership has cut amid its attempt to make the network appear less polarizing.
Live events are returning at full blast this year and concertgoers are willing to pay a lot for them.
The big picture: The pandemic halted hundreds of shows and live events. But now, despite a summer of revenge travel and inflation, Americans are flocking to live events — and the concerts they're seeing are less glamorous than in the past.
Bayer agreed to pay $40 million to settle claims over its alleged use of kickbacks and false statements related to three prescription drugs, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
The big picture: The lawsuits were brought against Bayer under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private citizens to bring suit — on behalf of the government — against entities suspected of defrauding the government.
Gas prices have dropped for the eleventh week in a row and the national average price was $3.809 per gallon Friday, according to AAA.
Why it matters: Despite dropping from a June peak of $5.01 per gallon, regular unleaded is still nearly 63 cents higher than a year ago for the busy Labor Day travel weekend.
Genetic testing company Illumina on Thursday prevailed over the Federal Trade Commission in an administrative court trial over its $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based developer of liquid biopsies for early cancer detection. Illumina had founded Grail, but spun it off in 2017.
Why it matters: This is a stinging loss for the FTC, particularly given that the case was heard by its in-house court, and a huge win for Illumina's decision to complete the merger in spite of ongoing litigation.
Women workers hit a milestone last month: The proportion of employed prime-aged women (that is, between the ages of 25-54) is finally above the level seen before the pandemic.
By the numbers: Labor force participation rate in this cohort ticked up last month by a whopping 0.8 percentage points.
Labor Day weekend is shaping up to be a busier travel weekend than it was last year, capping off a summer of chaotic travel for many Americans.
The big picture: Domestic travel bookings for Labor Day weekend, which includes air travel, cars, cruises, hotels and tours are up 22% from 2021 — and international travel bookings are up 104%, per AAA travel data.
America had another month of solid job gains: The economy added 315,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.7% as more workers entered the labor force, the government said on Friday.
Why it matters: Employers continue to hire workers at a robust pace, even as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates swiftly to crush inflation.
More women are self-employed now than prior to the pandemic — particularly Black and Hispanic women and those without bachelor's degrees, finds a new analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Why it matters: The likely explanation here is not simply an explosion of entrepreneurship, butalso a reaction to the childcare worker shortage. Mothers are scrambling to care for children at home and still earn money.
If automakers want their electric cars to qualify for newly revised federal tax credits, they must be able to certify the provenance of their batteries — potentially through the use of a "battery passport."
Why it matters: Strict supply chain requirements attached to the Inflation Reduction Act's restructured electric vehicle (EV) tax credits were meant to catalyze domestic manufacturing and bolster U.S. energy independence.
A rising percentage of critical minerals must be mined or processed in the U.S. or a trading partner, for example, for a vehicle to qualify. None of the materials can come from "foreign entities of concern," like China or Russia.
In the summer of 2004, hours before John Kerry's nomination speech at the Democratic convention, Washington Post political editor Maralee Schwartz gut-punched me with some brutal feedback.
I was covering Kerry for The Post. But she said I didn't write fast enough or think big enough to capture this historic moment. John Harris (a Post star who later co-founded Politico with us) got the call instead.
