Advertisement
Employers recorded a healthy month of hiring in September, according to today’s jobs report. The economy added 119,000 jobs, easing some concern that the labor market had tipped into a contraction.
There were a couple of noteworthy caveats. The unemployment rate increased to a four-year peak of 4.4 percent, suggesting that more people were looking for work and not finding it. The unemployment rate for workers between ages 20 and 24 is 9.2 percent, the highest it has been since 2015.
The report was also out of date, delayed by six weeks during the government shutdown. The result is…
Advertisement
Employers recorded a healthy month of hiring in September, according to today’s jobs report. The economy added 119,000 jobs, easing some concern that the labor market had tipped into a contraction.
There were a couple of noteworthy caveats. The unemployment rate increased to a four-year peak of 4.4 percent, suggesting that more people were looking for work and not finding it. The unemployment rate for workers between ages 20 and 24 is 9.2 percent, the highest it has been since 2015.
The report was also out of date, delayed by six weeks during the government shutdown. The result is a swirl of mixed signals. Policymakers at the Fed are at their most confident when the economy is soaring or suffering, but they are currently divided over what to do next.
Other economic news also presented uncertainty. Walmart said that its profits rose 34 percent, to $6.1 billion, in its most recent quarter, but cited “pockets of moderation” among lower-income shoppers, who pulled back on spending.
Image
A member of a Ukrainian artillery unit in the Dnipropetrovsk region last month.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
The U.S. is pursuing multiple Ukraine peace plans at once
A delegation of senior U.S. military officials spent today in Kyiv to work on a plan to end the war in Ukraine. The officials were sent with the hope that the Kremlin might be more receptive to military-brokered negotiations.
Separately, President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, negotiated a 28-point peace plan with his Russian counterpart — but without input from in Ukraine. The plan would require Kyiv to surrender territory and agree to other demands that have long been rejected as nonstarters.
Image
Credit...Melissa Golden for The New York Times
The C.D.C. changed its longtime position on vaccines and autism
The C.D.C. has long fought against the claim that vaccines cause autism. Until this week, a website it created to fight misinformation said that studies had shown “no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism.” Now, that website has been changed to say that studies “have not ruled out the possibility.”
The change reflects the skepticism that has been voiced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., though dozens of scientific studies have failed to find evidence of a link between vaccines and autism.
In other Trump administration news:
A judge temporarily blocked the administration’s deployment of the national guard in Washington, D.C.
Trump accused a half-dozen Democrats of sedition — “punishable by DEATH,” he said — after the lawmakers told members of the military to reject any illegal orders they may receive.
Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, is helping push data center projects. His family companies are profiting from them.
The U.S. ran a war game in 2019 to assess the outcome of ousting Venezuela’s leader, as Trump’s top aides have recently pushed for. It showed that chaos and violence were likely.
Image
Credit...The New York Times
Bear attacks are disrupting life in rural Japan
In northern Japan, many are on edge after a surge in bear attacks. The animals have attacked nearly 200 people so far this year, killing 13. In some areas, residents are carrying bear spray and children no longer walk to school alone.
The government considers the problem a national priority. Riot police and the army have been sent to help. Japanese officials are looking for ways to encourage more people to start hunting the bears.
More top news
**Washington: **An unlikely mix of Republicans and Democrats attended former Vice President Dick Cheney’s memorial service. Trump wasn’t invited.
**Louisville: **According to a preliminary report, the UPS cargo plane that crashed earlier this month had cracks in the bracket holding the left engine in place.
**Louvre: **In one of her few interviews since the museum heist, Laurence des Cars, its first female president, talked about the comprehensive work the building needs.
**Middle East: **Mike Huckabee, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, met at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem with Jonathan Pollard, an American who spent 30 years in prison for spying for Israel.
**Massachusetts: **Boarding-school students accused a teacher of sexual abuse. Prosecutors said they couldn’t charge him because of a state consent law.
**Space: **Scientists think the Earth may have gotten its moon by colliding with an object called Theia. New research suggests where Theia may have come from.
**Museum: **One of the world’s finest collections of coins has long been behind locked doors, high up in a Manhattan building. So that more people can see it, it’s moving to Ohio.
A FAMILY’S QUEST FOR ANSWERS
Image
One day last year, Brian Waitzel appeared to be a healthy 47-year-old JetBlue pilot. The next, after eating a hamburger at a barbecue, he died.
Waitzel’s autopsy described it as “sudden unexplained death.” But that didn’t sit right with his wife, or a doctor who was a friend. They investigated and found that Waitzel’s death was the result of alpha-gal syndrome, an increasingly common tick-borne meat allergy that can be fatal.
TIME TO UNWIND
Image
The pieces were premiered by Ton Koopman and given numbers in Bach’s catalog: BWV 1178 and BWV 1179.Credit...Jens Schlueter/Bach Archive, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Listen to a pair of newly discovered Bach pieces
When Peter Wollny came across a pair of unsigned organ works while researching his dissertation in 1992, he set them aside. They were strikingly original and he wanted to know who composed them. Now, after three decades of detective work and handwriting analysis, Wollny finally announced that he was confident the pieces were teenage works by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Both works were performed this week at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where Bach once served as cantor. Listen to excerpts here.
Image
Elias Herrera at Loyola Marymount University’s KXLU.Credit...Adali Schell for The New York Times
No one told colleges that radio is dead
At universities like Princeton, Brown, Fordham and Loyola Marymount, radio still feels like it’s in its prime. The stations don’t have big budgets or seamless production. But they remain deeply pleasurable to listen to, in large part because the students who run them are constantly on a mission to discover music both new and old.
**Also on radio: **The Grand Ole Opry is turning 100. We looked back at the ways it has shaped country music.
Image
Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York Times
Image
Credit...Ryan Liebe for The New York Times
Cook: This crustless zucchini and feta quiche is a great weeknight dinner.
Watch: Joel Edgerton stars in “Train Dreams,” a gorgeous film about a laborer in the Northwest.
Read: “Mexico” tells the story of a nation that thrived because of its diversity, not in spite of it.
Image
Credit...Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
He learned to fix typewriters and his life
In his mid 50s, Paul Lundy began to feel his career in facilities management was sucking his soul dry. Then, in 2014, Lundy read a story about Bob Montgomery, a 92-year-old, second-generation typewriter repairman. He was intrigued.
At first, Lundy grabbed lunch with Montgomery once a week. Then, after offering to help him catch up on his repair backlog, Lundy quit his job and became Montgomery’s apprentice — learning an increasingly rare craft from a master. Eventually, he took over the business. My colleague Kurt Streeter wrote about how Lundy’s relationship with Montgomery changed Lundy’s life forever.
Have a meaningful evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
Philip Pacheco was our photo editor.
We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.
Matthew Cullen is the lead writer of The Evening, a Times newsletter covering the day’s top stories every weekday.
Advertisement