Jobs report; Trump’s arch; Public schools; Dhillon : NPR

Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

Today’s top stories

Rising prices and stagnant wages fueled frustration during this week’s midterm elections, prompting voters to express their discontent at the ballot box. Similarly, the stock market experienced a downturn yesterday. Concerns about a Democratic Congress regulating AI led to a more than 5% drop in the tech-heavy Nasdaq, wiping out more than $2 trillion in market value. This decline followed from Wednesday when shares rose as investors were relieved that the midterms had made Congress’s fate clear. In contrast, there has been less volatility in the job market, and today the Labor Department is set to release the latest jobs report.

Stocks sank as investors fear an incoming Democratic Congress — and states across the country — could crack down on the AI industry and data centers.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images/AFP

hide caption

toggle caption
i

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images/AFP

• 🎧 Today’s jobs report is expected to show that employers added about 60,000 jobs last month, NPR’s Scott Horsley tells Up First. While this isn’t robust growth, it should keep the unemployment rate low. As long as the job market stays stable, the Federal Reserve can focus on fighting stubbornly high inflation, which likely drove the recent election outcomes.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked construction of President Trump’s 250-foot arch in the capital. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an order just before midnight Friday, halting work for 14 days at the request of D.C. and Virginia governments. In her 33-page opinion, she scrutinized the administration’s justifications for the arch, particularly its focus on national security and agreed that the local governments are likely to be harmed by its construction. The arch is planned for Memorial Circle, a traffic island on the bridge linking the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery.

• 🎧 The judges’ decision followed a contentious meeting last night, during which the National Capital Planning Commission, filled with Trump allies, voted to approve the arch, NPR’s Rachel Treisman says. The commission’s approval came despite significant opposition to the arch from dozens and dozens of people. After nearly nine hours, the panel gave the go-ahead, which would have allowed excavation to begin. Several Democratic lawmakers are already talking about blocking the arch. Democrat Jared Huffman of California, likely to become head of the House Natural Resources Committee, warned commissioners at yesterday’s meeting that anyone advancing projects not authorized by Congress risks legal repercussions.

School enrollment is set to plunge by another 2 million kids by 2030, and education experts say the crisis will be worsened by the deportation of immigrant families with school-age children. Even before the Trump administration’s policy changes, public schools faced a significant decline due to shrinking family sizes. U.S. Census data show the number of children under 18 nationwide had fallen by about 2.1 million since 2010. The Trump administration’s large-scale deportations began after public schools started facing a demographic crisis, with a Migration Policy Institute study indicating that 1.9 million people left the U.S. during Trump’s second term. This situation marks the first time in nearly a century that birth rates and immigration levels are both low at the same time.