NATION IN BRIEF

FCC plans to restore net neutrality repealed by Trump

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday said it plans to vote later this month to restore the principle of net neutrality adopted during the Obama administration but repealed under Donald

Trump.

“After the prior administration abdicated authority over broadband services, the FCC has been handcuffed from acting to fully secure broadband networks, protect consumer data, and ensure the internet remains fast, open, and fair,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “A return to the FCC’S overwhelmingly popular and court-approved standard of net neutrality will allow the agency to serve once again as a strong consumer advocate of an open internet.”

The agency plans to vote on the measure at its April 25 open meeting.

If restored, the regulations would allow the FCC to “once again play a key role in preventing at the federal level broadband providers from blocking, slowing down, or creating pay-to-play internet fast lanes,” the agency said in the statement.

The principle requires internet service providers to treat all users as equal, rather than treating a certain class of users who pay more differently from others paying less or using other criteria to discriminate between users.

The Obama administration in 2015 put in place regulations to ensure this neutrality, but those were repealed. The House in 2019 passed legislation that would have restored the net neutrality principle, but that measure wasn’t taken up by the Senate.

US companies added 184,000 jobs in March, ADP data show

U.S. companies boosted hiring last month by the most since July in a broad advance and some wage gains accelerated, pointing to solid demand for workers.

Private payrolls increased 184,000 in March after an upwardly revised 155,000 gain a month earlier, according to figures published Wednesday by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 150,000 increase.

Wage growth continued to accelerate for those who changed jobs, rising 10% from a year earlier in the largest advance since July. Workers who stayed in their job saw a 5.1% median pay bump in March from a year ago, unchanged from the prior month.

“Inflation has been cooling, but our data shows pay is heating up in both goods and services,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in a statement. The largest pay gains for job changers were in construction, financial services and manufacturing, she said.

The labor market has remained resilient in recent months, with healthy demand for workers and relatively low levels of unemployment. Federal Reserve officials have pointed to that strength, along with the need to see further progress on bringing down inflation, as a reason to hold off on cutting interest rates from their current two-decades high.

Job creation was broad, with the largest increases in leisure and hospitality, construction and trade and transportation.

All regions posted gains, led by the South. The biggest advances were led by businesses with at least 50 workers.

Judge shoots down Trump’s presidential immunity claim ahead of Stormy Daniels hush money trial

NEW YORK — Donald Trump failed on Wednesday to delay the Stormy Daniels hush money trial until the Supreme Court rules on whether his former presidency gives him immunity from prosecution, with Judge Juan Merchan saying he brought up the issue far too late — raising “real questions” about why.

“This court finds that defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity,” Merchan wrote, denying Trump’s motion in its entirety and calling his lawyers’ excuses for the delay “inadequate and not convincing.”

“Further, and as an aside, the fact that the defendant waited until a mere 17 days prior to the scheduled trial … raises real questions about the sincerity and actual purpose of the motion.”

Trump has invoked presidential immunity in several of his court cases without success, delaying for years litigation with E. Jean Carroll, the woman he was ultimately found liable for sexually assaulting. The nation’s high court is expected to hear arguments later this month over whether he should be shielded from prosecution in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case.

On March 11, Trump’s Manhattan lawyers asked Merchan to adjourn the hush money trial — then slated for March 25 — until the Supreme Court reviews his claim. They further argued that the judge should prevent prosecutors from presenting evidence relating to his “official acts” as president, including threatening posts denigrating Michael Cohen and Daniels on his official government account on Twitter, now known as X.

Merchan declined to rule on the evidence and said he would do so in real time when the trial proceeds as planned on April 15.

North Carolina’s teachers are leaving in droves. What a newly released report finds

North Carolina’s teacher turnover rate has soared by 47%, with 1 in 9 educators having left the profession, according to the newest state report.

A report being presented Wednesday to the State Board of Education shows a teacher “attrition rate” of 11.5% between March 2022 and March 2023. That means that 10,376 of the state’s 90,638 teachers left the profession in that time period.

The State of the Teaching Profession in North Carolina report shows nearly 3,100 more teachers quit than the prior year. The attrition rose rose 47%, up from 7.78% in the prior report.

There was also an 8% increase in the state’s teacher vacancy rate.

The new report shows the continuing challenges that North Carolina’s public schools face finding enough educators.

Last year, the National Education Association ranked North Carolina 46th in the nation in beginning teacher pay and 34th in average teacher pay. In addition, schools across the state started the school year with more than 3,500 teaching vacancies.

In response, last year’s state budget raised the base salary for beginning teachers by $2,000 to $39,000 this school year. It’s set to rise to $41,000 next school year.

Feds ban new oil and gas development on swath of Colorado public land in mountains

DENVER — More than a decade of advocacy by a broad coalition of Colorado conservationists, ranchers, local governments and recreationists paid off Wednesday when federal officials banned new oil and gas development on 347 square miles of public land for the next 20 years.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland withdrew a broad swath of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land from eligibility for future oil, gas and mineral development. The land makes up the Thompson Divide in central Colorado, and Wednesday’s decision does not affect permits or leases that have already been approved.

The decision was a historic win for the coalition of diverse interests that has advocated for the protections for more than 15 years.

“This mineral withdrawal will provide much deserved and long-lasting protection to the Thompson Divide, an area filled with immense aspen groves, vast roadless lands, community watersheds and rich wildlife habitat,” said Will Roush, executive director of Carbondalebased Wilderness Workshop, in a news release. “Preserving this ecologically intact ecosystem reflects the will of local communities and is critical for the state’s biological connectivity and biodiversity.”

The Thompson Divide is a rugged stretch of canyons, mountains, foothills and broad valleys that stretches south from Glenwood Springs to Crested Butte. The newly protected land lies west of the Maroon Bells-snowmass and Raggeds wilderness areas.

Source: Tribune News Service