The Trump administration is cracking down on California over its sanctuary city laws. Attorney General Jeff Session visited Sacramento, and formally announced a lawsuit against the state over its failure to comply with federal immigration rules. Cheddar's Brad Smith speaks with San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón to get his reaction.
"All this is really a political stunt," says Gascón. "It has nothing to do with public safety."
Gascón says sanctuary laws are so important because America has a broken down immigration system. "To go after those people when they haven't committed any crime other than the unlawful stay in this country has a very disruptive impact overall," says Gascón. "From a social stance it is absolutely unconscionable."
Seven Midwestern governors announced Thursday that they will coordinate on reopening their state economies, after similar pacts were made earlier this week in the Northeast and on the West Coast.
Stock indexes ended a wobbly day with modest gains Thursday, while the biggest increases went to Amazon, Netflix and other companies poised to do the best during the coronavirus crunch.
The government’s paycheck protection loan program for small businesses is on hold. The Small Business Administration has announced that it reached the $349 billion lending limit for the program.
New York state will extend its stay-at-home restrictions at least through May 15. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that transmission rates still need to be tamed as he prolonged the restrictions that have left most New Yorkers housebound.
Stocks are mixed in early trading on Wall Street after the government reported that 5.2 million more people filed for unemployment benefits last week, which was not quite as many as had been feared.
Another 5.2 million people filed for unemployment in the week ending April 11, according to a U.S. Department of Labor report released Thursday morning.
President Donald Trump says he’s prepared to announce new guidelines allowing some states to quickly ease up on on social distancing. At same time, though, business leaders are telling Trump they need more coronavirus testing and personal protective equipment before people can safely go back to work.
The IRS announced on March 21 that the federal income tax filing deadline has been pushed to July 15, 2020, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Selling swept Wall Street after a dismal lineup of reports made clear how historic the coronavirus crunch has been for the economy. Markets are already bracing for what’s forecast to be the worst downturn since the Great Depression, but Wednesday’s data was even more dispiriting than expected.
John Stanton, co-founder of the Save Journalism Project, told Cheddar that the widespread cost-cutting and layoffs will have a long-term impact on the health of journalism.
