Category: 4-FrequentNewsStreams

We hear the story of a local woman, “Maria,” who fled war-torn Syria for the United States more than 10 years ago. While her request for asylum languished in the courts for the last seven years, she carried on the work of creating a new life, forming a community, and working as an immigration advocate. Just this week, she found out that her request for asylum has been denied. She now finds herself in a state of limbo, unable to return to her own country out of fear of persecution, uncertain of a future here. In the final installment of our weeklong series looking into what it’s like to be an immigrant without permanent status in the U.S., we focus on the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees. We speak with “Maria” from Syria; Maya Oyarbide-Sanchez, Refugee One Wellness Director; Heena Musabji, Legal Director at CAIR-Chicago; and Maketh Mabior, a former refugee from Sudan and lay leader of the South Sudanese congregation at St Paul's Church. All of today’s guests work on representing, resettling, and supporting refugees and other displaced people under a cloud of uncertainty created by the current administration. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The Tea app is a place for women to share red or green flags about men, but it recently suffered a major data breach. Plus, why some members of Congress are protesting a deal with China to allow Nvidia to sell its H20 chips to the country. And YouTube is rolling out new age estimation technology to protect younger users. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino is joined by Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios, to discuss all this.

In our news wrap Thursday, the White House says President Trump is sending two officials to inspect food distribution in Gaza after dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to get aid, Ukraine says Russian drone and missile attacks overnight killed at least 13 and Delta is investigating an incident of 'significant turbulence' that sent dozens of people to the hospital. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

A late-night congressional vote fell short of the number needed to block weapons sales to Israel. But in a dramatic shift, more than half of Democrats supported the measure, reaching its highest level of support to date. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was one of those yes votes. She joined Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

The Trump administration is trying to discredit the intelligence assessment that concluded Russian President Putin ordered a campaign to interfere in the 2016 election with the intent of helping elect Trump. Contrary to almost all intelligence findings, Trump and his aides allege a conspiracy by the Obama White House. Geoff Bennett discussed more with former CIA analyst Michael Van Landingham. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Employers announced around 62,000 job cuts in July, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s up nearly a third from June, and more than double the number of July 2024 layoffs. In this episode, we dissect whether this just a blip, or something to stress about. Plus: Federal data erosion comes with consequences, prices rise but stay behind wage growth, and private equity takes notice of the youth sports market.

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Lollapalooza is in full swing as thousands of fans descend on Grant Park, snarling traffic. We’ll give you a 101 of what you need to know, highlights of the four-day music festival, and how not to get on the nerves of fellow concert-goers. And if you’re looking for counter-programming, we’ll find out more of what Chicago has to offer in the coming weeks. Arts and culture experts Sofie Hernandez-Simeonidis (WBEZ) and Ambar Colón (Chicago Sun-Times) break it all down. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged after meeting yesterday, despite repeated pressures from President Trump to cut rates. But not everyone at the Fed was happy about it. On the show today, Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall-Genzer joins Kimberly to fill us in on the recent debate over lowering interest rates and the political tension surrounding the Fed. Plus, thriving raspberry bushes make us smile.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "The Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged" from Marketplace 
• "Fed's Powell sticks with patient approach to rate cuts, brushing off Trump's demands" from AP News
• "Could Trump use Fed HQ renovations as a pretext to fire Powell?" from Marketplace 

• "What’s Holding Trump Back From Firing Powell" from The Atlantic

  
  

  We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Meta and Microsoft shares jumped Thursday morning following strong quarterly earnings, with both companies attributing the gains to AI-driven productivity and revenue growth. Susan Schmidt at Exchange Capital Resources weights in. Also on the show: inflation picked up in June, challenging hopes of a cooldown. Diane Swonk at KPMG explains the implications. And later, Marketplace's Jennifer Pak looks at what Chinese consumers are (and aren't) spending on this summer.

The guardians of interest rates at America's central bank chose not to cut interest rates, given the uncertain effects of tariffs and a resilient overall economy. But the committee's decision was not unanimous. Also on the show: the July Jobs report. The U.S. labor force shrank by 755,000 in May and June, and that's partly what accounts for June's drop in unemployment. We look into why this trend will likely to be a persistent feature of the U.S. labor market later this year and into 2026.