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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has revealed that the unemployment rate for Black people is now at its highest level since 2021. According to the latest data, the unemployment rate for the demographic rose to 7.5% in August, increasing from 7.2% in July.

What is the reason for the increasing rate of unemployment for Black people?

Julie Su, former acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor under President Joe Biden, is one of many economists who blame Donald Trump’s policies for the rising unemployment rate.

“Once again, the proof is in the numbers: Donald Trump is the worst president for workers we’ve seen in generations,” Su said, per The Grio.  “Donald Trump’s War on Workers may be playing well with his billionaire buddies, but it’s leaving everyone else less stable, less secure, and poorer.”

Economists specifically point to Trump’s tariffs and his effort to slash the federal workforce.

“Trump told Black Americans that immigrants were a threat to their jobs. The truth is, it’s Trump’s own policies that are crushing opportunity,” Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic research firm, told The Grio. “Families everywhere are struggling, and no one is feeling that failure more than Black workers, especially Black women, who continue to bear the brunt of his broken promises. Trump promised prosperity, but what he delivered is an economy rigged against the most vulnerable.”

Researchers have revealed that Black women are particularly impacted by the federal cuts. According to MSNBC, about 300,000 Black women lost their jobs in a three-month span this year. Many of them lost their jobs due to Trump’s effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) intiatives and politices.

Speaking to The Grio, Democratic strategist Joel Payne said the current state of the economy was predictable when Trump was elected.

“Democrats talked about what Donald Trump was going to do. He was pretty transparent when caught on the hot mic a couple of times about who he was building this economy for,” Payne said, per theGrio.  “He wasn’t building this economy for Black workers, and I think we’re seeing the result of that.”

What is the latest national unemployment rate?

The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the national unemployment rate continues to increase. Per the data, the national unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, with a mere 22,000 new jobs created on the job market.

“Black unemployment is often routinely double white unemployment, but the gap has been narrowing in recent years following the pandemic, as unemployment fell for all workers,” Angela Hanks, Chief of Policy Programs at The Century Foundation and former Department of Labor official, told theGrio. “This jobs report concerningly shows that gap is widening, with rising Black unemployment disproportionately driving that gap.” 

Rahjah Ke’ Morton, the 23-year-old son of Keke Wyatt, is calling out his mother for failing to support him after he was diagnosed with cancer. Morton allges that Wyatt appeared to be supportive in public, but she was only exploiting his condition for “personal gain” and “attention.”

What did Rahjah Ke’ Morton say about his relationship with his mother?

Morton spoke out about his mother when he participated in the “put a finger down” challenge on TikTok. As he joined the challenge, the 23-year-old alleged that his mother believes that cancer is her son’s karma for being gay.

 “Put a finger down if you were diagnosed with cancer as a teenager and your parent decided to publicly announce your diagnosis for personal gain and attention, but behind the scenes saying that your diagnosis is karma for you being apart of the Alphabet mafia — and if they known that you were gonna turn out like this they could’ve kept their money,” Morton said in his video.

He then put up four fingers while keeping his thumb down.

What did Keke Wyatt say when her son was diagnosed with cancer?

When her son was diagnosed with cancer in 2017, Wyatt expressed her thoughts on social media. Per Vibe, the singer asked her fans to pray for the family and told them that she is shaving her heard to stand in solidarity with Morton.

“Haven’t really said too much about my personal life, but my child has been fighting cancer and lost all of their hair that they loved. It hurts me so bad,” Wyatt wrote on Instagram at the time. “I need a complete healing for my baby.”

In 2018, Wyatt announced that her son had become cancer-free.

“NO MORE CANCER,” she wrote in a YouTube video, per VIBE.

The mother and son also sat together at that time and talked about how they navigated the challenges cancer brought, including the time when Morton had a seizure in the hospital.

“Whenever something happens with you, the whole hospital pops up at your door,” Wyatt said to her son. “Everybody had something to do on you. That was the scariest crap I had ever been through in my life. If there was ever a time in my life where I would lose my mind, that would be the day.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Donald Trump on Friday when he was asked about Trump’s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Speaking to a reporter, Johnson blamed Democrats for bringing accusations against Trump and claimed that the President has been assisting authorities in the case of Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while he faced charges of sexual abuse and trafficking underage girls.

What did Mike Johnson say about Donald Trump’s involvement in the Jefferey Epstein case?

Johnson defended the President when he was asked to explain why Trump is referring to the Epstein case as “the Democrat Epstein Hoax.”

“What Trump is referring to is the hoax that the Democrats are using to try to attack him,” Johnson said, per NewsNation. “It’s been misrepresented. He’s not saying that what Epstein did is a hoax. It’s a terrible, unspeakable evil; he believes that himself. When he first heard the rumor, he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago.”

According to Johnson, Trump also worked closely with investigators to provide information on Epstein.

 “He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down,” Johnson said. “The President knows ― and has great sympathy for the women who suffered these unspeakable harms. It’s detestable to him.”

What is the latest in the Jeffrey Epstein case?

The House Oversight Committee recently met with the survivors in the Epstein case and released about 30,000 documents related to the charges. On Wednesday, the survivors delivered their statements on Capitol Hill, urging the government to release all the documents related to the case, including information on Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. While the Trump administration says Epstein didn’t have a client list, the survivors said they will come forward with their own list.

“I’m encouraged that this group of brave women is taking it upon themselves, since the government continues to fail them, to compile their own list of Epstein’s enablers and perhaps even co-abusers,” Arick Fudali, who represents 11 of the survivors, said in a statement to NewsNation.

Several medical staff workers were fired after a now viral TikTok video filmed at Sutter Health’s Pesetas Urgent Care clinic in Santa Barbara sparked widespread backlash over Labor Day weekend.

Who was involved in the controversial TikTok video?

The original video was posted by a former health care worker named “Angie” under the handle @angieuncut, showing the health care workers in Sansum Clinic scrubs posing for photos alongside what appeared to be patients’ bodily fluids left on the exam tables, KTLA 5 and the Santa Barbara Independent reported.

She captioned the post with “guess the substance!” Screenshots of the original video show that the first image featured a group photo, and the on-screen text read, “Are patients allowed to leave you guys gifts?” The post included a slideshow of six images of people smiling, pointing and laughing at the stained medical furniture in the exam rooms.

The last photo featured a group shot of the health care workers standing around an exam table. One woman was standing on top of the table, squatting down near human secretion while others surrounded her, pointing and holding back laughter, with the text reading, “Make sure to leave your healthcare workers sweet gifts like these.”

The TikTok post quickly circulated on the platform as well as other social media platforms. Critics on Instagram, Reddit and Yelp described the former health care workers’ actions as  “dehumanizing,” “unprofessional,” and “unethical.” Some social media users recognized the medical center, stating that it was an OB/GYN clinic where the incident happened.

While Sutter Health has been filtering out negative comments left on its Instagram posts about the video, the company addressed the incident in a statement shared Tuesday morning. Additionally, the woman who shared the video was a “former employee” and was not actively employed with Pesetas Urgent Care at the time the workers created the content.

Sutter Health speaks out and launches probe

“The trust and dignity of our patients always remain our top priority,” Sutter Health’s statement read. “We are deeply concerned about a disrespectful social media post made on a personal account by a former employee and we are conducting a full review in line with our policies.”

Sutter Health has launched an investigation into the incident, according to the Santa Barbara Independent. As of Wednesday afternoon, all staffers featured in the video were fired, per KTLA.

“The post goes against the values, professionalism, and respect we expect from all staff,” the company’s statement read, ac. “We have strict policies to protect patient privacy and dignity and any behavior that disrespects those standards is unacceptable. The trust and dignity of our patients always remain at the center of everything we do.”

The family of R&B singer Angie Stone has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a trucking company and others involved in the deadly Sprinter van crash that killed Stone in March while returning to Atlanta from an Alabama show.

Stone’s family is suing multiple companies and people involved in the deadly crash

According to The Associated Press, Stone’s two children, Diamond Stone and Michael D’Angelo Archer, along with Sheila Hopkins, one of the survivors of the crash, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in a Georgia state court in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville.

They are suing the van driver, the truck driver, the man and the companies that owned the van, the trucking company, and the maker of the 18-wheel truck that slammed into the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.

In the suit, the plaintiffs argue that the driver lost control of the van, and when he tried to steer it back onto the highway, it flipped over with Stone, 63, her bandmates and her entourage inside. The “Wish I Didn’t Love You” singer, along with other passengers, survived the initial early hours wreck, and bystanders pulled over and helped five of the nine passengers crawl out, per the AP.

The plaintiffs believe the crash could have been prevented if the truck’s collision avoidance system had not malfunctioned

When Stone was trying to escape, the 18-wheeler truck carrying sugar slammed into the Sprinter van, according to the legal complaint. Stone was immediately ejected from the van due to the impact and was pinned underneath, where she later died. Hopkins was also still inside and sustained injuries from the accident.

Hopkins and Stone’s children emphasized in the suit that the truck’s collision avoidance system had failed to detect the van, which was lying stationary in the middle of the interstate. They also claim the truck driver was listening to headphones and not paying attention, nor did he hit the brakes before slamming into the van at 70 mph, the AP reported.

Blavity reported that a week before the crash, Stone shared with her Instagram followers that she would perform at the CIAA basketball tournament in Baltimore that Saturday. However, her daughter had to break the heartbreaking news that morning about her mother’s passing.

Stone was a legendary R&B soul singer-songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer. She first launched her career in 1979 with The Sequence, the first all-female hip-hop group, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. She went on to create classic hits both as a member of the group and as a solo artist.