Trump administration must fund SNAP payments during the shutdown, judges rule

Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to fund SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown.

It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the debit cards that beneficiaries use to buy groceries could be reloaded after the ruling. That process often takes one to two weeks.

President Donald Trump on Friday called for the firing of the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported.

Trump in a post on his social media platform alleged that the figures were manipulated for political reasons and said that Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, should be fired.

Trump focused much of his ire on the revisions the agency made to previous hiring data. Job gains in May were revised down to just 19,000 from 125,000, and in June they were cut to 14,000 from 147,000. In July, only 73,000 positions were added. The unemployment rate ticked up to a still-low 4.2% from 4.1%.

While the jobs numbers are often the subject of political spin, economists and Wall Street investors — with millions of dollars at stake — have always accepted U.S. government economic data as free from political manipulation.

Before the crash Brian Hanson, who was on a walk in the East Village, saw the suspect following a female jogger who looked visibly uncomfortable. Hanson said he tried to distract the man, which led to the man chasing him. When the man later got into a vehicle, Hanson also saw him driving toward pedestrians by city hall on Robert D. Ray Drive.

Officers tried to initiate a traffic stop near East Grand Avenue and Robert D. Ray Drive around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 16, according to a news release issued shortly after the crash. The release said the driver "apparently intentionally" rammed a squad care before fleeing at high speeds.