Reported by NPR World
Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.
Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
Rising prices and stagnant wages fueled frustration during this week's midterm elections , prompting voters to express their discontent at the ballot box. Similarly, the stock market experienced a downturn yesterday. Concerns about a Democratic Congress regulating AI led to a more than 5% drop in the tech-heavy Nasdaq , wiping out more than $2 trillion in market value. This decline followed from Wednesday when shares rose as investors were relieved that the midterms had made Congress's fate clear. In contrast, there has been less volatility in the job market, and today the Labor Department is set to release the latest jobs report.
More from the original report
Stocks sank as investors fear an incoming Democratic Congress — and states across the country — could crack down on the AI industry and data centers. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption
A federal judge has temporarily blocked construction of President Trump's 250-foot arch in the capital. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an order just before midnight Friday, halting work for 14 day s at the request of D.C. and Virginia governments. In her 33-page opinion, she scrutinized the administration's justifications for the arch, particularly its focus on national security and agreed that the local governments are likely to be harmed by its construction. The arch is planned for Memorial Circle, a traffic island on the bridge linking the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery.
School enrollment is set to plunge by another 2 million kids by 2030 , and education experts say the crisis will be worsened by the deportation of immigrant families with school-age children. Even before the Trump administration's policy changes, public schools faced a significant decline due to shrinking family sizes. U.S. Census data show the number of children under 18 nationwide had fallen by about 2.1 million since 2010. The Trump…