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Trump fires official over bad jobs report
Economists say tariffs have triggered slowdown By The Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday removed 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. He provided no evidence for the charge. “I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said on Truth Social. “She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.” Trump later posted: “In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were
ä Markets have worst day since May. PAGE 3B
RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.” U.S. employers added just 73,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday, short of the 115,000 expected. Worse, revisions shaved a stunning 258,000 jobs off May and June payrolls. And the unemploy-
ment rate ticked higher to 4.2% as Americans dropped out of the labor force and the ranks of the unemployed rose by 221,000. The charge that the data was faked is an explosive one that threatens to undercut the political legitimacy of the U.S. government’s economic data, which has long been seen as the “gold standard” of economic measurement globally. Economists and Wall Street investors have long accepted the data as free from political bias. Trump’s move to fire McEntarfer
Finishing touches
Work continues on Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium as season opener nears
represented another extraordinary assertion of presidential power. He has wielded the authority of the White House to try to control the world’s international trade system, media companies, America’s top universities and Congress’ constitutional power of the purse, among other institutions. “Firing the Commissioner … when the BLS revises jobs numbers down (as it routinely does) threatens to destroy trust in core American institutions, and all
ä See TRUMP, page 5A
Ex-mayor responds to audit of spoil bank Probe reveals laws broken, report says BY CLAIRE TAYLOR and ASHLEY WHITE Staff writers
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
Crews install the midfield logo and other field markers in Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium on Friday. The Cajuns open the season at home on Aug. 30 against Rice. While work continued on the football stadium, the team went through media day at the Stadium Club at Russo Park before beginning practice on Saturday. ä More on media day in Sports, 1C.
An investigative report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor into Lafayette Consolidated Government’s clandestine removal in 2022 of a Vermilion River spoil bank in St. Martin Parish is expected to be released soon, an LCG spokesperson said Thursday. The Current online news organization reported Friday that it had obtained a draft of the report and that it doesn’t reveal much that hasn’t already been reported in regular annual LCG audits. The spoil bank Guillory project, The Current wrote, “violated state law, federal law, a St. Martin Parish ordinance and Lafayette’s Home Rule Charter.” The auditor’s final report has not been released. The report will be based on findings of an investigation launched by the auditor in 2023 prompted by findings from LCG’s independent audit of the 2021-22 fiscal year, when Josh
ä See AUDIT, page 5A
Angola lacks beds for violent offenders, Landry says Executive order calls for shuttered facility to house prisoners BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN
Staff writer
Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola doesn’t have enough beds to house violent offenders, Gov. Jeff Landry said in an executive order declaring a state of emergency that will allow the prison to swiftly reopen a notorious part of the facility that was shuttered due to significant safety concerns. The order, which took effect July 25 and will last until Aug. 23 unless extended, allows the Department
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of Public Safety and Corrections to suspend procurement and public bidding rules to hasten repairs to Camp J, which was closed in 2018. The order indicates the state will transfer violent offenders “who require the highest degree of security” to Angola, but that Angola currently lacks adequate bed space to accommodate them. Camp J was once one of the most restrictive segments of Angola, used to discipline inmates who fought with weapons or otherwise committed serious offenses. It had four cell blocks that held more than 400 individual cells for solitary confinement. In the first seven months of 2017, dozens of weapons were found at Camp J, Landry’s executive order
says. Within a year, about 85 corrections officers assigned to the complex resigned, retired or were fired “due to the complex challenges presented there.” Locks for cells in Camp J malfunctioned, allowing inmates to jam cell doors and circumvent security checks, the order says. “Camp J and the surrounding infrastructure requires facility improvements to adequately hold any violent offenders and to protect the lives of any employees, contractors, or members of the public who may be within Camp J at any time,” Landry’s order says. The state of emergency applies to Camp J and its surrounding
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Gov. Jeff Landry has declared a state of emergency at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola because of a shortage of beds to house ä See ANGOLA, page 5A violent offenders.
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