CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING TO SHUT DOWN 4A LSU FOOTBALL Tigers lean heavily on transfers in quest for title 1C
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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 5B
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
SU launches radio station
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 6A
Hurricane season has quiet start Past two months least active in 16 years BY KASEY BUBNASH Staff writer
seven days a week and be operated by students from the largest historically Black college in Louisiana. Students in the Department of Mass Communication will work at the station, called WSUB 106.1 LPFM “The Bluff.” It will replace the gospel station WTQT and offer a blend of genres, including hip-hop, R&B and pop as well as gospel. Nicolette Gordon, operations manager for the new station, said students will have the opportunity to develop their
The first two months of what is expected to be a busy 2025 hurricane season have already come and gone without much brewing in the Atlantic Ocean. But don’t let your guard down “So we stay just yet. vigilant and Miami-based don’t let meteorologist and the early hurricane specialwhims of the ist Michael Lowry hurricane wrote in his weather and climate news- season fool letter this week us.” that July 31 closed MICHAEL out the least active start to a hurricane LOWRy, season in 16 years, meteorologist a quiet two months and hurricane that feel even more specialist unusual when compared with the theatrics of the last few summers. But Lowry and other hurricane forecasters are warning that the worst of the season is yet to come, and how a storm season starts is not an indicator of how it will end. “So we stay vigilant,” Lowry said, “and don’t let the early whims of the hurricane season fool us.” Data collected by Colorado State University shows that June and July 2025 saw more named storms than average during the last 30 years, though just barely: Three named storms had formed by Thursday
ä See RADIO, page 7A
ä See HURRICANE, page 7A
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Southern University administrators, WSUB staff and members of the media gather around the new sign in front of the building during the grand opening event at the WSUB radio station on Government Street on Wednesday.
‘The Bluff’ will be operated by students and offer a mix of programming BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
Southern University Chancellor John Pierre beamed as he signed the Federal Communications Commission document marking the transition from WTQT to WSUB, the new call sign of the university’s very own radio station. A banner emblazoned with the new station logo, a Southern jaguar wearing headphones, hung in the crowded office space on Government Street, along with posters for old NAACP marches and gos-
pel music flyers. Observers cheered when the transfer was final in the eyes of the FCC, at 12:34 p.m. Friday. “This is the kind of opportunity that can transform the lives of our students,” Pierre said. “This is all part of the transformation of Southern University to become the institution that is looking outward to the community.” It was a blazing August day and celebratory moment for Southern and Baton Rouge community leaders who gathered to formally unveil the new station, which will offer programming 24 hours a day,
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
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 73 PAGE 8A
25 and will last until Aug. 23 unless extended, allows the Department 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 soli-
tary 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
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 6A violent offenders.
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