FROM THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
Since the federal government shutdown began this month, San Antonio resident Imelda Avila-Thomas has canceled her daughter’s tutoring and removed her from after-school care.
The furloughed Department of Labor employee tried her best to prepare for the shutdown. She has filed for unemployment benefits, applied for part-time jobs and sold some of her family’s belongings. With no end to the shutdown in sight, Avila-Thomas doesn’t know when she will receive her next paycheck.
The shutdown has been mentally and physically “gut-wrenching” for her family and for the federal employees she represents as president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2139, she said.
“It’s very disappointing we have been affected,” she said. “Federal employees have gone through a lot this year.”
Avila-Thomas is one of an estimated 130,000 federal civilian employees in Texas. Most are furloughed or working without pay as Congress and President Donald Trump have failed to reach a compromise to fund the government.
They missed their first full paycheck this weekend.
Knives Out for Cornyn Over Gun Safety Bill
In the wake of the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn made a risky decision for a Republican anywhere, but especially in Texas.
Moved by the deaths of 19 young school children, Cornyn helped shepherd the nation’s first major legislation on gun safety in decades that sought, among other goals, to enhance background checks for young gun buyers and crack down on illegal gun purchases.
The criticism was immediate.
In short order, the Texas GOP formally rebuked Cornyn, President Donald Trump called him a “RINO,” gun rights groups demanded he apologize for calling party delegates who booed him a “mob” — and the most consequential gun-related legislation the nation has passed in a generation became attached to Cornyn’s legacy.
____FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS____
Trump’s Asian Trade Tour Continues
U.S. President Donald Trump is now in Japan for his first meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The meeting is an early diplomatic test for Takaichi, the first woman to lead Japan. She took office only last week and has a tenuous coalition backing her.
Trade is the focus of Trump’s Asia trip. In Malaysia, he participated in a regional summit, seeking to realign the international economy with his “America First,” vision.
Markets React
Wall Street is poised to add to last week’s records when markets open Monday after President Donald Trump said he expected to reach a trade agreement with China.
Aside from Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, markets will be focused on another heavy slate of corporate earnings this week, as well as what’s expected to be another quarter-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
Work on trade deals that might alleviate friction between the U.S., China and other major trading partners has reassured investors, especially in Asia.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 2.5% to 50,512.32, a new closing high following news that the world’s two largest economies had reached an initial consensus for Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to finalize during a high-stakes meeting later in the week.
“I have a lot of respect for President Xi,” Trump told reporters in Malaysia, “I think we’re going to come away with a deal.”
______FROM THE TEXAS OBSERVER____
Wage Theft Complaints on the Rise in Texas
Texas workers have long struggled with wage theft by their employers—and the state’s willingness and ability to crack down on scofflaw employers has been relatively minimal. Now, rates of suspected wage theft are increasing, and the state labor law enforcement system is straining to keep up.
Last year, state investigators faced the highest number of paycheck complaints in nine years and a prior internal audit noted that it typically took months just for complaints to be assigned to an investigator.
“The current system is failing workers in that it’s too slow, especially with many Texans living paycheck to paycheck,” said Sean Goldhammer, director of employment and legal services at the Workers Defense Project, a statewide member-led group that advocates for immigrant workers.
It’s already hard enough for working-class Texans to survive with their full paychecks; 42 percent of Texas households face financial instability. The state still follows the federal minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 an hour since 2009, and housing in the state has become less affordable.
Meanwhile, the rate of wage theft complaints has soared in recent years, and the state agency responsible for policing labor laws has been unable to keep up. In the 2024 fiscal year, more than 15,000 complaints were filed with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), which is charged with enforcing state and federal labor law. That’s the highest amount since at least 2016 and double the amount from 2021, according to agency reports. Of the 12,400 cases investigated that year, the state ordered employers to pay back more than $10 million in wages.
