Twelve years ago, Senator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat, took the stage at his election night party in Columbus to celebrate winning a second term. Barack Obama had just carried Ohio for the second time, after emphasizing his administration’s rescue of the auto industry. Mr. Brown wanted to proclaim that …
Read More »Florida Farmworker Who Suffered Heat Strokes Is Stunned at Ban on Outdoor Protections
The heat stroke that José Delgado suffered six years ago after working in a sweet potato field in South Florida left him with damaged kidneys. It happened again two years later. His doctor, he said, warned that his heart might not survive another episode. He is 75 now and still …
Read More »Alabama Prison Labor Program Faces Legal Challenges
In the back of a nondescript industrial park on the outskirts of Montgomery, Ala., past the corner of Eastern Boulevard and Plantation Way, there is a manufacturing plant run by Ju-Young, a car-part supplier for Hyundai. On a Tuesday in May, about half of the workers there — roughly 20 …
Read More »Opinion | For College Students, Giving Up on Books Is a Perfectly Sensible Choice
In 2011, I taught a college class on the meaning and value of work. It was a general-education class, the sort that students say they have to “get out of the way” before they move on to their major courses. Few of the students were avid readers, and many held …
Read More »Overlooked No More: Margaret E. Knight, Innovator of the Flat-Bottomed Paper Bag
This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. The flat-bottomed paper bag is a marvel of quiet utility. It stands tall at the checkout counter of grocery stores ready to cradle the essentials of daily …
Read More »The White House Bet Big on Intel. Will It Backfire?
At an annual gathering of tech executives and billionaires in Sun Valley, Idaho, this past July, Gina Raimondo commandeered a table near a duck pond and tried to exert her influence as the U.S. secretary of commerce to help rescue an ailing national champion. As media moguls and business luminaries …
Read More »Boeing’s New C.E.O. Calls for ‘Culture Change’ as Strike Vote Looms
Boeing’s new chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, shared his vision on Wednesday for how to restore the beleaguered business, delivering his most comprehensive public remarks on strategy since taking the role in August. But, he acknowledged, he must first end a financially damaging strike. The aircraft maker also shared more detail …
Read More »Boeing and Union Leaders Reach New Proposal to End Strike
Leaders of Boeing’s largest union said on Saturday that they had reached a “negotiated proposal” for a new contract and would put it up for a vote to end a long and expensive strike. In a post on its website on Saturday, the union said that “with the help of …
Read More »Opinion | These Jobs Have Been an Economic Boon but a Political Bust
No place symbolizes the profound shifts that have taken place in the U.S. economy like Bethlehem, Pa., a city that lost its mighty steel mill but has been reborn with the help of a casino, a hotel and a couple of Walmart distribution centers. Thanks to the rise of online …
Read More »How Is the Economy for Black Voters? A Complex Question Takes Center Stage.
The 2024 election could be won or lost on the strength of the Black vote, which could in turn be won or lost based on the strength of the American economy. So it is no surprise that candidates are paying a lot of attention — and lip service — to …
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