U.S. ESTA Travel Pass News

Carina Nuez, who works as a janitor in San Francisco’s financial district, is seriously contemplating her relocation to another location. She’s only making about $600 a week, as San Francisco’s bankruptcy cuts her cleaning services significantly due to her telecommuting. “She spends most of her income on rent, which has plummeted by nearly 50 percent compared to a few years ago,” said Nuez. said.

California’s economy, which once enjoyed a booming economy with big tech companies, is facing a crisis amid the stagnation of big tech companies. As the unemployment rate increased significantly due to large-scale job cuts by big tech companies and wages decreased, the aftermath of the economic downturn is spreading to small businesses such as cleaning companies, laundromats, and restaurants that are rooted in the local economy. Concerns are growing.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported recently that the ripple effect is spreading to small businesses in the region as the California economy suffers from measles in the aftermath of the big tech slump. The economic downturn at big tech companies has led to manpower cuts to the point of being called a job cut fever.

Mark Zuckerberg’s meta-announced plans to lay off 11,000 people, or 13% of the total workforce, in November last year, and then increased the number of job cuts by 10,000 in March this year. Microsoft is also planning to cut 10,000 jobs, less than 5% of its total workforce.

Big Tech’s job cuts acted as a driving force to raise the unemployment rate in California. According to the Department of Labour, California’s unemployment rate in April was 4.5 percent, the second highest in the nation. This is almost 1 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate of 3.4%. California’s unemployment rate, which is showing a different pattern from the national unemployment rate, which has been at an all-time low since 1969, was largely due to job cuts by big tech companies.

Falling wages also hurt the state’s economy. In San Francisco County, where big tech companies are concentrated, weekly wages plummeted 22.6% last year. Wage declines are unmistakable in cities with big tech companies, with Seattle falling 5.4% to 339th out of 356 large cities nationwide. The aftermath of big tech job cuts is also a factor slowing job creation in California.

In April, jobs at tech companies and construction companies in California declined significantly compared to the previous year, while the number of jobs in finance, trade, transportation, and logistics remained flat compared to last year. The stagnation of big tech companies coincides with the Federal Reserve’s rate hike, leading to contraction in consumer demand, making it more difficult for small business owners in the California area.

The California government was also not free from the stagnation of big tech companies. In May, the state government projected a budget deficit of $32 billion this year. From the deficit forecast in January, it has increased by $10 billion. Over the past two years, amid a boom in big tech, California has posted a budget surplus of $102 billion.

The sharp turnaround from a surplus budget to a deficit budget in just two years is because the income of the top 1% of the highest earners, who account for almost half of the income tax collected by the state government, has plummeted.

Despite the participation of rescue efforts from around the world, the occupants of the submersible that went missing in the North Atlantic never returned alive.

The U.S. Coast Guard said on the 22nd that all five people on board the Titanic, a deep-sea submersible operated for tourists to see the wreckage of the Titanic, which sank 111 years ago, are believed to have died.

It has been four days since contact was lost 1 hour and 45 minutes after the start of the dive on the morning of the 18th.

The Coast Guard made this conclusion based on the remains of five submersibles, including a tail cone (conical structure at the tail of the aircraft) found on the seabed 488 meters from the bow of the Titanic.

An internal explosion appears to have occurred in the submersible.

“The debris supports that a catastrophic explosion occurred on this submersible,” Boston Coast Guard Major General John Moger said at a briefing.

It is difficult to know at this time whether the Titan exploded on the day of its disappearance or later, Moger added.

During the search, thumping underwater noise was detected over two days, raising hopes that the missing people were still alive, but it turned out that there was no relationship between the detected noise and the Titan.

However, when asked about the possibility of finding the body, Mauger said he was not sure, saying, “The seabed down there is an incredibly tough environment.”

The submersible includes Stockton Rush, CEO of Oceangate Expeditions, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tycoon Shahjada Daoud and his son Suleman, and French maritime expert Paul Henri Nazolet. there was.

“His family was immediately notified (of his presumed death),” Mauger said.

The missing Titan is a 6.7m-long submersible made of carbon fiber and titanium, designed to carry a pilot and four passengers down to a depth of 4,000m.

As oxygen can be filled for up to four days, it was estimated that the ‘golden time’ was over in the morning, raising concerns.

As a result of this accident, it was also revealed that there had been issues raised inside and outside the company since 2018 that Oceangate had developed and operated this submersible without sufficient safety verification, causing controversy.

This submersible tour is an ultra-expensive tour product that costs 250,000 dollars per person.

On the 6th, the New York State Senate passed a bill that expands the punishment area for drivers of reckless driving to private parking lots.

This bill, proposed by Congressman John Liu, is to include private parking lots as areas subject to punishment for reckless drivers so that reckless driving vehicles that engage in idling and street racing with excessive exhaust noise can be cracked down in parking lots owned by private companies such as shopping malls is the main goal.

Currently, in New York State, when police detect reckless drivers on public roads or highways, they can conduct direct crackdowns, but reckless driving in private parking lots is not enforced unless the owner directly reports it.

Rep. John Liu said, “After the pandemic, vehicles for drag racing during late-night hours are gathering in parking lots with wide parking spaces such as Bay Terrace Shopping Mall and Fresh Meadow Shopping Centre, which threatens the lives and property of residents using nearby facilities. is being applied,” he explained about the background of the bill.

Currently, reckless driving is punishable as a misdemeanour in New York State, and for the first offense, up to 30 days in prison or up to $300 in fines, and penalties at the level of revocation of the driver’s license are applied.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was indicted for illegally stealing classified documents, and about half of the American public thought the prosecution was natural, a survey found.

At the same time, a similar size of the American public responded that the indictment was ‘political’, confirming again that the public opinion of the American public is divided according to political inclinations over the prosecution of former President Trump.

According to a public opinion poll released on the 11th by ABC Broadcasting of the United States with the polling company Ipsos on 910 American citizens on the 9th and 10th, 61% of the total respondents said that former President Trump’s alleged transfer of classified documents was a ‘serious matter’.

By party support, 91% of Democratic supporters and 38% of Republicans viewed former President Trump’s allegations as serious, respectively.

48% said yes, 35% said no in answer to whether Trump should be prosecuted for transporting classified documents.

Another 46% of the total said former President Trump should stop his campaign.

Separately, 47% of all respondents said the prosecution was politically motivated. These responses were primarily driven by Republican supporters, Ipsos said.

On the other hand, Democratic supporters replied that former President Trump should be prosecuted, and the campaign should be suspended, the company said. This stark difference between Republican and Democratic supporters over the prosecution of former President Trump is consistent with the results of a public opinion poll conducted in April, when former President Trump was indicted for allegedly silenced sexual intercourse.

In a poll released by ABC and Ipsos on April 2, 88% of Democrats said, “should be prosecuted” for sexual intercourse silence, while 65% of Republicans said, “should not be prosecuted”.

In addition, 47% of all respondents at the time said the incident was politically motivated.

Republican supporters said that the case was a political investigation, regardless of whether they were in favour or against the prosecution of former President Trump.

Authorities launch investigation The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 3rd that authorities have launched an investigation after a series of deaths at a famous racetrack where the Kentucky Derby, one of the biggest horse racing events, was held recently.

Churchill Downs Racecourse in Louisville, Kentucky, announced the day before that it would move its racetrack to another racetrack in Kentucky following federal and state investigations into the deaths of 12 horses over the past five weeks. Only until this weekend’s race will be held at Churchill Downs, and from next week, horse racing will be held at Ellis Park, owned by Churchill Downs.

An accident in which two horses were killed in a Kentucky Derby match held on the 6th of last month was also included in the investigation by the authorities. Investigators interviewed Churchill Downs veterinarians this week and reviewed related documents, including autopsy reports of dead horses, poison reports and veterinary and trainer records of dead horses.

The condition of the racetrack surface is also being investigated. However, it is said that a certain pattern surrounding the death of 12 horses has not yet been found. Churchill Downs CEO Bill Kastangen said: “What happened on our track is so upsetting and unacceptable that we need more time to conduct a thorough investigation into all the details and circumstances.” said.

The NYT reported that Churchill Downs issued a recommendation on the 1st that it should not force horses that are not in good condition to compete.

Accordingly, the racecourse decided to abolish the current system of giving incentives to trainers of all horses that competed from first to last, and instead pay this money only to first to fifth trainers and restrict frequent participation in the race.

The New York State Audit Office announced on the 30th that as of March of this year, as of March this year, as of March, the tolls passed on to the collection agency for using New York State highways and not paying tolls for a long time amounted to $275 million. Among them, unpaid tolls for vehicles registered in states other than New York State accounted for 43% of the total, at $119.3 million.

Vehicles registered in New Jersey accounted for $34.2 million, accounting for 28.7% of vehicles registered in other states, and those registered in Connecticut accounted for $16.7 million, accounting for 14%. According to the New York State Highway Administration, 90% of highway toll collection is done with E-ZPass, and the rest is collected through the mail. A $25 fee and a cancelled account will be the outcome if EZ Pass isn’t paid within 30 days.

In addition, an additional fee of $16 will be charged for non-return of the EasyPass device due to account cancellation. In the case of postal collection, if payment is not made within 30 days, a warning notice and a $5 penalty will be imposed, and if payment is still not made after 30 days, an additional $50 fee will be charged.

Thirty (30) days after the final notice of violation, documents relating to unpaid tolls are turned over to the collection agency. On the other hand, the New York State Highway Authority can request suspension of vehicle registration from the Parking Lot Bureau if tolls are not paid three or more times in five years.

The Federal Labour Department announced that the number of new jobless claims filed last week (May 14-20) was 229,000. Although it increased by 4,000 from the previous week, it was far less than the expert forecast (245,000) compiled by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Given that the number of claims filed last week was revised down to 225,000 from the previously announced 242,000, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits remains at a historically low level. The number of unemployment benefits claims, which showed an upward trend in April, fell back to the low 200,000 range because large-scale fraudulent claims were discovered in the state of Massachusetts and elsewhere.

The sharp downward revision in the number of claims last week is also a result of the Massachusetts crackdown. Previously, the state of Massachusetts launched a massive crackdown, saying that there was an attempt to apply for new unemployment benefits with stolen personal information or fraudulently obtain unemployment benefits using someone else’s account.

The number of “continued unemployment benefits” claims, which are claims for unemployment benefits for at least two weeks, also fell by 5,000 to 1,794,000.

The Wall Street estimate is 1.8 million. Media such as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) analysed that these results suggest that the labour market is still in a strong state. The fact that unemployment claims have hardly risen since the unemployment rate hit 3.4% last month, the lowest level in 54 years, is expected to complicate the calculations of the Federal Reserve at the crossroads of monetary policy.

For the Fed, this is because it is a factor that increases pressure to raise interest rates. The Federal Reserve, which has raised interest rates 10 times in a row until this month, is facing a tight confrontation between the theory of freezing and the theory of additional hikes over the decision of the base rate with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on the 13th and 14th of June.

Immigration reform proposal A new immigration reform bill, which will ultimately grant citizenship to immigrants living in the United States without immigration status, has been submitted to the House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis and draws attention.

Republican Maria Elvira Salazar (Florida) and Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (Texas) passed the Dignity Act, which grants illegal immigrants living in the United States legal status and allows them to apply for citizenship.) was officially proposed on the 24th.

The main content of this bill is the establishment of a new ‘Dignity Program’ that provides immigration status to undocumented people who are already residing in the United States and have no criminal records.

According to the bill, recipients of the Dignity Program are allowed to work and travel for a fee of $700 per year for a total of $5,000 for seven years. In addition, recipients of the Dignity Program must pay a 1.5% payroll tax and pay for their own health insurance. According to the bill, it is estimated that up to 11 million people will be given the opportunity to stay legally through the Dignity Program. At the end of the seven-year status program, you can renew it or apply for citizenship for a total of $5,000 over five years.

After all, if you pay 10,000 dollars for a total of 12 years, you can get citizenship. The bill would direct the billions of dollars raised through fees paid by immigrants on the Dignity Program to be used for border security. The bill includes a Republican priority to finance strengthening border security, but it is evaluated that it is mainly focused on giving undocumented people the opportunity to obtain citizenship, which is a priority of the Democratic Party. For this reason, it is the view of the political world that the Republican leadership, which has taken control of the House of Representatives, is highly likely not to act on the bill.

The Republican Party is in the position that border security measures must precede immigration reform, but if this is reflected in the bill discussion process, opposition from the Democratic Party may grow. However, the legislators who introduced the bill said, “There may be criticism that this bill is not perfect, but we still have to do the right thing,” and are in the position that bipartisan efforts are needed to reform the immigration law, which has been in place since the 1990s.

The legislators pushing the bill say it would expand legal immigration opportunities while freeing up money for border security. The bill also includes creating new visas for those who want to come to the United States temporarily to visit family and giving student visa holders the opportunity to apply for permanent residency while maintaining their visa status.

New York City’s childcare subsidy program for pre-schoolers of low-income families and illegal immigrants is in danger of being scrapped. According to the Choke Beat report on the 19th, an educational media outlet, the ‘Promise NYC’ program, which supports childcare costs of up to $700 per week for preschool children from low-income families who are unable to receive federal support due to immigration status, is a new program by the city government.

According to the media, if the city council approves the budget bill submitted by Mayor Adams, the program will be suspended from July 1st. Promise NYC has been operating as a pilot program since January, and about 600 pre-schoolers are currently benefiting from it.

Last year, Mayor Adams publicized a plan to invest $10 million for early childhood education, but the new budget did not include additional budget for the extension of Promise NYC.

Mayor Adams has proposed a 3% cut in the education budget, citing rising costs related to asylum seekers. But advocates of the program urged the mayor and city council to budget $20 million for the extension. If the relevant budget is not prepared before the budget deadline, which is at the end of June, the program will be suspended from July.

According to the Department of labour, the average annual cost of childcare in Manhattan last year was more than $17,800. It is pointed out that it is not easy for undocumented families living in poverty.

New York City restaurants and grocery stores will be required to dispose of food waste bags in covered containers starting this summer. Restaurants, grocery stores, grocery wholesalers, and catering establishments that dispose of food waste must no longer leave food waste bags on the roadside and must have tight-fitting lids under a new rule announced by the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) on the 18th.

The Protesters Bureau plans to hold a public hearing on the 22nd of next month, collect public opinion, and implement the new regulations as early as July.

When the new regulations come into effect, about 23,000 restaurants, 13,000 bodega and delis, and 10,000 supermarkets in the city will be immediately affected and will have to prepare their own containers that meet the regulations.

“This rule is a fulfilment of our promise to clean up the streets and reduce the rats’ food supply,” the protesters’ department said in its proposal for new regulations. On the other hand, the related industry has protested the new rule proposal.

The New York City Hospitality Federation said, “There is no space to store food waste inside the restaurant, and it is difficult to install containers on the street.”