Truck drivers are left in the lurch after flocking to the industry during Covid. Scattered storms and excessive heat warnings are expected through the July 4 holiday. Plus, why your morning coffee is about more than just the caffeine.
Here's what to know today.
Truckers flooded the market during Covid. Now they struggle to pay their bills.
When Covid snarled supply chains just as people were online shopping for their lockdown lifestyles, tens of thousands of workers bet big on the trucking boom.
The number of trucking companies increased by 50% between the start of the pandemic and the end of last year, but with consumer spending easing, the volume of goods needing to be shipped is returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Many drivers haven’t been able to keep operating with so little work, and experts estimate another 2,000 carriers may have to leave the market before the supply of drivers meet the demand. Those who bought equipment in the past two years and now need to sell it could be out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Now that trucking’s “good times have come and gone,” drivers are left in the lurch and struggling to make a living.
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‘Colorblind Constitution’: Supreme Court wrangles over the future of race in the law
When the Supreme Court struck down college affirmative action programs, Justice Clarence Thomas laid out his vision for a “colorblind Constitution” in which the law must apply equally to everyone, even when it is aimed at redressing historical racial discrimination.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who, along with Thomas, is one of only three Black justices who have ever served on the court, responded bitterly to her colleague in her own dissenting opinion in the affirmative action case.
Read more about the recent Supreme Court rulings:
- President Biden can ill-afford to leave young and minority voters upset over having to make student loan payments they thought might be forgiven or reduced.
- The ruling in favor of a Christian website designer who doesn’t want to make wedding websites for same-sex couples has raised a list of legal questions.
- Education and civil rights leaders fear the ruling against affirmative action could result in more hate and discrimination on campuses.
Gun violence erupts over holiday weekend as storms threaten July 4 travel
Two people were killed in a mass shooting at a block party in Baltimore, Maryland. Police confirmed that 28 others were injured, three of them critically. More than a dozen of the injured were minors, according to police.
Severe storms blanketed the U.S. over the holiday weekend from the Northeast to the Midwest. Now the Eastern Seabord can expect more scattered showers with damaging winds, and hail and tornadoes will be possible. In the West, heat alerts will continue through the holiday.
▼ Today’s Talker
Drinking coffee helps with…
… short-term memory, attention and focus, according to a new study that looked at the effects of drinking coffee versus caffeine on its own. The study found that while both drinks resulted in people feeling more alert, drinking coffee had some added benefits.
▼ Politics in Brief
China tensions: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Beijing this week to meet with senior Chinese officials.
Election 2024: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for a video attacking former President Donald Trump over LGBTQ rights.
Moms for Liberty: A media training session at the organization’s annual conference provided a rare look inside the effort to control the narrative.
▼ Staff Pick
Fooled by love
All is not fair in love, especially if you get scammed in the process. Online romance scams have graduated to using crypto as a way to steal thousands, leaving people unable to retrieve their cash and in some cases, resorting to self harm. Such is the story of Norm Jones, who was scammed out of $250,000 by a woman he had been talking to online for five months. His story is equal parts harrowing and tragic. — Anahita Pardiwalla, social storytelling editor
▼ In Case You Missed It
A teen in Texas showed up alive after being resgistered as missing for more than eight years.
Police were seeking the people who detonated or threw explosive devices at three closed business locations, including a Nike store and a bank, in Washington, D.C.
An amusement park shut down one of its roller coasters after a man spotted a large crack that caused a support beam to move out of place.
Vietnam has banned the highly-anticipated “Barbie” movie over a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea.
Israel has targeted a West Bank militant stronghold with drones and troops, killing at least 8 Palestinians.
▼ Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
Cutting boards are a must-have in any kitchen. Not only does it give you a clean space to work while you slice, dice and carve, it also protects your countertops and keeps your knives sharp. Experts explain how to choose a cutting board best suited for your needs and suggest some great options that range in price from less than $10 to nearly $300.
Sign up to The Selection for exclusive reviews and shopping content from NBC Select.
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