Tariffs aren’t keeping Walmart from attracting shoppers and outpacing Target

Tariffs aren’t keeping Walmart from attracting shoppers and outpacing Target

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart Inc. powered through an uncertain economic environment and tariff concerns to deliver solid second-quarter financial results Thursday, showing it keeps pulling in shoppers and outpacing peers like Target.

The nation’s largest retailer reported a 4.6% quarterly increase in comparable sales — those coming from established stores and online channels. Company executives said Walmart was attracting customers, particularly higher-income shoppers who may have avoided its stores in the past, with fast deliveries, grocery discounts and trendier clothes.

The company, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also raised its annual profit and sales outlook.

Walmart’s results differed notably from those of rival Target, which on Wednesday reported another quarter of comparable sales declines. The Minneapolis-based company has struggled to find its footing as customers defect to Walmart and other stores where they think they will find greater bargains and increasingly, the same or better merchandise.

Target’s board of directors named a 20-year company veteran on Wednesday to succeed CEO Brian Cornell when he steps down after 11 years in early 2026.

Walmart said its profitable e-commerce operations, advertising revenue and selection of products with high profit margins have given it flexibility to absorb extra costs from the range of tariffs President Donald Trump has put on foreign products.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told investors Thursday that the impact of tariffs also has been gradual enough to mute changes in consumer spending behavior. When the discounter raised prices on certain items, it’s observed lower- and middle-income customers trading down to lower-priced options or foregoing purchases, he said.

The company will continue to see its costs increase as it replenishes inventory at post-tariff price levels, McMillion said.

“We’re doing what we said we would do,” he said. “We’re keeping our prices as low as we can for as long as we can. Our merchants have been creative and acted with urgency to avoid what would have been additional pressure for our customers and members.”

A growing list of companies, including Procter & Gamble, E.lf. Cosmetics, Black & Decker and Ralph Lauren, told investors in recent weeks that they planned to or already had raised prices because of tariffs, though modestly.

None of that has derailed consumer spending. Shoppers spent at a healthy pace in July, particularly at the nation’s auto dealerships, as signs emerged that President Donald Trump’s trade policies were taking a toll on jobs.

Some of that spending may have been shoppers buying furniture and other imported items to get ahead of expected price increases, analysts said.

On Tuesday, Home Depot, the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, reported improved sales during its latest quarter as consumers remained focused on smaller projects. Like Walmart, Home Depot’s performance missed Wall Street’s expectations.

The Atlanta-based company also said shoppers should expect modest price increases in some categories as a result of additional costs from tariffs, which are taxes on imports. Home Depot reported comparable sales increase of 1.4% in line with what home improvement rival Lowe’s reported on Wednesday.

But it’s Walmart that serves as a barometer of spending given its outsized power in American retailing. The company maintains that 90% of U.S. households rely on Walmart for a range of products, and more than 150 million customers shop on its website or in its stores every week.

Walmart said in May that prices had started to increase in late April and got higher in May. But it said Thursday that it had introduced 7,400 price rollbacks, or temporary discounts, across the aisles in the latest quarter.

The company said it earned $7.03 billion, or 88 cents per share, for the three-month period that ended July 31. That compares with $4.50 billion, or 56 cents per share, a year ago.

Sales rose nearly 5% to $177.4 billion. Walmart’s 4.6% growth in U.S. comparable sales during the second quarter was slightly higher than its first-quarter gain of 4.5%. Groceries and health and wellness items fueled the growth, the company said.

Global e-commerce sales rose 25%, above the 22% growth in the first quarter.

The retailer said roughly one-third of deliveries from its U.S. stores in recent weeks were orders requesting delivery in three hours or less, and 20% of those orders made it to customers in a half-hour or under.

Despite Walmart’s solid quarter, its stock price was down 5% in early afternoon trading as its earnings per share came in below what analysts had expected. Analysts were expecting 73 cents per share on sales of $175.93 billion for the quarter, according to FactSet.

Per share results, excluding effects of charges related to certain legal matters and from business restructuring, was 68 cents, Walmart said.

One $450 million expense was tied to settlements over worker and shopper injury claims, Walmart said. A company spokesperson said the cost per claim was increasing but not the total number.

For the year, Walmart raised its per-share estimates to a range of $2.52 to $2.62, up from a previous estimate of $2.50 to $2.60. It said 2025 sales are anticipated to increase 3.75% to 4.75%, more than it projected in May.

Appeals court throws out massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump

Appeals court throws out massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump

By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court on Thursday threw out the massive financial penalty a state judge imposed on President Donald Trump, while narrowly upholding a finding he engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades. The ruling spares Trump from a potential half-billion-dollar fine but bans him and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years.

Trump, in a social media post, claimed “total victory.”

“I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State,” he wrote.

The decision came seven months after the Republican returned to the White House. A sharply divided panel of five judges in New York’s mid-level Appellate Division couldn’t agree on many issues raised in Trump’s appeal, but a majority said the monetary penalty was “excessive.”

After finding Trump flagrantly padded financial statements that went to lenders and insurers, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him last year to pay $355 million in penalties. With interest, the sum has topped $515 million. Additional penalties levied on some other Trump Organization executives, including Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. — bring the total to $527 million, with interest.

An ‘excessive’ fine

“While the injunctive relief ordered by the court is well crafted to curb defendants’ business culture, the court’s disgorgement order, which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” Judges Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton wrote in one of three opinions shaping the appeals court’s ruling.

Engoron’s other punishments, upheld by the appeals court, have been on pause during Trump’s appeal, and the president was able to hold off collection of the money by posting a $175 million bond.

The court, which split on the merits of the lawsuit and Engoron’s fraud finding, dismissed the penalty in its entirety while also leaving a pathway for an appeal to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. Trump and his co-defendants, the judges wrote, can seek to extend the pause on any punishments taking effect.

The panel was sharply divided, issuing 323 pages of concurring and dissenting opinions with no majority. Rather, some judges endorsed parts of their colleagues’ findings while denouncing others, enabling the court to rule.

Two judges wrote that they felt New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against Trump and his companies was justifiable and that she had proven her case but the penalty was too severe. One wrote that James exceeded her legal authority in bringing the suit, saying that if any of Trump’s lenders felt cheated, they could have sued him themselves, and none did. One judge wrote that Engoron erred by ruling before the trial began that the attorney general had proved Trump engaged in fraud.

In his portion of the ruling, Judge David Friedman, who was appointed to the court by Republican Gov. George Pataki, was scathing in his criticism of James for bringing the lawsuit.

“Plainly, her ultimate goal was not ‘market hygiene’ … but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business,” Friedman wrote. “The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business.”

In a statement, James focused on the part of the case that went her way, saying the court had “affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud.”

“It should not be lost to history: yet another court has ruled that the president violated the law, and that our case has merit,” James said.

The appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state’s trial court, took an unusually long time to rule, weighing Trump’s appeal for nearly 11 months after oral arguments last fall. Normally, appeals are decided in a matter of weeks or a few months.

Claims of politics at play

Trump and his co-defendants denied wrongdoing. At the conclusion of the civil trial in January 2024, Trump said he was “an innocent man” and the case was a “fraud on me.” The Republican has repeatedly maintained the case and the verdict were political moves by James and Engoron, both Democrats.

Trump’s Justice Department has subpoenaed James for records related to the lawsuit, among other documents, as part of an investigation into whether she violated the president’s civil rights. James’ personal attorney Abbe D. Lowell has said investigating the fraud case is “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.”

Trump and his lawyers said his financial statements weren’t deceptive, since they came with disclaimers noting they weren’t audited. The defense also noted bankers and insurers independently evaluated the numbers, and the loans were repaid.

Despite such discrepancies as tripling the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, he said the financial statements were, if anything, lowball estimates of his fortune.

During an appellate court hearing last September, Trump’s lawyers argued that many of the case’s allegations were too old and that James had misused a consumer protection law to sue Trump over private business transactions that were satisfactory to those involved.

State attorneys said that while Trump insists no one was harmed by the financial statements, his exaggerations led lenders to make riskier loans and that honest borrowers lose out when others game their net worth numbers.

Legal obstacles

The civil fraud case was just one of several legal obstacles for Trump as he campaigned, won and segued to a second term as president.

On Jan. 10, he was sentenced in his criminal hush money case to what’s known as an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction on the books but sparing him jail, probation, a fine or other punishment. He is appealing the conviction.

And in December, a federal appeals court upheld a jury’s finding that Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, affirming a $5 million judgment against him. The appeals court declined in June to reconsider. Trump still can try to get the Supreme Court to hear his appeal.

Trump also is appealing a subsequent verdict that requires him to pay Carroll $83.3 million for additional defamation claims.

___

North Carolina updates more than 20,000 voter records, seeks more ID numbers

North Carolina updates more than 20,000 voter records, seeks more ID numbers

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Voter registration records for more than 20,000 people in North Carolina have been successfully amended thus far in an effort by election officials to add missing identification numbers.

In mid-July, the State Board of Elections began formally an effort that seeks to resolve a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department that focused on voter registration records that lacked either a voter’s driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Federal and state laws have directed that election officials must request this ID information since 2004 of new registrants, but for about a decade the state’s registration form failed to make clear that voters were supposed to provide it if they had it.

A ” Registration Repair Project” supported by the now Republican-controlled state board — flipped from a Democratic majority in the spring — created a public online database with the names of 103,270 registrants the lacking the numerical identifiers. They were asked to provide an ID number through the Division of Motor Vehicles website or by visiting their county election board offices. County election officials also have conducted research to update records.

As of Monday, the registrants on the list had fallen 20% to 82,540, an election board news release said.

As planned, the board is now sending letters to those who haven’t already acted and offered a numerical ID, or have yet to indicate that they have neither a driver’s license nor a Social Security number. The letter recipients are being told they can mail in their ID number with postage-paid return envelopes provided, in addition to the DMV and in-person options.

“It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s free,” board Executive Director Sam Hayes said, adding that taking action now will “avoid any issues the next time they show up to vote.”

People on the list who don’t provide the information will have to vote provisionally the next time they cast a ballot — meaning their ballots may not count in some state and local races without correct ID information. Municipal elections will be held starting next month. The board release said that paper and electronic voter rolls will flag these voters so they vote with a provisional ballot and provide missing information for their ballot to count.

The missing numerical IDs led to other complaints and litigation leading to the 2024 elections and played a prominent part in a very close judicial race. U.S. attorneys have contended that accurate registration rolls help ensure fair and reliable election results. Many Democrats said these voters are already being scrutinized because they already have to show a photo ID to vote like everyone else.

North Carolina has 7.57 million registered voters and is considered a perpetual battleground state. Close elections could be affected if registrants cast ballots that ultimately aren’t counted.

Another mailing will go out at a later date to close to 100,000 additional voters whose records also lack the identifiers but will be allowed to continue casting regular ballots because there’s evidence, for example, that they supplied a number or an alternate ID as allowed under the law.

__

This story has been updated to clarify that laws have directed that election officials must request ID information since 2004 of new registrants.

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

In need of a sweet treat? This super easy recipe for chocolate chip cookies hits the spot every time!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips of your choice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven and heat butter
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees f. Then, microwave the butter for about 30 seconds, just until melted.

2. Make the dough
Mix the granulated sugar and the brown sugar into the butter. Then, add the egg and vanilla extract and stir until combined. Then, add the flour, baking soda and salt to the mixture and combine. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips to complete the dough.

3. Shape cookies
Scoop between 1 and 2 tbsp. of dough per cookie and spread them out about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Try to make the scoops as evenly as possible.

4.Bake the cookies
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees f for about 8-10 minutes.

5. Enjoy!
Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes, then get cozy to enjoy the delicious treat and amazing smell.

August 21st 2025

August 21st 2025

Thought of the Day

August 21st 2024
Photo by Getty Images

An apology is the best way to hae the last word in an argument.

Hurricane Erin picking up steam as it edges along the East Coast

Hurricane Erin picking up steam as it edges along the East Coast

By ALLEN G. BREED and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press

RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Erin began strengthening again Wednesday while creeping closer to the mid-Atlantic coast and churning up menacing waves that have closed beaches from the Carolinas to New York City.

Forecasters expect the storm to peak going into Thursday and say it could re-intensify into a major hurricane.

While Erin is unlikely to make landfall along the East Coast before turning farther out to sea, its outer edge packing tropical force winds was approaching North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Water began pouring onto the main route connecting the barrier islands and around a handful of stilted homes precariously perched above the beach. By Wednesday evening, officials had closed Highway 12 on Hatteras Island as surge increased and waves were growing higher, while Ocracoke Island’s connection to its ferry terminal was cut off.

Authorities expect the largest swells during high tide will cut off villages and vacation homes on the Outer Banks and whip up life-threatening rip currents from Florida to New England.

New York City closed its beaches to swimming on Wednesday and Thursday. Some beaches in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware also will be temporarily off-limits. The storm is expected to bring widespread, moderate coastal flooding to low-lying areas of Long Island and parts of New York City.

Off Massachusetts, Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet (3 meters) later this week. But the biggest threat remained along the Outer Banks where longtime residents didn’t seem too concerned.

“I remember taking canoes out of my front yard to get to school, so I don’t think it’s gonna be that bad,” said Jacob Throne, who lives on Hatteras Island and works for surf shops.

Surfers flocked to the oceanfront in Virginia Beach, where Erin was supplying robust waves for the East Coast Surfing Championships and the kind of swells that many locals hadn’t seen in awhile.

“We’re notorious for not having waves,” said Henry Thompson, who competed in the open long board event. “Usually we get a surf competition and it gets canceled due to no waves or they just run it in really bad waves.”

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein warns residents to take Hurricane Erin “seriously” as the Category two storm forces evacuations and beach closings. (AP Video)

The championships will pause Thursday when Erin blows directly off the Virginia coast. But Thompson said he’s expecting more hurricanes and good surfing in the coming months.

Despite beach closures elsewhere, some swimmers were continuing to ignore the warnings. Rescuers saved more than a dozen people caught in rip currents Tuesday at Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina — a day after more than 80 people were rescued.

Bob Oravec, a National Weather Service forecaster, said even if someone thinks they know how to handle a rip current, it’s still not safe.

“You can be aware all you want,” he said. “It can still be dangerous.”

A combination of fierce winds and huge waves — estimated to be about 20 feet (6.1 meters) — could cause coastal flooding in many beachfront communities, North Carolina officials warned on Wednesday.

“Dangerous conditions can be felt far from the eye, especially with a system as large as Erin,” said Will Ray, the state’s emergency management director.

Dozens of beach homes already worn down from chronic beach erosion and protective dunes could be at risk, said David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The National Hurricane Center is also watching two tropical disturbances to the east of Erin that could develop into named cyclones. With thousands of miles of warm ocean water, hurricanes known as Cape Verde storms are some of the most dangerous that threaten North America.

In the Outer Banks, most residents decided to stay despite evacuations ordered on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.

“We probably wouldn’t stay if it was coming directly at us,” said Rob Temple, who operates sailboat cruises on Ocracoke.

His biggest concern was whether the main route will be washed out, and if tourists and delivery trucks will be cut off from the thin stretch of low-lying islands that are increasingly vulnerable to storm surges.

Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome storm, with its tropical storm winds spreading across 500 miles (800 kilometers) — roughly the distances from New York City to Pittsburgh.

It remained a strong Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds around 110 mph (180 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Erin was about 295 miles (480 kilometers) south-southeast of North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras.

Tropical storm warnings were issued for North Carolina and Virginia, while in Bermuda residents and tourists were told to stay out of the water, as rough seas are expected through Friday.

Climate scientists say Atlantic hurricanes are now much more likely to rapidly intensify into powerful and catastrophic storms fueled by warmer oceans.

___

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press journalists Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Julie Walker in New York contributed.

Wall Street steadies after Nvidia, Palantir and other AI stars trim their losses

Wall Street steadies after Nvidia, Palantir and other AI stars trim their losses

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes ended mixed on Wednesday after Nvidia, Palantir and other superstar stocks pared most of their steep losses from the morning.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% after trimming a loss that reached 1.1% earlier in the day and remains near its an all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 16 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.7%.

The day’s action centered again around stocks caught up in the mania around artificial-intelligence technology.

Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the world’s move into AI, sank as much as 3.9% during the morning and was on track to be the heaviest weight on Wall Street following its 3.5% fall on Tuesday.

But it clawed back nearly all of Wednesday’s drop and finished with a dip of just 0.1%. As it pared its loss, so did broad market indexes because Nvidia is Wall Street’s most influential stock by being its most valuable.

Palantir Technologies, another AI darling, fell 1.1% to add to its 9.4% loss from the day before, but it had been down as much as 9.8% Wednesday morning.

One possible contributor to the swoon was a study from MIT’s Nanda Initiative that warned that most corporations are not yet seeing any measurable return from their generative AI investments, according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

But the larger factor may be the simple criticism that prices for such stock simply shot too high, too fast amid the furor around AI and became too expensive. Nvidia, whose profit report scheduled for next week is one of Wall Street’s next major events, had soared 35.5% for the year so far heading into Tuesday. Palantir had surged even more, more than doubling.

The tech stocks still have supporters, though, who say AI will bring the next generational revolution in business.

Mixed profit reports from big U.S. retailers helped keep the rest of the market in check.

TJX, the company behind the TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores, climbed 2.7% after beating analysts’ forecasts for profit and revenue. It also raised its forecast for profit over its full fiscal year, while CEO Ernie Herrman said TJX is seeing “strong demand at each of our U.S. and international businesses” and that its current quarter is off to a strong start.

Lowe’s added 0.3% after the home-improvement retailer delivered a profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations.

Target, meanwhile, tumbled 6.3%. The struggling retailer said that CEO Brian Cornell plans to step down Feb. 1 and that an insider, 20-year veteran Michael Fiddelke, will replace him. He helped reenergize the company, but it has struggled to turn around weak sales in a more competitive post-COVID retail landscape.

Estee Lauder dropped 3.7% after offering a forecast for profit this upcoming fiscal year that fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. The beauty company said it expects tariffs to shave roughly $100 million off its upcoming earnings.

La-Z-Boy sank 12.1% after the furniture maker’s profit and revenue for the spring came up shy of analysts’ expectations.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 15.59 points to 6,395.78. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 16.04 to 44,938.31, and the Nasdaq composite fell 142.10 to 21,172.86.

The week’s biggest news for Wall Street is likely arriving on Friday, when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a highly anticipated speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The hope on Wall Street is that Powell will hint that cuts to interest rates are coming soon.

The Fed has kept its main interest rate steady this year, primarily because of the fear of the possibility that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push inflation higher. But a surprisingly weak report on job growth across the country may be superseding that.

Treasury yields have come down sharply on expectations for an easing of interest rates, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.29% from 4.30% late Tuesday.

Trump has been angrily calling for lower interest rates, often insulting Powell personally while doing so. Trump on Wednesday called on a top official at the Federal Reserve, Lisa Cook, to resign after a member of his administration accused her of committing mortgage fraud.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.

London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.1% despite a report that said inflation in the U.K. rose more than expected through July, in part due to soaring airfares and food prices.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2%. Shares that trade there of Chinese toy company Pop Mart International Group soared 12.5% after its CEO said its annual revenue could top $4 billion this year and announced the release of a mini version of its popular Labubu dolls.

___

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

Trump calls on Federal Reserve official to resign after official accuses her of mortgage fraud

Trump calls on Federal Reserve official to resign after official accuses her of mortgage fraud

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook to resign after a member of his administration accused Cook of committing mortgage fraud, the latest example of the Trump administration’s efforts to gain control over the central bank.

Bill Pulte, director of the agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, urged the Justice Department to investigate Cook, who was appointed to the Fed’s governing board by former president Joe Biden in 2022. She was reappointed the following year to a term that lasts until 2038, the longest remaining term among the seven governors.

Pulte, in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleged that Cook claimed two homes as her principal residences in 2021 to fraudulently obtain better mortgage lending terms. On June 18 of that year she purchased a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and then two weeks later bought a condo in Atlanta, Georgia, the letter said. Before joining the Fed, Cook taught at Michigan State University.

Pulte also charged that Cook has listed her condo in Atlanta, Georgia, for rent. Mortgages for homes used as principal residences typically carry lower interest rates than properties that are purchased to rent, the letter said.

The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the accusation. A Justice Department spokesperson also declined to comment.

The allegation represents another front in the Trump administration’s attack on the Fed, which has yet to cut its key interest rate as Trump has demanded. If Cook were to step down, then the White House could nominate a replacement. And Trump has said he would only appoint people who would support lower rates.

Just last month, Trump blasted Powell for the ballooning cost of the renovation of two of the Fed’s headquarters buildings, even suggesting that the run-up in costs could constitute a firing offense. He backed off his threats to fire Powell after receiving a tour of the project.

Pulte also suggested that Cook’s alleged actions could constitute a fireable offense. Fed officials are protected by law from being removed by a president, except “for cause,” which is generally seen as some kind of malfeasance or dereliction of duty.

Trump will be able to replace Chair Jerome Powell in May 2026, when Powell’s term expires. Yet 12 members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee have a vote on whether to raise or lower interest rates, so even replacing the Chair doesn’t guarantee that Fed policy will shift the way Trump wants.

But the more members of the Fed’s governing board that Trump can appoint, the more control he will be able to assert over the Fed, which has long been considered independent from day-to-day politics.

All seven members of the Fed’s governing board are able to vote on rate decisions. The other five voters include the president of the Fed’s New York branch and a rotating group of four of the presidents of the Fed’s other 11 regional branches.

Trump appointed two members of the Fed’s board in his first term, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman. Both dissented July 30 from the central bank’s decision to keep its rate unchanged, in favor of a rate cut.

Another Fed governor, Adriana Kugler, stepped down unexpectedly Aug. 1, and Trump has nominated one of his economic advisers, Stephen Miran, to fill out the remainder of her term until January.

If Trump is able to replace Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s board, as well as Kugler, that would give him a clear majority on the board of governors. If Powell leaves the board when his term as chair ends next May, then Trump will be able to fill a fifth spot. However, Powell could stay on the board until early 2028 after finishing his term as chair.

The presidents of the regional Federal Reserve banks are selected by the boards of directors of those banks, but are subject to the approval of the Fed’s board of governors. The terms of all 12 of the regional Fed presidents end next February.

Trump has for months demanded that the Federal Reserve reduce the short-term interest rate it controls, which currently stands at about 4.3%. He has also repeatedly insulted Powell, who has said that the Fed would like to see more evidence of how the economy evolves in response to Trump’s sweeping tariffs before making any moves. Powell has also said the duties threaten to raise inflation and slow growth.

Trump says that a lower rate would reduce the government’s borrowing costs on $37 trillion in debt and boost the housing market by reducing mortgage rates. Yet mortgage borrowing costs and other interest rates, including many of the ones the government pays, do not always follow the Fed’s rate decisions.

The Trump administration has made similar claims of mortgage fraud against Democrats that Trump has attacked, including California Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

NC Governor warns coast folks ‘to take care’ as Hurricane Erin forces evacuations and beach closings

NC Governor warns coast folks ‘to take care’ as Hurricane Erin forces evacuations and beach closings

By ALLEN G. BREED and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press

RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Erin began strengthening again Wednesday while creeping toward the mid-Atlantic coast and churning up menacing waves that have closed beaches from the Carolinas to New York City.

Forecasters expect the storm to peak over the next 48 hours and say it could re-intensify into a major hurricane by Wednesday night.

While Erin is unlikely to make landfall along the East Coast before turning farther out to sea, authorities expect its large swells will cut off roads to villages and vacation homes on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and whip up life-threatening rip currents from Florida to New England.

New York City closed its beaches to swimming on Wednesday and Thursday. Some beaches in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware also will be temporarily off-limits.

Off Massachusetts, Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet (3 meters) later this week. But the biggest threat remained along the Outer Banks.

Despite the beach closures, some swimmers were continuing to ignore the warnings. Rescuers saved more than a dozen people caught in rip currents Tuesday at Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina — a day after more than 80 people were rescued.

Bob Oravec, the lead National Weather Service forecaster in College Park, Maryland, said even if someone thinks they know how to handle a rip current, it’s still not safe in the current conditions.

“You can be aware all you want,” he said. “It can still be dangerous.”

A combination of fierce winds and huge waves — estimated to be about 20 feet (6.1 meters) in height — could cause coastal flooding in many beachfront communities, North Carolina officials warned on Wednesday.

“Regardless of the track of the center of the storm, dangerous conditions can be felt far from the eye, especially with a system as large as Erin,” said Will Ray, the state’s emergency management director.

Dozens of beach homes already worn down from chronic beach erosion and the loss of protective dunes could be at risk, said David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The National Hurricane Center is also watching two tropical disturbances to the east of Erin that could develop into named cyclones. With thousands of miles of warm ocean water, hurricanes known as Cape Verde storms are some of the most dangerous that threaten North America.

Water from the Atlantic already was washing onto the main route through the Outer Banks on Wednesday, and some sections are likely to be impassable during high tide later in the evening.

Authorities warned that time was running out to leave, but most residents decided to stay despite evacuations ordered on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.

“We probably wouldn’t stay if it was coming directly at us,” said Rob Temple, who operates sailboat cruises on Ocracoke.

His biggest concern was whether the main route will be washed out, and if tourists and delivery trucks will be cut off from the thin stretch of low-lying barrier islands that are increasingly vulnerable to storm surges.

Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome storm, with its tropical storm winds covering 500 miles (800 kilometers) from edge to edge — roughly the distances from New York City to Pittsburgh.

Erin remained a strong Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds around 110 mph (180 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. It was about 365 miles (590 kilometers) south-southeast of North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras.

Tropical storm warnings were issued for North Carolina and Virginia, while in Bermuda the government warned residents and tourists to stay out of the water, as rough seas are expected through Friday.

Climate scientists say Atlantic hurricanes are now much more likely to rapidly intensify into powerful and catastrophic storms fueled by warmer oceans.

___

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press journalists Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Ben Finley in Norfolk, and Julie Walker in New York contributed.

August 20th 2025

August 20th 2025

Thought of the Day

August 20th 2024
Photo by Getty Images

It takes both the sun and the rain to make a beautiful rainbow.

Recent News

Powered By SoCast