News from around the nation.

At least 800 killed as 6.0-magnitude earthquake rocks Afghanistan; Missouri labor, community groups protest 'billionaire takeover'; Alabama advocates celebrate grocery tax cut, end to 'pink tax'; Labor, immigrant advocates rally at WA detention center.

Transcript

A public news service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

At least 800 people have been killed and more than 1300 others injured in Afghanistan after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit the country, Taliban officials said Monday.

That from NBC News.

They report the earthquake struck 17 miles from the eastern city of Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan at around midnight local time.

A spokesperson for the Afghan public ministry said because the earthquake hit a remote mountainous area, it will take time to get the exact information about human losses and damage to the infrastructure.

And this Labor Day, many Missouri workers are joining a national movement known as Workers Over Billionaires.

They're holding rallies to push back against what organizers call a billionaire takeover of democracy at the expense of working families.

Labor leaders say the holiday is more than just a chance to fire up the grill, especially in Missouri, where the average worker earns about $54,000 a year, while the state's top 1 percent of earners make nearly 16 times that.

Patrick H.

Kellett, who heads the nonpartisan Greater St. Louis Labor Council, says the answer is for workers to get aggressive in organizing.

When you strip away collective bargaining from veteran affairs workers and public employees, it negatively affects your numbers.

We need to keep educating, keep organizing, and grow the protection for the workers, which is under the union umbrella.

A May Day Strong campaign launched May 1st and now spans all 50 states.

Organizers say the Missouri rally spotlighted fair wages and health care, noting more than 230,000 Missourians remain uninsured.

Crystal Blair reporting.

And a new cut to Alabama's grocery tax takes effect today, trimming the state rate from 3 percent to 2 percent.

Supporters say the change will offer relief to families already dealing with high prices in a state where one in four Children face food insecurity.

Chris Sanders with Alabama arise says the change will ease the strain many households fill at the checkout line.

The second grocery tax reduction in three years.

This is going to make it easier for every Alabamian to make ends meet.

And that's especially important as we continue to face persistently high food crisis.

Sanders says, while this latest cut provides welcome relief.

Alabama is still one of only 10 states that tax groceries.

He points out that the combined grocery tax breaks in 2023 and 2025 equal about a week's worth of groceries for the average household each year.

He stresses that long term solutions are needed to end the tax without reducing resources for schools to move closer to that goal.

Sanders explains that Alabama arise and its members are working with lawmakers on the Joint Study Commission on Grocery Taxation.

He says their focus is on finding sustainable ways to replace the lost revenue.

One that we have pushed and supported for many years is to cap or eliminate the state deduction for federal income taxes.

For Alabama News Service, I'm Shantia Hudson.

This is Public News Service.

In honor of Labor Day, a coalition of labor and immigrant rights advocates in Oregon and Washington have organized a caravan that will travel to a rally at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.

The caravan started in Southern California and left from Portland this morning.

Jessica Rojas with the International Migrants Alliance says it is important this Labor Day to show support for working migrants who are being threatened with deportation by the Trump administration.

In our experience, those detained are primarily migrant workers who oftentimes are the ones that are putting the food on our tables, that are helping us with our groceries, that are taking care of our loved ones in hospitals.

The caravan is part of over 1,000 events happening across the country today to reject what organizers say is a billionaire takeover of government.

I'm Isabel Charley.

And just out for Labor Day, a new report finds job growth was higher in Pennsylvania than the nation overall for the first half of the year, but shows signs of slowing down.

The state of working Pennsylvania report analyzes the challenges and opportunities for the workforce.

Report co author Claire Kovac with Keystone Research Center warns shifting federal policies are creating tougher conditions for workers.

She notes from mid 2023 through late 2024 unemployment stayed at 3.6 or 3.7 percent lower than any pre-pandemic month in more than 50 years.

But she says unemployment has begun to creep up.

In July it was up to four percent but it's still pretty low unemployment rate, but we also see that Pennsylvania's hiring and quit rates are lower than they were last year.

So these figures together indicate there's more slack in the labor market and ultimately fewer people are switching jobs and that's often because outside opportunities aren't as plentiful as they were before.

The report recommends increasing Pennsylvania's minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Kovacs says nearly a million Pennsylvanians are affected by the state's lower minimum wage.

Danielle Smith reporting.

Finally you can tell we take Liberty seriously with one more report now from Colorado.

CEOs at the largest 100 low-wage corporations listed in the S&P 500, businesses such as Home Depot, Starbucks, Walmart and others, earn 632 times more than their lowest paid workers on average.

Sarah Anderson with the Institute for Policy Studies is the reports lead author.

She says CEO pay has soared since 2019, while worker pay has lagged behind US inflation.

At a time when many American workers are struggling with high costs for things like groceries and housing, what we found is that the nation's 100 largest low-wage employers are focused on making their overpaid CEOs even richer.

Average CEO compensation at low-wage companies was over 17 million dollars in 2024.

The average median pay for workers was less $36,000.

I'm Eric Galatas.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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