Private payroll growth edged lower in June, according to a report Wednesday from ADP that indicates a potential slowdown in the U.S. labor market. Companies added 150,000 jobs for the month, below the upwardly revised 157,000 in May and the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 160,000. The total was the lowest monthly gain since January. Without the surge in leisure and hospitality hiring, the total would have been considerably lower. The sector added 63,000 jobs, easily the biggest gain...

Up to 10 Republican House lawmakers are open to increasing the corporate tax rate, a senior GOP member estimated, possibly threatening Donald Trump’s future plans if he is reelected. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts lowered the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, a move hailed by businesses. But that levy, along with a host of other lower rates, is set to expire at the end of 2025 and some Republicans are balking at the $4.5 trillion price tag of extending them, setting up a major policy fight for the...

The campaign arm of the House GOP is targeting Vice President Kamala Harris in an ad that calls her the “enabler in chief,” elevating the No. 2 as Democrats consider whether to dump President Biden from the ticket. Over ominous music, the 75-second clip shows Ms. Harris talking about how proud she’s been to serve alongside Mr. Biden. It also says she struggled to tackle illegal immigration — one of many tasks delegated to her early in Mr. Biden’s term. The National Republican...

In 2018, British regulators sanctioned the UK arm of online gambling giant Flutter (FLTRF.L) after it failed to catch an astonishing anomaly. The head of an animal shelter had been embezzling money from his employer to fund his bets, losing what the charity said was more than half a million dollars over four years. The gambling watchdog forced Flutter to pay about $2.8 million for not protecting customers from obviously uncontrolled gambling and not stopping the use of stolen money...

When we see someone dealing with the loss of a loved one or some other major life crisis, it's instinctual for many of us to ask how we can help. Often, the conversation looks something like this:Us: I am SO sorry you're going through this. What can I do to help? Person in crisis: I honestly don't know right now. Us: Okay…well…you let me know if you need anything—anything at all.Person in crisis: Okay, thank you.Us: I mean it. Don't hesitate to ask. I'm happy to help with whatever you need.And then…crickets. The person never reaches out to take you up on the offer. Was it that they didn't really need any help, this person going through a major life crisis? Unlikely. As sincere as our offer may have been, the problem may be that we didn't really offer them what they actually needed. One of those needs is to not have to make decisions. Another is to not have to directly ask for help. When a person is in a state of crisis, they can feel like they're drowning. They might be disoriented and fatigued, and doing anything other than keeping their head above water long enough to breathe can feel like too much. If someone is drowning, you don't ask them what you can do to help or wait for them to ask. You just take action. Here are some specific ways you can take action to help someone who you know needs help but isn't able or willing to ask for it:1. Make them foodIt may be tempting to ask if you can make them a meal and wait for them to say yes or no, but don't. Simply ask if they or anyone in their household has any dietary restrictions, and then start shopping and cooking.Meals that can be popped in the refrigerator or freezer and then directly into the oven or microwave are going to be your best bets. Include cooking or reheating instructions if it's not obvious. Disposable aluminum trays are great for homemade freezer-to-oven meals and can be found at just about any grocery store. Casseroles. Stir fried rices. Soups. Comfort foods. If you don't cook, you can buy them gift cards to local restaurants that deliver, or give them a DoorDash or UberEats gift certificate (large enough to cover the delivery, service fees and tip as well, which combined can be as much as a meal sometimes). Even better—organize a meal trainIf you want to make it a community-wide effort and no one else has done so yet, set up a "meal train," where different people sign up for different days to bring meals to spread out the food help over time. There are several free websites you can use for this purpose, including Give In Kind, Meal Train, and Take Them a Meal. These sites make it super easy for anyone with the personalized link to sign up for a meal. 2. Clean their kitchen and/or bathroomsKitchens are always in use, and keeping up with dishes, especially in a house full of people, is a challenge even under normal circumstances. Same with keeping the refrigerator cleaned out. Same with cleaning the bathroom.Rather than asking if they want it done, as many people won't want to say yes even if they would appreciate the help, try saying something like, "I want to come and make sure your kitchen is ready for you to make food whenever you want to and that your bathroom is a clean space for you to escape to whenever you feel like it. Is Tuesday or Wednesday at 1:00 better for you?" The fewer complex decisions a person in crisis has to make the better, so saying, "Is this or that better?" rather than offering open-ended possibilities can be helpful. 3. Do laundryOffer to sit and chat with them, let them vent if they need to…and fold their laundry while you're at it. Are they the kind of people who might be embarrassed by you seeing or handling their underclothes? Fine. Wash, dry and fold towels or bedsheets instead. Just keep the laundry moving for them. And if it doesn't feel appropriate or desirable for you to do their laundry at their house, you can offer a pick-up laundry service, either yourself or an actual hired service. Tell the person to put bags or bins of laundry at the door and you (or the service) will come pick it up and bring it back clean and folded the next day. That's a great way to be of service without feeling like you're intruding.4. Run errands for them"Hey, I'm heading out to the store, what can I grab you while I'm there?" is always a welcome phone call or text. Let them know when you're going to be running your own errands and see if there's anything they need dropped at the post office, picked up from the pharmacy, or anything else. You can also offer to run errands with them. "Hey, I've got some errands to run. Do you want to join me?" They may have no desire to leave the house, or they may desperately want to leave the house, so be prepared for either answer, but the offer is solid. Even just not having to drive might be a relief if they have things they need to pick up or drop off places. 5. Provide childcareIf the person is a parent, taking their kid(s) out for a chunk of the day can be a big help. Caring for yourself is hard when you're going through a difficult time, and the energy a person might use to actually do that often gets usurped by caring for others. Obviously, parents can't just neglect their children, so anything you can do to relieve them of that responsibility for a while is gold. Offering to take the kids to do something fun—a day at the park, ice skating, etc. is even better. A parent knowing their kid is safe, occupied and happy is its own form of relief. 6. Ask what they're struggling with and focus your help thereWhile all of these practical household things are helpful, there might be some people who find comfort or solace in doing those things themselves. If that's the case, talk with them about what their immediate needs are and what they're having a hard time dealing with. Then focus your energies there. "What can I do to help?" may not be as effective a question as "What are you having a hard time doing right now?" They may not know what kind of help they need, but they probably know how they're struggling.One person might be lonely and just want some company. Another person might need a creative outlet or a mindless distraction or something physical like going for a walk or a hike. Someone else might have pets they need help caring for, a garden that need tending or the oil changed in their car. Someone might even need a person to serve as a shield or buffer between them and all the people coming to offer their condolences. Note that many of these things are basic life maintenance stuff—those are often the things that get hard for people when they're dealing with the emotional and logistical stuff surrounding whatever they're going through, and they're often the easiest things other people can do for them. A time of crisis is not a normal time, so normal etiquette, such as asking if you can or should do something rather than just letting them know you're going to do it, doesn't always apply. If there's a specific thing with specific tasks, such as planning a funeral, that might be a good opportunity to ask how you can help. But people deep in the throes of grief or struggle often need someone to the reins on basic things without being asked to. Again, there's a good chance they feel like they're drowning, so don't wait for an invitation. Just grab the life preserver, put it around them and do whatever needs to be done to get them to shore.This article originally appeared on 2.5.24

Sometimes it feels like there's an ocean's distance between the way humans should act toward one another and the way we do. So when we see a good example of good behavior—especially in a situation where things so often go the wrong way—it's notable.Such is the case with Ronny, a young man caught on a doorbell security camera dropping off a young woman who had been drinking. The footage is only 20 seconds long, but people are holding it up as a perfect example of how a guy dropping off a drunk girl should go. The TikTok video has nearly 30 million views, and the comments are filled with people praising Ronny for how he handled the situation.First of all, Ronny walks the girl to the door and opens it for her. Very gentlemanly.After she says, "Mommy, I'm so sorry!" into the doorbell camera and goes inside, Ronny addresses the camera himself. "My name is Ronny, I am sober. I drove her home," he says. As he starts to walk away, he turns around and adds, "My girlfriend's in the car."Watch: @achi.1122 Lord its me again ? #TheSecondChild #ThanksRonnie #RingDoorBell #DontDrinkAndDrive #MyWildChild #Sissa #oldfiles So this guy stays sober at a party, serves as a designated driver, makes sure the girl gets into her house safely, assures the girl's mother that he drove her there sober and even adds that his girlfriend was with them so she doesn't have to wonder if she was in the car with him alone. "Shout out to all the Ronnies!" wrote one commenter on Instagram. "I married one. My friend died her senior year of HS, because she was hit by a drunk driver. In my 20’s when I was out, I would ask my boyfriend (now husband) to take some very intoxicated females & males home who had no other ride. He NEVER said no. Now I’m raising young men and this is so so important!! #mothersagainstdrunkdriving""Everything about this," wrote another. "Props for her not driving. Props for the gentleman taking the girls home. Props to the adults in his life that modeled that behavior, and in her parents that taught her not to drive after drinking!!!!""This is fabulous. I love it. Way to go sorry girl and Ronnie," wrote another. "I did however literally lol at the 100% tired sigh quality in Ronnie’s voice. #Good ol’ Ronnie- doing the right thing even when he’s sick of your nonsense."Ronny did sound a bit exasperated, but that's all the more reason to give him kudos for doing all the right things. However, after the video went viral, Ronny took the opportunity to share that he didn't think he deserved praise—he only did what his parents had raised him to do. "I want to take the 10 minutes of fame I have right now to spread the message, be kind," he wrote in a follow-up TikTok caption. "If at any point, you are in a similar or relevant position where you know you have the ability to help, help. There are certain things in life that sadly not all of us were told and I think that's why the world is the way it is. I am really grateful for my parents for raising me the way they raised me. And to be quite honest, I don't think I would've acted the same way if they would have taught me otherwise. All I'm trying to say is, although I greatly appreciate the attention and the compliments what I did shouldn't be something exceptional." @ocqv to be quite honest, I got tired of re-recording this video, I feel like I got my point across enough to be understood. However, if you did not understand what I was trying to say, I’m going to further explain it. I want to take the 10 minutes of fame that I have right now to spread the message, be kind. If at any point, you are in a similar or relevant position where you know you have the ability to help, help. There are certain things in life that sadly not all of us were told and I think that’s why the world is the way it is. I am really grateful for my parents for raising me the way they raised me. And to be quite honest, I don’t think I would’ve acted the same way if they would have taught me otherwise. All I’m trying to say is, although I greatly appreciate the attention and the compliments what I did shouldn’t be something exceptional. It should be the normal thing in my opinion, I believe that everybody’s in a position to help at some point in their life some people just don’t take that opportunity so let this just be a little reminder, help, be kind. Thank you guys ?? Well, if there was anything that could endear people to Ronny any more than they already were, it's his giving credit to his parents and encouraging everyone to be kind and helpful. Well done, Ronny. And well done, Ronny's parents. This article originally appeared on 7.24.23

The recent trend of parents going out of their way to give their children unique names has brought up a lot of discussion on social media. Some of these names sound cute when a child is 5 years old. But will Caeleigh, Zoomer or Rhyedyr look like a serious adult on a job application in a few years?A recent viral video on TikTok is a unique twist on the current discussion surrounding names. Samantha Hart has a name that doesn’t seem like it would draw any negative attention in professional circles. However, her parents didn’t consider email conventions when they named her back in the late ‘90s when email was new.“My name is Samantha Hart,” the 27-year-old said. “Most companies use the email designation of first initial, last name, meaning my email would be shart.” For the uninitiated, a shart is an unintentional release when one thinks they only have gas.The issue arose because Samantha has had two “professional” jobs in the past in which her name has been an issue. So, as she began a third job, she wondered how to approach the situation with a new employer. @thesam_show sorry if i talk about this problem too much but it is HAPPENING AGAIN!! “At every single workplace, I have received an email from HR the week before I start letting me know that my name does not exactly fit the company email structure as they would intend and [asked] would I mind if they gave me a different structure for my email,” Hart said.So she asked her 30,000 followers on TikTok if she should just "reach out, right off the bat" to her employer and ask for "something else" or wait for HR to react to her email situation. But most of the responses were from people who have been in the same embarrassing situation as Samantha and wished their parents had thought twice before naming them. "Clittmann has entered the chat. Have been dealing with this since college," Chris.Littmann responded."As Swallo, I feel your pain," Samantha Wallo replied."My name is Sue Hartlove so my work emails are always shartlove," Sue added."I went to college w Tiffany Estes," Abby1233213 wrote."Rkelley has entered the chat," Rach commented."Worked with a guy named Sam Adcock," Lori added."My last name is Hartstein, and my mom’s personal email is ‘shartstein.’ People literally call her shart-stein," Lyss wrote."I used to work with a BAllsman," JenniferKerastas added."I worked with a Patrick Ecker at a previous job..." NoName wrote."Our high school used last name, first two letters of first name. My friend's email ended up being 'mountme,'" Averageldeal commented.Andy Marks won the comment section with: "Always best to initiate the shart convo… wait too long and it tends to come out at the least opportune moment."While the comments were dominated by people sharing their unfortunate email addresses, a few people in the IT field shared their advice for how Samantha should approach her new employer with her email issue. Most agreed that she should address the issue before it becomes a larger problem."As someone in IT—please reach out. When we have to rename a bunch of logins after someone starts it can cause headaches for everyone (inc you!)," Kelsey Lane wrote.This article originally appeared on 1.10.24

We all know parenting can be tough, but if there's one thing that makes the roller coaster of emotions totally worth it, it's seeing our children's faces light up with joy.Children's smiles are infectious, and not in the scary pandemic kind of a way. There's simply nothing better in this world than the face of a bright-eyed little human beaming with happiness, which is why a recent TikTok trend has people grinning from ear to ear themselves. The premise is simple: The parent asks the kid to record them dancing to Taylor Swift's "Love Story" with the screen facing away from them (under the guise that the parent dancing needs to see themselves). So instead of recording the parent dancing, it's actually recording the kid's face watching them.And oh, the love and joy on these kids' faces is so, so sweet to witness. Watch: @thechavezfamilyy The end ?? why am I bawling at this trend?! He’s SO CUTE #momsoftiktok #momtok #toddlersoftiktok That face. OMG. And check out the encouragement from this little fella: @themarshhfamily The end did it for me ??I birthed such a sweet, loving and encouraging little boy!! #momtok #toddlersoftiktok #taylorswiftchallenge #lovestorychallenge #boymom #toddlermom Seriously, seeing close-ups of kids' joy should be a daily thing. @makingthemoffitts #nationaladoptionmonth #adoptionawareness #thisisadoption #thisisfostercare #adoption #fostercare #makingthemoffitts #lovestorychallenge #taylorswift Some dads have gotten in on the trend as well. Look at the way this little girl beams at her daddy. @durbanofamily Had to jump on the trend! Love this beautiful girl! Of course, part of the beauty of having kids is you simply never know what they're going to do. While some youngsters gaze lovingly at their parents while they dance, others have a … well … different reaction. Check out this girl's facial expressions: @haleigh.booth It’s the side eye at the end for me ????? Hilarious. And because this is the internet, naturally someone had to do the TikTok trend with their dog. Gotta admit, Ellie's toothy grin is pretty darn cute as well. @elliegoldenlife This is why I don’t dance ? TikTok trends can sometimes be strange, annoying or problematic, but once in a while one comes along that brings people together in surprisingly delightful ways. Seeing people's kids' pure enjoyment watching their parents being silly is simply the best. This article originally appeared on 11.15.22

It's amazing to consider just how quickly the world has changed over the past 11 months. If you were to have told someone in February 2020 that the entire country would be on some form of lockdown, nearly everyone would be wearing a mask, and half a million people were going to die due to a virus, no one would have believed you.Yet, here we are.PPE masks were the last thing on Leah Holland of Georgetown, Kentucky's mind on March 4, 2020, when she got a tattoo inspired by the words of a close friend."We were just talking about things we admire about each other and he said, 'You courageously and radically refuse to wear a mask,' like meaning that I'm undeniably myself. I thought that was a really poetic way of saying that," Holland told Fox 13.So, she had "courageously & radically refuse to wear a mask" tattooed on her left forearm. It's a beautiful sentiment about Leah's dedication to being her true self. It's also a reminder for Leah to remain true to herself throughout her life.However, the tattoo would come to have a very different meaning just two days later when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Kentucky."It basically looked like I'm totally, you know, anti-mask or whatever, which is not the case," said Holland.Now, she was embarrassed to be seen with the tattoo for fear she'd be associated with the anti-maskers who either deny the existence of the virus or refuse to wear a mask to protect others. Either way, it's a bad look.So Leah started wearing long-sleeve shirts and cardigan sweaters whenever in public to cover up the tattoo.On Monday, TikTok users asked each other to share their "dumbest tattoo" and she was pretty sure she had the winner. @wakaflockafloccar #stitch with @hannanicbic I could NOT have had worse timing. #fyp #foryoupage #tattoo #worsttattoo #winner ♬ original sound - wakaflockafloccare In her video, she talks about how her tattoo was about "not pretending to be something you're not," but then revealed it to show how — after a historical twist — it made her out to be someone she isn't."I just kind of wanted people to laugh with me because I think it's funny now, too," said Holland.Plenty of people on TikTok laughed along with her with one user suggesting she update the tattoo with the phrase: "Hindsight is 2020.""I was dying laughing. I'm like, I'm glad there are people that find this as funny as I think it is," said Holland."It will be a funny story to tell years from now," she said. "I don't think it will ever not be a funny story."Unfortunately, even when the pandemic is over, Leah will still probably have to explain her tattoo. Because most won't soon forget the COVID-19 era in America and there's no doubt many will still feel passionate about those who refused to wear a mask.This article originally appeared on 02.24.21