An appeals court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump can fire two board members of independent agencies handling labor issues from their respective posts in the federal government.

A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed to lift orders blocking the Trump administration from removing Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris and National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox.

Florida’s Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism approved a bill that relaxes child labor laws. The bill removes restrictions on 16- and 17-year-olds to work up to eight hours a day before 6:30 a.m. or after 11 p.m., even on school nights.

It also removes mandated breaks for those working four continuous hours and eases restrictions for 14 and 15-year-olds with certain qualifications.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, argues it supports parental rights and aligns with federal laws, while critics warn it could lead to exploitation.

“Cheap labor,” according to Vice President JD Vance, “inhibits innovation” and is “a drug that too many American firms got addicted to” over previous decades of globalization.

“Whether we were offshoring factories to cheap labor economies or importing cheap labor through our immigration system,” Vance continued, “cheap labor became the drug of Western economies.”

Google is eliminating its minority hiring goals that were created following the death of George Floyd in 2020 and will review its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, the tech company announced on Wednesday, to comply with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on DEI in the public and private sectors.

President Biden is blocking the proposed $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel.
"A strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains.  That is because steel powers our country: our infrastructure, our auto industry, and our defense industrial base. Without domestic steel production and domestic steel workers, our nation is less strong and less secure", Biden stated on Friday. 

President Joe Biden on Friday officially blocked the takeover of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, making good on his promise to keep an industrial name that is more than a century old under domestic ownership.

Biden said the proposed $14.9 billion acquisition by Nippon would place one of the largest steel producers in the U.S. under foreign control, creating a risk for the nation’s critical supply chains.

President Joe Biden said Friday he is blocking a $14.3 billion acquisition of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, marking a significant use of executive authority in the closing days of his administration.

“As I have said many times, steel production – and the steel workers who produce it – are the backbone of our nation,” he said in a statement. “A strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains.”

Nippon Steel proposed giving the U.S. government a veto over any reduction in U.S. Steel’s “production capacity” in a last-ditch bid for President Joe Biden’s approval to acquire the venerable American steelmaker, according to a document sent to the White House on Monday.

The proposal is aimed at mollifying the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which warned last week that Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion takeover of U.S. Steel could lead to a decline in domestic steel output that would pose “risks to the national security of the United States.”