Jobless claims rise slightly to 353,000
CBSN
The number of Americans filing initial claims for jobless benefits rose for the first time in five weeks, even though the economy and job market have been recovering briskly from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims edged up to 353,000 from 349,000 a week earlier. The weekly count has fallen more or less steadily since topping 900,000 in early January, helped by the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines that has encouraged businesses to reopen and has lured consumers out of their homes to restaurants, bars and shops. But a resurgence of cases linked to the highly contagious Delta variant has clouded the economic outlook. "The downward trend in claims continues, despite the Covid-Delta wave, presumably because the bar to letting staff go is very high, given the tightness of the labor market," Ian Shepherson, chief economist with Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in a research note. "Firms can't be sure they'll be able to rehire people laid off now."Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.
The knock at the door came at nighttime on Mother's Day 2008 in Oregon, where Jessica Ellis' parents lived. It was around 9:20 p.m. and his wife, Linda, was already in bed; her father Steve Ellis told CBS News, that he thought someone let their animals out — but two soldiers in Class A uniforms were standing at the door.