
US EPA cutting workforce by 23% through early retirements, layoffs
In January, the EPA had 16,155 employees, and after layoffs and employees opting to take financial incentives to leave or retire, it will have a workforce of 12,448, the agency said. The EPA is also offering a third round of the deferred resignation program that will close on July 25, meaning the agency's total workforce could further shrink, a spokesperson said.
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Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson gets 4-year, $52M extension
July 27 - The Dallas Cowboys signed Jake Ferguson to a four-year, $52 million contract extension on Sunday, making him the highest-paid tight end in franchise history. The deal includes $30 million guaranteed for Ferguson, who was due to earn $3.4 million in the final year of his rookie contract in 2025. Ferguson, 26, caught 59 passes for 494 yards with no touchdowns in 14 games (all starts) for the Cowboys last season. The 2022 fourth-round draft pick made the Pro Bowl in 2023 and has 149 receptions for 1,429 yards and seven TDs in 47 career games (38 starts). According to the Cowboys, Ferguson becomes the seventh-highest paid tight end in the NFL and the extension also frees up $1.8 million toward the team's 2025 salary cap. Although Dallas has locked up a key piece of its offense, All-Pro pass-rusher Micah Parsons still is waiting for his payday as the team prepares for its Sept. 4 season opener at defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia. The announcement about Ferguson's deal on the team's website said Cowboys co-owner and COO Stephen Jones considers the training camp site in Oxnard, Calif., a "friendly ground for getting contracts one, so Dallas may not be done just yet." --Field Level Media


Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
China, US to extend tariff pause at Sweden talks by another 90 days, SCMP reports
July 27 (Reuters) - Beijing and Washington are expected to extend their tariff truce by another three months at trade talks in Stockholm beginning on Monday, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. During the expected 90-day extension, the U.S. and China will agree not to introduce new tariffs or take other actions that could further escalate the trade war, the report said. While the earlier discussions in Geneva and London focused on "de-escalation", the latest meeting the Chinese delegation will also press Trump's trade team on fentanyl-related tariffs, the report further said, citing three sources familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The third round of U.S.-China talks is set to be held in Stockholm on Monday to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of the countries' trade war.


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Tiny Louisiana town sees housing prices skyrocket
Prices for certain homes in a tiny part of northern Louisiana have more than doubled thanks to construction beginning on a massive Meta data center, a project that is set to create thousands of jobs. The massive facility, comparable in size to 70 football fields, will sit on more than 2200 acres of what used to be farmland near Holly Ridge in Richland Parish. Meta and its team of general contractors said the herculean undertaking will require 5,000 construction workers. Even with all that manpower, the data center isn't expected to be up and running until 2030. Once operational, Meta believes about 500 employees will be needed to maintain it. Ever since the four-million-square-foot center was announced in December 2024, the value of homes near the construction site have increased by record amounts. A 5,000 square-foot mansion on an 816-acre lot 'just 20 minutes' from the data center is on the market for $16.3 million. In November 2024, the listed price was $7.5 million, less than half of what it is eight months later. This same phenomenon has been observed with more modest homes in the area, such as a $775,000 property for sale in Oak Ridge. That home, also about 20 minutes from the data center, was going for just $463,000 in December. Data centers contain hundreds or even thousands of servers that power basic functions of the internet, which make them crucial facets of American infrastructure. In the case of Meta's 28 data centers across the globe, they have server space to process and store the billions of messages, posts and images circulated on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp every single second of the day. In an Instagram video , Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Louisiana data center will help make its AI model get smarter, faster and more useful. All this hype around Meta's newest development has supercharged the Richland real estate market, an area that still has high rates of poverty. Realtor Heather Stephenson of Brown Realty told The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate that her phone is ringing off the hook. She said land within about a 10-mile radius of the data center is getting the most attention. 'We're getting more and more calls and more and more interest. You know, some of those that kind of sat on the market, have been on the market for a while, that are now priced good because they're $15,000 when, you know, comps are higher,' Stephenson said. Lee Brown, the Richland Parish Tax Assessor, mentioned a piece of property along Interstate 20 that is listed for $430,000 per acre, double what is was before the Meta announcement. Brown said development around the data center is booming in anticipation of the much larger foot traffic the area will experience over the coming years. 'Delhi has got a truck stop travel center, for lack of a better word coming, Holly Ridge has one. There are three hotels, and I know of six, off the top of my head, different restaurants,' he told the Advocate.