Week of June 30th, 2025

There are myriad regional twists to hot dogs. The bun is no exception.

We visit Wyoming to find out. Plus, manufacturing contraction, book donations to boost literacy, and travelling for work.

As a college counselor in Houston, Texas, Khadyajah Jenkins witnesses students’ lack of access to books first-hand.

“I want a house so badly,” said Ashley Ayala of Texas. “But for work, I travel three weeks out of the month... It is very hard for me to justify the largest purchase of my life when I am only home one week a month.”

Plus, there’s no guarantee the public would maintain access.

What kids (and grownups) need to know about tariffs.

Microsoft, Amazon and BlackRock are among the employers that have reportedly had repeated rounds of layoffs in recent months. Plus, a look at the wedding industry in Ireland.

Changes in the interpretation of campaign finance law could be on the horizon. Also on the show: a new approach to homeless encampments in Northern California.

From the BBC World Service: President Trump’s spending and tax bill boosts military and border spending and extends Trump-era tax cuts, but makes deep cuts to healthcare and food aid.

Paresh Dave, senior writer at WIRED, joins Marketplace’s Nova Safo on “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Plus, we visit affordable housing built on public land, break down why lower tariffs will still pinch consumers and discuss the latest jobs report.

Importers are finding lots of ways to deal with the uncertainty caused by the president’s import taxes.

Over half of California farmworkers are undocumented. Recent raids have put the industry on edge.

It turns out there was not a surge in hiring. Instead, the seasonal adjustment to the data, meant to account for schools getting out, may have distorted the numbers in June.

A 10% or 20% tariff is it’s still a significant tax on imports — that Americans will pay.

The GOP’s plan to put a for-sale sign on millions of acres of federal land out West was just nixed. But the idea has been kicking around Washington for years.

The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill would increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034.

Plus, the federal government wants more of your data.

The government reported today that 147,000 more people were on payrolls in June compared to May.

Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare is blocking AI crawlers by default.

Following damage wrought by Hurricane Helene, some Asheville, North Carolina, businesses are rebuilding with resilience in mind.

After Hurricane Helene flooded a crucial corridor for commerce, businesses are rethinking how to build back smarter.

From the BBC World Service: President Donald Trump says that goods from Vietnam will face a 20% tariff — significantly lower than the 46% levy he announced in April.

Associated Press data reporter Sharon Lurye explains how scammers are using stolen identities to steal financial aid and student loans from colleges and prospective students.

What can a consumer spending pullback do to the job market? Plus: Why the U.S. dollar has been falling and how economists analyze hiring data.

“Trade is hugely important to agriculture, and consistency is important to agriculture,” said Brian Duncan, president of the Illinois Farm Bureau. “We need some signed agreements that provide some certainty and some security.”

“I think what you see in this partnership, the residency, is exactly what we've always talked about,” said co-founder Teo Hunter. “Racial equity is a tide that lifts all ships.”

The U.S. economy is still a good investment, if you look at growth and high interest rates, but investors are rattled by high tariffs and high deficits.

Private sector employment fell last month, but wage growth is still on the rise. The unemployment rate is fairly low by historical standards.

Labor costs are a big component of the cost of services, and consumer spending on services accounts for nearly half of this economy.

What the shutdown might mean for U.S. influence abroad.

President Donald Trump argues the GOP bill eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits, but that’s not the case.

Economic uncertainty has both employers and employees waiting on the sidelines.

Amid continued economic uncertainty, many workers seem to be staying put, and employers seem hesitant to let workers go.

Uncertainty around deployment can make it hard to plan financially.

From the BBC World Service: Australia, India, Japan, and the U.S. have launched a new push to secure supplies of critical minerals.

According to a recent report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, for the first time ever, more Americans are getting their news from social media than traditional mediums.

We’ll learn how grown-ups use credit cards and get some tips for being responsible with them. Then the ghost pirates show up.  

With the latest GOP tax and spending bill estimated to add $3 trillion to the already-enormous national debt, we look back at how we got here. Plus, foreign trade zones, trout fishing and Home Depot.

The retailer’s recent acquisition of building supply distributor GMS is another sign Home Depot is going after the big guys — think entire home construction instead of bathroom renovations.

As business interest in FTZs grows amid the ongoing tariff uncertainty, local economies stand to benefit.

Outdoor outfitters and anglers are navigating the first post-Helene tourist season — and worrying about the future.

A deep dive into the phenomenon of overtourism.

A look back at the history of the national debt, and what the GOP’s new budget bill might mean for the debt going forward.

Builders are facing elevated costs and — in some markets — weak demand, believe it or not.

It has a lot to do with expectations.

Surveys consistently show people want to age in their current home. But doing so isn’t always easy or affordable.

In the Senate, it’s currently “vote-o-rama” time.

Quantumscape said it plans to start selling solid-state batteries to companies like Volkswagen by next year. 

Nixed green energy tax credits and cuts to Medicaid — we’ll unpack some of the things currently in the GOP’s “big beautiful bill.”

From the BBC World Service: Political turmoil is brewing in Thailand after the country's prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was suspended by the Constitutional Court.

An investigation from Tomas Apodaca, at CalMatters and The Markup, found several states were accidentally sharing private health information with tech companies. The tech companies receiving the information never even wanted it.

We visit regions across the country to hear how the manufacturing sector is doing. Plus: Changes at Zillow, migrant farmworkers, working moms, and tiny homes.

June manufacturing surveys from the federal reserve banks of Dallas, Richmond, Kansas City, and New York offer a snapshot how production lines across the country are faring.

The web site says transparency is better for buyers and sellers alike.

When it comes to the job market for new grads, there are also cyclical and long-term trends at play.

With many workers staying home, farmers are worried about how to get crops off the fields.

In Baltimore, a small community called Hope Village is offering a rare path to home ownership for people with low incomes. It’s attracting attention for affordability and potential scalability.

When Joanne Hislop had triplets, her employer allowed her to work part-time. But that wasn’t the end of her story.

We’re following the debate over the GOP’s budget bill.

In North Carolina, Medicaid funds have been a "lifeline" for some rural areas and have injected federal dollars into the state’s economy.

The sweeping health care changes in the Republican budget bill could threaten rural health care and reverse the state's recent Medicaid expansion.

Mexico, the United States’ biggest foreign source of auto parts, is largely exempt from tariffs — but prices are still likely to rise, experts say.

Instead of Italy, consider … Albania?

Friday’s decision limits the circumstances under which the court can issue nationwide injunctions — orders that stop a federal law or policy from being enforced while court battles play out.

“We're going to see a lot more class actions in the future on behalf of businesses,” said Anthony Sanders at the Institute for Justice.

From the BBC World Service: Canada scrapped its planned digital services tax hours before it was due to take effect after President Donald Trump threatened to end trade talks over the issue.

Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at the nonprofit Fairplay, says the Commission has existing laws given by Congress that could step in to protect kids’ online safety in lieu of an absent federal law.