NPR News: 07-02-2026 1PM EDT

Lakshmi Singh· Host0:01

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The big jobs report for June is out. NPR's Scott Horsley with details.

Scott Horsley0:08

We always want to caution against reading too much into a single month's report, but the numbers released by the Labor Department this morning are not pretty. US employers added just fifty-seven thousand jobs last month. That's less than half the number they added in each of the two previous months, even though it turned out hiring in April and May was also significantly weaker than initially reported.

Lakshmi Singh· Host0:30

That's NPR's Scott Horsley reporting. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, ticked down to four point two percent. The employment report indicates the job market may be slowing but has still been fairly solid in recent months and comes as the Federal Reserve under recent Chair Kevin Warsh is set to hold a policy meeting later this month. The Justice Department is going after state gun laws that it calls unconstitutional. NPR's Jacqueline Diaz reports on two lawsuits that challenge gun bans in California and in Virginia.

Jacqueline Diaz1:02

In California, a newly enacted law bans dealers from selling certain Glock and Glock-style pistols. In Virginia, state lawmakers recently banned the purchase and sale of semi-automatic rifles. In these two lawsuits, the Justice Department cites recent decisions from the Supreme Court that struck down restrictions on gun owners, including one decision from just a few days ago. The suits also say both states' laws violate the Second Amendment. The DOJ