Here’s a little bit about what’s captivating my attention after the long holiday weekend.
The Boston Marathon is underway, with the wheelchair racers already finishing up and both the elite men’s and women’s runners coming in during the lunch hour. You can watch a live-stream of the runners here or read updates via blog form here.
There have been no shortage of moving remembrances of the tragedy that befell last year’s race, among some of the better reads was this article about a different pair of brothers who both lost their right legs and are trying to rebuild their lives.
There’s plenty happening here in North Carolina this morning, including the monthly release of federal jobs data from the state commerce department. A first-glance look shows that the state continued to see unemployment drop (now down to 6.3 percent, and below the national average), but the numbers also show that the actual labor force of the date (comprised of people who have jobs and who are actively looking for work) shrunk by approximately 50,000 from this time last year.
What that jobs data means has become a bit of a political flashpoint, with Gov. Pat McCrory calling the numbers “evidence that the policy changes we made are working” in a statement he released this morning.
On the other side, some economic analysts (including the N.C. Justice Center’s Budget and Tax Center) have urged caution in declaring victory over North Carolina’ job crises crisis, and instead say the shrinking labor force may mean those in prime working condition have been so frustrated in their job searches they’ve stopped looking.
Finally, I’ll leave you with what has become in recent years one of my favorite things about the Easter Holiday: the Washinton Post’s annual Peep diorama contest.
This year’s winner was “’I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King Jr. Addresses the Peeple”
Another favorite was “Peeping POTUS,” a take on the NSA affair, with a family of Peeps being spied on by the Oval Office and federal agent Peeps while a Peepward Snowden exposes the whole arrangement on a television set.
There’s a great photo gallery of winning entries here.
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