Growing Black Unemployment, Taxing California Billionaires, New Supreme Court Cases

Oct 3, 2026 16 min

About this episode

The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected last month, and Black unemployment spiked. California voters will decide whether the state should charge a one-time tax on billionaires, an idea that has split Democrats. The Supreme Court begins its new term on Monday, with cases involving climate change, guns and religious rights. Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? <a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/news"target="_blank" >Subscribe</a> to the Up First newsletter. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org</a>. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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