‘This was my last chance': Fight to keep Job Corps open seen nationally and in Pinellas County
Job Corps is a vocational trade school designed to help low-income students.
4 HCPS graduates complete rare feat thousands of other students couldn't achieve
'This was my last chance to actually do something with my life so I kind of want to help save this place,' said Skye Considine, a student at Job Corps.
Considine said she had about a year and a half left in her program at the Pinellas County location. Now, she and more than 100 other students have just days left before the campus closes down.
The Department of Labor Secretary said, 'A startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.'
The program will pause operations at all Job Corps centers by June 30.
'Job Corps does so much and it fills so many needs in our community,' said St. Petersburg City Council Member Corey Givens.
Judge blocks Florida law barring minors from social media
Givens worked at this Job Corps for five years. He said the closure will leave a devastating gap.
'Not only are 150 young people trained here but over 100 people work here. Not only will you have young people who are homeless, but now you have people who won't be able to feed their families and it's just unfair,' Givens said.
When asked if the city of St. Pete can do anything, Givens said they can put pressure on elected officials in congress.
Tampa Bay representative Kathy Castor sent a letter to the DOL secretary asking to reverse the decision, and wants certain questions answered by June 15.
Castor asked how student participation numbers were gathered for their transparency report and why one year's worth of graduation rates was given. She also asked if COVID-19 impacts were considered, if there are efficient structural changes that can be made prior to stopping operations, and more.
Considine said she would tell leaders how Job Corps helped give her a future.
'It's a really good place to be here, and I don't want this place to be shut down because this was one of my only other options that I had left,' Considine said.
The National Job Corps Association filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to protect Job Corps Tuesday.
'For generations, Job Corps has provided life-changing education and hands-on training to young people looking for a pathway to a better future,' said Donna Hay, President and CEO of the National Job Corps Association. 'These students are often overcoming significant personal and economic challenges and Job Corps gives them the ability to gain the skills they need to build meaningful careers.'
The job fair will be Wednesday, June 4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. inside the gym at Pinellas County Job Corps. Both students and staff may participate. See the flyer below for more information.
If you want to send Marilyn Parker a news tip about this story or other newsworthy events, fill out the form below!
Submit a form.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
8 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Guest column: Gary students deserve more than virtual replacements
As the president of the Gary Teachers Union, I have the privilege of representing the hardworking educators who are the backbone of our community. So it's with deep concern that I must address the recent decision by the Gary Community School Corporation to contract with Proximity, a virtual education provider. This is a move that will replace up to 45 local educators with a teacher-on-a-screen. The misleadingly named Proximity promises a 'licensed teacher in every classroom,' but let's be clear — the deal will only leave students more isolated. This online platform is no silver bullet for the challenges we face in education. It is a shortcut that sacrifices the real, tangible, in-person connections that are essential to student success. I know firsthand how deeply our educators care about our students. We do more than just teach: we mentor, we support, and we understand the unique challenges that each student faces. We know the names of their parents and siblings and can recite their struggles, and their triumphs. We sit through late-night meetings and community events, not because it's part of the job, but because we are part of this community. Our students' success is our success, and their failures weigh heavily on our hearts. This partnership with Proximity is not just a decision to 'go digital' — it is a decision to replace the soul of education with something far more distant. And it's a decision being made with no union collaboration, no teacher buy-in. As the exclusive bargaining representative for our teachers, I wasn't even consulted. Proximity may promise technology that works for some, but a 'virtual teacher' will never attend a school concert, offer a shoulder to cry on, or help a struggling student after school. They will not build the trust and the personal relationships our students need to succeed. The claim that Proximity guarantees a 'licensed' teacher is not an assurance of quality. Licensing is important, but teaching is more than having a piece of paper. It's about understanding the nuances of each student's individual learning journey, responding to their needs, and building a rapport that encourages growth — things that cannot be replicated through an algorithm or a screen. Did we not learn this during COVID? Our public school teachers are not just 'licensed' — they are deeply committed professionals who live, work, and raise families in Gary. They are part of our community. Replacing them with a virtual talking head is an insult to their dedication and to the families that depend on them. Let's not forget the financial implications of this decision. This may not even be cost effective for the school district! Everything we've seen says we'll still need a 'classroom facilitator' to be physically present. How much more will this cost? To the administration of the Gary School Corporation: I urge you to reconsider this decision. This is not just about saving money or adopting the latest technological trend. This is about the future of our children, the integrity of our schools, and the livelihoods of the teachers who are committed to making Gary a better city for everyone. We deserve more than virtual replacements. Our teachers and this community have built a school system that puts children first. We need to fight for our teachers and paraprofessionals — the people who have dedicated their lives to this work and to this city. Our teachers deserve better. Our students deserve better. And the community of Gary deserves better than to be sold short by a for-profit virtual platform.
Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump voters wanted relief from Medical bills. For millions, the bills are about to get bigger
President Trump rode to reelection last fall on voter concerns about prices. But as his administration pares back federal rules and programs designed to protect patients from the high cost of health care, Trump risks pushing more Americans into debt, further straining family budgets already stressed by medical bills. Millions of people are expected to lose health insurance in the coming years as a result of the tax cut legislation Trump signed this month, leaving them with fewer protections from large bills if they get sick or suffer an accident. At the same time, significant increases in health plan premiums on state insurance marketplaces next year will likely push more Americans to either drop coverage or switch to higher-deductible plans that will require them to pay more out-of-pocket before their insurance kicks in. Smaller changes to federal rules are poised to bump up patients' bills, as well. New federal guidelines for COVID -19 vaccines, for example, will allow health insurers to stop covering the shots for millions, so if patients want the protection, some may have to pay out-of-pocket. The new tax cut legislation will also raise the cost of certain doctor visits, requiring copays of up to $35 for some Medicaid enrollees. And for those who do end up in debt, there will be fewer protections. This month, the Trump administration secured permission from a federal court to roll back regulations that would have removed medical debt from consumer credit reports. That puts Americans who cannot pay their medical bills at risk of lower credit scores, hindering their ability to get a loan or forcing them to pay higher interest rates. 'For tens of millions of Americans, balancing the budget is like walking a tightrope,' said Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. 'The Trump administration is just throwing them off.' White House spokesperson Kush Desai did not respond to questions about how the administration's health care policies will affect Americans' medical bills. The president and his Republican congressional allies have brushed off the health care cuts, including hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid retrenchment in the mammoth tax law. 'You won't even notice it,' Trump said at the White House after the bill signing July 4. 'Just waste, fraud, and abuse.' But consumer and patient advocates around the country warn that the erosion of federal health care protections since Trump took office in January threatens to significantly undermine Americans' financial security. 'These changes will hit our communities hard,' said Arika Sánchez, who oversees health care policy at the nonprofit New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. Sánchez predicted many more people the center works with will end up with medical debt. 'When families get stuck with medical debt, it hurts their credit scores, makes it harder to get a car, a home, or even a job,' she said. 'Medical debt wrecks people's lives.' For Americans with serious illnesses such as cancer, weakened federal protections from medical debt pose yet one more risk, said Elizabeth Darnall, senior director of federal advocacy at the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network. 'People will not seek out the treatment they need,' she said. Trump promised a rosier future while campaigning last year, pledging to 'make America affordable again' and 'expand access to new Affordable Healthcare.' Polls suggest voters were looking for relief. About 6 in 10 adults — Democrats and Republicans — say they are worried about being able to afford health care, according to one recent survey, outpacing concerns about the cost of food or housing. And medical debt remains a widespread problem: As many as 100 million adults in the U.S. are burdened by some kind of health care debt. Despite this, key tools that have helped prevent even more Americans from sinking into debt are now on the chopping block. Medicaid and other government health insurance programs, in particular, have proved to be a powerful economic backstop for low-income patients and their families, said Kyle Caswell, an economist at the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Caswell and other researchers found, for example, that Medicaid expansion made possible by the 2010 Affordable Care Act led to measurable declines in medical debt and improvements in consumers' credit scores in states that implemented the expansion. 'We've seen that these programs have a meaningful impact on people's financial well-being,' Caswell said. Trump's tax law — which will slash more than $1 trillion in federal health spending over the next decade, mostly through Medicaid cuts — is expected to leave 10 million more people without health coverage by 2034, according to the latest estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The tax cuts, which primarily benefit wealthy Americans, will add $3.4 trillion to U.S. deficits over a decade, the office calculated. The number of uninsured could spike further if Trump and his congressional allies don't renew additional federal subsidies for low- and moderate-income Americans who buy health coverage on state insurance marketplaces. This aid — enacted under former President Joe Biden — lowers insurance premiums and reduces medical bills enrollees face when they go to the doctor or the hospital. But unless congressional Republicans act, those subsidies will expire later this year, leaving many with bigger bills. Federal debt regulations developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Biden administration would have protected these people and others if they couldn't pay their medical bills. The agency issued rules in January that would have removed medical debts from consumer credit reports. That would have helped an estimated 15 million people. But the Trump administration chose not to defend the new regulations when they were challenged in court by debt collectors and the credit bureaus, who argued the federal agency had exceeded its authority in issuing the rules. A federal judge in Texas appointed by Trump ruled that the regulation should be scrapped. Levey writes for KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Changing of the Guard: It's Time to Buy Small-Cap Stocks
It's an exciting time in the stock market right now with the major U.S. indexes eclipsing their former all-time highs. As we make our way deeper into the third quarter, let's take a step back and try to determine what may lie ahead for the rest of 2025 and see-saw action earlier this year translated to one of the most volatile first halves in recent memory. President Trump's tariff agenda sent shockwaves through the financial markets, resulting in a sharp correction as investors factored in potential trade April, market performance began to turn the corner, improving rapidly as investors gained more clarity amid signs of progress in trade talks. The V-shaped, relentless move morphed into a lockout rally, leaving nonbelievers in the dust. And because many investors missed out on significant gains, they will continue to snap up shares on weakness, which should help lift stocks even the doubters and naysayers remain prevalent. This is certainly one of the most hated market rallies since the surge in stocks following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are always reasons that critics can point to as to why stocks can't continue higher, but as we know, stocks climb a wall of Suggests More Gains on the Horizon The S&P 500 has been in 11 bull markets (not including the current one) since 1949. The blue-chip index reached a new high in January 2024, following the inflation-induced bear market of back to the 1950s, once those former highs were put in the rearview mirror, bull markets have lasted an average of 4.5 years longer. This overlooked fact suggests the potential for substantial gains ahead. Investors commonly underestimate the length and magnitude of bull with stocks at all-time highs, it's somewhat normal to be apprehensive in terms of buying at these levels. The prevailing thought in most investors' minds is – why not just wait for a correction and buy at lower prices?However, the market is indicating that it is resuming the longer-term secular bullish trend. The biggest mistake we can make in a bull market is thinking stocks look expensive just because the index price is . . .------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------See ALL Zacks' Long-Term Picks for Only $1 Through good markets and bad, one unique stock-picking method has more than doubled the market's average gain with an incredible +23.6% per help you take advantage of opportunities in today's market, we're opening the vault to reveal all our long-term recommendations. You'll see stocks priced under $10… income investments… hidden value stocks and more. While future success isn't guaranteed, recent gains have reached as high as +169.9%, +198.4%, and even +263.2%.¹All for just $ opportunity ends at midnight Sunday, July Stocks Now >>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The S&P 500 just delivered one of the greatest three-month rallies in history, advancing more than 25% off the April lows. As we can see below, the index has only accomplished this feat five other times since its inception in 1957: Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchIn the twelve months following each of these instances, the S&P 500 delivered double-digit gains every time. As the saying goes, strength begets ability of stocks to surpass former resistance levels and break out to all-time highs is a key signal. Remember, stocks serve as a leading indicator of the Earnings Support Rise in StocksThe second-quarter earnings season is off to a strong start, providing further evidence that a resilient corporate backdrop is supporting this new bull market. As has been the case for many consecutive quarters, earnings appear to be turning out better than many market participants had feared, reinforcing the notion that this move to new highs can be closer examination, total S&P 500 earnings for Q2 are expected to increase by 6% from the same period in the prior year, driven by 4.3% higher revenues. These figures combine the actual results that have been reported so far with the results from companies still to come. By the time you're reading this, about one-third of S&P 500 companies will have reported results. Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchIt is still relatively early in the season, but we remain confident that S&P 500 members will validate the trends established at this stage through the remainder of the Q2 reporting cycle. Earnings and revenue beats are also tracking above historical averages thus Outside of Large-Caps Market breadth has improved, with a greater number of stocks participating in the bullish rally. One area of the economy that benefits significantly from two key themes of President Trump's approach – deregulation and lower taxes – is small businesses. There's less red tape, allowing them to operate more terms of earnings, this is where the real growth is occurring. Small-cap companies, as measured by the Russell 2000, are set to deliver more than 60% year-over-year EPS growth in the second may be challenging to see now, as small-caps have lagged significantly throughout this latest bull market. Still, from a historical perspective, we need to consider the heightened probability that this group will enter a phase of outperformance amid upcoming rate cuts. Market participants are currently pricing in a roughly 58% chance of an interest rate cut in companies tend to be more sensitive to interest rate fluctuations. On a 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month basis, looking forward, small-caps have outperformed both of their counterparts following rate cuts, with data going back to 1950: Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchTo top it all off, inflation has remained tame this year even in the face of President Trump's tariffs. The Fed's preferred measure of inflation (Core PCE) came in at 2.7% year-over-year in May, a far cry from the 5.6% we saw in 2022. This is a measure of prices that U.S. consumers pay for goods and services that strips out two categories (food and energy), which tend to have volatile price swings. We'll get an update to the PCE index (June figures) at the end of next Thoughts There are many reasons to be optimistic as this bull market reaches new heights. Buying at all-time highs has proven to be highly profitable, as the uncharted territory is the market's way of telling us to expect more strength ahead. Fundamentals, including earnings growth and a resilient economy, undoubtedly support the move in shouldn't fear interest rate cuts, as small-cap stocks have performed admirably after the central bank begins the easing process. And given that we're in a strong, trending market with little volatility, the probability of further gains ahead remains enticing from a historical to hoping history rhymes once What Do You Do Right Now? We've opened up our , a bundle of our top subscription services for long-term investors. It's made for markets like the next 30 days, for the total cost of only $1, you're welcome to catch all of the real-time buy and sell signals from all of our long-term investor portfolios, including...• Real-time buys, sells, and market commentary from Stocks Under $10, Home Run Investor, Value Investor, ETF Investor, Income Investor, and Zacks Top 10 Stocks.• Plus, you'll get full access to our powerful research, tools, and analysis, including the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research Reports, Zacks Earnings ESP Filter, Premium Screener, and more, as part of Zacks portfolios have already closed 30 double and triple-digit wins in 2025. Although we can't guarantee 100% success, recent gains have reached as high as +123.2%, +198.4%, and even +263.2%.¹ Bonus Report: If you act quickly, you'll also get our exclusive Special Report, High-Yield ETFs: 4 to Buy Now. Zacks' Director of ETF Research just identified the high-yield funds that blend peace of mind with substantial returns. One fund gained a whopping +286% in under 6 months. The following 6 months may be just as please don't wait - be sure to click below right now. This restricted $1 opportunity ends at midnight Sunday, July here for Zacks Investor Collection and High-Yield ETFs: 4 to Buy Now >>Wishing you the best on your investing journey,BryanBryan Hayes, CFA, manages the Zacks Income Investor and Headline Trader services and has deep experience in both long-term and short-term investing. He invites you to take advantage of our unique $1 opportunity.¹ The results listed above are not (or may not be) representative of the performance of all selections made by Zacks Investment Research's newsletter editors and may represent the partial close of a position. Access grants you a comprehensive list of all open and closed trades. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
