Trump says he ‘won’ on affordability, signaling messaging shift

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared victory in the fight over cost-of-living concerns, signaling a new approach that sought to deny problems with his economic agenda and touting successes in job growth and other metrics.

“Affordability. You notice what word have you not heard over the last two weeks: Affordability. Because I’ve won, I’ve won affordability,” Trump said Thursday during a visit to Georgia, a crucial battleground state.

Pocketbook issues have emerged as the central focus of the upcoming November congressional elections with households hit hard by costs for groceries, utilities and housing. Polls show voters have soured on Trump’s economic policies, endangering Republicans’ hold on both chambers of Congress and the future of the president’s legislative agenda.

Trump and allies have highlighted slowing inflation and job growth that has come in above expectations, but that has failed to assuage voters, and opened the door for Democrats who have seized on that discontent to boost their midterm prospects.

—Bloomberg News

Billionaires Spielberg, Zuckerberg eyeing East Coast, stirring concerns about California's wealth-tax proposal

LOS ANGELES — California may be losing two of the state's most famed residents and generous political donors.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg recently moved to New York and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is eyeing purchasing a new property in Florida, stirring speculation about whether their decisions are tied to a proposed new tax on California billionaires to fund healthcare for the state's most vulnerable residents.

Although a handful of prominent conservatives who bolted out of California noisily blamed their departure on the controversial wealth tax measure, as well as the state's liberal ways and what they describe as cumbersome business regulations, neither Zuckerberg nor Spielberg has given any indication that the tax proposal is the reason for their moves.

A spokesperson for Spielberg, who has owned homes on both the East and West coasts since at least the mid-1990s, said the sole motivation for Spielberg and his wife, actor Kate Capshaw, decamping to Manhattan was to be near family.

—Los Angeles Times

Concussions may be underreported in Dallas-Fort Worth schools, study finds

DALLAS — A new study from UT Southwestern Medical Center suggests concussions may be going underreported in lower income and urban school districts across Dallas-Fort Worth.

The study, which was published in December in Sage Open Pediatrics, examined more than 6,300 sports-related concussion cases logged in a statewide concussion database from August 2021 through May 2023.

The researchers compared reports by geography — city versus suburban schools — and by school socioeconomic status. They found urban and lower-income districts logged lower concussion rates than higher-income suburban districts despite tending to have more students.

“Concussions are a major issue, with an estimated 15% of school athletes experiencing a concussion at some point that disrupts daily life and academic performance,” Dr. Mathew Stokes, the study’s co-author and an assistant professor of pediatrics and neurology at UT Southwestern, said in a news release.

—The Dallas Morning News

Venezuelan media sees signs that restrictions are loosening, but perils remain

CARACAS, Venezuela — Traditional media outlets in Venezuela that have been censored for years are daring to take a new direction following Nicolás Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces in early January.

After years of harsh repression, television channels and social media accounts have begun to include the voices of opposition figures and relatives of political prisoners in their reporting.

But while regular citizens notice a shift in coverage, journalists warn that repression and fear remains an obstacle to their work.

Free-to-air television channel Venevision has become a salient example of increasing media freedom, incorporating content that some Venezuelans believe represents an important step towards restoring freedom of expression.

—Miami Herald