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September 7th, 2012
07:50 PM ET

Chicago braces for looming teachers strike

The city of Chicago is in tense negotiations Friday to prevent nearly 30,000 unionized school teachers from walking off the job. A Monday deadline is looming for more than 400,000 students as the teacher's union fights for better wages, benefits and job security.

The third largest school district in the country has not seen a strike in 25 years, and city officials, who are already dealing with a murder rate that is up more than 30% this year are scrambling to keep kids off the street in the event of a strike.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is in Chicago and OutFront with the latest. FULL POST


Filed under: Crime • Education • News
September 7th, 2012
07:38 PM ET

Another weak jobs report; Is Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ready to act?

After a three days of rousing speeches at the Democratic National Convention, Democrats and the rest of the nation wakes up to another disappointing jobs report.

The economy added 96,000 jobs in August, well below the 120,000 jobs economists polled by CNNMoney expected. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1%, from 8.3% in July.

When the jobs numbers were release Friday the political spin machine from both presidential campaigns went to work.

"There is almost nothing the president has done in the last three and a half – four years that gives the American people confidence he knows what he is doing when it comes to jobs and the economy," Mitt Romney told reporters in Sioux City, Iowa.

The White House released a statement on what they called the employment situation in August:

"While there is more work that remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.  It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007."

With the weak jobs reports, many economists and financial analysts are expecting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to release a third round of stimulus, called Quantative Easing or QE3.

The big question of the day, after dueling party conventions and with a sluggish economy can any of Bernanke's actions impact November elections.

 Can Fed actions impact the vote?

OutFront tonight: Jim Bianco, Research Director for Bianco, CNN Contributor Reihan Salam, and Democratic Strategist, Michael Feldman.

 


Filed under: 2012 Election • Economy
September 7th, 2012
12:02 AM ET

CNN Reality Check: Pres. Obama promises

CNN's Erin Burnett tackles Pres. Barack Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention in CNN's Reality Check.

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