The Headlines - Father of Georgia Shooting Suspect Charged, and a Pivotal Jobs Report

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

Plus, the Taliban codifies dire restrictions on women.   Tune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. On Today’s Episode:Father of Teen Suspect Charged in Georgia School Shooting, by Emily Cochrane and Jacey FortinWhy This Jobs Report Could Be the Most Pivotal One in Years, by Jeanna SmialekHunter Biden Pleads Guilty in Tax Case, by Glenn Thrush and Lauren HerstikTeenage E-Cigarette Use Drops to a 10-Year Low, by Christina JewettWith New Taliban Manifesto, Afghan Women Fear the Worst, by Christina Goldbaum and Najim RahimIn Michigan, an ‘Unhinged Werewolf’ Will Make It Clear Who Voted, by Callie Holtermann

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, September 6th. Here's what we're covering. The GBI has arrested Colin Gray, age 54, in connection to the shooting here at Apalachee High School. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that they've arrested and charged the father of the 14-year-old accused of killing four people at his high school earlier this week. These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon. Colin Gray faces charges of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and cruelty to children. It's rare for parents to be charged and convicted in these cases.

Meanwhile, his son, who authorities said will be tried as an adult, will make his first appearance in court this morning. His aunt told The Times that the 14-year-old had been asking for help with his mental health, and that, quote, the adults in his life let him down. While searching his room this week, police found evidence that he was interested in mass shootings, particularly the massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. This morning at 8.30 Eastern, the jobs report is coming out, and it's going to be one of the most closely watched pieces of economic data in years. When data was released last month by the Labor Department, stocks plummeted, albeit briefly, after it showed unemployment was up and American companies had really reined in their hiring.

This job market is at a really meaningful turning point. It's been cooling for a while now, but we're really at this moment where we're looking to see whether that is sort of a gentle settling back down or whether we're actually plunging closer to a recession. And so I think that's the big question that we're going to be looking at this job report to answer. Gina Smilick covers the economy. She says the timing of today's report also amps up its importance. In less than two weeks, the Federal Reserve will announce their plan for interest rates, which have been sitting at the highest level in decades. So this is one of the last big snapshots that they'll get of how the economy is doing before they make their decision.

While the Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates at that meeting, no matter what today's report shows, the big question is how big that rate cut is going to be. And so I think if you see a substantial cool down, you could see a situation for sure where the Fed would make a more aggressive, a larger rate cut. But if the job market is holding up pretty well, then there's really no reason for the Fed to be sort of, you know, hair on fire, moving quickly here, and we might see a more gradual stance from the Fed. Live coverage of today's jobs report, what it signals, and how the stock market responds will be at NYTimes.com. Hunter decided to enter his plea to protect those he loves from unnecessary hurt and cruel humiliation. In a dramatic move yesterday, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges, just as jury selection in his trial was

set to begin. His lawyers interrupted the proceedings and announced that Biden would plead guilty without any kind of deal in place. The move signaled that they didn't think they could win the case, and Biden told his legal team he didn't want to put his family through the same anguish and embarrassment that his trial on gun charges brought earlier this year. In that case, his crack addiction and reckless behavior were thrown into the public spotlight as his past romantic partners and one of his daughters took the stand. Biden could now get significant time behind bars. He's facing up to 17 years in prison for the tax charges. He'll be sentenced in mid-December.

And the White House has repeatedly said President Biden is not planning to pardon his son. New data shows that the number of American teenagers who are vaping has dropped to the lowest level in a decade, in what the FDA is calling a monumental public health win. Just a few years ago, 27% of high school students said they vaped. Now, fewer than 8% say they do. The numbers come from an annual survey that the Food and Drug Administration helps run at schools across the country. It also found that about 3.5% of middle schoolers are vaping, a slight decline from the previous year's survey. The downward trend is being driven by a couple of things, according to public health experts,

like public messaging campaigns about the health risks of e-cigarettes, city and state bans on flavored tobacco, and stepped-up enforcement against sellers of flavored vapes. The vape market has become central to big tobacco in recent years as the industry tries to replace lost revenues from a decline in traditional cigarette smoking. When asked this year if they smoke regular cigarettes, less than 2% of teenagers said yes. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have released a 114-page manifesto that codifies all the restrictions on women in the country. They've been tightening those restrictions since they retook power three years ago. The manifesto felt for many women like the nail in the coffin for women's rights in the country. Christina Goldbaum is the Afghanistan

bureau chief for The Times. She says some of the rules have already been in place, like a ban on women's education past sixth grade, while some are new, like forbidding women's voices to be heard outside their homes. The document also steps up enforcement against women who break the laws. The Taliban's Vice and Virtue Police used to give verbal warnings for violations. Now they can put women in jail. Up until this moment, a lot of young women had held out hope that some of these restrictions might be lifted, that maybe they would be able to return to schools one day.

But now, with this new manifesto, all of that hope has been snuffed out. Some women have tried to find ways around these restrictions over the last three years. They've opened up or gone to underground schools and people's homes. They've been taking online classes to try to continue their education.

But the announcement last month month for a lot of women deepened their sense of depression and has also made them feel like they've just completely lost agency over their lives. One woman we spoke with was saying how she doesn't feel like she has her sense of self anymore because she can't go out and work every day and now is worried about how to feed her family. You know, other young women we talked to said that their future now is nothing more than being a housewife and raising children. And every other door has been slammed shut for them. And finally, I Voted stickers are an Election Day badge of pride for many Americans. And this fall, if you vote in Michigan, those stickers are getting a refresh.

The state was one of several that ran a public contest to design the stickers in an attempt to build civic engagement with young people. They chose nine winners. There's a cat in an Uncle Sam hat, one with a very Midwestern tagline, Oop, I voted, and the standout favorite, a werewolf ripping off his shirt howling in front of the American flag. It was drawn in felt-tip marker by 12-year-old Jane Hynes. Social media loved it, unsurprisingly, and it came in first in the public contest. One fan of the design posted, quote,

If there is ever a year to have an unhinged werewolf ripping its shirt off as the I voted sticker, it's 2024. For Jane, the artist, the design was just the obvious way to show the power of voting, you know, with the werewolf's big cartoon muscles. She said, it kind of just came to me. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, as college freshmen arrive on campus, a look at how the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action has changed who got in. You can listen on the Times audio app or wherever you get your podcasts. This show is made by Jessica Metzger, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford, with help from Isabella Anderson and Jake Lucas. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Larissa Anderson,

Kathleen Hennessey, Zoe Murphy, and Paula Schumann. The headlines will be back on Monday.