Topline:
A second Trump administration has the potential to reshape the economy in fundamental ways.
Why it matters: President-elect Donald Trump has promised to slap tariffs on imports, order large-scale deportation of immigrants and cut taxes and government regulations during his second term.
Read on... for more on how his policies might be enacted, and what they could mean for the U.S. economy.
A second Trump administration has the potential to reshape the economy in fundamental ways.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to slap tariffs on imports, order large-scale deportation of immigrants and cut taxes and government regulations during his second term.
While it's not certain when or how those policies might be enacted, here's what they could mean for the U.S. economy.
There's a reason the stock market surged after Trump won the election. Investors expect a more business-friendly administration, including tax cuts.
During a new term, the former president wants to extend portions of the 2017 tax cut that are set to expire next year, and he has called for additional cuts in the corporate tax.
He has also floated the idea of exempting tipped income and Social Security benefits from federal taxes.
The ultimate size and shape of any tax cut may hinge on whether Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives. But the extension of most individual tax cuts, at a minimum, appears likely.
"Some additional tax cuts seem probable in our view, although the timing, size and specifics are highly uncertain," Wells Fargo economists Jay Bryson and Michael Pugliese wrote in a research note, adding that additional cuts could lead to somewhat faster economic growth in 2026 and 2027.
The economic stimulus from tax cuts would be partially offset, however, by Trump's proposed tariffs, which would raise costs for U.S. businesses and consumers and likely invite retaliation from U.S. trading partners.
Trump has proposed adding a tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports, with significantly higher levies on imports from China.
Forecasters at Pantheon Macroeconomics project that a 10% tariff would increase inflation by about 0.8 percentage points next year and impose an additional drag on U.S. manufacturers.
While Trump says tariffs would encourage businesses to set up shop in the U.S., economists are dubious. "It will remain much cheaper to source goods from overseas, given relatively high U.S. labor costs, limiting the reshoring boost," said Pantheon economist Samuel Tombs.
While tariffs would raise some additional revenue for the government, Trump's overall economic platform — including the proposed tax cuts — are expected to widen the federal deficit, adding to the government's borrowing costs.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that Trump's fiscal policies would add an extra $7.75 trillion in government debt over the next decade.
The prospect of so much additional debt spooked bond investors, sending bond yields sharply higher Wednesday. Mortgage rates, which tend to follow the yield on 10-year Treasuries, are expected to climb as well.
Trump has called for mass deportation of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. During his first term in the White House, Trump also took steps to curtail legal immigration, and his advisers have drawn up plans to do so again, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Analysts at the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute and the Niskanen Center project that net migration to the U.S. could be sharply lower — even negative — during a second Trump administration, with unfortunate consequences for the U.S. economy.
Strict limits on immigration could choke off the supply of foreign-born workers who have been propping up the U.S. job market at a time when many baby boomers are retiring.
"There very well may be valid reasons to adopt such a policy," Bryson and Pugliese of Wells Fargo wrote. "But, side effects of a policy that restricts immigration and deports undocumented people likely would be upward pressures on labor costs and a detrimental effect on the nation's potential economic growth rate."
Inflation has cooled substantially, allowing the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates. But the central bank may proceed more cautiously if Trump's policies put more upward pressure on prices. The central bank is widely expected to lower its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point on Thursday. But Pantheon's Tombs expects fewer rate cuts next year, as a result of Trump's election.
During his first term in the White House, Trump frequently urged the Fed to cut rates more aggressively, at times berating Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom he had appointed. Powell's term expires in 2026, giving Trump the opportunity to nominate his successor. Trump could also replace Michael Barr as the Fed's top bank regulator when his term as vice chair of supervision expires that year.
The Fed is designed to be insulated from political pressure, so that it can make unpopular decisions when necessary to curb inflation. That independence is central to the Fed's credibility. Trump has routinely flouted that norm, however, suggesting that the president should have a say in monetary policy.
Congress has generally defended the Fed's independence, but that could change in a second Trump administration.
Copyright 2024 NPR
Topline:
The Los Angeles Unified School District rescheduled a Tuesday meeting where the board was expected to vote on layoffs as part of a larger plan to cut spending. Educators and parents have urged district leaders to delay the vote.
Why delay? It’s not clear. LAist asked LAUSD for an explanation and when the public will receive more information about the proposed reduction in force (RIF). In a statement, a district spokesperson said board agendas are subject to change and that the proposed reduction in force would be presented at a future meeting. Tuesday’s meeting is currently re-scheduled for Feb. 17.
The backstory: For the last two years, the district has relied on reserves to backfill a multi-billion-dollar deficit. There are more than 40% fewer students compared to the early 2000s and the district has not closed schools or significantly reduced staff as costs have increased. LAUSD hired more staff to support students during the pandemic, but the federal relief dollars that initially funded those positions are gone.
What are the cuts? The district’s fiscal stabilization plan proposes layoffs in those “un-funded” positions, central office staff and at schools that support higher needs students.
Unions push back: In a Friday letter, the unions representing LAUSD teachers, support staff and principals asked the board to delay the RIF vote until there is more information available about state funding and the public has more time to understand the proposed cuts. “The notion that these are dark times for education requiring harmful cuts when there are record high state revenues is fearmongering,” the letter states.
Topline:
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider a proposal to place a plan on the ballot that, if passed, would raise the sales tax by half a cent to address federal funding cuts. The increase would bump the county’s sales tax to 10.25% — the highest allowed by state law.
The backstory: L.A. County faces projected losses of $2.4 billion over the next three years as a result of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” most of it to the county’s healthcare system. In just four months following the bill’s signing, the county lost an average of 1,000 people per day from Medi-Cal enrollment — over 120,000 people between July and November 2025, according to Supervisor Holly Mitchell.
Children hit hard: During the same four-month period, more than 27,000 children under age 18 lost their Medi-Cal coverage, equating to nearly 200 children per day, according to Mitchell. The county also lost more than 70,000 CalFresh enrollees receiving food assistance, including approximately 27,000 who were children under age 18.
Temporary tax: Under Mitchell’s proposal, which must be approved by voters, the sales tax would raise a billion dollars a year and expire in five years. Mitchell is proposing to place the measure on the June ballot.
Topline:
The Dodgers announced their promotional giveaway schedule for 2026 on Monday, and it includes some special bobblehead games commemorating the team's 2025 World Series repeat that are sure to be popular.
Promotions worthy of back-to-back Champs. 🏆
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 9, 2026
Visit https://t.co/36IUWLzvoH to see the promotional calendar for the 2026 season! pic.twitter.com/agcIbzbtrB
Memorable playoff moments: There are two bobblehead series in particular that look like they could reach collectors item status. The first is a set of four bobbleheads depicting pivotal moments from the Dodgers' World Series Game 7 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, including Miguel Rojas' game-tying 9th inning home run (Friday, May 8), Will Smith's go-ahead home run in the 11th (Saturday, March 28), Mookie Betts' game-ending double play (Friday, June 19) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto's reaction to the final out from the mound (Wednesday, May 27).
The Ohtani factor: The second is a pair of bobbleheads honoring Shohei Ohtani's "Greatest Game of All Time" on the mound and at the plate in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers when he struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs. The bobblehead giveaway honoring his hitting performance will be Friday, April 10, and the pitching one will be Wednesday, July 8.
Go deeper: You can see the full schedule of promotional giveaways planned for the 2026 season here.
Topline:
After the famous bald eagle couple in Big Bear lost their eggs last month, fans are still holding out hope that they’ll lay a second round of eggs this season.
Why it matters: Bald eagles generally have one clutch — the group of eggs laid in each nesting attempt — per season. But a replacement clutch is possible if the eggs don’t make it through the early incubation process, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.
The backstory: In January, nest watchers were saddened to see that the eggs were breached by ravens.
What's next: But because the eggs were lost so early in the season, Jenny Voisard, the organization’s media manager, told LAist they’re hopeful there’s still time for another clutch.
Go deeper: How to talk to children about Jackie and Shadow’s chick dying and other losses in life
After Jackie and Shadow, the famous bald eagle couple in Big Bear, lost their eggs last month, fans are holding out hope that they’ll lay a second round of eggs this season.
Bald eagles generally have one clutch — the group of eggs laid in each nesting attempt — per season. But a replacement clutch is possible if the eggs don’t make it through the early incubation process, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.
The nonprofit runs a popular YouTube livestream of the nest and Jackie and Shadow.
In January, nest watchers were saddened to see the eggs were breached by ravens. But because the eggs were lost so early in the season, Jenny Voisard, the organization’s media manager, told LAist they’re hopeful there’s still time for another clutch.
Jackie is typically fertile and able to lay eggs January through April each year, according to the organization. Several years ago, Jackie laid a second clutch after the eggs were broken or breached by ravens.
Voisard said that while there’s no guarantees in nature, people are hopeful this isn’t the end of Big Bear’s nesting season.
“Chicks are always welcome and we love them so much, but we love Jackie and Shadow,” she said. “We're going to remain optimistic.”
Jackie laid the first egg of the season on Jan. 23 and the second egg on Jan. 26 as thousands of fans watched online.
By Jan. 30, viewers noticed that Jackie and Shadow had left their nest unattended for hours at a time.
Friends of Big Bear Valley wondered if the eagles were practicing delayed incubation, and whether a third egg was on the way for the third season in a row, according to Voisard. The Big Bear bald eagles have practiced delayed incubation in previous seasons, which is when they don’t incubate full time until the last egg is laid, usually three days apart.
But that wasn’t the case this time.
“When the raven was able to get so close, we had suspicions,” Voisard said. “Earlier in the day, we were examining and rewinding and looking at one of the eggs because it wasn't looking right to us.”
The organization zoomed in with the livestream camera and confirmed an egg was cracked. A raven came back to the nest again later that day and breached both eggs.
“The fact that the egg was broken could have signaled to the raven to come,” Voisard said.
More bald eagles have been seen in the Big Bear area, and the animals’ territorial activity could have also contributed to Jackie and Shadow’s time away from their nest, according to the organization.
When Friends of Big Bear Valley announced the loss of the eggs on its Facebook page, which has more than 1 million followers, fans flooded the comments to share their sadness about the situation.
“My heart hurts for Jackie and Shadow,” a Facebook user wrote in a comment. “Do Eagles have feelings? Are they sad? Are they grieving? Are the[y] angry at the ravens?”
Voisard stressed that the ravens didn’t do anything wrong, nor did Jackie and Shadow. It’s just part of nature, she said.
Another Facebook comment asked why Friends of Big Bear Valley didn’t move the livestream camera around to try and scare the raven off.
While the organization understands the instinct to want to help the eagles, Voisard said humans are not allowed to intervene during nesting season.
A second clutch is possible if the eggs don’t make it through the early incubation process.
In 2021, Jackie laid the first egg on Jan. 6. It was destroyed by a raven the next day, according to organization records. Jackie laid the second egg Jan. 9 that year, and the third on Jan. 13. Both were broken or eaten by ravens.
But about a month later, Jackie had a second clutch of eggs.
She laid the first egg on Feb. 8, 2021 and the second three days later. One chick didn’t survive the hatching process, while the other egg wasn’t viable after more than 50 days of incubation.
In 2023, Jackie laid two eggs in mid-January that were both breached by ravens on March 7, according to organization records.
Voisard said Friends of Big Bear Valley volunteers were curious as to whether the eagle couple would lay another clutch that year. They came to believe later that it was too late in the season.
The eagles have withdrawn from incubation and have been spending more time away from the nest, according to the nonprofit.
Voisard said the withdrawal was a “really good thing” that may open the door to more eggs.
For Jackie’s hormones to reset, the bald eagle duo need to go back to bonding and working on their nest, which Friends of Big Bear Valley refers to as the birds' “nestorations.” It typically includes deliveries of sticks and fluff to furnish their long-time nest, which is toward the top of a Jeffrey pine tree overlooking Big Bear Lake.
The duo did some of that work Sunday, which the organization said is a hopeful sign bonding and nesting behaviors may be returning. Shadow, or the “Stickman,” as some fans call him, has brought at least three new sticks to the nest since the eggs were lost, according to organization records.
Jackie and Shadow have also been heard mating in the area, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.
