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The first Black-owned children's book store in North Carolina is moving location amid repeated violent threats made against it.

Local news station WRAL reports that Raleigh's Liberation Station Bookstore, which opened last year on Juneteenth, aimed to offer a wide variety of children's books that were drawn and illustrated by Black authors.

However, the store was soon bombarded by racist threats.

The store's owner, Victoria Scott-Miller, told WRAL that she and her family sometimes didn't take the threats too seriously, but that they were finally pushed over the edge by a menacing message that targeted her 13-year-old son, who helps the family run the store.

"Since September, we’ve faced numerous threats following the opening of our store," Scott-Miller revealed in an Instagram post. "Some we brushed off, while others included a disturbing phone call detailing what our son Langston wore when he was at the shop alone."

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Scott-Miller said she doesn't want to be seen as a martyr for the anti-racist cause, although she did lament that "we live in a country that has given permission to the nameless and faceless people to make threats and cause harm, emotional harm."

The bookstore owner hasn't revealed any future location but vowed to continue being a book vendor in the community.

At the moment, she told WRAL, the plan is to "go back to the drawing board to reassess and redefine what we will need in our next location."

She also described her vision of the bookstore as an important place in the community for people to visit.

"It is a sanctuary," Scott-Miller said. "It is a home. It’s church. It is your grandmama’s dinner table."

Liberation Station at the moment plans to remain open until April 13th.

US private sector hiring came in well above expectations last month, payroll firm ADP said Wednesday, with construction, financial services and manufacturing all contributing to the increase.

Private sector employment rose by 184,000 in March, ADP said in a statement. This was sharply above market predictions of 150,000 new jobs, according to Briefing.com.

ADP also revised up the February jobs data, from 140,000 to 155,000.

The hot jobs data will be well-received by the Biden administration as it seeks to talk up the president's economic record ahead of November's presidential election.

But it also signals to the Federal Reserve -- which is locked in a years-long battle against high inflation -- that the labor market remains in a good place, reducing the likelihood of an early start to interest rate cuts.

"March was surprising not just for the pay gains, but the sectors that recorded them," ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said in a statement.

"The three biggest increases for job-changers were in construction, financial services, and manufacturing," she added.

The construction sector created 33,000 new jobs, buoyed by recent industrial policies like the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, while the financial services sector added 17,000 new positions, and manufacturing was responsible for 1,000 jobs.

Other sectors that created large numbers of new positions included the leisure and hospitality sector, the trade, transportation and utilities.

ADP's data showed that pay was up 5.1 percent year-over-year for those who remained in their jobs, and by 10.0 percent for those who switched.

"Inflation has been cooling, but our data shows pay is heating up in both goods and services," Richardson said.

ADP's figures come two days ahead of US government data on US hiring, which will help to paint a clearer picture of the health of the overall labor market.

"Our base case remains that the labor market is likely to loosen on the effects of restrictive monetary policy," High Frequency Economics chief US economist Rubeela Farooqi wrote in a note to clients after the ADP data were published.

"But we expect job growth to remain positive and expect the unemployment rate to remain low, as monetary conditions become less tight on Fed rate cuts this year," she added.

Fox News host Maria Bartiromo highlighted revenue losses suffered by Donald Trump's Truth Social platform.

During a Sunday interview with Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes, Bartiromo reviewed the company's financial condition.

"President Trump's media company has had a volatile two weeks," she noted. "The stock finished down about 30% this week. The company, which operates Trump's Truth Social platform, lost $4 billion in market value after gaining six billion in value during its debut on the Nasdaq two weeks ago."

"For 2023, Trump media posted a loss of $58 million on revenue and $4.1 million [profit] in a regulatory filing," she continued. "The company also disclosed that its auditor had raised concerns about its ability to continue operating before its recent merger and IPO."

The Fox News host then welcomed Nunes.

"I was looking at the filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the loss," Bartiromo said. "When would you expect this company to turn profitable?"

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Nunes blamed the losses on overregulation.

"So even if you take the ridiculous cost that it took us to get to this point, we are well positioned," he said. "Because we have no debt. We're coming out of this with no debt, a platform that works really, really well, that communicates to millions of people. And then we have $200 million in the bank."

"There's never been a company like this," he added. "And we're really the only game in town that can accomplish this."

"Those are all the issues that we're that we're focused on and including, you know, making sure that we're dealing with like a three-year plan here where we can go out and put this whole company together where we're not relying on big tech."

Watch the video below from Fox News or at the link..

With six months to go before the 2024 election, the House Republican leadership is busy putting out fires and encouraging members of their caucus that things will get better so they should stick around.

According to a report from the Washington Post, there is a severe morale problem among House Republicans who are tired of the chaos that has led to the ousting of previous Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and the back-biting that has led to a whopping 21 lawmakers who are leaving — five of whom who are bailing before the election.

That, along with the ouster of Rep. George Santos (R-NY), has left the GOP with the slimmest of margins and is creating headaches for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) who is also facing calls for his demotion as the House leader.

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What worries Republicans even more is the possibility more members will announce their departure and then step down immediately handing possible control of the chamber to the Democrats.

Johnson was candid about his dismay of a declining majority, stating in an interview: “We’ve got to be ready to govern, and we’re going to turn this mess around 180 degrees, but we’ve got to get through this difficult valley to get to that other side.”

According to the Post, former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Co), who has already stepped aside, claimed there could be more to follow him.

“This is a dysfunctional place and I’m not making an observation that others haven’t made,” he admitted.

"The decision to step back is yet another sign of the broader drop in morale within the GOP conference. Many Republican lawmakers have largely accepted that their inability to govern is a predicament of their own making. They acknowledge that overcoming their legislative impasse relies on not just keeping control of the House in November, but growing their ranks significantly to neutralize the handful of hard-liners who wield influence by taking advantage of the narrow margins," The Post is reporting before adding, "But many also continue to say privately what few have acknowledged publicly: Republicans believe they are likely to lose the majority."

You can read more here.

Fox News host Howard Kurtz reminded Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt that her boss could still talk about his hush-money case even though a judge put a limited gag order in place.

While speaking to Leavitt on Sunday, Kurtz noted that former President Donald Trump had said he was willing to go to jail after Judge Juan Merchan prevented him from talking about court staff or the judge's family.

"If this partisan hack wants me to put, wants to put me in the clink for speaking the open, obvious truth, I will gladly become a modern-day Nelson Mandela," Trump wrote about the gag order, Kurtz reported.

"So why is he comparing himself to Mandela?" the Fox News host asked. "And is he now worried about going to jail in this case?"

"No, not at all," Leavitt insisted. "Truth will ultimately prevail in this case and in all of the cases. The Democrats want President Trump confined to a courtroom."

"Unfortunately, he'll have to be on trial in a dark, dirty New York City courtroom because Alvin Bragg is a far-left district attorney who has spent more time persecuting President Trump than prosecuting real violent criminals on the streets of New York," she continued. "President Trump is exposing the truth in all of these Biden-led witch hunts."

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Leavitt attributed the gag orders to Democrats who want to "silence" Trump.

"And that's exactly why you see these gag orders coming down," she opined. "Not only are they prosecuting him, but they want to silence him."

"It's a complete violation of his First Amendment rights."

Kurtz ended the interview with a correction.

"He can still talk about the case," the Fox News host said. "But I'm glad to have your response on that."

Watch the video below from Fox News.

Judge Aileen Cannon appears to "resent" having to take steps to protect witnesses against former President Donald Trump from threats in his Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance told MSNBC's Joy Reid on Tuesday.

This comes after Cannon, a South Florida judge appointed by Trump himself, agreed to protect the names of certain government witnesses against Trump — after special counsel Jack Smith demanding protection for several witnesses he warned would be vulnerable.

"Aileen Cannon seems to be trying to protect herself from getting this case taken from her by the 11th Circuit," said Reid. "She's ruled for Jack Smith, his request to redact the names of some two dozen government witnesses that Trump wanted to reveal in public versions of one of his big filings. It seems to be a very big deal, but it also seems to be self-protective on her part."

ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why Judge Cannon must step away from Trump trial immediately

"You know, every time we find an issue where Judge Cannon rules for Jack Smith, I feel like putting it in air quotes, because here, even though she rules for him, she does it after really criticizing him for behavior that's just not objectionable by a prosecutor," said Vance. "She seems to have the view that he was dilatory in filing and did it in an irresponsible fashion. The reality is that Smith will still have to justify all of these redactions of the names of witnesses from public view."

The idea that a judge would find this a burden is astonishing, she continued.

"Look, every judge has an obligation to protect the integrity of their courtroom, to protect witnesses and jurors who are engaging in public service when they participate in the criminal justice system," Vance said. "It's just unthinkable that a judge would not be very careful with the safety and security of those people, and yet this judge almost seems to resent having to protect them, simply because it's the special prosecutor that's asking for that."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Joyce Vance says Aileen Cannon "resents" protecting witnesses www.youtube.com