Daily Briefing: How a UAW strike would impact Americans

Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY
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U.S. autoworkers and automakers are roiling toward a strike, but it's unclear how long a work stoppage might last or how far it could extend. Also in the news: Students at UNC Chapel Hill experienced a lockdown for the second time in fewer than 30 days and keep scrolling to see a photo of what might be alien remains.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. How big a house would you buy if you won the lottery?

Here are Thursday's headlines.

UAW strike could cost US economy billions

Time is of the essence as The United Auto Workers and the “Big Three” U.S. automakers negotiate a new labor contract, impacting around 146,000 workers.

The union and the automakers, which include General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, have until 11:59 p.m. Thursday before the contract expires.

  • The UAW is demanding a 46% pay hike over four years, a 32-hour work week (for full pay), the end of a tiered pay system for newer workers, as well as the return of pensions and retiree health care.

  • Biden’s undying loyalty to unions is tested as experts estimate a 10-day strike could result in an economic loss nationwide of $5.6 billion. That number is relative given the U.S. economy is larger than $25 trillion.

  • A UAW strike could involve provocative measures, such as targeting only certain key plants at all three Detroit automakers. This strategy makes it harder to figure out when deep losses would be felt in the economy.

UNC Chapel Hill has second lockdown of the semester

Local police cleared students, faculty and others at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to "resume normal activities," more than an hour after the school community was under lockdown over a warning of an "armed and dangerous person." It's the second time that the school has been under a lockdown under a similar threat since the start of the semester. The campus community went under a three-hour lockdown only three weeks ago, when a graduate student Tailei Qi, 34, shot and killed Zijie Yan, an associate professor. Earlier this week, at the North Carolina Legislature, protesters from the university's chapter of March For Our Lives called on people to vote out state legislators for not acting on gun reform. Read more

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Pennsylvania community relieved after Danelo Cavalcante captured

Fear and apprehension finally ended Wednesday morning with the arrest of Danelo Cavalcante, who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison and was the target of a massive two-week long manhunt throughout rural areas in the southeastern part of the state. The community had been on high alert as Cavalcante, who escaped Aug. 31, was on the prowl, breaking into houses for food and even stealing a rifle from a homeowner who shot at him earlier this week. The weeks of unease and worry for area residents lifted when authorities tracked Cavalcante down in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, using thermal scanning technology and a plane that picked up his heat signal overnight. Read more

Pensylvania police show a photo of inmate Danelo Cavalcante after he was recaptured by authorities.
Pensylvania police show a photo of inmate Danelo Cavalcante after he was recaptured by authorities.

Death toll from flooding in Libya surpasses 5,000

The death toll in Libya has surpassed 5,300 people after a storm caused dams in a coastal city to break, leaving thousands more injured. Officials reported the death toll after Storm Daniel made landfall on Sunday and dropped as much as 16 inches of rain in the Northern African country. Residents of the Libyan coastal city of Derna said the only warning they had was the explosive sound of the dams bursting before the torrents of water flooded into the city and washed away neighborhoods. Read more

Overturned cars lay among other debris caused by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on Sept. 11, 2023.
Overturned cars lay among other debris caused by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on Sept. 11, 2023.

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Inflation is weighing down Americans. Who do they trust to fix it?

As President Joe Biden tries to sell Americans on an economic rebound, most Americans aren't buying it, according to an exclusive poll from the Suffolk University Sawyer Business School and USA TODAY. The survey reveals major concerns about the state of the economy and little hope of people's outlook improving. What's worse for the incumbent president, Americans say they trust Donald Trump − not Biden − to fix it. Read more (FYI: This story is subscriber-only. If you're not yet a supporter of USA TODAY, you can sign up here).

Quick hits

Photo of the day: Alien bodies?

Self-proclaimed UFO expert Jaime Maussan appeared before Mexican lawmakers this week, when he presented the remains of what he claimed were two ancient "non-human" alien corpses. The bodies, he testified, were retrieved in 2017 from Cusco, Peru before radiocarbon dating revealed them to be up to 1,800 years old. Read more

Remains of an allegedly "non-human" being were presented Tuesday to the Mexican Congress by Jaime Maussan.
Remains of an allegedly "non-human" being were presented Tuesday to the Mexican Congress by Jaime Maussan.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UAW strike, UNC Chapel Hill lockdown, Cavalcante captured, Libya flooding, impeachment, aliens: Daily Briefing