Summertime heat can take a deadly toll on workers, especially in the era of climate change. The Biden administration initiated rules to ensure that U.S. companies provide their employees with breaks to hydrate and recover while laboring in warm temperatures. Now the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are looking to roll back those protections.

‘Trump will cause some of you to die’
Heat causes “hundreds of workplace deaths” every year, but the Trump administration is rewriting rules that “mandate breaks and access to water and shade for workers,” said The New York Times. The details are still unknown, but already the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is “curtailing workplace inspections” that were designed to “raise awareness of heat-related illnesses.”

A House committee last month approved a bill that would block the Labor Department “finalizing any worker protections for extreme heat,” said E&E News. The Biden-era rule solves a “problem that doesn’t need solving,” Rep. Mark Messmer (R-Ind.) told the outlet. Some workers disagree. “We didn’t sign up for the heat to become as severe as it is,” Trina David, a baggage handler at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, said to the Times.

“Trump will cause some of you to die from the heat,” Robert Reich said on Substack. Countless workers toil “under the hot sun, or in stifling warehouses, or in delivery trucks with no AC,” which can “trigger heat stroke, organ failure and chronic kidney disease.” 

The Biden-era rules had a “benevolent paternalism” to them, Matthew Kahn said at Environmental and Urban Economics. But workers possess a “degree of choice over where they live and work” and “what job they take,” Kahn and Joseph Tracy said at the American Enterprise Institute. 

‘Deadly trade-offs’
For many workers, the twin trends of “high temperatures and high inflation” are creating a “crisis that rarely makes headlines,” Sharon Block and Dr. Satchit Balsari said at USA Today. Rising prices force cash-strapped workers to choose between paying for “food, rent and healthcare” or the electricity needed to “cool off during their off-hours.” The combination of low wages, increased costs and poor protections is forcing workers into “deadly trade-offs.”

Back-to-school season is in full swing across parts of the U.S., and many American families are feeling an extra pain in their wallets from buying school supplies. The cost of these supplies ebbs and flows over the years, but economists say 2026 is an especially difficult year for buying new pencils or glue sticks — and families may not feel relief in the near future.

How much have school supply costs increased?
The “price of a typical school supply list has increased 7.7% over the past year, with some essentials seeing much larger jumps,” according to an analysis from progressive think tanks The Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative. The highest spike was among lunch boxes, which had a 26.8% year-to-year jump. In total, families will pay about $175 more on school items in 2026.

The spike in school supplies isn’t entirely new. The average “school supply list costs about 34% more than it did 10 years ago,“ said WWL-TV. Combined with the rising cost of food, the average U.S. household will spend about $4,000 this year between school supplies and school lunches, the think tanks said. 

Why have school supplies become so expensive?
The White House’s tariffs “on a range of imports have driven up the price of binders, pencils and other school supplies,” said CBS News. Newell Brands, the makers of supplies including Sharpie, Paper Mate and Elmer’s glue, announced they’d be implementing price increases to offset the tariffs.

Beyond the tariffs, other “school supply companies also blame higher energy costs due to the Iran war for having to raise their prices,” said CBS. ACCO, the parent brand of Mead and Trapper Keeper, has said that “higher oil prices stemming from the conflict have driven up the company’s costs and led to price hikes for consumers.” 

Many parents are “searching their local back-to-school fairs for supplies or seeking out backpack giveaways and school supply distributions” to lessen the burden,” said The 19th. Others are “working more over the summer to cover increased costs.”

A girl watches as Palestinians gather for a mass funeral for 112 members of the Abu Sharia and Hassayna families in Gaza City. The remains were recently recovered from beneath the rubble of a building flattened by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023.
Mohammed Saber / EPA / Shutterstock

August might be a time to say goodbye to the slow-paced days of summer and get the kids ready to return to school. But it is also when viewers will get to say hello to some intriguing new and returning TV shows.

‘Ted Lasso’ season 4
The return of the heartwarming Apple TV+ dramedy was unexpected, as the third season felt like its last. In season 4, the titular American dispenser of folksy wisdom, played by Jason Sudeikis (pictured above), heads back to the U.K. It “promises fan-pleasing reunions,” as well as a “compelling new squad to cheer for from the stands (well, sofaplexes),” said Jordan King at Empire. (Aug. 5 on Apple TV+)

‘Adults’ season 2
The first season of “Adults,” which premiered in 2025, stood out among a slew of Gen Z hangout series that seemed stewed in the same lab. The series, with its second season, continues to entertainingly put a “generational lens on the wins, losses and humiliations of being in your twenties,” said Denise Petski at Deadline. (Aug. 27 on Hulu)

‘Dark Matter’ season 2
Season one of the Chicago-set series was one of the unheralded triumphs of 2024. Joel Edgerton (“Train Dreams”) plays Jason Dessen, a physicist who worked on a box that can transport people to different versions of their own universe. The series, having exhausted novelist Blake Crouch’s source material, “will move from themes of regret and reunion to survival and fulfillment,” said Michael Ahr at Den of Geek. (Aug. 28 on Apple TV+)