By MARGERY A. BECK and GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

Food banks and pantries were already struggling after federal program cuts this year, but now they’re bracing for a tsunami of hungry people if a pause in federal food aid to low-income people kicks in this weekend as the federal government shutdown persists.

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The rush has already begun. Central Christian Church’s food pantry in downtown Indianapolis scrambled Saturday to accommodate around twice as many people as it normally serves in a day.

“There’s an increased demand. And we know it’s been happening really since the economy has downturned,” volunteer Beth White said, adding that with an interruption in funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, “it’s going to continue to get worse for folks.”

It’s a concern shared by charitable food providers across the country as states prepare for lower-income families to see their SNAP benefits dry up. SNAP helps 40 million Americans, or about 1 in 8, buy groceries. The debit cards they use to buy groceries at participating stores and farmers markets are normally loaded each month by the federal government.

That’s set to pause at the start of next month after the Trump administration said Friday that it won’t use a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep food aid flowing in November in the government shutdown. The administration also says states temporarily covering the cost of food assistance benefits next month will not be reimbursed.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01.”

It’s the latest in a string of hardships placed on charitable food services, which are intended to help take up the slack for any shortcomings in federal food assistance — not replace government help altogether.

Charities have seen growing demand since the COVID-19 pandemic and the following inflation spike, and they took a hit earlier this year when the Trump administration ended programs that had provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to fight hunger.

Food pantry visitors are worried

Reggie Gibbs, of Indianapolis, just recently started receiving SNAP benefits, which meant he didn’t have to pick up as much from Central Christian Church’s food pantry when he stopped by on Saturday. But he lives alone, he said, and worries what families with children will do.

The map above shows the percentage of U.S. households in each county that receive SNAP food assistance benefits. (AP Digital Embed)

“I’ve got to harken back to the families, man,” he said. “What do you think they’re going to go through, you know?”

Martina McCallop, of Washington, D.C., said she’s worried about how she’ll feed her kids, ages 10 and 12, and herself, when the $786 they get in monthly SNAP benefits is gone.

“I have to pay my bills, my rent, and get stuff my kids need,” she said. “After that, I don’t have money for food.”

She’s concerned food pantries won’t be able to meet the sudden demand in a city with so many federal workers who aren’t being paid.

In Fairfax County, Virginia, where about 80,000 federal workers live, Food for Others executive director Deb Haynes said she doesn’t expect to run out of food entirely, largely because of donors.

“If we run short and I need to ask for help, I know I will receive it,” Haynes said.

Food banks feel the increased demand

Food pantries provide about 1 meal to every 9 provided by SNAP, according to Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks. They get the food they distribute through donations from people, businesses and some farmers. They also get food from U.S. Department of Agriculture programs and sometimes buy food with contributions and grant funding.

“When you take SNAP away, the implications are cataclysmic,” Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot said. “I assume people are assuming that somebody’s going to stop it before it gets too bad. Well, it’s already too bad. And it’s getting worse.”

Some distributors are already seeing startling low food supplies. George Matysik, executive director of Share Food Program in the Philadelphia area, said a state government budget impasse had already cut funding for his program.

“I’ve been here seven years,” Matysik said. “I’ve never seen our warehouses as empty as they are right now.”

States scramble to fill in where they can

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is fast tracking $30 million in emergency food assistance funds to “help keep food pantries stocked,” and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her state would expedite $8 million that had been allocated for food banks.

Officials in Louisiana, Vermont and Virginia said last week they would seek to keep food aid flowing to recipients in their states, even if the federal program is stalled.

Other states aren’t in a position to offer much help, especially if they won’t be reimbursed by the federal government. Arkansas officials, for example, have been pointing recipients to find food pantries, or other charitable groups — even friends and family — for help.

AP writers JoNel Aleccia in Los Angeles, Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York, Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, and video journalists Obed Lamy in Indianapolis and Mike Householder in Detroit contributed to this report.

The Sunisa Lee Sanctuary? The Garrison Keillor Green? The Herb Brooks Horticultural Experience? The Greater East Side Sledding Idyll?

St. Paul Parks and Recreation is looking for a new name for a 5-acre park planned for the Heights, the Greater East Side community targeted, eventually, for 1,000 new residences and 1,000 new jobs where the Hillcrest Golf Club once stood.

Bounded by Idaho Avenue, Iowa Avenue and Howard Street, the park could feature a sledding hill, overlook, dog park, community garden, playground or other amenities — perhaps even birdhouses, bat houses and a raptor platform. All of those ideas and plenty of others have been floated in two concept plans that are being refined by city staff into a single preferred concept plan.

Parks officials are accepting suggestions for a new park name at tinyurl.com/HeightsParkSurvey through Nov. 15, and they’re asking for recommendations that speak to at least one of four key factors.

The name could bear on geography, such as adjacent street names, the surrounding neighborhood or community, or a prominent nearby feature. It could be based in history, such as referencing prominent historic people or events associated with the site’s general area. The Prince Rogers Nelson Natural Roaming Prairie might fit the bill.

The name could be more functional, based on the use, services or programs provided at the site. Or it could be a memorial to an individual or individuals who made significant contributions to the St. Paul Parks and Recreation system and who have been deceased for at least three years. The Bruce Vento Memorial Acreage comes to mind.

The park would be centrally located within the Heights, which is still largely owned by the St. Paul Port Authority and spans 112 acres of land off Larpenteur Avenue and McKnight Road. It will be connected to surrounding development through biking and walking trails.

While apartment buildings proposed by Sherman Associates and the JO Companies appear stalled pending funding requests to the state Legislature, several other real estate development projects are still moving forward, as are roadways, utilities and general infrastructure.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is well underway with construction of 147 mid-density affordable housing units, a project that got a boost last year when the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project brought in celebrity country singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.

Xcel Energy is building a new service center, with plans to make it operational by 2027. Ever-Green Energy is installing district geothermal energy systems in the Heights, and the aquifer thermal energy storage system will be one of the first in the state.

Roadway crews this week were expected to begin building the roadway along Winthrop Street from Arlington Avenue to Hoyt Avenue. Utility crews were scheduled to continue installing sanitary sewer on Iowa Avenue between Howard Street and Winthrop, as well as storm sewer along Nebraska Avenue between Winthrop and Howard.

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By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve will almost certainly cut its key interest rate on Wednesday and could signal it expects another cut in December as the central bank seeks to bolster hiring.

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A cut Wednesday would be the second this year and could benefit consumers by bringing down borrowing costs for mortgages and auto loans. Since Fed chair Jerome Powell strongly signaled in late August that rate cuts were likely this year, the average 30-year mortgage rate has fallen to about 6.2% from 6.6%, providing a boost to the otherwise-sluggish housing market.

Still, the Fed is navigating an unusual period for the U.S. economy and its future moves are harder to anticipate than is typically the case. Hiring has ground nearly to a halt, yet inflation remains elevated, and the economy’s mostly solid growth is heavily dependent on massive investment by leading tech companies in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The central bank is assessing these trends without most of the government data it uses to gauge the economy’s health. The release of September’s jobs report has been postponed because of the government shutdown. The White House said last week October’s inflation figure may not even be compiled.

The shutdown itself may also crimp the economy in the coming months, depending on how long it lasts. Roughly 750,000 federal workers are nearing a month without pay, which could soon start weakening consumer spending, a critical driver of the economy.

Federal workers laid off by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts earlier this year may formally show up in jobs data if it is reported next month, which could make the monthly hiring data look even worse.

Powell has said that the risk of weaker hiring is rising, which makes it as much of a concern as still-elevated inflation. As a result, the central bank needs to move its key rate closer to a level that would neither slow nor stimulate the economy.

Most Fed officials view the current level of its key rate — 4.1% — as high enough to slow growth and cool inflation, which has been their main goal since price increases spiked to a four-decade high three years ago. The Fed is widely expected to reduce it to about 3.9% Wednesday. WIth job gains at risk, the goal is to move rates to a less-restrictive level.

Kris Dawsey, head of economic research at D.E. Shaw, an investment bank, said that the lack of data during the shutdown means the Fed will likely stay on the path it sketched out in September, when it forecast cuts this month and in December.

“Imagine you’re driving in a winter storm and suddenly lose visibility in whiteout conditions,” Dawsey said. “While you slow the car down, you’re going to continue going in the direction you were going versus making an abrupt change once you lose that visibility.”

In recent remarks, the Fed chair has made clear that the sluggish job market has become a signficant concern.

“The labor market has actually softened pretty considerably,” Powell said. “The downside risks to employment appear to have risen.”

Before the government shutdown cut off the flow of data Oct. 1, monthly hiring gains had weakened to an average of just 29,000 a month for the previous three months. The unemployment rate ticked up to a still-low 4.3% in August from 4.2% in July.

Layoffs also remain low, however, leading Powell and other officials to refer to the “low-hire, low-fire” job market.

At the same time, last week’s inflation report — released more than a week late because of the shutdown — showed that inflation remain elevated but isn’t accelerating and may not need higher rates to tame it.

Yet a key question is how long the job market can remain in what Powell has described as a “curious kind of balance.”

“There have been some worrisome data points in the last few months,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander, an investment bank. “Is that a weakening trend or are we just hitting an air pocket?”

The uncertainty has prompted some top Fed officials to suggest that they may not necessarily support a cut at its next meeting in December. At its September meeting, the Fed signaled it would cut three times this year, though its policymaking committee is divided. Nine of 19 officials supported two or fewer reductions.

Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed’s governing board and one of five people being considered by the Trump administration to replace Powell as Fed chair next year, said in a recent speech that while hiring data is weak, other figures suggest the economy is growing at a healthy pace.

“So, something’s gotta give,” Waller said. “Either economic growth softens to match a soft labor market, or the labor market rebounds to match stronger economic growth.”

Since it’s unclear how the contradiction will play out, Waller added, “we need to move with care when adjusting the policy rate.”

Waller said he supported a quarter-point cut this month, “but beyond that point” it will depend on what the economic data says, assuming the shutdown ends.

Financial markets have put the odds of another cut in December at above 90%, according to CME Fedwatch — and Fed officials have so far said little to defuse that expectation.

Jonathan Pingle, chief U.S. economist at UBS, said that he will look to see if Powell, at a news conference Wednesday, repeats his assertion that the risks of a weaker job market remain high.

“If I hear that, I think they’re on track to lowering rates again in December,” he said.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Amazon will cut about 14,000 corporate jobs as the online retail giant ramps up spending on artificial intelligence while trimming spending.

In June CEO Andy Jassy, who has aggressively sought to cut costs since becoming CEO in 2021, said that he anticipated generative AI would reduce Amazon’s corporate workforce in the next few years.

Jassy said at the time that Amazon had more than 1,000 generative AI services and applications in progress or built, but that figure was a “small fraction” of what it plans to build.

Jassy encouraged employees to get on board with the company’s AI plans. Earlier that month Amazon announced that it was planning to invest $10 billion toward building a campus in North Carolina to expand its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Since 2024 started, Amazon has committed to about $10 billion apiece to data center projects in Mississippi, Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina as it ramps up its infrastructure to compete with other tech giants to meet growing demand for artificial intelligence products.

Amazon is competing in the AI space with giants like OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. In a conference call with industry analysts in May, Jassy said the potential for growth in the company’s AWS business is massive.

“If you believe your mission is to make customers’ lives easier and better every day, and you believe that every customer experience will be reinvented with AI, you’re going to invest very aggressively in AI, and that’s what we’re doing. You can see that in the 1,000-plus AI applications we’re building across Amazon. You can see that with our next generation of Alexa, named Alexa+,” he said.

On Tuesday, the online giant said it was reducing bureaucracy.

“The reductions we’re sharing today are a continuation of this work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs,” Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology at Amazon, said in message to employees Tuesday.

Teams and individuals impacted by the job cuts will be notified on Tuesday. Most workers will be given 90 days to look for a new position internally, Galetti said. For those who can’t find a new role at the company or who opt not to look for one will be provided transitional support including severance pay, outplacement services and health insurance benefits.

Amazon has about 350,000 corporate employees and a total workforce of approximately 1.56 million. The cuts announced Tuesday amount to about a 4% reduction in its corporate workforce.

Amazon’s workforce doubled during the pandemic as millions stayed home and boosted online spending. In the following years, big tech and retail companies cut thousands of jobs to bring spending back in line.

The cuts announced Tuesday suggests Amazon is still trying to get the size of its workforce right and it may not be over. It was the biggest culling at Amazon since 2023, when the company cut 27,000 jobs. Those cuts came in waves, with 9,000 jobs trimmed in March of that year, and another 18,000 employees two months later. Amazon has not said if more job cuts are coming.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a statement that the layoffs “represent a deep cleaning of Amazon’s corporate workforce.”

“Unlike the Target layoffs, Amazon is operating from a position of strength,” he said. “The company has been producing good growth, and it still has a lot of headroom for further expansion in both the U.S. and overseas.”

But Saunders noted that Amazon is not immune to outside factors, as global markets tighten and underlying costs climb.

“It needs to act if it wants to continue with a good bottom line performance. This is especially so given the amount of investment the company is making in areas like logistics and AI. In some ways, this is a tipping point away from human capital to technological infrastructure,” he said.

Amazon will post quarterly financial results on Thursday. During its most recent quarter, the company reported 17.5% growth for its cloud computing arm Amazon Web Services.