By Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times

Every year, Ventura County, California, resident Carlos Soto buys a Liverpool Football Club jersey for his son to celebrate the start of the soccer season. This year it was delivered with an additional bill of $107.

“The UPS guy said he couldn’t release it unless I paid more,” said Soto, who owns the Historia Bakery Cafe in Thousand Oaks. “Until this tariff thing started, I’ve never, ever had a bill on top of my purchase.”

Soto declined the payment and requested a refund for the jersey, which he bought from the team’s official website for around $150.

Since President Trump reversed a decades-old tariff policy in August known as de minimis, online shoppers like Soto are sometimes getting hit with high, unexpected extra charges.

De minimis used to allow goods valued at less than $800 to enter the country duty-free. The tariff exception applied to more than 1.30 billion packages sent to the U.S. from overseas in 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Social media is full of reports of individuals struggling with surprise bills for their deliveries. On Facebook and elsewhere, buyers are venting about hundreds of dollars due on mouse pads, makeup and bridesmaid dresses. One person on Reddit faced a $4,700 fee on a specialized desk chair from Bulgaria.

While the new fees are often already baked into product prices, some goods land in America without the tariffs being paid. That’s when the person receiving the package is expected to fork over the difference.

Package delivery companies have been scrambling to educate consumers about the new tariff regime, but still, some are surprised.

UPS, FedEx and DHL have each posted frequently asked questions and resources online to support customers who may owe tariffs on their items. Large numbers of customers are calling with complaints or confusion when presented with unexpected bills — UPS said it is working through a backlog of brokerage-related issues.

“Our brokerage services are designed to ensure shipments comply with regulations (and) pay necessary duties and taxes,” said UPS spokesperson Jim Mayer. “If the shipper or receiver have not paid these costs, UPS generates a bill so the shipment can be released by Customs and Border Protection.”

Mark Hartlidge, a small package compliance manager at UPS, called the changes this year a “rollercoaster ride” in one webinar hosted for customers.

“If you import anything to the United States, you most likely have been impacted,” he said in July. “These changes can be very difficult to understand.”

While large companies and online retailers have the staff and infrastructure in place to make the transition smoothly, smaller businesses that export directly to the U.S. are sometimes failing to inform consumers about the extra costs and when they are due.

Washington, D.C., resident David Herr, who restores classic cars, recently ordered an auto part from Belgium for about $200.

“I knew I was going to have to pay some import fee, but I had no idea what it was going to be,” Herr said. “I didn’t know if that was included in the price, or if that was going to be collected by customs or somebody else.”

When Herr’s package arrived via UPS, the delivery driver presented him with a hefty charge of $493.

“It’s kind of awkward how the fees are collected,” he said. “There’s not a lot of clarity on who’s collecting them and where they’re going.”

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The popular fast fashion website Shein, which is based in Singapore, advertises a guarantee that the price at checkout is the final price for the product.

“There’s lots of chatter about tariffs, but here’s why you don’t need to worry about paying anything extra after checkout,” the Shein website says.

Temu, another low-cost online retailer that previously relied on de minimis, states on its website that for its customers, there are “no import charges for all local warehouse items and no extra charges upon delivery.”

Meg Moore, an avid online shopper from the Chicago area, said she plans to change her shopping habits.

She had her eye on the annual beauty product advent calendar from the London-based brand Liberty, which retails for $365, but decided against it due to the tariffs.

“They’ll add at least $100 just to send it here,” she said.

De minimis, which is Latin for something of little importance, dates to 1938 when Congress passed the exception to boost trade and save the time of inspecting and calculating taxes on every package.

Lawmakers increased the duty-free threshold from $1 to $5 in 1990 and again to $200 in 1993. Under the most recent threshold of $800, the number of packages entering the U.S. duty-free had skyrocketed.

Trump has called the rule a “scam” that weakens American businesses and allows dangerous goods to enter the country without oversight. Packages that claim the exemption are not inspected as thoroughly by U.S. Customs personnel.

Trump ended the so-called loophole for goods sent from China in May before eliminating the practice for goods from all other nations in August. Documents and gifts under $100 are still exempt from import taxes.

Soto in Thousand Oaks decided to search for a Liverpool jersey in California. But he’s still waiting for the refund on the jersey he sent back.

“When it comes to politics and government, I’ve always kind of turned away from it,” he said. “But this time it actually hurt my pocket.”

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Gophers football program has done an exceptional job recruiting top-rated talent in the state of Minnesota in recent years.

Here’s the trend:

Esko’s Koi Perich was No. 1 in the 2024 class, and the true sophomore is a starting safety and the primary kick/punt returner for this year’s team.

Robbinsdale Cooper’s Emmanuel Karmo was tops in 2025, and the true freshman linebacker/defensive end/special teamer is getting a taste of action, with 80 total snaps so far this season.

And Jackson County Central’s Roman Voss is the cream of next year’s crop, and the current small-school quarterback is in line to be a tight end on next year’s squad.

That hearty success is setting up in 2027 as well, with top-rated Wayzata defensive lineman Eli Diane committed to the U since April. He was at Huntington Bank Stadium for the Rutgers win on Sept. 27.

Shakopee linebacker Blake Betton is considered the No. 2 in-state recruit in the 2027 class, according to 247Sports. Three-star prospect is working his way through more than a dozen interested programs from Power Four conferences, including the Gophers.

“It’s been crazy,” his father and Shakopee head coach Ray Betton told the Pioneer Press this week. “The calls, the mail, the (recruiting rankings). It’s cool. It really is.

“Blake’s an even-keeled kid. He gets excited, of course, but his mannerisms are very — I wouldn’t say stoic — but he’s just a kid that’s going through it. You never know that he has the offers that he has, because he doesn’t really talk about it. He enjoys it. He talks about it with (family). But outside of that, he’s a 16-year-old kid just playing football.”

After Blake plays safety and some receiver for Shakopee on Fridays, the Bettons have been making a slew of game-day visits to colleges around the Midwest this fall.

They were in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the Wolverines’ win over the Badgers game last weekend, with previous trips to Wisconsin, Iowa State and Northwestern this fall. They will head to Illinois this weekend, followed by the Gophers’ Friday night home game against Nebraska on Oct. 17. They also have plans to go to Iowa and Ohio State, as well.

If schools such as Michigan and Ohio State make Gopher fans nervous, it’s worth remembering Perich turned down the Buckeyes and Karmo declined the Wolverines. Voss had Alabama in his final two before deciding to stay home.

On the Betton’s visits, they have been learning about why current players decided to go to those respective schools. When they hear from Gophers, personal connections come through from sources: Gophers’ senior defensive tackle Deven Eastern and sophomore safety Garrison Monroe are Shakopee alums. And Ray Betton has also taken coaching points from defensive coordinator Danny Collins.

Blake Betton, who is 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, is seeking connections to the head coach, and as a projected linebacker at the next level, to his future position coach. He wants a winning culture and quality academic programs. Business school has become an area of interest.

His current plan is to narrow down his choices in early 2026 and then go on official visits next summer.

Betton’s mix of schools also includes scholarship offers from SEC schools Missouri, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. Kansas State has also thrown its hat into the mix this fall.

The Bettons aren’t newbies to the recruiting process. They went through the recruiting process for Blake’s older sister Gabby, a standout Lakeville North basketball player who is now a sophomore guard at Loyola Maryland.

Ray was an athlete coming out of Tucson, Ariz., and started out at Arizona Western (Junior) College. He then played running back at Division-II Bemidji State. As a coach since 1995, he has been through recruiting processes for other players through his tenures at Simley, East Ridge, Holy Angels and Shakopee.

Blake, who also plays basketball, has been adjusting to a bigger spotlight on the football field.

“It’s a little different now because, I think, people know him, so he’s kind of a target, either not to run his way or to throw his way … or make sure he gets blocked,” Ray said. “He’s learning those things, but he’s doing well.”

Attention toward Betton will grow as college continue to seek his commitment over the next year.

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In the most recent fiscal year that ended in June, 13,429 participants took part in Department of Youth and Community Development-funded adult literacy programs, a 26 percent drop from the year before. But more than 5,000 additional people took part in classes paid for by the City Council, which stepped in during last year’s budget negotiations to plug a multi-million dollar cut.

An English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class at St. Nicks Alliance in Brooklyn on Aug. 5, 2024. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

For years, the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) has worked with local organizations to develop adult literacy programs, helping New Yorkers improve their reading, writing, and communication skills for jobs or to pursue further education.

Last year, DYCD changed how it selects nonprofit providers for adult education contracts, starting to use “Neighborhood Tabulation Areas” to target zones with low English proficiency and educational attainment, and high poverty rates.

However, after a year of implementing the new contracting system, the number of people who took part in these programs—which include English language classes for immigrant New Yorkers—dropped by 26 percent.

In the most recent fiscal year that ended in June, 13,429 participants took part in DYCD-funded adult literacy programs, down from 18,191 the year before and short of the agency’s previously stated goal of 14,312 participants for the year. 

But another more than 5,000 people took part in classes paid for by the City Council, which stepped in during last year’s budget negotiations to plug a $6 million cut in DYCD funding for adult literacy programs amidst the contract overhaul. 

Last year, advocates promptly criticized the contract changes after the New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy reported that over 70 percent of existing programs were not located in an NTA, and therefore weren’t eligible for funding. 

The Council’s discretionary funds—a one-time, $10 million infusion—was used to keep programs afloat for longtime providers who were cut out of the new contracts, as City Limits reported at the time. 

Anticipating the impact of the budget cut, the “City Council made its largest single-year increase in adult literacy discretionary funding in history,” explained Ira Yankwitt, executive director of the Literacy Assistance Center (LAC). LAC was selected to collect data on the classes funded by the Council, and its September report stated that 5,290 students participated.

Advocates and staff from Council Member Julie Won’s office said that, when including participants in both DYCD and Council-funded programs, the total number of participants stayed around 18,000 people in the last fiscal year, in line with previous years.

“This number of students served by the Pilot Project takes us back to the over 18,000 students served in prior years,” said Farah Salam, district director of Council Member Julie Won’s office.

This current fiscal year 2026, which started July 1, the Council once again allocated funds for two adult education programs: the City Council’s Adult Literacy Initiative (its larger umbrella adult education program) and the Council’s Adult Literacy Forward project (lawmakers’ more recent investment in community-based programming, previously called the City Council Adult Literacy Pilot Project). 

City Council FundingFY24FY25FY26Adult Literacy Initiative$4 million$6.25 million$6.53 millionAdult Literacy Pilot Project (renamed AL Forward in FY26)$2.5 million$7.86 million$7.97 millionTotal from City Council$6.5 million$14.1 million$14.5 million

(CREDIT: Literacy Assistance Center)

Still, there have been other challenges in the wake of DYCD’s contract changes. The assignment and allocation of funds in the most recent fiscal year took longer than planned, and not all NTAs—neighborhoods the city targeted for services under the new formula—actually had programs, DYCD explained.

In February, when City Limits reported on two bidders withdrawing their applications to run programs, DYCD said it had selected new providers to fill those areas. But by the end of last fiscal year, the city had received no viable proposals for two NTAs for Adult Basic Education and High School Equivalency, DYCD said.

DYCD said that the agency is working on reallocating those slots to Bilingual Education programs and English for Speakers of Other Languages classes.

The new contracting method also led to delays in the city selecting providers, who in turn had shorter time frames to get classes up and running. According to the latest Mayor’s Management Report (MMR), the percentage of participants meeting standards of improvement on English skills in adult literacy classes also decreased, from 59 percent to 54 percent.

“Due to delays in contract awards and the program start-up process, providers did not have as long with participants to reach outcomes,” explains the MMR. Some providers also struggled to fill their slots. DYCD said that providers who had trouble meeting their enrollment targets this year were offered help from a vendor that could help them improve their capacity.

A drop-in English conversation class at the St. Agnes branch of the New York Public Library in January 2020. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

DYCD said the number of spots decreased because the cost per person increased to allow for better programming. But they also recognized the program’s bumpy start and that delays affected how many people enrolled.

“DYCD is committed to helping New Yorkers attain the reading, writing, and communication skills they need to get a job, give back to their community, and pursue further education. Our Adult Literacy Program is doing just that, and we’re making this program even more robust to give New Yorkers the tools they need to succeed,” a DYCD spokesperson said. 

There’s been an increase in demand for these programs recently, since the city absorbed over 237,000 migrants since 2022. Around 37,000 of them are still in the shelter system.

When asked for participation data on the current fiscal year, the DYCD did not provide specifics, saying that July and August typically represent a small percentage of enrollment, while data for September wasn’t yet final. 

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Daniel@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Participants in City Agency-Funded Adult Literacy, English Classes Dipped After Contracting Overhaul appeared first on City Limits.

By SARAH RAZA, Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — When Rob Coverdale started his job in 2023 as superintendent of the K-12 Crow Creek Tribal School in South Dakota, there were 15 unfilled teaching positions.

Within nine months, he had filled those vacancies with Filipino teachers, the majority of whom arrived on the H-1B, a visa for skilled workers in specialty occupations.

“We’ve hired the H-1B teachers because we quite simply didn’t have other applicants for those positions,” Coverdale said. “So they’re certainly not taking jobs from Americans. They’re filling jobs that otherwise just simply we would not get filled.”

Now a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications spells trouble for those like Coverdale in rural parts of the country who rely on immigrants to fill vacancies in skilled professions like education and health care.

The Trump administration announced the fee on Sept. 19, arguing that employers were replacing American workers with cheaper talent from overseas. Since then, the White House has said the fee won’t apply to existing visa holders and offered a form to request exemptions from the charge.

H-1Bs are primarily associated with tech workers from India. Big tech companies are the biggest user of the visa, and nearly three-quarters of those approved are from India. But there are critical workers, like teachers and doctors, who fall outside that category.

Over the last decade, the U.S. has faced a shortage in those and other sectors. One in eight public school positions are vacant or filled by uncertified teachers, and the American Medical Association projects a shortage of 87,000 physicians in the next decade. The shortages are often worse in small, rural communities that struggle to fill jobs due to lower wages and often lack basic necessities like shopping and home rental options.

H-1B and J-1 visas provide communities an option to hire immigrants with advanced training and certification. The J-1s are short-term visas for cultural exchange programs that aren’t subject to the new fee but, unlike the H-1B, don’t offer a pathway to permanent residency.

While large companies may be able to absorb the new fee, that’s not an option for most rural communities, said Melissa Sadorf, executive director of the National Rural Education Association.

“It really is potentially the cost of the salary and benefits of one teacher, maybe even two, depending on the state,” she said. “Attaching that price tag to a single hire, it just simply puts that position out of reach for rural budgets.”

A coalition of health care providers, religious groups and educators filed a lawsuit on Friday to stop the H-1B fee, saying it would harm hospitals, churches, schools and industries that rely on the visa. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment and referred a query to its website.

The Crow Creek Tribal School system is marked by a sign in Stephan, S.D., Feb. 7, 2025. (Bart Pfankuch/South Dakota News Watch)

Filling classrooms where Americans won’t go

Coverdale said spots like Stephan, where Crow Creek is based, struggle to attract workers in part because of their isolation. Stephan is nearly an hour’s drive from the nearest Walmart or any place that sells clothes, he said.

“The more remote you are, the more challenging it is for your staff members to get to your school and serve your kids,” he said.

Among Coverdale’s hires is Mary Joy Ponce-Torres, who had 24 years of teaching experience in the Philippines and now teaches history at Crow Creek. It was a cultural adjustment, but Ponce-Torres said she’s made friends and Stephan is now a second home.

“I came from a private school,” she said. “When I came here, I saw it was more like a rural area … but maybe I was also looking for the same vibe, the same atmosphere where I can just take my time, take things in a much slower pace.”

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Many immigrants like Ponce-Torres leave their family behind to pursue the experience and higher wages that a U.S. job can provide.

Sean Rickert, superintendent of the Pima Unified School District in Pima, Arizona, said he would stop seeking H-1B teachers if the new fee is imposed. “I just plain don’t have the money,” he said.

Though schools can also use J-1 visas to bring in immigrant teachers, it increases turnover because it is shorter term.

“It’s so important that we find permanent people, people who can buy homes, who can become part of our community,” said George Shipley, superintendent at Bison Schools in the town of Bison, South Dakota. “So the H-1B opens that possibility. It is super important, in my opinion, to actually transition from the J-1 visas to the H-1B.”

Without enough staff, schools may hire uncertified teachers, combine classes, increase caseloads for special education managers or drop some course offerings. Shipley said any future shortage of teachers in Bison would force some classes to move online.

The rural reliance on immigrant teachers is concentrated on harder-to-fill specialties, Sadorf said.

“It’s a lot more difficult to find a high school advanced math teacher that’s qualified than it is to fill a second or third grade elementary class position,” she said.

Closing gaps in the nation’s doctor shortage

The fee could be a “huge problem” for health care, said Bobby Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association and a doctor in Flint, Michigan. Without enough doctors, patients will have to drive farther and wait longer for care.

One-quarter of the nation’s physicians are international medical graduates, according to the AMA.

“It’s just going to be terrible for the physician shortage, particularly in rural areas,” said Mukkamala, whose parents came to the U.S. as international medical graduates. “The people that do graduate from here, who want to practice medicine, obviously have a choice and they’re going to pick Detroit, they’re going to pick Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco. … This is kind of where everybody goes.”

Leading medical societies have called on the Trump administration and lawmakers to grant exemptions from the fee to immigrant health care workers.

“Given the staffing and financial challenges our hospitals are already facing, the increased petition fees outlined in the September 19 Proclamation would likely prevent many of them from continuing to recruit essential health care staff and could force a reduction in the services they are able to provide,” the American Hospital Association said in a statement.

Allison Roberts, vice president of human resources at Prairie Lakes Healthcare System in Watertown, South Dakota, said the change could be dire for health care in rural America.

“If we end up not being exempt, the variation between what it is now and that $100,000 fee is going to really take your smaller, rural health care institutions out of the picture,” she said.