Axios

Farmers across the Midwest are entering planting season under mounting financial pressure, as the Iran conflict drives up diesel and fertilizer prices — deepening an agricultural downturn that some say is the worst since the crisis of the 1980s.

Why it matters: Rising fuel and fertilizer costs threaten to push more family farms out of business, drive up food prices and further strain rural economies already battered by trade disruptions, inflation and extreme weather.

The era of ever-expanding workplace perks is ending. It's not just free kombucha and laundry — policies like paid parental leave and retirement matches are on the chopping block.

Why it matters: Corporate America spent the labor-shortage years competing to offer the most generous workplace benefits. Now, with health-care cost soaring, workers leverage shrinking and an AI reckoning, some employers are rolling them back.

The Supreme Court denied an emergency effort from Virginia Democrats to revive their chances of redrawing the state's congressional maps before the November midterms.

Why it matters: Virginia's redistricting push is officially dead.