How and where that's happening is coming up.

I'm Carl Azuz.

Our first topic concerns the US economy.

What happens with it doesn't only apply to Americans; it can impact many more people around the world.

And one indicator, one measure of that economy is the US stock market.

April was not a good month for it.

In that 30-day period, several major US stock indexes saw their worst decreases since March of 2020 when the COVID pandemic was sinking in.

And the NASDAQ⏤a stock exchange that includes tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google⏤saw its biggest drop since October of 2008 when the great recession was taking place.

A lot of things contributed.

COVID cases have been increasing in China, and that country is so populated and so economically powerful that its strict lockdown policies don't only hit the Chinese economy.

They can affect others as well.

The ongoing war in Ukraine is creating global uncertainty⏤investors don't like that.

The US Federal Reserve is planning to raise interest rates again.

That might help reduce inflation but also might reduce economic growth, and the fears of a recession⏤a decline in the nation's economy⏤are also hurting stocks.

Another economic indicator is the US government's monthly jobs report.

The newest one will have information from April, and it's due out later this week.

American employers have added several hundred thousand jobs each month this year and the unemployment rate⏤the percentage of workers who don't have a job⏤has been steadily decreasing, both good economic signs.

But while Americans' average wages have also been increasing, they haven't risen enough to keep pace with inflation, the hike in prices for many things we buy.

Last year, inflation rates rose to their highest level in decades⏤they've only gotten worse in 2022, and that's having ripple effects across the economy.

At Stellina Pizzeria in D.C., the food has been hot and the tips steady throughout the pandemic.

Have the tips been good during the pandemic?

Oh, for sure.

But now, the staff, suppliers, customers⏤everyone is facing a tipping point, and service workers in some places are paying the price.

Just ask Isabella Sarmiento, the operations manager.

Tipping has grown a lot more complicated.

It has; you are not wrong.

The pandemic, by many accounts, pushed tips to new prominence in home deliveries, at take-out stands, food trucks, and in ride-sharing services far beyond the spots where many consumers were used to seeing them

At the New York Times, food writer Christina Morales says, "That's left a lot of folks wondering where to tip, when, and how much?"

What's driving, really, a lot of this anxiety and confusion is the fact that these changes in tipping have happened so fast.

She says even the social norms for tipping have become unsettled, noting one company which tracks credit card transactions found tips rose as the pandemic began, then leveled off, and now are falling amid the confusion and inflation.

So, should you tip at a coffee stand, a supermarket, a convenience store?

I'm a good tipper.

Some customers say it's simple: if someone helps you, tip; if you help yourself...

I was at the airport and I grabbed a bottle of water from, like, a convenience store, and it asked me for a tip, and I was, like, "Uh... that's not happening."

To make it all clearer, Stellina now puts a 20% service charge on your bill.

That is the tip⏤unless you want to add a little more.

For me, I personally evaluate the service that I'm receiving and I also take into account the person behind the counter, and I say, you know, "How much could they possibly be making?"

Just understand, like, I think we're all just trying to do what's best for the people around us.

- That's a good tip. - Thanks.

Inflation is just complicating things more as people count every dollar and try to make every dollar count on both sides of the tipping wall.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

10-second trivia: Which of these countries is made up of two main islands and about 600 smaller ones?

Indonesia, Philippines, New Zealand, or Hispaniola.

It's the two main islands⏤the north and the south⏤that distinguish New Zealand from other island countries.

There's a species of sea lion⏤the New Zealand Sea Lion⏤that is only found in that country.

And according to New Zealand's government, it's one of the rarest types of sea lion[s] on the planet.

There are an estimated 12,000 of them; they are endangered.

The threats they face include everything from diseases and lack of food to being caught by accident in the fishing industry and even road accidents.

These animals like to move inland and they're encountering cars, people, and dogs along the way.

But this isn't a report about what's killing them off.

It's about what's bringing them back to New Zealand's south island and what's being done to help them and people live together.

As a volunteer with New Zealand Sea Lion Trust, Hanna Yeardley is monitoring the sea lions where she lives near the Otago Peninsula on the country's South Island.

It's kind of like babysitting, you know, especially when... when they're pregnant or they have pups.

You kind of make sure that someone's at least seen them or checked up on them during the day.

There he is, having a wee stretch.

These pups are part of a new generation of sea lions that have returned to this coast after a long absence.

Driven off the mainland over a century ago by hunting, New Zealand Sea Lions survived on subantarctic islands until one day in 1993.

A female from the Auckland Islands had a pup here on the mainland and she proceeded to have 11 pups.

So, essentially, this one female was responsible for bringing back a population of sea lions to Otago.

That pivotal sea lion was named "Mum".

She left behind a dynasty of sea lions that continues to thrive on this coast today.

But they don't just stick to this coastline.

They really push inland as far as they can, and that usually puts them up against the road.

You take care around those roads.

And, so, actually, one of the biggest threats are some of those modes of transport.

The sea lions have returned to a very different coastline to the one they left over 100 years ago.

One with crowded beaches.

Keeping them safe is the job of biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe.

Humans love to go to the beach at summer.

The young sea lions are really curious and playful.

They know that the surfers are there having fun as well, and so they want to join in; they're, you know, social animals.

Our advice is that you just don't interact with them.

Just ignore them and get on with what you're doing.

Hello.

Despite their recovery here, New Zealand Sea Lions are one of the world's rarest sea lion species, facing threats from disease and accidental capture in local fisheries.

That makes protecting this burgeoning population even more important.

And that's where local residents come in.

Communities, usually, once they start to learn about them, take a real interest and are... are really protective of the sea lions that are breeding in the communities.

People are just surprised to find these animals in their backyard.

This year, 21 sea lion pups were born on the Otago Peninsula, Fyfe says.

It's the highest number since they returned to these shores and will keep sea lion babysitters like Yardley busy for years to come.

It's very cool because you're gonna get to see their wee faces again.

Once you get to know them, sea lions do have personalities.

It's just seeing them, enjoying them while respecting their space, of course.

That's the thing that I enjoy the most.

Even in South Dakota, you're not building a snowman in 60-degree weather.

That's why this came as a surprise to residents of an assisted living center who woke up last week to see this in the yard.

The snow had been imported.

A local man had been away at a meeting in the mountains of western South Dakota when they were smacked by a snowstorm.

So, he shoveled a bunch of it into his pickup truck, drove back home to the eastern part of the state, and he and his daughter gave Frosty new life outside a care center in Sioux Falls.

Well, the sun was hot that day, but they still had some fun before he melted away.

Of course, the scene looked more like a "Winter Wonderland" that's more common "In the Bleak Midwinter".

But the effort made it a "Silent Night" brought a little "Joy to the World" for those who still needed "A Little Christmas" at springtime even if critics would've rather "Decked the Halls" with a hippopotamus.

Wall High School, you guys are "wall-some"!

Shout-out to our viewers in Wall, New Jersey.

The one and only place we look for your shout-out requests is youtube.com/CNN10; I'm Carl Azuz.