Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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Four companies buy 85 percent of America’s cattle, and a new order targets that
Two executive orders signed the same afternoon are aimed at the same number: 85 percent, the share of the nation’s steers and heifers now bought by the four largest beef packers. Forty years ago that figure was 36 percent, and the jump helps explain why cattle ranchers say they have less leverage at auction even…
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HUD withdrew guidance it says cost building owners $110 million in repairs
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has thrown out an eleven-year-old legal theory that let disability-access complaints against apartment buildings and condos sit open indefinitely, replacing it with a hard one-year filing deadline. HUD says the old approach pushed more than $110 million in unplanned repair costs onto building owners over the past five…
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The government now expects diesel to average $5.55 a gallon in the final months of the year
Diesel prices are set to climb sharply through the end of 2026, according to the federal government’s latest energy forecast. The U.S. Energy Information Administration now projects that retail diesel will average $5.55 a gallon in the fourth quarter of the year, a jump the agency ties to fuel stockpiles rather than a single price…
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Three hundred power companies and data-center builders pledged not to pass AI costs to households
A coalition of electric utilities, cooperatives and data-center developers has grown to 317 members since March, and every one of them has put a name to a promise that the buildout of artificial-intelligence infrastructure will not quietly show up on the electric bills of ordinary households. The commitment, known as the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, now…
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Housing agencies with 75 units or fewer can now leave public housing entirely
The federal government has just made it easier for the smallest local housing authorities to walk away from running public housing altogether. A notice from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, effective August 28, 2026, raises the size cutoff for the fastest exit path from 50 public housing units to 75, letting more…
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California’s insurer of last resort raises rates 29.1 percent on October 15
California’s insurer of last resort is about to get noticeably more expensive for the people who depend on it. Starting October 15, average premiums at the California FAIR Plan rise by 29.1 percent for new and renewing homeowners, a figure state regulators approved after the plan first asked for considerably more. For a policyholder base…
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Medicare Advantage grocery cards must check eligibility at the register next year
Millions of people enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan carry a prepaid debit card meant to cover groceries, over-the-counter items, or other extra benefits the plan advertised at enrollment. Starting with the 2027 plan year, that card will work differently at the register: a federal rule finalized this spring requires it to check, in real…
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Medicare has not published a single 2027 premium figure, and every number circulating is a projection
Anyone who has already spotted a headline promising next year’s Medicare Part B premium can relax about memorizing the number, because no such figure exists yet — not from the agency that sets it, not officially. As of this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has not published a 2027 Part B premium,…
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A Naples hospital system stops taking two Medicare Advantage carriers on January 1
Naples Comprehensive Health, the two-hospital, 713-bed system that anchors healthcare in Collier County, is cutting ties with two of the region’s largest Medicare Advantage carriers. Cigna’s Healthspring Medicare Advantage plans and Centene’s Wellcare Medicare Advantage plans are set to fall out of network at every NCH hospital, clinic, and physician office once the new year…
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Federal retirees under FERS got a 2.0 percent raise this year while Social Security paid 2.8 percent
Two federal retirement checks moved by different amounts this year, even though both increases were calculated from the same government inflation report. Annuitants who retired under the Civil Service Retirement System received a 2.8 percent cost-of-living increase, while those who retired under the newer Federal Employees Retirement System received 2.0 percent. For a household living…