Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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A one-person elderly or disabled household can earn $2,195 a month and still qualify for food stamps
Every fall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture resets the income lines that decide who qualifies for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and this year’s update includes a number that catches a lot of households off guard. Starting in October, a person living alone who is 60 or older or who has a qualifying disability can…
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The maximum food stamp benefit for a two-person household rises to $562 a month on October 1
Every household that receives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will see its ceiling move higher starting October 1, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual cost-of-living adjustment takes effect. For a two-person household in the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., that ceiling climbs from $546 to $562 a month, a $16 increase tied to…
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Federal layoff rules changed Wednesday, and a performance rating now outranks decades of seniority
A federal employee who has spent thirty years earning step increases and finishing one four-year assignment after another no longer gets that cushion if an agency has to cut staff. Starting this past Wednesday, September 2, the Office of Personnel Management requires agencies to rank employees for a reduction in force mainly by a numeric…
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Beef is on track to cost 9.8 percent more this year, the fastest rise of any grocery category
American shoppers reaching for ground beef, steak or a roast this year are absorbing one of the steepest single-category price increases in the supermarket. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service now forecasts that beef and veal prices will climb 9.8 percent over the course of 2026, the fastest rise among the fifteen food-at-home…
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Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom pay a lower American tariff than most economies because they ban forced-labor imports
Beginning July 24, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection started collecting a new tariff on imports from 60 economies, and the size of the bill turns on one thing: whether that economy bans the import of goods made with forced labor. Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom landed in the cheaper of two brackets, paying…
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Medicare is dropping the limits on when agents can call beneficiaries
Starting October 1, insurance agents and brokers selling Medicare Advantage and Part D plans will no longer have to wait 48 hours after a beneficiary signs a permission form before pitching them specific coverage, and educational meetings can flow directly into sales appointments in the same room. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized…
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Food stamp households with a senior or disabled member can hold $4,750 in savings starting October 1
Households that receive help buying groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program have long faced a hard ceiling on savings: build up too much money in the bank, and the benefit disappears. Starting October 1, 2026, that ceiling moves for one specific group. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Administration is raising the…
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Google, Flo and Flurry will pay $59.5 million over period-tracker data, claims open to October 15
A federal court in San Francisco has given preliminary approval to a $59.5 million settlement resolving claims that Google, the period-tracking app Flo Health and the analytics firm Flurry shared users’ menstrual and pregnancy data with outside companies without proper consent. The fund is now open to claims, and the deadline to file falls in…
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Toyota is recalling 48,280 Tacoma pickups whose shock reservoirs can rust off onto the road, and the repair is free
Toyota is recalling 48,280 Tacoma pickups after finding that the external oil reservoirs on certain shock absorbers can corrode where they are welded to the shock body, letting the reservoir break loose and land in the road while the truck is moving. The recall does not cover every 2024 or 2025 Tacoma — only those…
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Ring owners are getting payments after the FTC found employees could watch their video
More than three years after regulators accused Ring of letting its own employees watch customers’ home security footage with little oversight, money tied to that case is still moving. The Federal Trade Commission has begun sending Zelle payments to Ring owners who never cashed an earlier refund check or accepted a PayPal payment, the latest…
