Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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Quartz countertops now face a four-year import quota that took effect August 15
At 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on August 15, a tariff-rate quota took effect on imported quartz surface products, the engineered slabs that reach American homes as kitchen counters, vanity tops and shower surrounds. It was created by Proclamation 11051, signed on July 31, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on August 5. The measure…
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Home insurance premiums rose as much as 43 percent above inflation since 2018, and non-renewals more than doubled
Forty-three and three-tenths percent is the steepest inflation-adjusted rise in the average homeowners insurance premium recorded in any of the four regions the National Association of Insurance Commissioners tracks, measured across 2018 through 2024. The gentlest regional increase over those same seven years was 18.3 percent, also after inflation is stripped out. Both figures come…
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Social Security added 14 fast-track conditions to its disability list
The group reached by this change is a narrow one: people applying for Social Security disability benefits whose medical file names one of 14 diagnoses the agency added on August 11, 2026, and the families waiting alongside them for an answer. For that group the change is about calendar time rather than dollars. The additions…
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A new IRS report shows a lender or employer that you filed and paid on time
A single PDF, downloadable at any hour from an IRS Individual Online Account, now exists for the sole purpose of being handed to somebody else. The Tax Compliance Report states whether a taxpayer filed returns and paid taxes on time, and it is built to be shared when a lender, an employer or a benefits…
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Car loan balances hit a record $1.71 trillion as auto delinquencies stay elevated
Auto loan balances in the United States reached $1.713 trillion at the end of June, the highest figure recorded in a series the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has published since 2003. The quarterly increase was $28 billion. It landed in a quarter when total household debt went down, which is what makes the…
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An Alabama recycler will pay $2.6 million to women it refused to hire
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took TCI of Alabama, LLC to federal court after its administrative conciliation process failed to produce a pre-litigation settlement. On July 22, 2026, the agency announced how the case ended: a three-year consent decree under which the recycler will pay $2.6 million in monetary damages to compensate women who were…
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Working parents can now shield $7,500 of child care costs from federal tax through a workplace account, up from $5,000
For the 2025 tax year, the most a worker could run through an employer’s dependent care account and keep out of taxable income was $5,000. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, that ceiling is $7,500. The difference is $2,500 of child care spending that moves from after-tax dollars to pre-tax dollars, and it…
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Overtime pay up to $12,500 is deductible this year, and it lands in box 12 of your W-2 under code TT
Box 12 of the Form W-2 carries a code this year that was not on the wage statement workers opened last January. Employers must now enter qualified overtime compensation there under the two-letter code TT, and that single entry is what makes the new overtime deduction usable at all. The Internal Revenue Service set out…
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Valley Health goes out of network for UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage on October 1, two weeks before Medicare’s enrollment window opens
Three dates now sit within a six-week span for older adults in Virginia and West Virginia who get their care at Valley Health and carry a UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage card. The contract between the health system and the insurer terminates on September 30, 2026. Valley Health’s hospitals, facilities and physicians become out of network for…
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A package you never ordered may mean your name is being used
An FTC alert explains brushing scams: an unordered package validates a delivery so a seller can post fake reviews, and a QR code inside may lead to a phishing site.
