Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services says food-stamp benefit amounts rose on October 1 and that no recipient will see a decrease. The department’s release puts the average increase for most recipients at $18. The new amounts follow the annual cost-of-living adjustment from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service and run through September 30, 2027. The department…

Eight states have already passed the dates USDA listed for limits on what food stamps can buy, and SNAP shoppers there are living under those rules now. The states are Indiana, Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Florida and Arkansas. Every one restricts a soda, soft drink or sweetened drink, and seven of the eight add…

A federal court order issued June 22 is the reason food stamps still buy soda and candy in Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia. The order, in Aragon et al. v. Rollins et al., No. 1:26-cv-00861 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, vacated USDA’s approval of each state’s purchase limits. USDA’s…

South Carolina and North Dakota are the two states where USDA’s food-restriction table shows a November 1 start for new limits on what food stamps can buy. The program, formally the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, puts benefits on an EBT card that shoppers swipe at the register. In both states, candy and sweetened…

Target is bringing back a Thanksgiving bundle that feeds six people for $30, and the price is good from November 8 through November 29, 2026. That window runs through Thanksgiving on November 26 and three days past it. The retailer announced the deal in an October 22 press release, which also promised a frozen turkey…

Regular gas averages $4.29 a gallon nationwide, down from $4.49 a month ago, AAA says. The motor club’s national average for regular unleaded was $4.2892 on October 25, 2026, against $4.4918 a month earlier. That is a drop of about 20 cents over the month, and most of it happened before the last week. For…

The White House says gas and diesel prices will soon drop after deals with other countries to release more than 130 million barrels of diesel from their stockpiles. The administration’s release, dated October 25, 2026, says prices “will soon drop rapidly.” It gives no price target and no date for when the drop should show…

Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina and Virginia are set to begin blocking soda, candy or both from SNAP purchases on Nov. 1, 2026. The four states join eight others whose start dates have already passed, which puts 12 states on the list at that point, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food-restriction waiver table.…

Holiday packages headed to Canada, Mexico and Europe have a send-by date of Wednesday, December 9, for the two most common international services, according to the Postal Service. A third, faster service has a date a week later, on December 16. The USPS holiday shipping dates page lists the same dates for each of nine…

Families who plan to mail holiday packages to troops overseas have an early deadline. The Postal Service says Ground Advantage packages to military addresses should be mailed by Wednesday, November 4, to arrive before Christmas, five weeks ahead of the date for faster services. The dates come from the USPS holiday shipping dates page, which…