Main Street Dollars

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HUD’s Fair Market Rents for fiscal year 2027 take effect today, October 1, 2026. The rents are the benchmark behind every Housing Choice Voucher payment standard, so a new set matters to the households holding vouchers, the landlords renting to them and the local housing agencies that sit in between. The notice gives one national…

NHTSA says its final mileage rollback cuts $1,290 from a new vehicle’s price and raises gasoline use 4.6 percent

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in Groceries & Gas

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published its final fuel-economy rollback, and the agency’s own estimate has two sides. NHTSA says the rule reduces average up-front vehicle costs by about $1,290, and that it raises national gasoline consumption by 4.6 percent through 2050. The rule takes effect November 30, 2026. A rule with a…

USDA now forecasts egg prices falling 29.4 percent this year

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in Groceries & Gas

Eggs cost 23.0 percent less in August 2026 than in August 2025, and that is the number that has actually been measured. The bigger figure in the headline, 29.4 percent, belongs to a different category of claim. USDA’s Economic Research Service now forecasts that egg prices will fall 29.4 percent across calendar 2026, a prediction…

Senators are pressing HHS to release $4 billion in heating aid by November 1

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November 1, 2026 is a date written into a federal funding law, and 29 senators want the Department of Health and Human Services to beat it. The law, as the senators describe it, requires HHS to distribute at least 90 percent of its total Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program allotment by that day. Their…

Heating oil households are projected to pay 31 percent more this winter

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“Heating oil costs are projected to soar by 31% this winter.” That sentence, in a September 23 press release from Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, is the only support for the 31 percent figure behind this headline. The release names no forecaster and links no data. The number is best read as the…

USDA’s own 2027 grocery forecast runs from a 5 percent fall to a 9 percent rise

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in Groceries & Gas

A household that spends $200 a week on groceries is looking at $10,400 a year, and the question for 2027 is how much more or less that figure will be. USDA’s Economic Research Service has an answer with a catch. Its 2027 forecast for food at home is a rise of 1.8 percent, inside a…

Rhode Island Energy bills rise $16.42 a month on Oct. 1, then a $20.45 winter credit arrives

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Rhode Island Energy customers face two separate bill changes this winter. The average residential bill rises by a net $16.42 a month on Oct. 1, and a $20.45 monthly credit follows on the January, February and March 2027 bills. The credit is a later, distinct change and is not built into the October figure. The…

Maryland homeowners earning up to $60,000 must apply for a property tax credit by Oct. 1

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in Housing & Rent

Maryland homeowners with combined gross household income of up to $60,000 must apply for the state’s Homeowners’ Property Tax Credit by Oct. 1, which falls on Thursday. The State Department of Assessments and Taxation still lists the 2026 application as open, and its online form closes at 11:59 p.m. Eastern that day. The credit limits…

Columbia Gas of Virginia customers face a $10.81 monthly increase starting Oct. 12

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Columbia Gas of Virginia customers face an interim increase of $10.81 a month, about 11.11%, beginning Oct. 12. The step applies to the average residential bill and is the first half of a two-part request now before the Virginia State Corporation Commission. Cardinal News reported the details on Sept. 25. An 11.11% step on an…

A Pennsylvania senior with $15,000 in income gets a $770 property tax or rent rebate, with applications due Dec. 31

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