QCA.news - Quad Cities news and view from both sides of the river

Monday, July 20th, 2026
	Latest on cyclosporiasis outbreak: What to know At least 1,600 cases have been linked to the outbreak, but the true case count is likely much
	Water shut off to impact several homes, businesses in Maquoketa The city said the water will be shut off for around five hours on Tuesday in the 600-800 blocks of S. Niagara Street and the 200-400 blocks of W. Monroe Street.
	6 women charged in California-to-Quad Cities marijuana enterprise Six women face felony charges in Scott County after police uncover a to ship marijuana from California to the Quad Cities area.
	Man arrested after 1 person shot in Rock Island Officials say a man was arrested after one person was shot in Rock Island early Monday.
	Davenport Fire promotes two to Assistant Chief The Davenport Fire Department has two new Assistant Chiefs. The department announced that Brian Mohr and Ryan Stremlow have been promoted to Assistant Chief. The Assistant Chief is a senior executive leader within the Davenport Fire Department, responsible for overseeing major divisions of the organization and helping guide the department's operations, strategic initiatives, and emergency [...]
	FIRST ALERT DAY: Strong/Severe Monday Evening Storms Level 2 to Level 3 risk of severe weather Monday evening and overnight; Hazy, hot & humid as well
	Greece-ed Lightning: “The Odyssey” THE ODYSSEY
	Sand raises more than $9M in less than 2 months in Iowa governor race Rob Sand raises $9.38 million in the latest reporting period, bringing his campaign cash to $17.9 million four months ahead of the Iowa election.
	Inmate at Dixon Correctional Center dies An inmate at Dixon Correctional Center died Sunday.
	10 things that wowed us at the 2026 World Cup The United States, Mexico, and Canada co-hosted the nearly six-week tournament. NPR's team of journalists who covered the World Cup reflects on the experience.
	Man arrested after early morning shooting in Rock Island Police in Rock Island arrested a man after he allegedly shot a man during an argument. A news release from the Rock Island Police Department said officers responded to the 1500 block of 11th Street on Monday, July 20 at about 2:24 a.m. for reports of shots being fired. When they arrived, they found a [...]
	Silvis to host meeting on its comprehensive plan Silvis is looking for input on its comprehensive plan. The city invites the public to attend a public meeting on its comprehensive plan on Wednesday, July 29 from 6 – 8 p.m. at Divine Mercy (Our Lady of Guadalupe Church), 800 17th Street. Residents, business owners and community stakeholders are encouraged to attend to share [...]
	One man hospitalized, suspect arrested in Rock Island shooting Early Monday morning, a shooting in Rock Island sent a 44-year-old man to the hospital. Another man has been arrested in connection with the incident.
	Orion rated highly by state board of education Orion was in the top 10% of schools statewide.
	Burlington to break ground on new fire station Burlington is ready to break ground on a new fire station. The City of Burlington and the Burlington Fire Department invite the public to attend the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Burlington Fire Station #3 on Wednesday, July 29 at 10 a.m. The ceremony will be held at the future site of Fire Station #3, [...]
	Man arrested after Rock Island shooting A man was arrested after an overnight shooting in Rock Island Monday.
	John Deere named presenting sponsor of 2026 MLB Field of Dreams game The Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies will play at the iconic movie site in Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 13.
	Over 1,000 without power in Quad Cities More than 1,000 people are without Monday afternoon.
	Flash Flood Warning until MON 5:30 PM CDT Flash Flooding Expected in Southeastern Cedar, Eastern Muscatine, and Scott Counties This Afternoon
	IHSAA State Baseball: Watch live with Monday’s final scores, highlights KWQC will broadcast and have the game on its smart TV app.
	Court ruling freezes Paramount-Warner Bros. merger for now Paramount's owners were hoping they'd be firmly in control of rival Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of this week. Monday's temporary restraining order puts that plan on hold.
	Lettuce recall sends some shoppers to local farmers markets A Cyclospora outbreak and lettuce recall have Quad Cities shoppers turning to local farmers for safe, locally grown greens.
	Will Moon remembered for generosity, leadership of Iowa 80 Group Will Moon moved to Walcott with his parents when he was 4 years old, when his parents took over the Iowa 80 Truckstop.
	For Avalon Emerson, starting a band changed everything Plus, Avalon Emerson & The Charm perform songs from the band's latest album, Written Into Changes.
	Severe Thunderstorm Warning from MON 11:52 AM CDT until MON 12:45 PM CDT Severe Thunderstorms with 60 mph Winds and Hail Threaten the Quad Cities Area
	India's Gen Z 'Cockroach People's Party' started as satire but is serious about change They call themselves the "cockroaches" and they're on the march — demanding action against corruption, amid a shortage of opportunities for young people in India.
	Kenny G playing Adler Theatre in November The Adler Theatre has announced that Kenny G Live with special guest Atlys is coming to the Adler Theatre, 136 E. Third Street in Davenport, on Wednesday, November 18. There will be a venue presale on July 22 at 10 a.m. and general ticket sales start on Friday, July 24th at 10 a.m. at the [...]
	John Deere named presenting sponsor of 2026 MLB at Field of Dreams game The game will be between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 13.
	UnityPoint Health – Trinity introduces new enlarged prostate treatment UnityPoint Health – Trinity recently introduced the Quad Cities’ first HYDROS Robotic System for Aquablation, a new option for men dealing with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or an enlarged prostate. BPH is one of the most common urological conditions in the U.S., and this minimally invasive procedure offers a modern approach to treatment. Aquablation combines [...]
	Traffic alert: 12th Ave near 41st St in Moline closed after water main break Driver are asked to take an alternate route.
	The school bus was built for a cooler America The school bus was built for a cooler AmericaThe American school bus has looked about the same for 80 years. Yellow paint, high vinyl seats, a heater up front, and windows you adjust by hand. Any air conditioning is what you get with the windows open while rolling down the street. Most likely, it’s been decades since you’ve ridden a school bus and can’t understand how it feels today.You do not have to imagine it. In August 2024, a district north of Austin started the school year in a heat spike with the outside air at 109 degrees and 16 of its 100 buses running with broken AC. The district handed out water, cooling towels, and packed ice chests. "On the older buses, the air might be working this morning, and by this afternoon it might not be," the interim superintendent, Cara Malone, told BusesForSale. A great-grandmother described what pickup looked like. "[My granddaughter] always jumps off the bus and says, ‘Oh, Granny, I'm hot. I'm so hot," she said of her kid. "So we immediately sponge her down to get her cool and give her some water."But, you might ask, “Isn’t there a law about AC being on buses?” No federal rule has ever required cooling on a school bus. The federal safety standards require heaters, which made sense when the buses were designed around cold morning runs in the Upper Midwest.But when it comes to air conditioning, federal standards treat AC as optional equipment, just as heated seats are on a car. The difference is that nobody's kid rides to school in the heated seats for a week straight in September in the South.The federal government doesn’t keep count of how many buses run without air conditioning. The numbers that do exist are state and local, and they point in one direction. For example, Alabama's education department found that fewer than half of the state's school buses have AC. A transportation specialist there, Chad Carpenter, said a bus "can get 20 degrees hotter than the air outside." Twenty degrees on top of a hot day adds up quickly.Ms.Izquierdo, a parent and PTA president at P176X in Co-op City, walked the bus yards with a thermometer during a July 2023 heat wave in New York. And she found one bus reading about 110 degrees inside. "If we've got thousands of buses on the road, that means we've got hundreds of hot ones," Panel for Educational Policy member Tom Sheppard said. "That's a lot of opportunity for our young people to have heat-related issues."Children are the wrong passengers to gamble with here. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that kids heat up faster than adults and are slower to shed that heat because of their size and how their bodies regulate temperature. A grown commuter can tough out a warm ride and complain about it later. An emergency physician's report says that a first-grader could last only minutes in a 110-degree car. So, a stalled bus on a route in August is a dangerous situation.So why not fix it? Like most things with the government, it has to do with money. Adding air conditioning to a bus costs around $10,000 to $14,000 per unit, based on figures districts put forward in 2023. Multiply that by a fleet of a few hundred buses, and you are into real money, on top of the price of the buses themselves, which has climbed hard in the last few years. When Colorado lawmakers tried to make cooling a requirement, that number did the talking. Colorado floated a bill in 2024 to require AC on new school buses, and its own education committee killed it on a 10-0 vote. Louisiana, a state that knows something about heat and humidity, ran a similar mandate the same year, and the House voted it down, largely over who would pay.Everyone agrees a 110-degree bus is bad. Nobody wants to be the one to fund the fix across an entire fleet at once, so it happens the slow way, a few new buses at a time as old ones age out. Some places have moved faster when the law forced their hand. New York City, after a change to its local law, is on the hook to put every student with a disability on an air-conditioned bus by 2035. Most of the country has no such deadline.The likely ending is the same one that played out in passenger cars. Air conditioning used to be a checkbox you paid extra for. Then it got cheaper, buyers stopped tolerating the alternative, and it quietly became standard. The Alabama official put the bus version plainly. "I wouldn't be real surprised if air conditioning on school buses doesn't become pretty standard in the next few years," he said.This story was produced by BusesForSale and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	With 3 states changing their privacy laws, more than half the US population is now covered With 3 states changing their privacy laws, more than half the US population is now coveredOn July 1, Connecticut lowered the number of residents’ data a business has to handle before the state’s privacy law applies. The threshold dropped from 100,000 consumers to 35,000, a 65% cut, according to Clym’s analysis of Connecticut’s updated privacy law.Connecticut also removed the threshold entirely for two kinds of businesses: any company that processes sensitive personal data or that sells personal data in exchange for money or anything of value is now covered, no matter how many Connecticut residents it reaches.Connecticut wasn’t the only state moving that day. Arkansas activated the first state law in the country to extend core children’s privacy protections to teenagers, and Utah added a consumer right that most other states already had: the right to correct inaccurate personal data.All three changes took effect July 1, joining a patchwork of 20 state privacy laws that now cover more than half the U.S. population.Connecticut: A lower bar and a longer list of what counts as sensitiveConnecticut’s amendment does more than lower the threshold. It also expands what counts as sensitive data, which requires explicit opt-in consent before a business can collect it. The updated list now includes neural data from wearable and neurotech devices, disability status and treatment information, nonbinary or transgender status, and financial account credentials.The state also raised its age threshold for children’s data protection from 16 to 18 and closed a consent loophole. Previously, a business could sell a minor’s data or use it for targeted advertising if it obtained consent. Under the new rules, that’s outright prohibited for anyone under 18, regardless of consent.None of this comes with a grace period. Connecticut’s attorney general has had the authority to enforce the Connecticut Data Privacy Act without offering businesses a chance to fix a violation first since the law’s 60-day cure period sunset on Dec. 31, 2024, according to the Connecticut Attorney General’s office.Violations can run up to $5,000 each under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, and the state counts violations per consumer affected, not per incident. The office brought its first CTDPA enforcement action in 2025, an $85,000 settlement with TicketNetwork.Arkansas: The first state to extend privacy protections to teensArkansas’s Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, signed in April 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, makes it the first state to expand core federal children’s privacy protections beyond kids under 13 to include teenagers, according to law firm Varnum LLP. The law splits consent into two tiers: parental consent is required to collect a child’s personal information, while either a parent or the teen can consent for users aged 13 to 16.Operators aren’t required to verify age, but they’re expected to comply once they have actual knowledge of a user’s age. The law bars targeted advertising to minors using their personal data and limits collection to what’s necessary for the service being provided.Enforcement rests exclusively with the Arkansas attorney general, who can pursue civil penalties of up to $10,000 per knowing and willful violation. Arkansas residents have no private right to sue.Utah: A smaller change with a longer runwayUtah’s update is narrower. Starting July 1, residents gained the right to ask a business to correct inaccurate personal data it holds about them. Before this change, Utah and Iowa were the only two comprehensive privacy law states without a correction right; Iowa is now the only one left. Utah businesses have 45 days to respond to a correction request, and violations can bring civil penalties of up to $7,500 each.Why the scale matters for small businessesConnecticut’s threshold change is the one most likely to catch small businesses off guard, because 35,000 residents is a low bar for any company with a website that draws Connecticut visitors.Small businesses make up 99.4% of all businesses in the state and employ 726,097 people, or 48.1% of Connecticut’s workforce, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2025 Connecticut state profile.Many of those businesses now have to check whether routine tools, like analytics platforms or ad pixels that share data with third parties, count as a “sale” of personal data under the law’s broad definition.Nationally, the SBA counts more than 36.2 million small businesses, employing 62.3 million people, or 45.9% of the private-sector workforce.Under most state privacy laws, including Connecticut’s, Arkansas’s, and Utah’s, it doesn’t matter where a business is headquartered. What matters is where its customers live.This story was produced by Clym and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Camanche Days will celebrate birthday of nation, city Camanche Days will be held July 23-July 26 in observance of the nation's 250th birthday and the 190th birthday of Camanche, a news release says, Admission will be free. Among the features will be a carnival, food booths, children's games, Bingo tent, live music, baking contest, dunk tank, car smash, beer tent, bench press competition, [...]
	12th Avenue at 41st Street, Moline, closed due to water main break Utility crews with the City of Moline Utilities are responding to a water main break on 12th Avenue, near 41st Street. Westbound 12th Avenue at 41st Street is closed while crews assess the situation. Drivers are asked to avoid the area and use an alternate route. More information will be released as it becomes available.
	8 ways to use a personal loan for a home makeover in 2026 8 ways to use a personal loan for a home makeover in 2026Making updates around the house can make your home more livable—and some renovations may add value. Whether you're savoring the thought of having a professional-grade kitchen or need to replace the roof, home improvement loans could make it happen.If you're wondering how to use a personal loan to fund a home makeover, Achieve shares a few ideas that might inspire you.Key takeaways:Home improvement loans let you borrow money to make repairs or renovations.You could use a personal loan to remodel your home, replace appliances, or make structural improvements.It’s good to shop around to find the best home improvement loan rates.1. Remodel and renovateRemodeling and renovation mean taking the home you have and turning it into something even better. For example, you could use a home improvement loan to:Replace your outdated kitchen cabinets with new modern ones, and swap Formica countertops for granite or marble ones.Upgrade your bathroom sinks, shower, toilet, and tub to create the ultimate spa experience at home.Finish your attic or basement space with flooring, walls, and electrical fixtures to convert it to a home office.Personal loans could give you the money you need to pay for these projects without having to tap into your home equity. Equity is the difference between what you owe on the home and what it's worth.2. Make repairsBeing a homeowner often means spending money fixing things.Some repairs, like a broken doorknob or loose weather stripping, are low-cost, easy fixes. But others might take a little more time and money to tackle.Home improvement loans can help you cover repairs if you need to:Repair faulty electrical wiring or an electrical panel boxFix a broken HVAC unitReplace a leaky roofInstall new guttersIf you have multiple repairs to make but your budget is limited, prioritize them in order of urgency.3. Increase energy efficiencyAre high utility bills making it hard to budget and save money each month? Energy-efficient improvements could help you reduce costs.Some of the improvements you might fund with a personal loan include:Install solar panelsReplace your current water heater with a tankless oneSwap out the old insulation in your attic for energy-efficient optionsReplace appliances with Energy Star modelsInstall an energy-qualified heat pumpTrade your windows for energy-friendly replacementsPro tip: Consider a free budgeting app to help you track utility bills and other monthly expenses.4. Expand your homeDo you feel like you just don't have enough room to maneuver? Home improvement loans could help you cover expansion projects to add square footage to your space.For example, you could use a personal loan to:Finish an attic or basement space and convert it to an extra bedroom or guest suite.Take out non-load-bearing walls to create an open floor plan between the kitchen and living room.Enclose a patio or porch, or build a full addition.Remember to check local building laws to find out if you'll need special permits or inspections to increase your home's livable space.5. Make structural improvementsAs homes age, they may require maintenance that goes beyond basic.For example, if your home has a crawl space and you've noticed your floors sag in certain spots, that's a sign you might need to reinforce the joists or install support piers. Or you may need to encapsulate the space and install a dehumidifier to fight off mold growth.One of the benefits of personal loans is that you can use them to cover these kinds of improvements so you don't have to drain your savings to pay for them.6. Upgrade appliances and fixturesIf your appliances are nearing the end of their lifespan or you're ready to change up your style, a personal loan could help you outfit your home with new ones.You could use a home improvement loan to:Purchase a new fridge, range, dishwasher, and microwave.Get a top-of-the-line washer-and-dryer unit.Replace a leaking water heater.Trade out old, wobbly ceiling fans for new ones.Replace lighting fixtures throughout the home.Using a personal loan for large purchases like appliances could be a better choice than store financing, which may carry higher interest rates.7. Accessibility updatesPersonal loans could help you make your home more accessible for people with disabilities or other conditions that affect mobility.For example, say your aging parent needs to move in with you and they require a wheelchair. You might use a home improvement loan to construct a ramp or add a chair lift so they're able to access the second floor.Other accessibility improvements include smoothing out floors to reduce trip hazards, and widening halls and doorways. A bathroom upgrade may be necessary if you need to install a chair-height toilet, handrails, or grab bars.8. Outside improvementsSo far, this list has focused on ways to make over your home from the inside. But you can use a personal loan for a lot of projects to improve the exterior as well.You might invest in:New patio paversShrubbery and sodA pool or hot tubFountains or fish pondsIrrigation systemsDriveway resurfacingFresh paint and new shuttersNew guttersA new porch or deckThese kinds of improvements can add curb appeal to your home, which could make it easier to sell if you're planning a move down the line.Home improvement loans offer plenty of flexibility, since you can decide how to use them to spruce up your space. If you're ready to flex your DIY skills (or start shopping for contractors), take the next step to compare personal loan rates and get pre-approved.This story was produced by Achieve and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Does your teen really need a car? The numbers may surprise you Does your teen really need a car? The numbers may surprise youFor generations, the customary practice in many families was to give their newly licensed teenager their own car, or at least the okay to borrow mom and dad’s ride. But in 2026, this is no longer a foregone conclusion. That’s because the costs associated with young driving are through the roof, and many households can no longer shoulder these rising collective bills.But instead of kicking that license down the curb indefinitely or forcing youngsters to fully pay for their own driving, families are getting creative and exploring different strategies to save money without necessarily keeping their sons and daughters off the road.Here, TheZebra.com takes a closer look at what you should consider carefully before handing those keys over to your child, options that work for your budget, and ways to lower the financial burden.The True Costs of Teen DrivingThe numbers don’t lie: It’s downright expensive to purchase, own, and operate a car today. For proof, ponder that:The average new car price currently exceeds $49,000 versus nearly $27,000 for a used vehicle, Kelly Blue Book reports.The total expense of owning and operating a new automobile is $11,577, or $964.78 monthly, per AAA.The average annual premium for teenage car insurance coverage is $5,340 for males and $4,738 for females, according to The Zebra, and 16-year-olds pay almost $8,000 annually for coverage.AAA indicates that gas prices continue to hover over or around $4 per gallon.Collectively, these expenses can tally thousands every year and, over the time your young driver lives under your roof, reach the five-figure range. Auto insurance often accounts for the highest of these costs.“Car insurance is all about risk, regardless of age. Statistically, teens are far more likely to be involved in an accident or file a claim than any other age group, and most of it comes down to inexperience,” says Beth Swanson, insurance analyst with The Zebra.At the same time, “the overall cost of vehicles, repairs, and fuel has increased, so families face a combination of higher total expenses. Many households underestimate the total cost because they focus on the car purchase but not the full cost of ownership,” Janet Ruiz, director of strategic communications for the Insurance Information Institute, notes.Driving in High School vs. CollegeThe related costs of giving your offspring the green light to drive can differ depending on their age and school status. But the fact is, the younger your driver is, the more expensive insurance premiums will be. Here’s a breakdown of what to consider if your child is still in high school or now attends college.High schoolAsk yourself, is it even worth it for my high schooler to drive?“Does your teenager need a vehicle, or would it just be convenient? These are two very different things,” explains Ashley NeSmith, founder of Ashley the Auto Advocate. “If the teenager is working, involved in activities, driving long distances to school, or lives in an area where there aren’t many transportation options, having access to a vehicle makes sense. But I don’t think every adolescent automatically needs their own vehicle the minute they get a driver’s license. As a parent, I’d be looking closely at maturity, responsibility, grades, driving habits, and whether they’ve shown they can handle the privilege that comes with driving.”Of course, necessity often dictates that a child must have driving privileges.“Families should evaluate whether driving is truly necessary based on transportation alternatives, schedules, and safety considerations. Key factors include access to public transportation, distance to school or activities, work obligations, and the teen’s driving readiness,” suggests Ruiz.CollegeBut what if your son or daughter is older and attending college?“From an insurance standpoint, keeping your college student on your existing policy is usually the most affordable route. If they maintain good grades, there’s often a good student discount available as well, along with an away-at-school discount you may qualify for,” says Swanson.Whether they should bring a vehicle to campus or not requires careful consideration. If the school is walkable or has solid public transportation, a car could create more hassle than it’s worth.“Campus parking lots are often a significant distance from dorms and academic buildings, which means the car is out of sight and more vulnerable to vandalism, theft, or hit-and-run incidents,” Swanson continues.If the auto will remain at home and unused while your student is away, ask your insurer about parked-car or storage options.“There are ways to reduce your premium without dropping coverage entirely—especially if the vehicle isn’t being driven regularly,” notes Swanson.Viable AlternativesStill not sure if allowing your teen to have their own car—or drive at all—is a good idea financially or otherwise? Maybe it’s time to explore other options, including:Share the family car. Doing so and adding an adolescent to your family’s auto insurance policy is a lot cheaper than buying a separate car and a standalone policy. Just be sure to set clear rules and scheduling parameters.Purchase a lower-cost vehicle. Buying a reliable and recommended used ride, such as a certified preowned vehicle, can cost much less than a new car and mitigate losses from depreciation.Enroll in usage-based insurance. Pay-as-you-go insurance coverage, which requires using a smartphone app or telematics device, calculates your rate based on your teen’s actual driving habits and could lower your premiums.Delay licensure. “Families can postpone getting a driver’s license and use interim options to lower near-term costs,” Ruiz suggests.Carpool. Sharing rides with other families reduces costs and driving exposure.Use public transportation. Riding buses and trains may be ideal options for students residing in densely populated environments.Use bikes or scooters. An e-bike that your child can securely lock up makes it quick and easy to get from A to B.Rideshare OptionsA newer alternative families can turn to is specialized ridesharing for high schoolers. Uber Teen and Lyft Teen enable adolescents ages 13 to 17 to request their own rides under strict parental oversight.Here’s how it works: Mom, dad, or a guardian must invite the child via their own app, linking the account to a family payment method. After the teen finishes the required in-app safety onboarding, they can hail rides on their own, sitting only in the back seat, and be driven by experienced, highly rated drivers who have passed rigorous background checks. The fees/fares are the same as those charged for a comparable ride by adults, so if your child isn’t likely to log a lot of regular miles driving, ridesharing could be the more economical alternative.Or, if you live in the greater Phoenix area, Waymo now offers "Teen Accounts," which permit 14- to 17-year-olds to ride alone in autonomous, driverless cars with parental permission. (So far, however, this service is not available in other markets.)Good Candidates for Teen Car OwnershipAsk Ruiz, and she’ll tell you that the worthiest prospects for giving a teen their own car are families in rural areas, those without access to public transportation, or situations where an adolescent relies on a vehicle for work or essential activities.“In these cases, the decision is driven by need rather than convenience, and families should weigh the benefits against the long-term costs,” she says.The Bottom LineAs much as your teen may plead with you, don’t feel pressured to say yes to driving privileges or their own vehicle. Crunch the numbers carefully, weigh their level of responsibility and maturity, shop around for more affordable insurance, and give thought to alternative means of transportation that could save you big bucks.This story was produced by TheZebra.com and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Quad-Cities gas prices rise 16 cents in the last week Prices in the Quad-Cities are 2.1 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, and 91 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.
	When the ability to smell goes away When the ability to smell goes awayAbout 14 years ago, Chrissi Kelly lost her sense of smell. She had traveled to the Czech Republic to visit family and caught some virus. Months later, when she still couldn’t smell, she made the rounds to doctors, including her general practitioner and an ear, nose and throat specialist, trying to find answers.She was diagnosed with anosmia (complete smell loss), and, like many patients with her condition, was told she’d have to learn to live with it. But for her, the loss was catastrophic. “After about six months of complete loss, I was just climbing the walls, and I did not feel like myself anymore,” she tells Knowable Magazine.Researchers estimate that up to 22% of the population lives with smell impairments, like hyposmia (partial smell loss) or anosmia. And many others live with smell disorders like phantosmia, in which a person picks up phantom smells, or parosmia, where typically pleasant scents like coffee or shampoo begin to register as highly unpleasant (think feces or vomit). Yet the conditions have been poorly understood, underdiagnosed and often minimized by clinicians.The COVID-19 pandemic changed that. COVID brought unprecedented attention — and research interest — to the sense of smell. There have been 780 million reported cases of COVID-19 since December 2019 (and many more unreported), according to the World Health Organization, and smell loss is a well-known symptom. In one 2023 survey published in the journal Laryngoscope, 60% of individuals with COVID experienced smell loss, most temporarily, but some over the longer term.With COVID causing millions of noses worldwide to malfunction at roughly the same time, the virus spurred newfound appreciation for, and research into, this critical sense. As scientists learn more about the way that the sense of smell operates, evidence is mounting that smell is deeply tied not only to quality of life but also to brain healthThe undervalued senseIn the 19th century, French brain researcher Paul Broca argued that humans had traded a keen sense of smell for higher intellect, labeling olfaction “the bestial sense.” His ideas led to decades of scientific neglect. Modern research has proved him wrong. Smell enriches life and directs our behavior. It helps parents and children to bond, warns us of environmental dangers and anchors emotional memory. “Humans are actually quite good at smelling,” says Swedish psychologist Jonas Olofsson, author of “The Forgotten Sense: The New Science of Smell and the Extraordinary Power of the Nose.”People smell by detecting airborne molecules that bind to specialized receptors in the nasal cavity. Millions of olfactory neurons in the upper nose detect these odorants, then send electrical impulses via the olfactory bulbs, which create a sensory map in the brain — basically, a system to identify, distinguish and remember scents. Unlike vision or hearing, smell directly signals brain areas responsible for emotion (the amygdala) and memory (the hippocampus), which could be why smells can strongly trigger memories.Furthermore, the olfactory bulbs are now known to be among the few brain regions that create new neurons during adulthood. This is thought to help the brain deal with constantly changing environments. The olfactory bulbs are also the most vulnerable part of the brain — a potential entry site for viruses, bacteria, toxins and perhaps even microplastics. Axel_Kock // Shutterstock After losing her sense of smell, Kelly searched for insight and commiseration. Finding neither, she founded two nonprofit patient groups. Along the way, she also became a community scientist, copublishing more than 30 academic papers with researchers.Kelly describes our olfactory bulbs as “two little earthworms lying in their crypts,” located on the bottom surface of the brain’s frontal lobes, directly above the nasal cavity. “These crypts have got little holes underneath, through which the olfactory nerves grow, like roots coming through the bottom of a pot in the garden,” she says. Hairlike extensions from the olfactory nerves protrude into the inside of the nose’s mucous membrane. Olfactory support cells surround and nourish each nerve cell.Reasons for smell lossSome people lose their sense of smell for no known reason. Others lose it after a virus attacks the olfactory support cells. When the support cells regenerate (four to six weeks later, on average), smell returns. Smell loss can also be due to a head injury that damages the olfactory nerves or causes inflammation. Allergies and sinus infections can cause swelling and inflammation that lead to smell loss. Sometimes the problem clears when the inflammation does. Less fortunate folks, like Kelly, experience assaults to their olfactory nerves that cause lasting damage.And sometimes, smell loss can be a harbinger of deeper trouble. For example, smell loss can occur many years before a person first experiences the slowed gait and tremors that lead to a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.There are a lot of unknowns about the earliest — or prodromal — stages of Parkinson’s, says Ethan G. Brown, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco’s Movement Disorders Clinic. “We don’t know when neurodegeneration actually starts,” he says.A defining feature of the disorder is a major loss of dopamine-producing cells in a brain region called the substantia nigra, and new imaging tools suggest the damage begins years before clear symptoms. Scientists suspect toxic proteins that damage the substantia nigra may first build up in the olfactory bulbs and create smell loss as one of the earliest signs of Parkinson’s.Loss of smell also can be an early sign of various other neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia, says Zara M. Patel, director of the Stanford Initiative to Cure Smell and Taste Loss. And it shows up in other conditions, too. “So, for example, people with depression have altered olfactory ability, people with schizophrenia have altered olfactory ability, people with autism have altered olfactory ability,” she says. Changes in all kinds of central nervous system processes can show up as a kind of olfactory dysfunction, Patel says.In fact, researchers have associated smell disorders with an astounding 139 neurological, physical and congenital/hereditary conditions, from alcoholism to Zika/Guillain-Barré syndrome. The nature of these associations is not yet clear. Smell loss might be an early indicator of a condition that affects the olfactory bulbs as well as other parts of the brain, as appears to be the case for Parkinson’s. It’s also possible that smell loss contributes to some disorders. Researchers suspect that the olfactory system helps regulate higher brain functions involved in cognition, memory and emotion, which are involved in many psychiatric disorders, and smell loss could exacerbate those conditions.Scientists are also exploring whether inflammation in the olfactory system may contribute to brain changes in schizophrenia. In any case, a lack of smell puts people at risk of missing environmental warnings, like smoke or spoiled food, leading some researchers to call smell loss a public health issue.Cracking the codeScientists estimate that humans can perceive millions — perhaps even a trillion — distinct odors. “We’re surrounded by molecules floating around us,” says Dmitry Rinberg, a neuroscientist at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. “But we still haven’t cracked the code of how the brain turns them into perception.”In the early 1990s, Linda Buck and Richard Axel discovered a vast family of around 1,000 different genes in mammals (making up a significant percentage of the genome) that produce an equivalent number of specialized olfactory receptors. This work won a Nobel Prize in 2004 and kicked off the modern age of smell research.Olfaction initially bypasses the thalamus, the brain’s central relay station. While all other senses are filtered through the thalamus before reaching the cortex, olfactory signals travel directly into the limbic system (the amygdala and hippocampus). The brain interprets a unique code — or mosaic of activated receptors — to identify specific smells. Ongoing research is mapping how signals from these nasal receptors are systematically organized and sent to specific locations in the brain to evoke smells, memories and behaviors.Another interesting tidbit: In processing odor information, “what’s coming in from your two nostrils doesn’t just become one big blob of activity in the brain,” says Naz Dikecligil, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who cowrote an in-depth overview of the human olfactory system in the 2024 Annual Review of Psychology. “They’re maintained as separate channels of information.” That means the brain may track which nostril detected an odor, helping to determine where a smell originates in space.Can the sense come back?For smell loss patients, the most pressing question is whether smell can be restored.Kelly first learned about olfactory training when a doctor mentioned it in passing. The method works sort of like physical therapy, but for smell. Someone practices smelling a set of familiar scents — traditionally lemon, rose, clove and eucalyptus — twice daily, focusing on recognizing the labeled scents and remembering the smell. The goal is to use repetition and training to generate new receptor cells and harness neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire neurons for new tasks.For every cause of smell loss her team has studied, about 30% of patients improve after months of training, says Patel, who ran the first randomized controlled trial of olfactory training in the United States. In that study, 35 patients with loss of smell as measured by the field’s standard metric, called the University of Pennsylvania Smell Test, were randomized to olfactory training or a control group for six months.Only patients with loss of smell for more than a year, and whose loss was associated with post‐infectious or unknown causes, were included. Their baseline score was compared to their six‐month score, and an improvement of 10% or better was rated as significant; of 19 patients in the experimental group, six showed significant improvement, while only two of 16 control patients improved. In other studies, Patel and her colleagues have found that as much as 50% of patients see changes if they pair their training with a steroid sinus rinse.A 2024 meta-analysis of 36 olfactory training studies cited a “notable and statistically significant positive impact of olfactory training on the enhancement of all domains of olfactory function.” Individual studies included in the meta-analysis found a range of improvements spanning 11% to 68% after 12 to 16 weeks, while one paper found that more people benefited with longer training (58% versus 71%).Patel acknowledges that olfactory training isn’t a sure bet, but it appears to be effective for some people — and it’s simple and inexpensive. She’s developed easy-to-follow instructions for people to use on their own. There’s also early evidence that olfactory training may improve depression and cognitive functioning. U.K. researchers recently looked at 23 studies of people age 55 and older who participated in olfactory training for smell loss, concluding that it was associated with “measurable changes in olfactory function, improved cognitive function, specifically semantic verbal fluency and working memory, reduced depressive symptoms, and protection from cognitive decline.” But they say more studies are needed to draw firmer conclusions.Kelly credits olfactory therapy with giving her back some capacity to smell. About two years into her recovery, she was in the Austrian Alps when something shifted. She caught the scent of pine trees and sawdust from a nearby logging site. “There was this flutter in my stomach, this sort of quickening of my insides,” she says. “It was like, ‘I’m alive.’”Each new discovery about olfaction brings scientists closer to understanding how smell connects to the brain — and how this crucial sense might help reveal or even prevent disease. Kelly counts herself among the lucky ones. Her sense of smell isn’t completely back, but it’s there. And for patients like her, regaining smell isn’t just about detecting odors. It’s about returning to the world.This story was produced by Knowable Magazine and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	This summer, the hottest apartment feature is an AC unit This summer, the hottest apartment feature is an AC unitAmenities are one way that apartment communities stand out from one another and appeal to different renters. While some communities offer popular amenities like fitness centers, walk-in closets, or smart home appliances, renters tend to be drawn to simpler things. An Apartments.com survey of 14,066 renters found that 65% of renters consider air conditioning (AC) a must-have when choosing their next rental.Many renters approach their apartment search with nonnegotiables, such as an in-unit washer and dryer or designated parking options. Summer temperatures are here and continue to rise, and renters want to ensure their next rental can keep them cool and comfortable all season long. Key Takeaways65% of renters consider air conditioning a must-have when choosing their next rental, nearly tied with an in-unit washing machine and dryer.42% of renters say off-street parking or garages are a must-have, 42% cite dishwashers, and 37% cite a balcony, patio, or other outdoor space.Meanwhile, only 18% say a fitness center or gym is a must-have, 17% want an elevator, and 12% want a pool. Renters Prioritize Practical Apartment AmenitiesDuring their apartment search, renters take into consideration several other factors besides location and price. Amenities are becoming increasingly important for renters to evaluate before they choose to sign a lease.The Apartments.com survey found that air conditioning and in-unit laundry are the most popular rental amenities by a large margin. The percentage of renters who said that these amenities are must-haves was higher than the percentage of renters who want a fitness center, elevator, pool, smart appliances, or a sports court combined.This data suggests that while these “fun” amenities can be a bonus, renters care more about the practicality of their next apartment. Apartments.com Some amenities, like pools and fitness centers, are common across different apartment communities, but unique amenities like pickleball courts, concierge services, and rooftop terraces are usually reserved for luxury apartment buildings. These stand-out amenities tend to draw renters who are looking for luxury living, but this isn’t the case for the general renter population.Which Markets Are Seeing the Most Demand for Air Conditioning?Not all renters think of air conditioning as a must-have amenity, and this can depend on where they live. In denser urban areas like New York and Chicago, high demand means prospective renters may be more willing to forgo basic amenities like AC if it means getting the perfect place in the city of their dreams. Meanwhile, renters in medium-sized cities like Cincinnati, Raleigh, and Madison may expect this amenity in their rental.Apartments.com data shows that the top cities with the highest percentage of apartment searches filtered by air conditioning were primarily located in the West and Midwest, with the exception of Arlington, Virginia. California accounted for most cities on the list. Below are the top 10 cities with the highest percentage of apartment searches that included the air conditioning filter on Apartments.com in 2026. Apartments.com Favorable amenities may also depend on local climates and weather concerns. For example, on Apartments.com in San Francisco, only 1,025 rentals list air conditioning as an added amenity, while in hotter cities like Austin, over 30,000 rentals advertise AC in their units.With temperatures rising across the country this summer, renters need a unit that can keep them cool. Earlier this year, New York City mandated that all landlords provide AC in at least one room in most covered apartments by 2030. As temperatures continue to increase and more renters look for a new rental during the busiest leasing season of the year, air conditioning may be at the top of their list of nonnegotiables.How to Decide Which Apartment Amenities Matter MostWhether you’re looking for an apartment that offers air conditioning or in-unit laundry, it’s important to know what matters most to you before starting your apartment search. Considering your lifestyle, budget, and lease terms are just a few ways to decide which apartment amenities should be priorities during your apartment search.Consider Financial SavingsWhen deciding which amenities you should prioritize during your apartment search, think about your budget and where you can potentially cut costs. If your new apartment has a fitness center, you can cancel your gym membership. If your new apartment has a dedicated coffee bar, it can save you money on coffee purchases.These extra amenities can be useful if you’re looking to budget, but make sure the apartment community doesn’t charge extra fees to cover the cost of an amenity. While searching for an apartment, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons and determine what fits within your rental budget.Consider Your LifestyleWhether it’s your first time moving or you’re an experienced renter, you have preferences when it comes to your living space. If you want a walk-in closet, hardwood floors, or a home with no stairs, it’s important to know these things before searching for an apartment.If you have rented previously, think about what you liked or disliked about your last place. Did you like the parking garage but think the walk to your apartment was too far? When searching for a new rental, think about what made your last rental a good or bad fit. This can help you search smarter and more efficiently. Read the Fine PrintWhile most amenities are included with the base rent, some premium amenities may come at an added cost. Package service, valet trash, internet, and other amenities are often an extra cost on top of the base rent. Before you sign a lease, understand what is included in the base rent amount and how many additional fees you’ll need to budget for, especially if you’re looking for an affordable apartment.MethodologyApartments.com surveyed 14,066 U.S. renters about how amenities affect their apartment search and leasing decisions. Survey responses were used to provide additional context around renter preferences and challenges related to pets, parking, and other amenities.This story was produced by Apartments.com and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Deere presenting sponsor of Field of Dreams game Deere will co-host event to contribute about 260,000 packed meals.
	Learn colored pencil techniques with Cancer Support Community Iowa and NW Illinois Cancer Support Community Iowa and NW Illinois is hosting a free creative art session workshop on Monday, August 3 from 1 – 3 p.m. at Gilda’s Club Moline, 600 John Deere Road, Suite 101. This session will include the basic techniques of using colored pencils and instructions on how to draw a basic flower image. [...]
	The exhaustion of autistic masking, and how to unmask safely The exhaustion of autistic masking, and how to unmask safelyFor autistic people, masking—presenting yourself in a way, either consciously or unconsciously, to fit in better in a neurotypical world—can be both necessary and exhausting. That’s where the concept of “unmasking” comes in.Unmasking is the process of making space for your autistic or neurodivergent traits to shine through in your day-to-day life. It's about working toward honoring your unique brain and what it needs, slowly letting go of the pressure to appear neurotypical.“Unmasking, in the simplest terms, is about letting your nervous system participate in your life instead of fighting it all day,” says Stephanie Steele-Wren, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist specializing in adult autism. “It isn’t about turning into a different person or suddenly being ‘your real self.’ Unmasking is the gradual decision to stop overriding your nervous system to appear ‘acceptable.’”‍But it’s important to note that autistic masking exists for a reason, and unmasking is not mandatory. Like most things related to autism, it’s not black and white. That’s why Prosper Health, the largest U.S. provider of mental health services for autistic adults, broke down what you need to know about unmasking, why it can be beneficial (when done safely), what it looks like in practice, and what supports can help.Key TakeawaysUnmasking is the process where someone begins to live more authentically by not covering up autistic traits or hiding that part of their identity.Chronic masking, especially when it’s unconscious, is one of the biggest contributors to burnout.Unmasking isn’t the loss of self-regulation or empathy.Unmasking has both benefits and risks.Unmasking should start with tiny, manageable shifts.What is unmasking?When autistic people mask, they’re attempting to hide, suppress, or camouflage their autistic traits. “Unmasking is the process in which someone begins to live more authentically by not covering up autistic traits or hiding that part of their identity,” says Jacqueline Shinall, Psy.D., head of reliability and quality assurance at Prosper Health.Unmasking doesn’t mean becoming rude or insensitive, nor is it the loss of self-regulation or empathy. It simply means you’re putting less effort into appearing neurotypical. “Instead of performing a polished version of yourself, you allow your natural pauses, reactions, and needs to exist,” Steele-Wren says.‍Chronic masking, especially when it’s unconscious, is one of the biggest contributors to burnout. “Masking requires someone to spend a significant amount of energy to do things that other people do automatically, such as using gestures, monitoring tone, making eye contact, etc,” Shinall explains. This level of effort is unsustainable as life demands increase.‍Burnout is one of the biggest reasons adults start questioning their lifelong behavior patterns—something that could eventually lead to a late autism diagnosis. “For many adults, the question of neurodivergence only becomes unavoidable when the strategies that once kept life functioning stop working,” Steele-Wren says. “Burnout pushes people to confront the sheer amount of energy they’ve spent keeping up their mask.” Prosper Health Why do autistic adults mask?Everyone masks to a certain extent—especially in the workplace where there’s pressure to always be seen as “professional.” But for autistic people, masking is more than that. ‍Masking is a survival strategy where autistic people hide or suppress their natural autistic responses, identity, and behavior to avoid judgment. It allows autistic people to stay safe, accepted, or employed in a world that rewards conformity.High-masking autism may also include camouflaging: copying behaviors and hiding certain traits to adapt to various social situations. Though masking may involve mimicking others' behavior, it often begins as an unconscious, learned behavior. “Most people don’t actively choose to mask,” Steele-Wren says. “They learn it early on through repeated feedback about what’s ‘too much’ or ‘unacceptable.’”In addition to social situations, autistic adults may mask in order to meet workplace expectations, deal with healthcare bias, or feel safer because of their gender, race, or LGBTQIA identity. “In adulthood, masking is often driven less by needing to fit in socially and more by consequences,” Steele-Wren says.People may mask to keep their jobs, or to receive good healthcare—especially to avoid being dismissed or misdiagnosed. “These pressures are amplified for people who are women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, or marginalized otherwise,” she explains. “Being visibly different can carry true emotional, professional, or even physical risks.”What does masking look like?Masking can take many forms and varies person-to-person. “In everyday life, masking might look like pushing through sensory overload in public spaces, making social scripts and practicing them, making yourself laugh at jokes you don’t really understand, or hiding exhaustion until you’re alone, or fully burnt out,” Steele-Wren says.Here are a few real-life examples of neurodivergent masking across different areas.CommunicationForcing eye contactRegulating your toneScripting conversations ahead of timeStaying silent in meetings to avoid social blundersSensory suppressionIgnoring and not reacting to loud noises or other stimuliForcing participation in loud or crowded settingsSuppressing fatigue‍Emotional regulation‍Making an effort to maintain a neutral or pleasant facial expressionActing calmer than you feel in the momentHiding distressIdentity maskingHiding special interests to avoid being perceived as odd or obsessiveNot disclosing diagnosis or self-identificationAvoiding accommodation requests because doing so would require disclosurePerforming social identities, like being collegial, easygoing, or flexible, that feel fundamentally incongruent‍But it’s important to keep in mind that many people don’t know that they’re masking—it happens unconsciously. Masking may also feel like “normal adulthood,” suppressing behaviors like stimming to fit in.What does unmasking look like?There are two types of unmasking: internal and external. “Internal unmasking is the cognitive and emotional work of reducing or letting go of internalized ableism or self-judgment, which allows someone to live authentically without shame or beliefs that they need to change or hide,” Shinall explains. Prosper Health Internal unmasking‍Internal unmasking is where the real transformation begins. “You start noticing the hidden labor you’ve been doing for so long: the constant self-monitoring, the creating scripts, the rehearsing,” Steele-Wren says. “And you realize none of that was ever ‘easy,’ you just got used to doing it.”Internal unmasking often happens before external unmasking and makes it possible. “Someone must believe internally that their autistic traits are acceptable before they feel comfortable showing them externally,” Shinall says.Examples of internal unmasking include:‍Reducing consciously thinking about the things you “should” be doing in a social setting, such as making eye contact, nodding along, or making sure your face is making the expression others expectRecognizing when and where you are masking and understanding the extent to which that can lead to significant fatigue and exhaustionAccepting and appreciating who you are, including your interests and passionsDisregarding beliefs that you are “too sensitive” or “dramatic,” especially when there are unexpected changes or sensory overloadRealizing you aren't actually “anti-social,” you’re just tired from trying to keep up with social rules that never felt naturalWondering why you feel unsafe speaking spontaneouslyAdmitting to yourself that certain places always leave you overwhelmed External unmaskingExternal unmasking is when autistic people stop covering up autistic traits or hiding that part of their identity. “These are the small, visible changes you make that other people might notice,” Steele-Wren says. “For example, you might allow yourself to stim gently instead of keeping every movement still and ‘acceptable.’”‍External unmasking isn’t about making bold statements: It’s about reducing the amount of acting you do in your day. “Instead of performing and acting out an emotion to make someone else comfortable, you let your real reactions be smaller, delayed, or different than what you think others expect,” Steele-Wren explains. “These external changes are usually subtle, but they create huge shifts in your ability to function around others without burning out.”Examples of external unmasking include:Repetitive motor behaviors, like rocking or hand-flapping, also known as “stimming.”Managing sensory stimulation by wearing headphones/earbuds, sunglasses indoors, changing lightbulbs to a certain brightness, covering ears in response to painful sounds, and only wearing certain types of clothing.Eating in ways that work for you—whether that means at specific times, in a certain order, using specific dishes, or avoiding certain textures.Asking someone to repeat something you didn’t understand.Admitting you’re tired instead of faking energy.Being authentic in your use of nonverbal communication.Taking more time to recover from social gatherings or busy/loud environments.Partial, situational, or reversible unmasking‍Partial, situational, or reversible unmasking is the context-dependent approach where autistic people adjust their level of masking based on factors like safety, acceptance, potential consequences, as well as level of energy or fatigue.‍“Most autistic adults do not unmask everywhere,” Steele-Wren says. “They unmask where the cost of being seen is lower than the cost of continued suppression. In real life, that might mean you unmask around your partner but still mask at work.”‍According to Shinall, partial unmasking can be considered a pragmatic survival strategy. It acknowledges the reality that, unfortunately, not all environments are equally safe for autistic people. “This kind of unmasking is flexible and completely valid,” Steele-Wren says. Partial unmasking allows someone to manage their energy, safety, and authenticity across different contexts in their life.Examples of partial, situational, or reversible unmasking include:Unmasking at home with a partner or with a best friend, but not with other friends or in group settings. This may look like: not intentionally making facial expressions, not modulating tone or eye contact, using gestures only as they come naturally.Allowing yourself to stim in environments where it feels safe, like in a private office at work or around people who are safe, and suppressing stims in meetings with people who do not feel as safe.Wearing noise-canceling headphones in the cafeteria at work or while working, but removing those during meetings or other interactions.Taking sensory breaks or leaving places early, which may not feel safe or possible in certain environments, such as work events.Being more relaxed online, but tightening up in person‍.Unmasking is not an all-or-nothing approach. Like most other things, masking occurs along a continuum and is impacted by many different factors. “You try something small, assess the impact, and adjust again,” Steele-Wren explains. “Sometimes you unmask more. Sometimes you pull back. Sometimes you mask intentionally because it’s the right choice for the moment.”‍These shifts happen constantly. For example, it may be harder for an autistic person to mask when they’re feeling tired or burned out. “One environment might feel safe one month and unsafe the next,” Steele-Wren says. “One relationship might allow deeper unmasking over time. Unmasking works best when it’s treated as flexible and fluid.”The potential benefits of unmaskingThe main benefit of unmasking isn’t about being “more authentic”—it’s about being able to live life without feeling like you're always on the verge of burnout. “When you stop fighting your own nervous system so intensely, you conserve energy instead of spending it all at once,” Steele-Wren explains. “You recover faster, burn out less, and feel more grounded in your own body.”In addition to reducing burnout, some of the other potential benefits of unmasking include:Allowing someone to be themselves. “For many adults who have masked their entire lives, this means learning who they really are—what feels good, what feels natural, what do they truly enjoy,” Shinall says.Helping someone set boundaries. Unmasking allows someone to decide whom they will open up to and what they’re comfortable sharing.Practicing self-care: It allows someone to recharge after social situations or take breaks in situations where masking seems necessary.Can make relationships easier. “When you communicate in ways that work for you, people who care about you get a clearer and often stronger connection,” Steele-Wren says.‍Of course, everyone is different, and the potential benefits of unmasking vary and are not guaranteed.‍The risks and limits of unmaskingWhile unmasking can be powerful and a positive experience, it’s not without risks and limits.For instance, not every environment is accepting. Some workplaces, families, or communities penalize differences. “Masking can be a shield in those situations,” Steele-Wren says. “Fear around unmasking is really to be expected because it is often an accurate risk assessment, shaped by experience.”Also, there are good reasons people mask: It can help keep you safe, navigate unpredictable environments, or even give you privacy. “The problem isn’t masking itself, but when it’s constant, unchosen, and draining,” Steele-Wren says. “The goal is to identify where masking protects you and where it harms you.” Sometimes it’s a matter of prioritizing safety over authenticity.‍Some risks and limits to consider when starting to unmask:‍Making you stand out at work (not in a good way). Employers may not appreciate certain stimming behaviors or emotional outbursts that can occur if someone is unmasking.Families and cultures may not understand. Some families and cultures may not be as accepting of autistic people and their behaviors as others.Making it harder to get quality healthcare. Medical professionals may not take autistic people with visible stims or other autistic traits seriously.‍Revealing needs and traumas that we haven’t noticed or considered. This can lead to a profound sense of internal and external isolation with no clear cause.Unmasking strategies: How to unmask safelyIt’s often safest to begin unmasking internally. “Start by allowing yourself to recognize discomfort, sensory overload, or social fatigue without immediately pushing yourself past those feelings,” Steele-Wren says. “From there, you can experiment gently. It might be speaking a little more plainly with a trusted friend, or giving yourself permission to stim in a private space.”‍The goal is to find environments where your nervous system doesn’t brace for impact. Safe unmasking is slow, steady, and guided by your body’s feedback. You can reverse course anytime and go back to masking, if necessary.‍There’s no need to jump into making major changes. Instead, start with tiny, manageable shifts. This could look like letting yourself pause before answering, instead of rushing to fill the silence, Steele-Wren says. It could also be saying no to someone without giving them a long explanation, letting yourself stim gently at home, or adjusting your environment to be more sensory-friendly.“Low-risk experimentation often starts with giving yourself permission,” she explains. “Permission to have needs, to rest, to speak differently, to move differently, to not outperform your own limits.” Prosper Health How to find support for unmaskingWhile unmasking is an individual choice, it helps to have support from people who already accept the way your brain works. You can find them from multiple sources, including:Autistic friendsNeurodivergent communities, including peer support groupsSupportive partnersNeurodivergent-affirming therapistsSelf-guided tools“Being in a space where you’re not performing all the time can be transformative,” Steele-Wren says. “With the right support, unmasking can feel less like stepping into danger and more like gradually reconnecting with yourself in a regulated, sustainable way.”The bottom lineWhile unmasking may be beneficial, it’s not without its risks. That’s why it’s important to remember that unmasking is optional, and masking is not failure. In our quest to live as authentically as possible, safety and self-trust matter. “It’s about giving yourself and your body the dignity of being listened to,” Steele-Wren says.Frequently Asked Questions‍What does unmasking look like?Unmasking can take many different forms. For example, it could include stimming openly, admitting you’re tired instead of faking energy, or asking someone to repeat something you didn’t understand. Managing sensory stimulation can also be a form of unmasking, like wearing headphones/earbuds or sunglasses indoors, changing lightbulbs to a certain brightness, covering ears in response to painful sounds, or only wearing certain types of clothing.How do you know if you're masking?People usually don’t notice they are masking in real time—they tend to notice afterward. “Many people recognize masking not through behavior, but through the aftermath that follows everyday interactions,” Steele-Wren explains. “You might think you’re ‘fine’ during social events and only realize hours later that you’re completely wiped out, mentally foggy, or physically tense. That delayed cost is one of the clearest signs of masking.”Is unmasking always healthy?No, unmasking is not universally the best option. Safety, support, and context can make it beneficial, but it can be risky or even harmful in places where difference is punished. “The idea that you should ‘be your true self everywhere’ simply isn’t realistic for many autistic adults,” Steele-Wren says. The healthiest approach is to match your level of unmasking to your level of safety. “Unmask where you can breathe,” she says. “Mask where you must. The flexibility is what makes it sustainable.”This story was produced by Prosper Health and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Where house hacking pays off across the US in 2026 Where house hacking pays off across the US in 2026Elevated home prices and mortgage rates have a growing number of buyers looking for a different strategy for unlocking homeownership: house hacking.The concept of house hacking is straightforward. Instead of buying a single-family home, a buyer purchases a small multifamily property, a duplex, triplex, or fourplex, lives in one unit, and rents out the others. The rental income from the additional units may help offset the buyers' monthly mortgage payment, making homeownership more financially manageable from day one.And because these types of multifamily properties (up to four units) qualify for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan financing when the buyer uses at least one unit as their primary residence, the barrier to entry can be surprisingly low. Under FHA guidelines, qualified buyers may be able to purchase with as little as 3.5% down, the same minimum required for a single-family home. Note that for three- and four-unit properties, FHA also applies a "self-sufficiency test" that can affect qualification. While rental income may help offset housing costs for some buyers, mortgage qualification and FHA loan requirements vary by borrower and lender.To find the cities where house hacking is most accessible, the digital mortgage and homeownership platform Lower analyzed active multifamily listings (two-to-four-unit properties) across cities with populations of 100,000 or more from its digital real estate portal Movoto, identifying markets with sufficient inventory and the lowest median list prices.The result is a ranking of the 10 most accessible cities for aspiring house hackers in 2026.Key FindingsShreveport, Louisiana, ranks #1 nationally for house hacking accessibility, with a median multifamily list price of $115,000 and an estimated FHA-style down payment of just $4,025, the lowest entry point in the study.The top cities have a median multifamily list price under $200,000, highlighting how smaller Midwest and Southern markets continue to offer some of the country's lowest barriers to entry for buyers exploring owner-occupied multifamily housing.Detroit ranks #4 nationally and stands out for inventory, with 339 active multifamily listings, significantly more than any other market analyzed in the study.By the Numbers$4,025 is the lowest estimated FHA-style down payment in the top 10 (Shreveport, Louisiana).$6,857 is the highest estimated down payment in the top 10 (Fort Wayne, Indiana).All 10 top cities have a median list price under $200,000.339 active multifamily listings in Detroit alone, more than any other market analyzed in the study.The Top 10 Cities for House Hacking in 2026The following cities ranked highest based on median list price for active two-to-four-unit properties, among cities with a population of 100,000 or more and at least 10 qualifying listings on Movoto. Lower What Is House Hacking, and Who Is It For?House hacking is the practice of purchasing a small multifamily property, occupying one unit as a primary residence, and renting out the remaining units. It's not a new concept, but it's gaining renewed attention as affordability pressures push first-time buyers to think creatively.The strategy works particularly well for buyers who:Are buying their first home and want to offset monthly housing costsAre comfortable with the responsibilities of being a landlordLive in a market where multifamily inventory is available at accessible price pointsWant to build equity while keeping their housing costs manageableImportantly, FHA financing for two-to-four-unit properties requires owner occupancy — meaning the buyer must live in one of the units as their primary residence. This distinguishes house hacking from traditional real estate investing, and it's what makes the low down payment option available.There are some additional caveats to keep in mind when it comes to house hacking with an FHA loan.First, the 3.5% FHA loan requirement isn't universal. Some lenders apply overlays, meaning they might require additional down payments beyond that 3.5%. And on top of that, you'll need a credit score of 580 or higher to qualify for 3.5% down with an FHA loan.Second, the down payment is only part of cash to close. Closing costs can total 2% to 6% of the purchase price, although FHA loans allow eligible closing costs to be covered through seller concessions. FHA loans also require both an upfront and ongoing mortgage insurance premium, or MIP. The upfront MIP is 1.75% of the loan amount, although that too can often be financed into an FHA loan.A Closer Look: Why the Midwest and South Dominate the RankingsNine of the top 10 cities are located in the Midwest or South, reflecting where multifamily housing stock remains both plentiful and affordable relative to the rest of the country.Cities like Detroit and Lansing in Michigan and Dayton, Ohio, have long had strong multifamily housing stock shaped by decades as manufacturing hubs. That legacy, combined with more modest home price appreciation compared to coastal markets, makes them natural fits for buyers looking to stretch their dollars.Southern cities like Shreveport, Louisiana; Montgomery, Alabama; and Jackson, Mississippi, round out the top of the list, offering even lower entry points, and in Shreveport's case, a median list price of just $115,000, which translates to an estimated down payment of roughly $4,000.Rochester, New York, is the notable exception in the top 10 and the only Northeastern city to crack the list with 66 active multifamily listings and a median price of $154,950, on par with Evansville, Indiana.MethodologyLower analyzed active residential listings from its digital real estate portal Movoto's proprietary database to identify cities where multifamily homeownership may be most accessible to first-time buyers in 2026.To qualify for inclusion, a city must have:A population of 100,000 or moreAt least 10 active multifamily listings at the time of analysisProperty types classified as duplex, triplex, fourplex, or small multifamily (two-to-four-unit property)Cities were ranked by median list price among qualifying properties, from lowest to highest. The estimated down payment is calculated as 3.5% of the median list price, reflecting the FHA minimum for qualified borrowers with a credit score of 580 or above. Actual FHA loan requirements vary by lender and the borrower's financial profile.This report is intended to highlight markets with lower upfront barriers to entry for owner-occupied multifamily homeownership. It does not estimate mortgage qualification, debt-to-income ratios, rental income, cash flow, return on investment, or any other measure of investment performance.This story was produced by Lower and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	How to stop ‘summer spending creep’ from wrecking your budget How to stop ‘summer spending creep’ from wrecking your budgetBetween outdoor happy hours, music festivals, sporting events, trips out of town, and even rising air conditioning bills, there’s a lot you may be spending your money on this summer. In the spring, PwC surveyed roughly 2,000 adults and found that Americans planned to spend more than $2,800 on travel. And a 2025 survey from Savings.com found that 35% of parents say summer is the most expensive season.Some of that splurging could be happening without you fully realizing its impact on your savings goals.“While many focus on budgeting during the holidays, summer can be just as dangerous to our wallets because spending arrives in smaller, less noticeable increments,” Jonathon Merickel, wealth advisor at Savvy Wealth, tells Current, a consumer fintech banking platform. “The goal isn't to eliminate enjoyment but to be intentional. By recognizing these patterns before they take hold, you can enjoy the season while making meaningful progress toward your financial priorities.”Here are five ways to avoid your spending creeping up in the summer.1. Put a name to your spendingBefore you can determine if you’re overspending on nonessentials such as expensive food and drinks at the beachside restaurant or movie tickets, it’s important to put a system in place so you know what you’re spending on.“It has always been programmed in our minds that summer is the season to live life to the fullest. That often means spending money on concerts, patios, and vacations,” says Sammie Guajardo, senior financial planner at Facet. “The more active you are, the easier it is to lose track of where your money is going.”Distinguishing between essential expenses — such as your housing costs, debt payments, utilities, and groceries — and discretionary expenses like dining out and travel can help you stay organized as you try to curb your spending.2. Avoid the ‘just one more’ effectEven small purchases can add up quickly. Merickel recommends avoiding what he calls the “just one more patio drink” effect.“Summer encourages spontaneous patio dinners and extra rounds of drinks,” Merickel says. “While each purchase feels small, they can collectively add thousands to your annual spending.”You can apply this rule to many other types of spending. Buying one more book at the bookstore, throwing one more sundress in your cart, or snagging just one more carton of pricey strawberries at the farmers market can mean you’re suddenly spending much more than you initially meant to over time.3. Think before you buySpontaneity can be a good thing — but typically not when it comes to spending. To combat overspending, think before you buy.“Give yourself two minutes to consider whether a purchase aligns with your goals before swiping your card, ordering another drink, or booking a trip you haven’t saved for,” Guajardo says. “This can help you determine whether you’re spending for instant gratification or making a purchase that truly matters. Understanding the tradeoff between today’s spending and future goals can help you make more confident decisions.”This can be especially important when it comes to pricier purchases, such as travel.“Weekend getaways often expand beyond the hotel cost to include meals, gas, and activities,” Merickel says. “The key isn't to stop these trips but to plan ahead and build them into your budget so they don't derail long-term goals like retirement.”4. Don’t underestimate your ‘normal’ expensesThe biggest budget leaks often come from “normal” expenses, Guajardo says. Air conditioning costs can spike in the summer, and grocery bills can rise if you’re hosting friends more often, for instance.Small increases are expenses you can often plan for and manage. One way to do this is by saving a “summer fund” via a higher-earnings savings account so that you have funds ready to cover any extra costs during the high-spending season.5. Be realistic and flexibleThe key is to find a flexible approach to budgeting and seasonal spending that will actually work for you.If you spend more time outdoors during the summer, consider pausing a gym membership or other subscriptions you’re not using, Guajardo says. Looking at expenses on an annual basis, rather than just monthly, can also help identify opportunities to cut back.“Most importantly, be realistic about yourself and your spending,” Guajardo says. “Don’t try to reinvent yourself during the summer. If you usually have dinner and two drinks with friends, have one instead. If you prefer one big summer vacation without a strict budget, enjoy the trip and keep the rest of the season more low-key.”She adds that summer spending should be a season, not a lifestyle: “The key is balancing the needs of your current and future self.”This story was produced by Current and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Why millions of small businesses are finally turning to AI, and where they're starting Why millions of small businesses are finally turning to AI, and where they're startingThe U.S. is home to more than 36 million small businesses, the Small Business Administration reported in 2025. And, of all employer firms in the U.S. in 2022, Census data shows 79% had fewer than 10 employees. Nearly half (42%) of small business owners say they have experienced burnout in the past month, according to a national survey by Capital One Insights Center.In this environment, the appeal of AI becomes clear; it can ease the drain of time, attention, and follow-through that happens when one person shoulders the work of five. As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported, 87% of small businesses agree that AI has increased efficiency.For years, the discussions surrounding AI have been focused on venture-backed startups, big companies, or high-tech offices where “workflow optimization” happens in meetings, not between customer calls and a five-minute dinner. Small businesses aren’t late to the trend. One in 4 have already adopted AI and integrated it into daily business operations, according to a May 2025 Reimagine Main Street survey.The Reality of Owning and Operating a Small BusinessFor millions of owners, it’s more than wearing multiple hats; it means wearing them all at once. More than 8 in 10 small businesses have no employees, according to the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy in a July 2024 report; there’s no IT department, procurement process, or training manual. Calls are answered or routed to voicemail, spreadsheets are completed and reviewed after hours, and decisions such as whether to invest in a new tool or add a hire are often made outside standard working hours.What makes running a small business so draining is not just the volume of tasks, but the constant switching among them. According to Business.com research conducted in 2025, small business leaders spend an average of nine hours each week on excessive multitasking or context switching. That kind of distraction eats up productive time—a cost often referred to as the “toggle tax.”Quo, an AI-powered phone system used by small businesses to manage customer calls and messages, ran a survey in early 2026, in which 33% of small business owners reported that lack of time or bandwidth is the single biggest impediment to growth in the next 12 months. Owners have plenty of drive and capability, but every task switch carries a hidden cost that adds up over the week.This is where automation can play a role in reducing some of that fragmentation and freeing up time for higher-value work.Automation in PracticeIn small businesses, automation often begins with one question: “How much of my work is repetitive?” When identifying how much of each day, week, or month is taken up by repeatable tasks, a pattern emerges to help shift from treading water to real forward momentum.The first automations almost always fall into one of three areas: marketing and content creation, financial admin and bookkeeping, or client communication and follow-up. The entry point varies by business type, but the instinct is the same: find the task that repeats the most and costs the most time, and start there.For some, the pain point is marketing. A bakery owner might use Canva's AI tools to turn one pastry photo into an Instagram story, a menu board graphic, an email header, and a flyer, rather than redesigning the same promotion four times. Owners who make this shift often reclaim several hours a week and find that brand consistency alone starts driving more repeat visits.Thanks to the speed of AI implementation, owners don’t need to wait to improve their workflows.For others, the work piles up after the fact. A wedding florist ending a busy Saturday with wholesale orders, assistant payments, and a stack of receipts might use QuickBooks' AI to pull line items, suggest categories, and separate event costs from studio expenses, getting invoices out faster and tracking where every dollar went.Then there's the solopreneur, where every sale or meeting generates its own pile of follow-ups. Tools like Superhuman and Granola can organize an inbox, summarize conversations, and turn them into action items, draft responses, or scheduled meetings. For owners under pressure to respond faster, this is often where relief is felt first; 41% of small businesses Quo surveyed cited customer expectations for faster service as a key driver for experimenting with AI.According to Salesforce’s 2024 SMB research, offloading administrative tasks to AI is working. 91% of small businesses have reported increases in revenue after using AI. Further, of those experiencing growth, they are twice as likely to have an integrated tech stack (66%), dodging the problems of lost data and inefficiencies common to having many standalone applications. Others have found that by reducing busywork, they can hire more employees and power company growth, according to a Goldman Sachs 2025 survey. And, most businesses report reallocating time saved from automation toward hiring or expansion, giving owners breathing room, making more money, and ultimately, building a bigger team.With friction reduced, small business owners can focus on other priorities.From Busywork to Business Growth: What will happen when more than 36 million businesses regain time in their day?When automation removes repetitive tasks from an owner’s workload, the benefits go beyond a cleaner inbox or a shorter to-do list. It can lead to faster responses, better customer retention, fewer mistakes, and manageable business growth, according to a 2025 Customer Experience Study by Five9. Over time, this will make it easier to launch new products or services, take on more clients or serve more customers, and grow the team.Businesses that adopt AI tools often report increased efficiency and more time spent on core operations. They’re the ones who are smart with their AI adoption, giving themselves more time and energy to focus on what inspired them to start the business in the first place.If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself a few questions: Where do I lose the most time each week? What’s making my customers wait? What would I do with five extra hours? And, maybe most importantly: What’s the cost of not changing anything? The answers tend to point to a first step. That’s usually all it takes to get started.Survey Methodology: In February 2026, Quo conducted a survey of 386 small businesses that are also Quo customers. All personal data is provided on an opt-in, completely voluntary basis while safeguarding data privacy.This story was produced by Quo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Putin meets North Korean foreign minister in diplomatic push The visit by North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui comes without an obvious occasion, such as a multilateral diplomatic event or state anniversary, and has raised speculation that she may be coordinating a possible visit to Russia by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
	Half of newly developed drugs are the result of this 1983 Law Half of newly developed drugs are the result of this 1983 Law"Orphan" drugs were once a market almost no company wanted. Four decades later, they make up more than half of the new drugs the Food and Drug Administration approves.In 2024, the FDA's drug center approved 50 new medicines. More than half of them (26 in all) were built to treat a rare disease.That would have stunned anyone working in medicine in the early 1980s. Back then, rare diseases were a part of the market that drug companies avoided. The patient groups were too small, the costs too high, and the payoff too uncertain.In the decade before 1983, fewer than 10 drugs for rare conditions reached the market. Only 38 such drugs had ever been approved in the United States at all.Then Congress passed the Orphan Drug Act, signed into law on Jan. 4, 1983. Forty-plus years later, treating the rare has become one of the most active and closely watched areas in all of drug development.This is the story of how that happened, developed by Kivo, a quality management system and RegOps platform for life sciences teams.What The Orphan Drug Act ChangedThe Orphan Drug Act did something really simple. It provided significant financial incentives to companies that could develop treatments for rare diseases.The law applies exclusively to drugs meant to treat a rare disease, which the FDA defines as a condition affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. If a drug qualifies, its maker can apply for an "orphan designation," a tag that comes with significant financial rewards, including:Seven years of exclusive rights to sell the drug once it is approvedTax credits to help cover the cost of clinical trialsEligibility for research grantsThese incentives leveled the financial playing field by significantly lowering the costs and raising the rewards for developing rare disease treatments. As a result, companies slowly began turning their attention toward this category of treatments.A 4-Decade Development ExplosionThe response built slowly at first, then took off.From 1983 through 2022, the FDA granted 6,340 orphan drug designations, covering drug development for 1,079 different rare diseases. Of those designations, 882 went on to earn at least one FDA approval, delivering treatments for 392 rare conditions.The pace picked up further in each progressive decade. Designations more than doubled from the 1980s to the 1990s. They nearly doubled again from the 1990s to the 2000s. And they nearly tripled from the 2000s to the 2010s.That number continues to climb each year.The share of all new drugs that are orphan drugs tells the same story from another angle. In the late 1980s, orphan drugs made up just 17% of all FDA approvals. By the late 2000s, that share had roughly doubled to around a third. In 2024, it crossed half. Rare disease drugs went from a small minority to the single largest category of new medicines the FDA clears.Where The Money GoesThe boom has not spread evenly across all rare diseases. It has concentrated heavily in one area: cancer.Seven of the 10 most-designated and most-approved rare diseases over the past four decades were rare cancers. Pancreatic cancer alone drew 185 orphan designations, the most of any single disease. Seven diseases topped 100 designations each. Beyond oncology, the biggest growth has come in rare neurological diseases and in conditions that begin in childhood.Recent approvals show the range. In 2024, the FDA cleared new treatments for rare conditions that had no approved therapy at all, including Niemann-Pick disease type C and a rare immune disorder called WHIM syndrome. It also approved a new option for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a severe muscle-wasting disease that mostly affects young boys.There is a clear logic to the clustering. Rare cancers often share biology with more common ones, so research can build on work already underway. Childhood genetic diseases have well-organized patient groups that push hard for treatments. And advances in genetics have made it far easier to understand what goes wrong in a rare disease and to design a drug that targets it.Many Gaps Still RemainThe focus on cancer and childhood genetic diseases means that despite this shift, thousands of gaps in rare disease treatments still remain.Scientists have identified somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 rare diseases, and only about 5% of them have an FDA-approved drug. Up to 15% have at least one drug that has shown promise in treatment, diagnosis, or prevention.That leaves the vast majority of rare diseases (~80%) with no approved treatment at all.Rare diseases affect more than 30 million Americans, or roughly 1 in 10. No single condition is common, but taken together, they touch families in every state. A disease that strikes only a few thousand people is still a life-altering event for each of those families, and for most of them, the pharmacy shelf is still empty.Who Is Developing These Drugs?The orphan drug pipeline runs in large part on smaller companies.Small and midsize firms have long made up a big share of the sponsors behind orphan drugs. Earlier reviews of the field found that small firms alone accounted for more than half of orphan drug sponsors, and that small and midsize firms together made up around three-quarters.Many of these companies are launched by parents seeking treatments for their kids, like Terry Pirovolakis, who founded Elpida Therapeutics to develop a gene therapy for his son Michael.Rare disease research has become a common path for emerging biotech companies, which can focus on a single condition, move quickly, and rely on the law's incentives to make a small market viable.Larger drugmakers have followed the trend as well, and some have built entire divisions around rare diseases. But the steady stream of designations, many for diseases most people have never heard of, reflects an ecosystem where smaller and newer companies do much of the early work.Debate Around Drug PricingThe orphan drug boom is widely seen as one of the most successful health laws in modern American history. One area of criticism and debate is over the drug prices that emerge from these development pipelines.Because orphan drugs serve small patient groups and enjoy years of protected sales, they are often extremely expensive, and some rank among the costliest medicines in the world.Supporters argue that high prices are the only way to fund research for tiny markets.Critics counter that the costs strain patients who are often already navigating difficult life circumstances, the government is already providing financial incentives to drugmakers, and in many cases, developed treatments are only partially effective while still being prohibitively expensive.A second concern is how incentives are used. Some companies have won orphan status for narrow slices of a drug that also treats common conditions, a practice critics say is designed to game the rules. The share of orphan approvals that were secondary uses of an existing drug has risen sharply over the decades, climbing from about 19% in the 1980s to roughly 47% in the 2010s.There are also questions about how much these drugs improve care. One analysis of orphan approvals found that the share rated as major therapeutic improvements fell from about half in the mid-2000s to well under a fifth by the early 2020s.That doesn't invalidate the benefits for patients who now have options where none existed. But it does suggest that a rising count of approvals is not the same thing as a rising count of breakthroughs.The Bottom LineFour decades in, the verdict on the Orphan Drug Act is mostly a success story. A law meant to coax a handful of treatments out of a market no one wanted has helped produce hundreds of them and turned rare disease into a central focus of drug development. Emerging biotech companies keep the pipeline full, and more than half of new drugs now carry an orphan tag.But the system isn't perfect. Thousands of rare diseases still have no treatments available. New treatments are often priced beyond the reach of those in need. And the law likely needs to be adjusted to prevent companies from gaming the system.The next 40 years of the law will be judged less by how many designations it produces and more by whether it can close that gap for the millions of Americans still waiting on treatment for rare diseases.This story was produced by Kivo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	How one change to a car payment can help Americans get ahead of their debt How one change to a car payment can help Americans get ahead of their debtCar payments are one of the largest monthly obligations for most people, but they don’t happen in a vacuum. The average American is carrying debt across multiple categories at once. But their car loan may be the one lever they can pull to create more breathing room and get ahead of their debt. According to Caribou’s survey of 2,000 car loan borrowers, if they could save $150 a month on their car payment, 60% of respondents would use the savings to pay down other debt.So how far can an extra $150 a month actually go? Saving on your car payment can create a positive ripple effect, freeing up money in your budget that can be sent toward the debt that’s costing you the most. This is becoming increasingly important as Americans currently carry $1.6 trillion in student loan debt and $1.2 trillion in credit card debt, according to the latest estimates from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.How to lower your monthly car payment by refinancingAuto refinancing means replacing your current car loan with a new one, usually with a different rate, term, or lender. If you qualify for better terms, refinancing could lower your monthly payment and free up money you can put toward credit cards, personal loans, medical bills, or other higher-interest-rate debt you are carrying.Refinancing may be worth considering if:Your current auto loan rate is higher than what you may qualify for now.Your credit has improved since you bought the car.Your monthly car payment is making it hard to pay other bills.You can lower your payment without adding too much extra interest.Some people hesitate to check their rates because they’re afraid it could hurt their credit score. In fact, 33% of auto loan borrowers in Caribou’s survey say a potential negative impact on their credit score would keep them from refinancing. But checking refinance rates on sites like Caribou only requires a soft credit pull, which does not affect your credit score. A hard credit pull only happens when you select an offer and submit your application.Compare the new loan against your current one side by side. A lower payment can help reduce monthly pressure, but a longer loan term may increase the total interest you pay. You can run the numbers using an auto refinance calculator.How to use car savings to pay down high-interest debtLowering your car payment is only half the strategy. The other half is deciding where the freed-up money should go.In many cases, it makes sense to focus on high-interest debt first, like credit cards. That’s because credit card interest can grow quickly and make it harder to get ahead. Even a small monthly amount can help if you apply it consistently. Over time, this can reduce the interest you pay and even improve your credit score.That’s what Omar Pena of California plans to do after refinancing his Chevy Camaro and lowering his car payment by $274 a month. “The savings will definitely help me pay off my other credit cards, which is going to help me reach my credit goals,” he said. Caribou How does a car lower payment impact your debt-to-income ratioThe debt-to-income (DTI) ratio is one of the most consequential numbers that provides a peek into an individual’s financial health, yet many people are unaware of this figure until they apply for a loan.Lenders want to see that your monthly debt payments are a manageable slice of your income, and that’s what your DTI ratio measures. Refinancing into a lower monthly car payment reduces your DTI ratio, and a lower DTI improves your access to credit. A lower DTI is also key to getting better rates for other loans like mortgages. So if you have a high DTI and a high credit score, and are considering buying a new home, refinancing your auto loan at least six months before you buy could help you qualify for a lower rate.What starts out as $150 in monthly savings from refinancing your car loan could lead to more borrowing power for years to come.Be intentional with your savingsRefinancing a car loan can not only save Americans thousands of dollars a year but also have a ripple effect, improving their overall financial health.Most Americans carry more than one form of debt. Each has its own interest rate, its own minimum payment, its own timeline. But your car loan may be one place to look if debt is stretching your budget. If you can lower your payment, you may be able to free up money and put it toward the high-interest debt that’s costing you the most.The key is to be intentional. Don’t just lower your car payment. Use the savings to make real progress.This story was produced by Caribou and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	In Terms of Campaign Funds Raised, the Illinois GOP is Heeding That Paramount Virtue, Fiscal Restraint The Illinois Republican Party filed its quarterly campaign finance report on the July 15 deadline. The party reported having just $223,000 in the bank. The next day, the party sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections saying they were “reconciling” their records after a leadership change, and then noted that their actual end balance was $101,000 higher than it had reported the day before. But that bit of found money was basically the end of the “good news” for the GOP last week.
	Smoky skies again today for the Quad Cities area Like Sunday, visibilities will be lower today from wildfire smoke blowing in from Canada and northern Minnesota. Here's your full 7-day forecast.
	Bubba's 33 sets Davenport grand opening, ribbon-cutting The restaurant and sports bar, featuring scratch-made food, will officially open on Monday, July 27, at 11 a.m.
	DuTrac Community Credit Union earns national recognition “Helping our members build confidence and stability through saving is at the heart of what we do,” Andrew Hawkinson, President/CEO of DuTrac shared.
	Harkey's restaurant and bar opens in Orion Its menu features a variety of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and Benny's Pizza.
	Ascentra Credit Union named to Forbes' America’s Best-In-State Credit Unions 2026 list To be eligible, credit unions must receive a minimum number of evaluations, with recognized institutions averaging more than 635 evaluations.
	New restaurant and bar, gift shop closing, Bubba's 33 grand opening, and more Quad-Cities business news Bubba's 33 grand opening, gift shop closing after 49 years, new restaurant and bar, more Quad-Cities business news.
	Rock Island and Henry County real estate transactions for July 19, 2026 Here are homes sales and property sales in Rock Island County and Henry County.
	What's coming up: Eldridge to discuss fire services, Bettendorf to get strategic plan update Eldridge could take action Monday on the future of fire services, and LeClaire is planning upgrades at a railroad intersection.
	Hot, humid, smoky, and stormy Monday The Quad Cities will be dealing with a lot of hazards to kick off the new week. It'll be another hot and humid day with poor air quality again. A few showers and storms are possible this morning and more widespread strong to severe storms are likely this afternoon into the evening.
	At least 930 people have died in Congo's Ebola outbreak Congo's health ministry said the deaths were recorded out of the 2,344 cases confirmed as of Saturday. Thirty-seven new deaths were recorded in the previous 24 hours in one of the highest totals.
	Leadership vacuum: Agencies in New York and beyond pass the buck on opioid cash oversight Alexis Pleus’ son Jeff Dugon died of a heroin overdose in 2014 at age 28. She says his addiction began in high school, when he was prescribed opioid painkillers for a knee injury. In 2023, Pleus protested outside the Supreme Court while justices heard a case about Purdue Pharma, the company many people consider a driver of the opioid crisis. (Mia Hause)Companies accused of recklessly marketing and distributing prescription opioid painkillers are paying roughly $58 billion to settle lawsuits over their role in fueling the addiction crisis. It’s a pot of gold eyed by addiction treatment providers, companies creating the latest opioid-related products, and government officials struggling to balance budgets. Nearly half of that money is going to local governments, to be distributed by county commissioners and city councilors. The idea is that local leaders know their communities best and can do justice to these payouts, often described as “blood money” by people who’ve lost loved ones to an overdose. But many local leaders have little to no training in addiction policy and may lack robust local health departments and policy guardrails to assist them. That has resulted in spending decisions that many clinicians, researchers, and addiction recovery advocates say are unlikely to save lives or treat substance use disorders. In New York, where about 46% of the opioid settlement money is directly controlled by local governments, counties have spent tens of thousands of dollars on surveillance cameras, technology to help police access data on locked cellphones, and goggles that simulate being drunk, according to public records obtained by the nonprofit advocacy group Legal Action Center and shared exclusively with KFF Health News. Though the purchases were likely legal, many people consider them a slap in the face because they don’t directly help people struggling with addiction or their families. Without oversight, counties have the chance “to go rogue” with this money, said Jasmine Budnella, director of drug policy at VOCAL-NY, an advocacy organization that is tracking settlement money as part of its mission to serve people affected by the war on drugs. When advocates and families of overdose victims raise concerns to the various state agencies that could hold localities accountable, those agencies often punt to one another, Budnella and other local advocates said. It feels “like the Spider-Man meme, where it’s like everybody’s pointing at each other,” Budnella said. “Somebody needs to be able to have the stick and slam their hand on the table and be like, ‘You’re doing this wrong and this is the consequence.’” The experience in New York provides a microcosm of regulators evading oversight responsibility nationwide while varied interests vie for the financial windfall. Years of data collected by KFF Health News, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the addiction nonprofit Shatterproof have found that settlement money was spent on law enforcement gear, such as night-vision goggles and bulletproof vests; unproven prevention initiatives, such as a drug-awareness magician for kids; and budget stopgaps. It’s unclear who should — or will — take action on such expenditures that many people harmed by the crisis consider questionable. In each state, control of the money is split among various entities, creating a leadership vacuum. The federal government plays little to no role. Advocates and families who’ve lost loved ones have pushed for accountability but have limited power. A few states have passed new laws, but change is slow and uneven. The settlement agreements require the majority of the money to be spent on “opioid remediation,” with more than 100 suggested expenditures. But the list is broad and open to interpretation. Further complicating the issue, many states — including New York — designate some portion of the settlement dollars as unrestricted, which allows for general spending. Meanwhile, federal budget cuts have threatened addiction-related services and created more demand for funding. And though overdose deaths have decreased since peaking in 2022, they still claim about 186 lives per day. Jeff Dugon (right) spent Easter with his mother, Alexis Pleus, and brothers in 2014. He died four months later of a heroin overdose. Now, Pleus is fighting to ensure opioid settlement money is spent in ways that can spare other families such heartache. (Mitchell Sosnicki) “We really are wasting this opportunity to use these funds to turn the epidemic around,” said Alexis Pleus, a Binghamton, New York, resident, whose 28-year-old son, Jeff Dugon, died of a heroin overdose in 2014. He was a chef who loved to rib Pleus about her bad knife skills. She thinks of him and smiles every time she peels garlic the way he taught her. If the money could spare other families such heartache, that would give her solace. “We need oversight,” said Pleus, who runs a nonprofit that is receiving opioid settlement cash from her county to serve people who use drugs and provide support groups for families. In New York, there are three prime watchdog contenders: the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, the attorney general, and the comptroller. The lead state agency New York’s opioid settlement documents designate the Office of Addiction Services and Supports as the “lead state agency.” It distributes a portion of settlement dollars via grants, according to recommendations from the state’s Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board. It also has the power to “engage in oversight and audits of projects and programs” funded by settlement cash and “may withhold future funds” from local governments that do not comply with certain requirements, according to the agreement. Agency spokesperson Jerry Gretzinger told KFF Health News the office has not yet exercised its power to withhold funds but understands its oversight role. “OASAS has a duty to ensure these funds are used responsibly and strategically to build programs that will have a lasting impact in reversing this crisis,” Gretzinger wrote in a statement. The office is currently auditing 19 local governments’ use of the money to ensure compliance with “reporting and recordkeeping requirements,” he said. However, that may not encompass the broader question of whether money was spent on appropriate uses, which many advocates want addressed. Some people are frustrated with the narrow role OASAS has carved out. For example, language included in last year’s state budget required local governments for the first time to publicly report how they spent settlement money. OASAS collected links to those reports on its site. But it does not review the accuracy or detail of that data, instead relying on “the information as it is provided” by localities, Gretzinger said. “That doesn’t feel like oversight,” said Christine Khaikin, a deputy director at the Legal Action Center, which obtained public records about local spending in New York. Members of the state’s Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board have also pushed the office to provide more data and evaluation of how dollars are being used. But at a February 2025 meeting, OASAS Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham deflected. “OASAS has no oversight over these portions of dollars,” she said of the 46% of settlement money that goes directly to counties and cities. “In terms of what kind of data each county collects,” she added, “we cannot dictate exactly what that information is.” The top law enforcement officer New York Attorney General Letitia James has been one of the leading national voices on prosecuting pharmaceutical companies that fueled the overdose crisis. Her office has issued dozens of press releases on the topic, touting her role in securing billions of opioid settlement dollars for the state. But when asked about the attorney general’s role in ensuring this windfall is spent appropriately, her office passed the buck to other agencies. “While our partners in state and local governments distribute and oversee these funds, we will continue our work to hold accountable the companies responsible for fueling the spread of addictions and overdoses,” spokesperson Grant Fox wrote in a statement. That stance contrasts starkly with many people’s views of the office’s responsibility. A state senator, a member of the opioid settlement advisory board, and several advocates named the attorney general’s office as a key enforcement entity. “The money is here because of their efforts,” said Democratic state Sen. Nathalia Fernandez, who chairs the committee on alcoholism and substance use disorders and has introduced several pieces of legislation related to settlement funds. “I believe it is under the Office of the Attorney General to enforce.” Budnella, the advocate with VOCAL-NY, agreed, saying, “It would be a shame for all of their work that they have done to secure all this funding for it to be misspent.” Attorneys general in Michigan and Kansas have taken more active roles, issuing lists of ways opioid settlement money cannot be spent. The lists include many law enforcement expenditures that have raised concerns for advocates in New York. James’ office did not respond to a specific question about whether she’d consider creating a similar list. The fiscal watchdog Some people have suggested that the state comptroller, as a steward of New York’s finances, could play an oversight role, perhaps by conducting or requiring audits. Early this year, the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, released a model law that would create audit requirements for organizations receiving settlement cash. The blueprint suggests recipients of more than $1 million in opioid settlements be required to undergo an independent review of financial statements and transaction testing to determine whether funds were used for their intended purpose. Smaller grantees, receiving less than $1 million, could simply provide an unaudited accounting of the funds. It’s “not telling states what is and what isn’t an appropriate use,” said Mariana Trujillo, a co-author of the Reason Foundation plan. “We’re simply trying to ensure recipients follow through with their promises.” No state has adopted the model law yet. But the office of New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli told KFF Health News it is already conducting an audit. The process, which began in February, “is looking at OASAS’ oversight” of the opioid settlement money, said spokesperson Mary Mueller. It includes settlement money controlled by the state and local governments. Mueller said any future enforcement action “will depend on the results of our current work and our ongoing monitoring.” The office is following in the footsteps of comptrollers and auditors in New Jersey, Missouri, and Nashville, Tennessee, who have taken action on settlement cash. These initial steps have given some advocates and researchers hope for the future of opioid settlement dollars, which are expected to flow for more than a decade. “We’re already years in and we’ve seen the craziest stories” of this money funding concerts and a police shooting range, said Layal Bou Harfouch, a co-author of the Reason Foundation’s model law. “If we can prevent that at least a little and have these funds be a bit more focused, I don’t think it’s too late.” KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. Courtesy of New Jersey Monitor
	U.S. and Iran launch new strikes after three U.S. service members are killed The U.S. attacks were the ninth consecutive day of bombing since peace talks between the two countries collapsed in dispute over a memorandum of understanding focused on the Strait of Hormuz.
	U.S. and Iran launch new strikes after 3 U.S. service members are killed The U.S. attacks were the ninth consecutive day of bombing since peace talks between the two countries collapsed in dispute over a memorandum of understanding focused on the Strait of Hormuz.
	Local Help This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Three years ago, a colleague of mine bought a house in a small town south of Rock Island. When she decided to get a…
	Gov. Morrisey: If childcare is next, let’s have that discussion Gov. Patrick Morrisey announces a plan to expand programs in public schools aimed at helping children before they need the child welfare system in an effort to improve the state’s overburdened foster care system on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026 in Charleston, West Virginia. (Photo courtesy of the West Virginia Office of Gov. Patrick Morrisey)Gov. Patrick Morrisey, we have been paying attention. More importantly, so has the rest of West Virginia. You already told us what you are considering. You publicly said funding for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families was being looked at for School Clothing Vouchers, Family Resource Networks and childcare. Working families should believe you. I certainly do. First came the uncertainty surrounding Family Resource Networks. Then came the School Clothing Allowance. Next it will be childcare. The pattern is hard to ignore. If history is any indication, we know what will come next. We will hear about “difficult decisions,” “tightening the states belt” and “fiscal responsibility.” Before the first proposal is even announced, let me save everyone a little time. If childcare is next on the chopping block, do not expect West Virginians to quietly accept it. Childcare is not just another government program — it is economic infrastructure. Every morning, thousands of West Virginians go to work because someone else is safely caring for their children — the nurse, correctional officer, teacher, police officer, hospital employee, manufacturer, state worker and small business owner. You can cut childcare funding, but you cannot cut the consequences. Parents will not suddenly find another provider. Employers will not suddenly find more workers. Hospitals will not magically fill vacant shifts. Businesses do not become more competitive. They end up posting more “Help Wanted” signs. Childcare is not welfare. It is workforce infrastructure. You cannot claim to be pro-business while undermining the businesses that make work possible. West Virginia does not have a childcare spending problem. It has a workforce shortage. Making it harder for parents to work is not an economic development strategy. Here is what many people still do not understand: childcare does not just support businesses it is a business. We employ thousands of West Virginians, pay taxes, buy local and make it possible for every other industry to fill its jobs. No childcare. No workforce. No economic growth. For years we have heard elected officials talk about recruiting new businesses to West Virginia. That is great, but who is going to care for those workers’ children? You cannot recruit workers to a state where they cannot find childcare. If classrooms close, the impact will not stop at our doors. Employers across every industry will lose workers, reduce production, shorten hours and struggle even more to fill open positions. That is not fiscal responsibility. It is bad economic policy. So, Governor, if childcare is next, let’s have that conversation. Let’s have it with the parents who could lose their jobs, the employers who cannot hire without childcare, the hospitals trying to recruit nurses, the manufacturers struggling to fill positions, and the legislators who understand what is at stake. Because this debate has never really been about childcare. It is about whether West Virginia wants people to work. You often say West Virginia is open for business. Then stop threatening the one industry that makes every other industry possible. If childcare is next, do not be surprised when parents, providers, employers, hospitals, manufacturers and members of the Legislature stand together to defend it. Gov. Morrisey may see childcare as another budget line, but parents see it as the difference between keeping a job and losing one. Employers see it as the difference between filling a position and leaving it vacant. Providers see it for what it has always been — the foundation that keeps West Virginia working. History will remember whether this administration chose to strengthen West Virginia’s workforce or weaken it. Gov. Morrisey, if childcare is next, we are ready. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of West Virginia Watch
	Altria’s recent gift to UK follows long history of corporate white-washing of tobacco In Kentucky, almost 20% of high school students use electronic cigarettes and 5% smoke, according to The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (Getty Images)In 1996, the Cigarette Papers was published, revealing how Kentucky’s Tobacco and Health Research Institute at the University of Kentucky presented itself as an independent arm of a publicly funded university, but in fact it was run by tobacco manufacturers and their highly paid lawyers. Although the purported goals of the institute were to conduct research on smoking and health, the tobacco industry, not independent scientists, engaged in evaluating the research and participated in developing public policy that favored the tobacco industry. Over the past 30 years, scientists have used industry document research to verify the tactics used by the tobacco companies and other health-harming industries to disrupt public health. Using the industry’s own internal documents is a novel approach to understanding the corporate social responsibility playbook. According to the playbook, it is common for tobacco companies to hide behind unwitting allies or front groups, like universities and community organizations, to improve their public image and garner goodwill. It is well-known that tobacco companies “capture knowledge” by suppressing scientific data on the health harms of their products or sponsoring research to tone down the harm. Commonly, the tobacco companies attack or discredit scientists who do not support the industry’s positions. As a scientist myself, I have experienced this tactic firsthand. The tobacco companies continue to shape public narrative by building relationships with influential community leaders and using slick advertising and marketing campaigns to promote their products and downplay the dangerous health effects. They also indirectly promote tobacco products by sponsoring charitable causes, anti-health policy advocacy, disaster relief efforts, and youth efforts under the guise of “corporate responsibility” in exchange for good will. There are many reasons why the tobacco companies invest so heavily in generating public good will. I name just a few. First, the tobacco industry was found guilty of lying to the American public about the deadly effects of tobacco products for more than 50 years, in the 2006 landmark decision in the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act lawsuit. Second, the tobacco industry conspired to addict young people on nicotine leading to a class action lawsuit against Juul labs, contributing to a youth nicotine addiction crisis and debilitating health issues linked to vaping. Third, the tobacco industry has targeted Black Americans for decades with aggressive and targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes such as saturating urban neighborhoods with billboards, sponsoring cultural events like jazz festivals (giving away free cigarettes), advertising in popular publications such as Ebony and Jet, and more recently on social media. Many countries prohibit these unfair corporate social responsibility practices and debunk tobacco industry misinformation by signing on to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The United States should sign on to this important public health treaty. Now, 30 years later, the tobacco industry is at it again. Altria’s recent $2 million gift to the University of Kentucky to create the Endowed Professor of Tobacco Growers Sustainability is intended to ‘strengthen academic and extension capacity in tobacco-growing communities.’ While the focus is on supporting faculty who, in turn, will help our tobacco growers, tobacco is no longer the dominant agricultural commodity it once was. Nearly all the Kentucky farms that once grew tobacco no longer do. Today, leading agricultural commodities include corn, soybeans, cattle, and poultry, and Kentucky’s agriculture and agribusiness contribute billions to Kentucky’s economy. So why is Altria investing in tobacco growers now? Are they using the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s good reputation to boost their own credibility, influence public opinion, and soften perceptions? This is reminiscent of years prior to the tobacco buyout in the late 1990s and the Master Settlement Agreement in the early 2000s when tobacco was “king” in Kentucky. Since then, Kentucky has moved away from growing tobacco to diversify agriculture. During this same time, Kentucky has witnessed countless successful local smoke-free campaigns even in some of the poorest rural counties in the country. These laws have led to dramatic reductions in new cases of lung cancer, preterm births, hospitalizations for emphysema and visits for asthma, lower indoor air pollution from tobacco smoke, and significant reductions in adult and youth smoking in communities with strong smoke-free laws. We have made slow, steady progress in lowering the harm caused by tobacco use and exposure to tobacco. We now know that corporations harm people. In fact, five commercial products are responsible for nearly one-third of all deaths from chronic disease. Tobacco contributes to 7.2 million deaths per year globally (second only to the 8.1 million deaths from fossil fuels). The science is clear. Corporations are a well-known cause of disease. In fact, many universities have policies on taking money from health-harming industries. At the very least, universities need to create guardrails to disclose conflicts of interest and minimize harm from these corporations. Don’t let Altria fool you. Their money and influence cannot hide the extraordinary toll that tobacco use has on Kentucky’s health and our economy. Courtesy of Kentucky Lantern
	Maryland, Virginia elections officials buck Trump assertion that system is ‘broken,’ more headlines The state Capitol. (Photo by Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) • “Maryland, Virginia elections officials push back on Trump assertion that system is ‘broken.’” — WTOP News • “A preview of Virginia’s Republican Senate primary.” — WAVY • “‘Enough is enough’: Virginia’s ‘immovable’ power broker says data centers aren’t unstoppable.” — Politico • “Virginia Attorney General settles discrimination case from 2021 against ‘notorious’ Newport News landlord.” — WHRO • “Henrico warns residents of feline parvo virus outbreak.” — WRIC SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of Virginia Mercury
	The Princess and the Pea-Green: “Shrek the Musical,” at the Timber Lake Playhouse through August 2 Having first seen the musical in New York with the original Broadway cast, I came in with extremely high expectations. Director/choreographer Chaz Wolcott’s production more than rose to the challenge and made for a truly fantastic night at the theatre.
	So distressed you can't think straight? Lower the intensity with these 4 skills A clinical psychologist shares effective strategies to quickly de-escalate stress and anxiety. That includes dunking your head into a bowl of ice water to trigger your mammalian dive reflex.
	'I just wanted to give up': Disabled patients face Medicaid denials from IT errors Complex computer systems that decide whether people get Medicaid benefits have a history of errors. Now changes to comply with Trump's tax and domestic policy law are inundating those systems.
	Georgia is building first state psychiatric hospital since landmark disability case The Georgia Regional Hospital, a state-operated psychiatric hospital managed by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, in DeKalb County on July 15, 2026. Alander Rocha/Georgia Recorder A $409 million state hospital is in the works, a solution from lawmakers and state officials to address the backlog of people waiting for a spot at a state psychiatric hospital. The first of its kind in over 50 years, the hospital follows a history of Georgia and other states institutionalizing mentally ill and disabled people. Advocates agree the bed shortage must be addressed, but push for a continued commitment to community care over large treatment facilities. These key points were written by a Georgia Recorder journalist. After spending 16 years moving away from a psychiatric care system centered on institutionalization, state officials are preparing to build Georgia’s largest state hospital in decades. More than 700 Georgians in the criminal justice system are currently waiting for a spot in a state psychiatric facility, according to Kevin Tanner, commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. That’s why state lawmakers made room for $409 million in the budget for a 300-bed forensic state hospital, which will be built near Georgia Regional Hospital, located in south DeKalb County, during the 2026 legislative session earlier this year. The waiting list is putting pressure on county jails across Georgia. According to Tanner, the hospital will serve only forensic patients — people who have a mental illness or disability and have been charged with or convicted of a crime. When lawmakers announced the hospital project at a February press conference, several sheriffs were standing alongside them. Tanner said patients come to state hospitals in two main ways. In Georgia, when a judge decides that a person charged with a crime isn’t fit to stand trial because of a psychiatric condition or a disability, they order the person into a state-run long-term hospital. Similarly, some individuals with a mental illness or disability are found not guilty because of their mental state — courts also order these people into state care. Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman speaks at a press conference in February announcing a $409 million psychiatric hospital project. Maya Homan/Georgia Recorder But when state hospitals are at capacity, forensic patients who cannot be admitted are forced to remain in local law enforcement custody, usually waiting months for their court-mandated place in a state hospital. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, along with other local law enforcement across the state, sees the effects of this backlog every day. According to Sills, one Putnam County inmate with a psychiatric illness sat in her 5-by-10 foot cell for over a year while waiting for a state hospital bed before she was admitted to Central State Hospital in June. Sills, who’s been sheriff for nearly 30 years, said he worries long-term detainment threatens the civil rights of the patients. “It is my belief … that it is unconstitutional to keep a person in a penal institution if they are mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial,” he said. “I’m holding this person here, in my opinion, in violation of the Constitution of the United States.” While Sills said he’s pleased about the new hospital, he is skeptical that just 300 beds will solve the issue facing county jails and hopes more facilities for forensic patients will be built in the future. Tanner said the shortage is motivating the department to finish the new hospital as soon as possible. While a facility of this scale typically takes 36 months to be completed, he said the department hopes to expedite the process. “We need the bed capacity today,” Tanner said. “As soon as we can get the hospital open, the better it will be for the system.” Tanner said the department has already secured Atlanta architectural firm Jericho Design Group and Batson-Cook Construction to work on the project. Quotation “It is my belief … that it is unconstitutional to keep a person in a penal institution if they are mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial. I’m holding this person here, in my opinion, in violation of the Constitution of the United States.” – Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills The new hospital has been in the works for several years, Tanner said. A 2023 capacity study predicted that without an additional facility, the state would be unable to accept any more patients by 2034, since many spend the rest of their lives in a state hospital. For now, the facility will only serve forensic patients. But Tanner left open the possibility for the hospital to treat other types of patients in the future. “We’ll design the hospital to be able to house either population, but for the foreseeable future, it will be just a forensic population,” Tanner said. “We don’t want to design a hospital that couldn’t be used for adult mental health patients when needed.” An April settlement addresses long wait for forensic healthcare Tanner and other state government officials have been under pressure to address the backlog from mental health and disability advocates along with county sheriffs. In April, the department reached an agreement with the Georgia Advocacy Office and the Southern Center for Human Rights to reduce the amount of time forensic patients spend waiting in jails. “This agreement is a critical step toward prioritizing treatment over incarceration and restoring dignity and due process for people with mental illness who are arrested swiftly and then stranded in jail simply because the system did not respond in time,” said Atteeyah Hollie, deputy director of the Southern Center of Human Rights, in an April press release. By the time the agreement expires in late 2029, the department must have each forensic patient evaluated within 30 days and admit them to an appropriate restoration program within another 30 days. For county officials like Sills, the Putnam County sheriff, the department will also be required to provide training, education and other support related to engaging with forensic patients. While the new hospital did not emerge from the April settlement, Georgia Advocacy Office Litigation Director Devon Orland said the two are related and the hospital will be a temporary solution to some issues cited in the agreement. Georgia’s complicated legacy of institutionalization Funding the hospital created buzz when the state Senate first unveiled it in February. Additionally, a week prior, a federal judge released the state from part of a 2010 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which Tanner hailed at the time as a “historic moment.” The settlement had originated from a landmark court case: in 1999, the Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. L.C. that unjustified institutionalization of people with disabilities violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The two Georgia plaintiffs were unlawfully held at Georgia Regional Hospital. The court’s decision led to what is known as the Olmstead settlement agreement between the federal government and Georgia, which has guided expansive reforms to the state’s mental health and disability care for nearly two decades. The settlement mandated that Georgia develop a network of more localized health services for these patients, often referred to as a community-based care system, rather than relying on institutions. Now, after a federal judge decided to release Georgia from part of the agreement in February, there will be less oversight over how the state provides services for people with behavioral health issues. Kevin Tanner, commissioner of the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, speaks at Addiction Recovery Awareness Day in 2024. Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder While some lawmakers tied the new hospital announcement to the release, Tanner clarified to the Recorder that the agreement did not govern forensic services and the hospital could have been built regardless. However, the commissioner said the media attention created a “springboard” for the project. “I’m obviously not in the minds of policymakers and legislators,” Tanner said. “But I do feel like there is a general feeling that it’s good timing to be able to build a hospital now that we’re out of the settlement agreement.” Advocates encourage more investment in community care Rena Harris, chief program officer of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, said she understands the struggle local sheriffs are facing and why they lobbied lawmakers for the hospital. While she agreed the shortage must be addressed, Harris added she hopes emphasis will remain on providing in-community care for all patients, including forensic ones. “I would encourage mental health experts and legislators to work together to produce treatment options that are evidence-based in settings that are evidence-based,” Harris said. “I wouldn’t recommend people getting mental health treatment in jails, and I wouldn’t recommend people getting mental health treatment in large institutional settings either, because the goal is to exist in the community.” Harris explained that risks often arise in larger facilities, including patient abuse, neglect and exploitation. She said sometimes patients are warehoused — a practice where people are only given basic care in institutions and don’t receive the necessary restorative treatment for their conditions. Looking at the bigger picture, Orland with the Georgia Advocacy Office said increasing institutional bed capacity could become problematic if proper community care options aren’t also funded. “We need to build the infrastructure in the community, or we’re going to have to keep building more and more beds, and people are going to be tucked away instead of receiving the support they need,” she said. “Building beds is not the solution, and it can become the problem.” Orland said it’s important to continually evaluate care systems to ensure adequate in-community care like housing vouchers, mobile crisis units and local health centers are always available and funded. Tanner, who has led the agency since 2022, acknowledged these concerns and said balancing different types of care is part of his strategy to quell the looming need for state psychiatric beds. Along with the new hospital, the department has multiple smaller behavioral health crisis centers in the works located in Augusta, Savannah, Dublin, north Fulton County and Clayton County. Crisis centers have typically no more than 30 beds and are intended for short-term care, but can facilitate more long-term services for patients, according to the department’s press release. Tanner said he thinks the 300-bed hospital will be a “bright place of healing.” “We’re continuing to build out community-based care with community service boards, with the local crisis centers,” he said. “But at the same time, if someone needs that hospital-level care, we want to make sure it’s available to them — not to institutionalize them, but to keep them just long enough, so that then we can transition them back to community.” Orland said she feels encouraged that the hospital is only part of the plan to reduce the forensic patient backlog. “I think we are all hopeful that the commissioner is focused on building a meaningful community-based mental health system, and that this is just a piece of trying to reduce the number of people that are waiting in jails,” Orland said. “We hope that remains true in the future.” Courtesy of Georgia Recorder
	Cleveland Fed: Business activity up, but high fuel costs are increasing prices, hurting consumers The Federal Reserve of Cleveland. (Getty Images.)With data center construction fueling demand for some manufactured goods, overall business activity increased moderately over the past month and a half, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland reported on Wednesday. But with prices of fuel and other petroleum products remaining high, costs are continuing to rise and consumers find themselves with less money to spend, it reported. The Cleveland Fed on Wednesday published one of its eight annual installments of the Beige Book. It seeks to assess economic conditions through online surveys and interviews with businesses, community leaders, economists and others. The bank’s region includes all of Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. There was a consensus throughout that costs were rising. “Nonlabor input cost growth remained robust in recent weeks,” the report said. “Contacts across industries continued to cite higher fuel costs as the primary driver of input cost pressures. Firms reported direct impacts as costs rose for transportation and petroleum-based products and indirect impacts as higher fuel costs filtered through to items sensitive to shipping costs, including metals and construction materials.” It added that the expense of things such as electricity, insurance, software, and food is also continuing to rise, but at a slower pace than it had. Some of the Cleveland Fed’s contacts said that with fuel prices falling in recent weeks, they’d see other prices fall. But several developments put that in doubt. The United States and Iran are again attacking each other, and energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz are again being throttled. Meanwhile, global oil reserves are at their lowest point in decades. Some of those surveyed by the Cleveland Fed said they were passing only part of their increased cost to customers, while others said they were passing all of it along. And the increased cost is having an accelerating effect on consumer demand — especially among those who are already strapped. “Consumer spending declined modestly after a slight decrease in the prior reporting period,” the report said. “Retailers across industry segments attributed the declines to the ongoing impact of high fuel prices.” It added, “One non-auto retailer said spending by low-income households fell while that of high-income households was unchanged, and another noted that price increases pushed revenue higher even as unit sales fell. Auto dealers generally reported flat or softer sales due to high vehicle prices and interest rates, and one dealer added that demand for service and parts rose as consumers held onto vehicles longer.” Economists watch consumer spending closely because it makes up nearly 70% of gross domestic product. Meanwhile, demand in the real-estate and construction sectors grew robustly since early June, with demand for luxury homes staying strong and that for affordable housing growing, the report said. It added that demand for manufactured goods grew moderately, powered in part by data center construction and in part by the Trump administration’s tariffs. “Data center development continued to drive demand for metal products and electrical components,” it said. “In addition, several metal producers reported stronger orders as customers depleted their imported inventories and shifted to domestic sources to avoid tariffs.” Courtesy of Ohio Capital Journal
Sunday, July 19th, 2026
	How One Sweet Fruit Packs a Powerful Nutritional Punch (Feature Impact) Consumers today are looking for foods that do more than simply taste good; they want foods that deliver nutrition in every bite. As conversations around nutrient-dense eating continue to grow, fresh fruit has become one of the simplest ways to add naturally occurring vitamins and minerals to everyday routines. Kiwifruit is a standout example. According to the International Fresh Produce Association, kiwifruit climbed to No. 14 among the nation's top-selling fresh fruits with household purchasing increasing 20%. What's more, it's now the fastest-growing fruit in the fruit bowl as more shoppers discover its unique combination of exceptional nutrition and naturally sweet flavor. That success story has been more than a century in the making. From Ancient Origins to Modern Favorite Although many people associate kiwifruit with New Zealand, its story began in China's Yangtze River Valley. In 1904, New Zealand educator Isabel Fraser returned home from China with green kiwifruit seeds, which she passed along to horticulturist Alexander Allison. Over the following decades, growers cultivated and refined the fruit, helping establish New Zealand as the world's leading kiwifruit producer. By the 1990s, years of natural breeding and cross-pollination led to the development of the first commercially successful yellow-fleshed kiwifruit, offering consumers a sweeter flavor and vibrant golden flesh. When a devastating vine disease threatened orchards worldwide in 2010, continued breeding innovation led to the development of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit - a resilient variety with smooth skin, juicy golden flesh and a tropical-sweet flavor that helped revitalize the category. Jam-Packed With Nutrition Today, kiwifruit is recognized as one of the most nutrient-dense fruits available, making it an easy choice for people looking to get more nutritional value from the foods they eat. They provide more than 10 vitamins and minerals in every serving, including vitamin C to contribute to the normal function of the immune system, folate to support healthy cell growth and development and vitamin E to help protect cells from everyday damage. "When people think about eating healthier, they often assume it has to be complicated," registered dietitian Nisha Melvani said. "I encourage people to start with simple, whole foods that naturally deliver a variety of nutrients. Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit is an easy choice because it provides more than 10 vitamins and minerals, including 100% of your daily vitamin C needs, in one delicious fruit that fits seamlessly into breakfast, snacks or even dessert." From Orchard to Everyday Favorite As more consumers embrace whole foods over complicated nutrition trends, kiwis are finding their way into everyday routines - and pop culture. Creators including Emma Chamberlain and musician Josh Conway have highlighted the fruit as part of their daily snacking habits, while "Good Housekeeping" featured golden kiwifruit in its 2025 Best Produce Snacks of the Year, highlighting its naturally sweet flavor, juicy texture and broad appeal. Whether enjoyed on its own, added to smoothies, layered onto yogurt or incorporated into savory dishes, kiwifruit offers a simple, delicious way to enjoy more nutrition throughout the day. One easy place to start is this Nut Butter and Kiwifruit Toast, which combines wholesome ingredients with the sweet tropical flavor of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit for a satisfying breakfast, snack or light meal. Discover more fresh recipes, nutrition insights and delicious ways to enjoy kiwifruit at Zespri.com and see why one of today's fastest-growing fruits is earning a permanent place in more fruit bowls. Nut Butter and Kiwifruit Toast Nut Butter: 1 cup roasted nuts (almonds, cashews, hazelnuts or pecans) sunflower oil 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon seeds (chia, sunflower or hemp) 2 slices sprouted grain bread, toasted 1 Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit, sliced To make nut butter: In food processor, blend nuts at high speed until finely ground. Scrape sides of blender. Add few drizzles of sunflower oil, salt and seeds; blend until creamy. Transfer to jar and store up to 1 week in refrigerator. Spread nut butter onto toasted bread and top with slices of kiwi.
	Get Your Kids Ready to Go Back-to-School with Affordable Health Coverage (Feature Impact) Once school starts, life moves fast. There is homework, practices, permission slips, and early mornings. Before the calendar fills up, take a moment to make sure your child has health coverage for the year ahead. Free or low-cost health coverage is available through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or Medicaid in your state for eligible individuals. With health coverage, your kids and teens can get the care they need to stay healthy and do well in school. Think your family might not qualify? You might be surprised. Many families may qualify for coverage without realizing it! Eligibility varies by state and is based on family income and household size. In most states, children up to age 19 from a family of four earning up to $80,000 per year may be eligible. In some states, eligible children can still qualify if family income is even higher. Getting your child covered helps you get them the health care they may need. When a child is sick, the right medicines help them get back to school. If a child has a tough time focusing, there are supports to help. If your child does not see as well as other children, these programs cover glasses. Healthy kids are confident kids, who are ready to participate in every opportunity inside and outside the classroom! Why Health Coverage Belongs on Your Kids' Back-to-School List Having health coverage can help families, like yours, to send your kids and teens off to school ready to learn. Depending on the program and a child's individual needs, Medicaid and CHIP can provide eligible kids up to age 18 (Medicaid) or 19 (CHIP) with a range of services to support their health all year long, such as: Annual checkups and school physicals to prepare children to learn, play, and participate. Preventive care to identify health needs early and keep children healthy throughout the year. Dental care to help prevent tooth aches, cavities, and missed school days. Vision and hearing services to support learning and classroom participation. Mental health care to support emotional well-being and school success. Prescription medications and treatment to help manage symptoms and stay on track. Specialized services for children with disabilities to support growth and learning. How to Apply You can apply for Medicaid and CHIP in many ways: By phone By mail In-person through your state's Medicaid or CHIP office Or find your state's information online at InsureKidsNow.gov/coverage. Act now to get your child covered before they need health care. Enrollment for these programs is open year-round, meaning families do not have to wait for a specific time of year to get covered. Once enrolled, coverage must be renewed every twelve months, so it is important to keep your address, email, and phone number up to date with your state Medicaid or CHIP office to avoid missing important renewal information. Visit InsureKidsNow.gov or call 1-877-KIDS-NOW (1-877-543-7669) for more information. Information provided by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. This communication was printed, published, or produced and disseminated at U.S. taxpayer expense. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
	Wildfire smoke brings haze, air quality alert to Quad Cities The Quad Cities got its taste of the haze and smell that comes with the smoke on Sunday.
	Water main break closes West Main Road in Middletown, prompts boil water advisory Crews work on repairing a broken water main underneath West Main Road in Middletown Sunday, July 19, 2026, at around 5 p.m. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)Approximately 2,000 customers of the city of Newport’s Water Division public water system were advised to boil water before drinking it as a precautionary measure Sunday as crews worked overnight to repair a water main break underneath West Main Road in Middletown. A bell joint failed on a 24-inch water main on the southbound side of the the state road, Route 114, between the entrances to the shopping plaza home to Staples, The Home Depot, Aldi and other retail stores, according to a notice posted by the City of Newport Public Water System. The break caused a loss of pressure in the system, which increases the risk that untreated water or other contaminants could potentially enter the pipes. The notice includes a map of neighborhoods impacted by the boil water advisory. The Rhode Island Department of Health issued an alert about the advisory Sunday night. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water. Motorists first reported asphalt buckling across the entire width of West Main Road at around 10 a.m. For the remainder of the day, the road was closed to traffic between the access road and Valley Road. Police advised motorists to avoid the area if they could. Repaving on the northbound side of the roadway was estimated to be completed by 4 a.m. Monday, allowing for southbound traffic to use one of the northbound lanes for the morning commute, Middletown Fire Chief Rob McCall said. The boil water advisory will remain in effect for approximately two to three days, even after water service returns. Two rounds of water samples collected 24 hours apart must show the water is safe before the Rhode Island Department of Health can authorize lifting the order. The town’s fire station served as the emergency operation center for most of Sunday. Between 2 and 8 p.m., the John F. Kennedy Elementary School was a distribution point for bottled water for residents after their water service was shut off, including those living at East Bay Village and Northgate Apartments, McCall said. Bottled water was available at the fire station Sunday night. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of Rhode Island Current
	'House of the Dragon,' Season 3, Episode 5: A not-so-secret door is just a door We finally find Aemond. Meanwhile, Alicent and Helaena are doing a little too well trying not to be found.
	Omaha woman killed, three more injured after train strikes car in Iowa An Omaha woman is dead and three more people were injured after a train struck a car in Iowa early Sunday morning.
	Traffic Alert: Patching to start on section of Elmore Avenue Crews will start patching a part of Elmore Avenue on Monday.
	Cook review: 'Odyssey' is a 3-hour journey that's a Christopher Nolan masterpiece Talk about staying power. The Greek poet Homer, who lived sometime between the 12th and 8th centuries BC, is credited for the epic poems "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." Some people credit these ancient works to more than one person, and others question whether anyone named Homer even existed. "The Odyssey" has inspired many other [...]
	Fresh Films shoots new ghost series in Rock Island Students from across the country converged on Rock Island in July 2026 to take part in front and behind the camera in filming a new streaming series.
	Davenport teen charged after chasing, ramming vehicle A Davenport teen is facing several charges after police said he chased and rammed a person’s vehicle in an attempt to hurt them.
	Burlington girl’s Fourth of July moment goes viral during D.C. celebration What started as a family trip to celebrate the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C., turned into an unforgettable memory for 8-year-old Braylin Zurmuehlen after a television camera captured her reaction during America’s 250th birthday celebration.
	AIR QUALITY ALERT for the Quad Cities through Monday evening There's an Air Quality Alert for the Quad Cities and all surrounding counties through Monday evening. Smoke from wildfires in Canada continues to plague our skies and reduce air quality significantly. This is the worst it's been so far this summer in the Quad Cities. Anyone who suffers from asthma or other allergies or breathing [...]
	Wedding Expo held at the University Club in Moline The University Club hosted the third annual Wedding Expo offering inspiration to engaged couples.
	Davenport motorcycle crash ends attempted Iowa State Patrol stop A motorcyclist was injured after fleeing an attempted Iowa State Patrol traffic stop late Saturday in Davenport before crashing into a parked vehicle.
	Cyclospora outbreak brings some shoppers to local farmers market The cyclospora outbreak is bringing some shoppers to the local farmers markets.
	Board of Pharmacy sanctions licensees for criminal convictions, dispensing errors A former eastern Iowa pharmacist has been sanctioned by state regulators for a 2022 conviction for sexual exploitation of a minor.
	Motorcyclist injured after crashing in Davenport while fleeing traffic stop A motorcyclist fleeing a traffic stop was injured after the motorcycle collided with a parked car late Saturday in Davenport.
	Motorcyclist flown to hospital after speeding away from troopers, crashing A motorcyclist was flown to the hospital after speeding away from troopers and crashing Saturday night.
	FIRST ALERT DAY Monday: Hazy, hot, humid & chance of severe storms Highs near 95 with heat index values around 100; wildfire smoke creates hazy skies
	A cavalcade of international stars headlined the World Cup's first-ever halftime final show With President Trump in attendance, an all-superstar lineup that included Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber and Burna Boy felt a little more political than it might have otherwise.
	Hundreds gather for 3rd annual wedding expo Hundreds of people gather for University Club Quad Cities 3rd annual wedding expo
	Quad-Cities school board preview: Budget and operation costs on this week's agendas United Township and Bettendorf both have school board meetings this week.
	Could the cyclospora outbreak affect grocery prices? A drop in demand could mean lower prices on certain grocery items, but the relief may be short-lived.
	Davenport motorcycle crash ends attempted Iowa State Patrol stop A motorcyclist was injured after fleeing an attempted Iowa State Patrol traffic stop late Saturday in Davenport before crashing into a parked vehicle.
	Candidate: U.S. Senate can’t go home until new Farm Bill Iowa State Rep. Josh Turek has called on Congress to pass a federal Farm Bill before adjourning for the year.
	Iowa Down Ballot podcast: Big-name guests at political rallies U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, speaks at the Family Leadership Summit on July 17, 2026 in Des Moines. Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks at the Iowa Democratic Party's Liberty and Justice Celebration July 12 in Des Moines. (Photos by Kadin Luhmann/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 7/19/26 by Iowa Writers Collaborative Another busy news Friday leads to another late drop, but Laura and Kathie made it and we’ve got plenty to cover. Read on Substack Big-name headliners rallied the Iowa Democratic Party’s Liberty and Justice Celebration and the conservative Family Leadership Summit over the past week. Dave Price, Laura Belin and I share impressions, plus take a look at the Medicaid Fraud Elimination Task Force that held its first meeting. Listen here. The Iowa Down Ballot Podcast with Dave Price is a production of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please consider a paid subscription today to help us cover production costs, or moving up to the benefactor level — or sending a gift subscription to a friend — if you’re already a paid subscriber. And please spread the word to friends who might enjoy the podcast. Thanks! Courtesy of Iowa Capital Dispatch
	Who is Andy Burnham, the U.K.'s new prime minister? On Monday, former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham succeeds Keir Starmer as the United Kingdom's prime minister. Burnham's politics have been shaped by England's north-south class divide.
	4 the Record WEB EXTRA: Indicted Illinois state lawmaker not the first to deny resignation Let's take a look at a serious situation in Illinois. Federal prosecutors indicted state representative Carol Ammons more than a week ago on charges of wire fraud and obstructing justice. Among the allegations is she funneled more than $100,000 from her campaign account to her daughter. It drew immediate calls from Republicans for her to [...]
	Breakfast Bankroll for week ending 7/17/26 Here's this week's update on retail prices for the breakfast staples of bacon, eggs and milk. This is the USDA's average price for a dozen of large Grade A eggs, a pound of bacon and a gallon of milk on January 20, 2025, compared to where the prices are now. To see the price, click [...]

Monday, July 20th, 2026

Sunday, July 19th, 2026