We'll take it! Yesterday we saw three solid indicators: UNEMPLOYMENT: Fewer new people filed for benefits last week, a sign that high interest rates and high costs aren't pushing employers to cut workers. MORTGAGES: The average long-term mortgage rate fell below 7% for the first time since August. While no one is rushing to buy a home at 6.95% interest, a downward-trending rate could encourage more homebuilding.
RETAIL SALES: Economists expected retail sales to fall last month, but they actually rose 0.3% as we spent more in restaurants, in furniture stores, online, and for clothing and accessories. |
Curb your economic pessimism. (Giphy) |
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About 750,000 older Americans will save money on 48 drugs next year, the White House said, after their manufacturers pay rebates to Medicare for the first time as part of last year's Inflation Reduction Act. The prices for these drugs were increased more than the rate of inflation — many by nearly 20%, the White House said. What seniors save on the medicine could be as little as $1 but as much as $2,700. These drugmakers are getting a taste of their own medicine. |
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U.S. officials announced that they seized 1.4 million illegal e-cigarettes in July, including fruity disposable e-cigarettes from Elf Bar, the most popular brand with teen vapers. The operation at the Los Angeles International Airport was the first time Elf Bar products were successfully blocked from entering the U.S. Many of the products were mislabeled as toys, shoes and other items in an attempt to sneak them past customs. |
Disposable e-cigarette devices sold by EB Design, formerly known as Elf Bar. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File) |
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| 4. (ALLEGED) CREEP DOCTOR |
A former Harvard Medical School professor who founded one of the largest U.S. fertility clinics has been accused of secretly impregnating a fertility patient with his own sperm in 1979. Lawyers for Dr. Merle Berger, who has since retired from Harvard, indirectly denied the lawsuit's claims. This is not the first such case: A retired Indianapolis doctor is likely the biological father of as many as 20 patients' children, based on DNA results. |
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Two men were indicted on charges related to allegedly killing 3,600 birds, including bald eagles and golden eagles, to sell on the black market in the U.S. and elsewhere. It's illegal to kill either species or sell their parts. While bald eagle populations in the United States more than quadrupled to nearly 317,000 eagles from just 2009 to 2019, only about 30,000 golden eagles are now found across the U.S. |
A bald eagle soars over the Des Moines River in Iowa last year. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) |
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The Golden State Warriors are satisfied with the NBA's indefinite suspension of their star forward, Draymond Green, after Green hit an opposing player in the face so hard that he fell to the floor. "We're looking to turn it into a positive," the GM said. Before Wednesday's punishment, Green had been suspended three times already this year, most recently last month for putting a player in a headlock. |
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Ikea stores in the U.K. have been giving away 9½-pound "turkey-sized meatballs" as holiday meal centerpieces. In addition to a social media contest, the furniture chain has somehow been hiding the giant meat spheres in its stores around the U.K. A 9½-pound meatball makes us hope Ikea sells a läxtiv. |
How is this fitting into an oven? (IKEA UK) |
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The first version of Mickey Mouse is just a couple weeks from escaping the iron-gloved grip of the Walt Disney Co. Because the original Steamboat Willie cartoon turns 96 next year, it will enter the public domain on Jan. 1, meaning anyone can use and modify it for their own creative work. The later, more iconic versions of Mickey are still off-limits. Use them and Disney will sue the pants off you so fast that you'll think you're Donald Duck.* *That pants-optional icon is under copyright until 2029. |
Until 2024, this is the only Steamboat Willie gif we can legally use. (Disney/Giphy) |
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Trains between Newark and New York were held for nearly an hour yesterday when a bull got onto the tracks. After police corralled the bull, he was brought to a nearby animal sanctuary where WCBS 880 reported that he is now known as Ricardo, having been named after one of the officers who helped him. Ricardo reportedly escaped from a local slaughterhouse. |
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Expectations — from ourselves and others — can pile up during the holiday season, so this week we've got three picks about people who bucked tradition or social pressure to do what felt right to them. If they can be brave, so can we. |
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One thing we love: The number of recipe submissions we're getting for next week's Cheddar News cookie bake-off! One thing we hate: Pedestrians walking in the bike lane. (Not safe for anyone!) One thing we ate: Bento box of tonkatsu, eggplant, dumpling, octopus ball and rice from Katsu-Hama in Midtown Manhattan. Oishī (delicious)! |
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