Holiday travel plans may go awry if the federal government shuts down at midnight Friday, although most airline operations will continue more or less normally for at least a few days.
Congress has until midnight Friday to agree on a funding plan after a bipartisan plan was abandoned when President-elect Trump and billionaire Elon Musk publicly opposed it. Negotiations are continuing but the outcome is increasingly in doubt. You can keep up to date with the latest developments here.
"Essential" services willcontinuebut if the shutdown drags on, the effects could spread and cause major economic dislocation, not to mention inconvenience for millions of consumers.
Federal employees and contractors will feel the effects immediately. Whether they are furloughed or required to continue working, most won't get paid until the shutdown ends and normal governmental operations resume. If that means two days of lost pay, it's one thing. But if the shutdown drags on, it can be a real hardship for millions of government workers and their families.
Members of the military could see delays in their paychecks and government contractors -- many employed in crucial intelligence, public safety and health roles -- might not be paid at all, depending on the terms of an eventualsettlement.
Federal employees are often described as "bureaucrats" but many are really little more than clerks, functionaries who do a specific task over and over. These people are not very well paid and many live from paycheck to paycheck. Past shutdowns have been hard on them and have sent many to breadlines and soup kitchens.
National parks, museums and other public federal installations will close and many routine safety and health actions -- like food inspection -- will stop.
Social Security and Medicare benefits continue as usual, as does the Postal Service.
Here are the dates and lengths of previous significant federal government shutdowns in the United States:
1. 2018-2019 Shutdown (Longest Shutdown in U.S. History)
Dates: December 22, 2018 January 25, 2019
Length: 35 days
Reason: Disagreement over funding for President Trump's proposed border wall.
2. 2013 Shutdown
Dates: October 1 October 17, 2013
Length: 16 days
Reason: Disagreement over the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) funding.
3. 1995-1996 Shutdown (Second Longest)
Dates: November 14, 1995 November 19, 1995 (first shutdown) and December 15, 1995 January 6, 1996 (second shutdown)
Length: 21 days in total (combined two parts)
Reason: Disputes over budget cuts and fiscal policy between President Bill Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress.
4. 1981 Shutdown
Dates: September 30, 1981 October 12, 1981
Length: 2 days
Reason: Disputes over spending cuts proposed by President Ronald Reagan.
5. 1990 Shutdown
Dates: October 5, 1990 October 9, 1990
Length: 3 days
Reason: Budget disagreements between President George H.W. Bush and Congress.
6. 1978 Shutdown
Dates: September 30, 1978 October 13, 1978
Length: 18 days
Reason: Disagreement over funding and budget negotiations during the Carter administration.
7. 1977 Shutdowns
Dates: September 30, 1977 October 13, 1977, and November 30, 1977 December 9, 1977
Length: 12 days (combined total of both shutdowns)
Reason: Budget disputes between President Jimmy Carter and Congress over spending.
While there have been several smaller shutdowns, these are some of the most significant in recent history. A government shutdown occurs when Congress and the President fail to agree on a budget or stopgap funding measure before the start of the fiscal year or an existing funding measure expires, resulting in a partial closure of government operations.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Researchers found that worse sleep habits were tied to brains that appear, on average, about one year older than a persons real age.
The study looked at 27,500 adults, using MRI + machine learning to compute a brain age gap (brain age minus real age).
About 10% of the link between poor sleep and older-looking brains were explained by low-grade inflammation in the body.
We all know a night of bad sleep can leave us groggy and foggy the next day.
But could poor sleep actually make your brain age faster?
Thats the idea behind a new study from researchers at the Karolinska Institutet, which suggests that people with chronically unhealthy sleep patterns tend to have brains that look older than they really are.
The gap between brain age and chronological age widened by about six months for every one-point decrease in healthy sleep score, researcher Abigail Dove said in a news release. People with poor sleep had brains that appeared on average one year older than their actual age.
The study
The researchers tapped into data from the UK Biobank, a large health database in the U.K., selecting 27,500 middle-aged and older participants (mean age ~54.7 years). At baseline, participants answered questions about five sleep-related traits:
Chronotype (morning person vs. evening person)
Sleep duration
Insomnia symptoms
Snoring
Daytime sleepiness
Each person was given a healthy sleep score from 0 to 5, based on how many of these traits were favorable. They were grouped into three categories: healthy (four to five good traits), intermediate (two to three), or poor (zero to one) sleep quality.
Years later (average follow-up ~ 8.9 years), all those participants underwent brain MRI scans, capturing over a thousand brain imaging features (so-called MRI phenotypes). Using a machine learning model, the researchers estimated each participants brain age from the scans, and then calculated the brain age gap (BAG) the difference between brain age and chronological (actual) age.
To examine mechanisms, the team also measured low-grade systemic inflammation (via a composite INFLA score based on inflammatory biomarkers). They used statistical techniques to test to what extent inflammation mediated any link between sleep and brain age.
They adjusted for many potential confounders, including age, sex, education, lifestyle factors, and cardiometabolic health.
The results and what they mean
At baseline, only a small slice of participants (~3.3 %) were classified as having poor sleep, while 55.6 % fell in the intermediate group and 41.2 % in the healthy group.
Compared with the healthy sleep group, those with intermediate sleep had a modestly higher brain age gap (~0.25, meaning roughly 0.25 years or ~three months older) and those with poor sleep had a stronger effect (~0.46, or about 0.46 years, i.e. about five to six months).
In real terms, the difference accumulates: for each single point drop in the sleep score, the brain-age gap increased by about six months.
On average, people in the poor sleep group had brains that appeared about one year older than their actual age.
When the researchers looked at the role of inflammation, they found it accounted for about 10.4 % of the association between poor sleep and increased brain age gap (and about 6.8 % for intermediate sleep).
The authors caution that this is an observational study, so it cannot prove that bad sleep causes accelerated brain aging. Also, sleep traits were self-reported, which can introduce bias, and participants in the U.K. Biobank tend to be healthier than the general population (which may limit how generalizable the findings are).
Nevertheless, the study adds weight to the idea that sleep might be a modifiable factor in protecting brain health. If poor sleep really does push the brain to age faster (even slightly), then improving sleep better consistency, treating insomnia or sleep apnea, managing daytime sleepiness may help slow down some of that wear and tear.
New California law requires social media companies to make it easy for users to cancel their accounts and remove all data.
It's the first law of its kind in the country and other states are expected to follow.
Gov. Gavin Newsom had vetoed a similar measure last year.
Governor Gavin Newsom this weeksigned a measure that requires social media companies to make canceling an account straightforward and clear and ensuring that cancellation triggers full deletion of the users personal data.
Newsom also signed additional laws to help strengthen Californias landmark privacy protections and ensure that consumers have transparent and fair ways to control their own data.
It shouldnt be hard to delete social media accounts, and it shouldnt be even harder to take back control of personal data. With these bills, social media users can be assured that when they delete their accounts, they do not leave their data behind, Newsom said in a news release.
Social media users deserve to have the confidence that they can easily delete their account and when they do that their personal information is deleted too,said Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (D-Santa Clarita), who sponsored the measure.Im grateful that with the signing of AB 656, California is putting consumers first.
These laws build on the Governors prior work to protect consumers and their privacy. That includeslast yearsClick to Cancel bill, AB 2863 by Assemblymember Schiavo, that made it easier to cancel subscriptions, and 2023s SB 362 by Senator Josh Becker, the DELETE Act, which, beginning in August 2026, will allow Californians to delete all of their data held by data brokers through a single interface.
A previous measure gave Californians the right to send opt-out signals, but major browsers have not had to make opt-outs simple to use. The bill signed Wednesday would require them to set up an easy-to-find mechanism that lets Californians opt-out with the pushof a button, instead of having to do so repeatedly when visiting individual websites.
It's the first law of its kind in the country.These signals are going to be available to millions more people and it's going to be much easier for them to opt out, said Matt Schwartz, a policy analyst at Consumer Reports, in published remarks.
Giving consumers more control of their data
Newsom also signed two additional bills to help consumers maintain better control of their data:
SB 361 by Senator Josh Becker, which strengthens the Data Broker Registration Law by providing consumers with more information about the personal information collected by data brokers and who may have access to consumers data.
AB 566 by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, which helps consumers exercise their opt-out rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act by requiring browsers to include a setting to send websites an opt-out preference signal to enable Californians to opt out of third-party sales of their data at one time instead of on each individual website.
Strengthening consumer protection
Other consumer protection billssigned this year include legislation to strengthen the authority of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, thereby helping fill the void left by the Trump administrations weakening of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; to protect car buyers from being sold unnecessary add-ons; and to ensure state antitrust law can address pricing algorithms, among other laws to keep services and products affordable and fair.
In November 2020, voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act that added new privacy protections to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, and established a new agency, theCalifornia Privacy Protection Agency(CPPA), to implement and enforce the laws.
A recall has been issued for about 740 Bmrwtg LED tutu skirts marketed for children ages 2 through 8. The recall was prompted by concerns that the battery compartments in the light-up skirts are easily accessible, posing a serious risk if the coin batteries are swallowed.
The hazard
The LED tutu skirts contain two CR2032 lithium coin batteries that can be removed by children. The products also lack required warnings under Reeses Law. Swallowing button cell or coin batteries can cause internal burns, serious injuries or even death.
What to do
Consumers should immediately stop children from wearing or handling the recalled skirts. Contact Bmrwtg for a full refund.
Company contact
Email Bmrwtg at bmrwtgrecall@outlook.com for refund instructions.
About 490 YGJT baby loungers sold on SHEIN.com have been recalled due to violations of infant sleep product standards. The loungers' low sides and wide openings create a risk of infants becoming trapped or falling.
The hazard
The loungers design allows infants to potentially become entrapped or fall. They also lack a required stand, increasing fall risks if placed on elevated surfaces. These issues create an unsafe sleep environment for babies and can result in serious injury or death.
What to do
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled loungers and keep them away from infants. Contact YGJT Local Warehouse for a refund.
Company contact
Email YGJT Local Warehouse at YGJTrecall@outlook.com.
Mom Genius of Alpharetta, Georgia, is recalling about 920 retractable safety gates after finding they allow a childs torso to fit between the gate and floor, creating a dangerous entrapment risk.
The hazard
The recalled gates violate standards for expansion gates and enclosures. A gap under the gate can allow a childs torso to slip through, which could lead to serious injury or death by entrapment.
What to do
Stop using the recalled safety gates immediately and remove them from areas accessible to children. Contact Mom Genius for a full refund.
Company contact
Call Mom Genius at 844-266-6436, email product-recall@momgenius.com, or visit their recall page.
Bellabu Bear is recalling about 1,300 bamboo sherpa childrens robes for failing to meet mandatory flammability standards, which could result in burn injuries.
The hazard
The recalled robes do not comply with childrens sleepwear flammability regulations, posing a burn risk during use.
What to do
Immediately take the robes away from children and stop using them. Contact Bellabu Bear for a refund.
Company contact
Call Bellabu Bear toll-free at 888-703-7752, email help@bellabubear.com or visit their contact page.
Yiwuyichengmaoyiyouxiangongsi, doing business as Ritons, is recalling about 5,800 sets of 3 mm magnetic balls sold on Amazon. The products contain small, high-powered magnets that can be easily swallowed by children.
The hazard
Loose, strong magnets in the recalled sets pose an ingestion hazard. If more than one magnet is swallowed, they can attract each other inside the body, potentially causing perforations, blockages, blood poisoning or death.
What to do
Keep the magnet sets out of the reach of children and stop using them immediately. Contact Ritons for a refund.
Company contact
Email Ritons at recall0817@163.com for refund details.
Waymeet Limited is expanding its recall of ESR HaloLock wireless power banks after 20 reports of the batteries catching fire or exploding. No injuries have been reported, but property damage totaling $30,000 has occurred.
The hazard
The lithium-ion battery inside the wireless power banks may overheat and ignite, posing fire and burn risks to users.
What to do
Stop using the recalled power banks immediately. Contact Waymeet for a refund.
Company contact
Call Waymeet toll-free at 888-990-0280, email support@esrtech.com or visit their recall page.
EcoFlow Technology, Inc. is recalling about 25,030 Delta Max 2000 Model EFD310 power stations after reports of overheating and fire. There have been six incidents, resulting in over $850,000 in property damage.
The hazard
The recalled power stations may overheat and ignite, creating a risk of serious burns and fire.
What to do
Stop using the Delta Max 2000 Model EFD310 units immediately. Contact EcoFlow Technology for a free repair.
Company contact
Call EcoFlow Technology toll-free at 833-424-4137, email deltamax2000@ecoflow.com or visit their recall information page.
Guangzhou Jiguang Lighting Co. Ltd. is recalling about 48,000 Living Glow portable waist fans due to a fire hazard stemming from lithium-ion batteries overheating while charging.
The hazard
The fans batteries can overheat and catch fire during charging, creating a risk of fire. Four incidents have been reported with no injuries.
What to do
Immediately stop using and charging the recalled waist fans. Contact Guangzhou Jiguang Lighting for a refund.
Company contact
Email support@waistfanrecall.info or visit waistfanrecall.info for more information.
Tempo International (USA) Inc. is recalling about 46,660 Ambiano electric pressure cookers sold at ALDI after multiple reports of burns. The lid can be opened before pressure is fully released, allowing hot food to spray out.
The hazard
The recalled cookers lids may be opened before safe pressure release, causing hot contents to be expelled and risking severe burns. There have been 11 incidents, including eight severe burn injuries.
What to do
Stop using the recalled pressure cookers immediately. Contact ALDI or Tempo USA for a refund.
Company contact
Call ALDI at 800-325-7894, email Tempo at serviceusa@tempo.org or use the ALDI contact form.
Calico Brands is recalling about 175,000 Scripto Premium Torch multipurpose lighters after finding they do not comply with mandatory safety standards, creating fire and burn hazards.
The hazard
The recalled torches violate federal safety requirements for multipurpose lighters, posing a risk of accidental fires and burns.
What to do
Stop using the recalled torches immediately. Contact Calico Brands for a refund.
Company contact
Call Calico Brands toll-free at 800-544-4837, email premiumtorchrecall@calicobrands.com or visit their recall page.
Fall dcor can attract squirrels, chipmunks, and rodents and once they start snacking, they may look for ways into your home.
Scratching or squeaking sounds, unfamiliar odors, and gnaw marks on food, fixtures, or wires can all indicate critter activity and chewing on electrical wires can even cause fires.
Seal cracks or gaps around your home, rake up leaves, and remove outdoor food sources like bird feeders, trash, and pet food to keep animals from settling in for the season.
Pumpkins on the porch are a sure sign that fall has arrived but they can also be an open invitation to unwanted guests.
Squirrels, chipmunks, and other curious critters see your festive displays as an easy meal, and once they start snacking, they may decide to explore even further.
According to Jason Burkhart, Managing Director at Critter Control, these small animals can cause big problems from chewed-up decorations to serious fire hazards when they start gnawing on electrical wires.
ConsumerAffairs interviewed Burkhart to learn how you can keep your fall dcor safe, redirect wildlife humanely, and know when its time to call in a professional.
Be careful decorating your porch with pumpkins, gourds and other edible decorations, he said.While these are fun, festive ways to celebrate the season, they can sometimes serve as a free food sampler for squirrels, rodents, and more. Once they've gotten used to snacking on your decorations outside, they may be tempted to venture inside to see what else your home has to offer them.
The biggest threats for the fall
As the weather gets cooler, its important for consumers to know what to be on the lookout for.
Plenty of critters are looking to find a safe, warm place with a reliable food supply to ride out the winter months, Burkhart said. You could find mice, rats, squirrels, raccoons, and many more in your home during the autumn months, as they prepare for the winter ahead.
Many people mistakenly assume these critters are mostly a problem for the spring and summer months, but these animals do not hibernate, so they remain an ongoing issue for homeowners year-round.
Know the warning signs
Burkhart shared the top signs homeowners should look out for if they suspect a critter problem:
Unfamiliar sounds and unfamiliar smells: If you hear scratching, scurrying, and squealing coming from the ceiling or walls, it's entirely possible that you've got mice, rats, or squirrels living in your home. You will also likely start to smell their droppings the longer they live in your home.
Visual cues: Squirrels, mice, and rats do quite a bit of gnawing. If you see your food sources broken into and food gnawed at, you may be dealing with one of them. But the gnawing doesn't stop with food; they'll gnaw on almost anything they can find. If you see fixtures or wires with gnaw marks, you should have a professional inspect your home for critters sooner rather than later.
Gnawing on wires can result in electrical fires, so it's best to have the situation dealt with as soon as possible, Burkhart explained.
Protect your property
While pest control is an inevitable part of homeownership, Burkhart shares how consumers can make sure their property is protected for the fall months and beyond.
The best thing you can do to proactively protect your house is to have a trained wildlife removal professional conduct a full inspection of your home to see if there are any cracks, gaps, or openings that squirrels, mice, rats, raccoons, and more could use to gain entry into your home, he said.
It may be a bit of a pain, but in the autumn months, one of the best things you can do to keep critters from approaching your home is to keep your leaves raked; don't let mass quantities of them linger for too long around your yard. Many rodents, snakes and other small critters thrive in messy, brushy environments. If your lawn is covered in leaves, that provides very comfortable circumstances for them to hang around your home and could lead to them approaching your house and looking for a way inside.
Another note: keep your yard free of all potential food sources bird feeders, trash, and pet food. Theyll attract raccoons and other nearby critters, and if they think your home is a reliable food source, it can be hard to deter them.
A recent study compared the cost of 33 neurologic drugs via a direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmacy and via commercial insurance.
Out-of-pocket costs were on average 75% higher under the DTC model, but total system costs (which include insurance payments) were 413% lower.
For patients without insurance, the DTC route might offer a viable alternativethough it currently covers less than half of all neurologic drugs.
If youve ever paid for a prescription and winced at the price and then wondered what your insurance was really doing for you youre not alone.
A study highlighted by Ohio State News explores whether online, direct-to-consumer pharmacies (like the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company) could compete with traditional insurance-based models.
I had heard about the Mark Cuban pharmacy through colleagues and thought it would be interesting to compare the costs because his pharmacy is very direct-to-consumer they cut out the middleman and whatever is advertised on the website is what youre paying for, and thats your only cost, researcher Amanda Gusovsky Chevalier said in a news release.
The study
Heres how the researchers set up the trial:
They focused on neurologic medications used for conditions like Alzheimers, MS, Parkinsons, and more.
From 79 medications, they found 33 that were available through the DTC pharmacy (Mark Cubans Cost Plus).
For each drug, they collected the out-of-pocket (OOP) cost under the DTC model (i.e. what a person would pay themselves) and estimated what it would cost under commercial insurance (including what the patient + insurer would pay).
Because insurance-based data came from 20122021, they used statistical modeling to project what those insurance costs might look like in 2024.
They compared two main outcomes:
1. Out-of-pocket difference (i.e. what you pay directly)
2. Total cost difference (i.e. sum of what the patient + insurer pay)
They also repeated comparisons focusing only on generic drugs (i.e. leaving out brand-name ones) to see how much that changes things.
What they found: The upside (and the catch)
The results show a mixed but compelling picture:
Out-of-Pocket Costs:
On average, the DTC models out-of-pocket cost was 75% higher than what insured patients would pay through traditional commercial pharmacies.
However, for many medications, that difference was relatively small in dollar terms. In 76% of the drugs studied, the OOP difference was under $200 per year.
Only two medications teriflunomide and droxidopa had lower OOP costs via the DTC route.
Among generics only, none of the DTC drugs had lower OOP costs.
Total System Costs:
The real eye-opener: on average, DTCs total costs (patient + what insurer would have paid) were 413% lower than in the insurance-based model.
18 out of the 33 medications (~55%) showed lower total annual costs when purchased via the DTC pharmacy.
A few drugs stood out with especially large cost reductions (e.g. teriflunomide, dimethyl fumarate, droxidopa).
One caveat: because the DTC pharmacys catalog is limited it only listed 33 of 79 neurologic drugs the model isnt yet a full replacement.
Also, if everyone switched to DTC, the study estimated that patients aggregate out-of-pocket spending would increase by about $82 million but total costs across the system might drop.
In short: for insured patients, the DTC model often means paying more out of pocket, so it may not seem appealing. But for the system at large and especially for people without insurance it has real promise.
Our research has shown that the costs of medications just continue to rise through insurance plans, and its really important to find ways for patients to access medicines, Gusovsky Chevalier said.
I think this adds to a larger body of evidence showing that these direct-to-consumer pharmacies have the potential to disrupt the market in some significant way in the future. Its important for people to know that online pharmacies like this are available.
Fri, 03 Oct 2025 19:29:00 GMT It's October, and that means pumpkins, costumes, and... winter holiday shopping? That’s right. Consumer Reports says a few major sales are already creeping in. You've got Amazon's Prime Big Deal Day ...
Wed, 01 Oct 2025 23:55:00 GMT YOU MAY WANT TO HIT A FEW EXTRA AISLES, BECAUSE WHILE MAY SEEM FRIGHTFULLY EARLY, OCTOBER IS A HUGE MONTH FOR SAVING MONEY ON JUST ABOUT ANYTHING. OCTOBER REALLY KICKS OFF THE HOLIDAY SHOPPING SEASON.
Tue, 16 Sep 2025 16:49:00 GMT Consumer Reports asks that Microsoft continue providing support for Windows 10 computers for free until more people have upgraded to Windows 11. A Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has also ...
Mon, 25 Aug 2025 07:58:00 GMT Move over Lunchables–A competitor called Lunchly advertises a healthier spin on your kid’s favorite lunch kit—with bold claims, influencer hype, and flashy packaging. But how healthy are Lunchly ...
Tue, 22 Sep 2020 17:00:00 GMT PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- As Americans continue to grapple with ways to practice social distancing during the pandemic, even short encounters with a delivery person or neighbor could be a cause for ...
