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Tag: Budget

  • Va. lawmakers reshape Youngkin’s final budget with focus on affordability, no new taxes – WTOP News

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    Both chambers are expected to pass their respective proposals next week before negotiators reconcile differences in a conference committee. Notably, neither plan includes new taxes.

    The Virginia General Assembly’s money committees on Sunday rolled out sweeping amendments to former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed two-year, $212 billion state budget, with both the House and Senate advancing plans that emphasize affordability, backfill federal funding gaps and avoid new taxes as they reshape the Republican’s final spending blueprint.

    The Senate Finance Committee’s Senate Bill 30 would end a data center sales tax exemption and set the stage for the state to potentially reap millions in revenue from the industry.

    The spending plan would also deliver $100 in tax rebates to individual filers and $200 to joint filers, raise the standard deduction, protect Medicaid, fund 3% annual teacher raises, invest $50 million in affordable housing and provide $205.7 million for Metro over the biennium.

    The House Democratic plan, branded the “Affordable Virginia Budget,” similarly prioritizes housing, health care and education, but diverges in some spending details — including larger direct investments in the Virginia Housing Trust Fund and a broader package of worker protections and labor initiatives.

    Both chambers are expected to pass their respective proposals next week — the House on Thursday — before negotiators reconcile differences in a conference committee in the coming weeks.

    Notably, neither plan includes new taxes, which prompted Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, to vote for the Senate budget in committee, while three of his Republican colleagues abstained.

    “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the fact that there are no tax increases in this budget, that you’ve kept a very conservative forecast of revenues going forward, that we have not built the base budget, but we’re using one-time monies,” Stuart told Senate Finance Committee Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth.

    “But more than that, I’ve been here for a long time, and you are the first Finance chair that I remember that actually took and listened to our considerations and our suggestions, and I very much appreciate that. And I just wanted to say that Madam Chair.”

    Lucas, visibly surprised, replied: “Thank you very much, I really appreciate that compliment, I didn’t see that one coming. Where are the tissues?”

    Reworking Youngkin’s final budget

    Youngkin on Dec. 17 unveiled his final proposed budget, pitching a plan he said built on record revenue growth and sustained his administration’s tax-relief priorities as Democrats prepared to take control of both the General Assembly and the governor’s office.

    The proposal anticipated continued economic strength, with what Youngkin described as a “prudent” revenue forecast rooted in job and business growth. It preserved reserve balances while advancing nearly $730 million in new, ongoing tax cuts and maintaining income tax conformity with recent federal policy changes.

    On the spending side, Youngkin targeted public safety, health care and education, including bonuses and salary increases for teachers and state employees, while projecting a balanced budget over the six-year forecast window. He acknowledged at the time that his successor and the Democratic-led legislature would ultimately reshape the plan.

    Senate Democrats argued Sunday that his outgoing proposal left “significant structural deficiencies,” particularly by not planning for new federal cost shifts under HR1, including potential state matching requirements for food assistance.

    Lucas said the Senate amendments were built around affordability and long-term fiscal balance.

    “It’s the entire mantra of this session,” she said. “The committee has delivered a budget focused on affordability, while still maintaining structural balance.”

    Data centers and tax cuts

    A central change in the Senate plan would allow the data center sales and use tax exemption to end on Jan. 1, 2027. Originally projected to cost $1.54 million annually, the exemption now forgoes roughly $1.6 billion per year in revenue, according to Senate Democrats.

    “In the most recent fiscal year alone, they benefited from more than $33.2 billion dollars in tax-free computer equipment purchases,” Lucas said. “We’re asking data centers to pay their fair share in sales tax to help deliver our core services — education, transportation, and social services.”

    By ending the exemption, the Senate would direct nearly $300 million to transportation across all modes and make one-time investments in water infrastructure, Lucas said, while avoiding additional tolls or fees.

    The Senate plan also includes a one-time tax rebate to be issued around Oct. 15 and increases the standard deduction by $450 for individuals and $900 for married filers.

    “By exempting more income from taxation, Virginians get immediate relief in their paychecks. That’s affordability,” Lucas said.

    Health care and federal uncertainty

    Health and Human Resources Subcommittee Chair Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said the Senate confronted rising Medicaid costs projected at $3.2 billion in general fund spending through fiscal 2028.

    Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program cover 1.8 million Virginians, he said. The subcommittee adopted $591.2 million in savings strategies and set aside a $90 million reserve while restoring the prenatal care program.

    With enhanced federal Affordable Care Act tax credits having expired Dec. 31, Deeds warned that up to 100,000 Virginians could lose coverage. The Senate includes $200 million in the first year to subsidize premiums.

    The House proposal similarly emphasizes backfilling federal reductions.

    Health and Human Resources Subcommittee Chair Rodney Willett, D-Henrico, said the House recommends $79.1 million to reduce premium spikes, $45 million to restore federal reductions for core public health services and more than $211 million to cover new state cost shares for SNAP benefits.

    “We feel it is a prudent and responsible decision to act now,” Willett said, to ensure uninterrupted access to food benefits.

    The House plan also includes $11.1 million for a sickle cell disease package and funding to improve maternal and infant health programs.

    House Appropriations Committee Chair Luke Torian, D-Prince William, said his chamber’s budget “backfills those holes, not out of politics, but out of prudence.”

    “This is a balanced budget,” Torian said. “It is built on conservative revenue assumptions, maintains healthy reserves, and prepares us for continued uncertainty ahead.”

    Education and housing

    On education, the Senate proposes 3% raises each year for teachers and state employees, along with $50 million for a childcare pilot to match employer contributions.

    Education Subcommittee Chair Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, said the Senate plan adds more than $627 million in general fund support over the biennium, including increased funding for at-risk students, special education and school construction through a 1% local option sales tax for renovation projects, pending local referendums.

    In higher education, the Senate recommends $159.4 million in additional funding, including $65 million for need-based financial aid and $32.5 million for workforce credential grants.

    The House budget also invests heavily in K-12 and early childhood education.

    Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chair Delores McQuinn, D-Richmond, said it includes $400 million in one-time flexible funding for school divisions and $160 million in additional special education support, along with $160 million for early childhood education to clear childcare waitlists for families earning below 85% of the state median income.

    On housing, the Senate wants to invest $50 million in its housing trust fund and $13 million for eviction prevention, while the House directs $187.5 million to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund, establishes a $25 million revolving loan fund for mixed-income housing and provides $17 million for eviction prevention.

    Balancing new revenues

    Anne Oman, staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, said the caboose budget signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Friday increased current-year general fund resources by $3.1 billion, leaving $2.3 billion to carry into the new biennium.

    The proposed budget assumes modest 3% to 3.5% annual revenue growth, though year-to-date collections are running at 6.9%.

    Adjustments eliminate Youngkin’s proposed tax cuts, capture nearly $80 million from a business-ready site acquisition fund and recognize potential revenue from skill games legislation, projected at about $176 million annually if enacted.

    After accounting for $1.8 billion in additional spending, the House plan leaves an unappropriated balance of $15.2 million at the end of the biennium, Oman said.

    Despite bipartisan moments, some Republicans voiced caution.

    “I want to say thank you to you,” Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, told Lucas. “This has been a challenging process, and I appreciate the fact that you and I can have candid conversations as we’ve worked through this.”

    He added: “Today, I am going to vote to abstain, because of some of the significant physical impacts that I’m concerned about in Virginia as we continue to discuss. This budget has a significant amount of additional revenues up and above the proposed budget, and I think we need to have a serious conversation about where those revenues come from, how they impact Virginians, and continue to discuss them as we go forward.”

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    LaDawn Black

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  • Two Denver suburbs eye new oversight of their police departments

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    Two Front Range cities are eyeing more oversight for their police departments.

    Lakewood’s City Council voted last week to “work toward the establishment” of an independent civilian oversight board for the city’s police department. And in Aurora, the city set aside about $330,000 this year to fund an Office of Police Accountability — even as city officials say they are still considering how oversight should be structured.

    The creation of an independent oversight board in Lakewood would put the city into the company of just a handful of Front Range cities with such boards, including Denver and Boulder. The push for more oversight came to a head in Lakewood after the death of Jax Gratton, a 34-year-old transgender woman who disappeared in April and was found dead in June.

    Lakewood police faced criticism for their handling of the case, including for announcing Gratton’s death by using her deadname and, later, for a lack of transparency about the investigation. Gratton’s case spurred the move toward an oversight committee, but the push is also rooted in wider issues around trust between police and community, Lakewood Councilwoman Isabel Cruz said.

    “Although this specific incident really brought this to the fore, and the demands of community activists really pushed us, it is rooted in a lot of different conversations,” she said.

    City Council members overwhelmingly voted Jan. 26 to create a 12-month committee to work toward the creation of a permanent oversight board. The temporary committee will have access to police records, completed internal affairs investigations and body-worn camera footage, and will be able to review complaints submitted to the police department.

    At the end of the 12-month period, the committee will report to the City Council about how a permanent police oversight committee would be staffed and structured, among other recommendations.

    Council members will then have the power to move forward with the permanent board or end the oversight effort.

    Lakewood Police Department spokesman John Romero declined to comment on the push for oversight. About three dozen police officers packed last week’s council meeting, where Lakewood police Agent Quinn Pratt-Cordova, an executive board member of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 21, spoke against independent oversight.

    An oversight board would be redundant, he said, and could damage officers’ trust in the city. Such oversight might “deter top talent,” from the police department, Pratt-Cordova said.

    “Civilian oversight boards are rare and often follow severe systemic issues like those in other cities, issues that the majority of you don’t agree exist in the local police department,” Pratt-Cordova told council members. “The unnecessary creation of an oversight board attempts to apply an unwarranted national narrative to Lakewood PD.”

    Lakewood Mayor Wendi Strom said she hopes any permanent effort will be aimed at improving police-community relations in ways that go beyond traditional independent oversight.

    “The oversight word, I think, it is a big sticking point and one that — especially for folks within the public safety realm — has a very specific meaning,” she said in an interview. “So what we end up with, it is hard to tell. But for me, and I think City Council has been pretty clear on this in multiple conversations over the last month, the end goal is ultimately to help our community members feel more comfortable reaching out when there is a need.”

    In Denver, city officials created a citizen oversight board in 2004 after a Denver police officer shot and killed Paul Childs, a developmentally disabled 15-year-old boy. Boulder’s citizen oversight panel — which recently saw its reach curtailed — followed a 2019 incident in which an officer pulled a gun on a Black student who was picking up trash outside his home.

    In Aurora, the police department entered into a consent decree — court-ordered reforms overseen by an independent monitor — after the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after Aurora police officers violently restrained him and paramedics injected him with a too-large dose of a powerful sedative.

    McClain’s death was part of a pattern of racial bias and excessive force within the Aurora Police Department, state officials later found.

    Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor hopes the city’s two-person Office of Police Accountability will serve as an independent monitor for the police department when police exit the consent decree and are no longer under the supervision of the court-ordered monitor. The creation of such a position is a requirement of the consent decree.

    The new office would report to the city manager, Batchelor said, but would be created with built-in protections aimed at ensuring its independence, including putting into city ordinance the office’s right to have free and unfettered access to information and budgetary safeguards to ensure it could not be defunded by the city manager. The protections would mirror Aurora’s approach to its internal auditor, which operates independently and would work in tandem with the new office, Batchelor said.

    “I don’t get to tell the internal auditor, ‘That might make me look bad, don’t publish that,’” Batchelor said. “That can’t happen.”

    The Office of Police Accountability, which Batchelor hopes to be ready to hire for in a few months, would have “contemporaneous oversight” of any city investigation, he said. The office would not oversee police discipline and would not conduct its own investigations into police misconduct. Instead, the employees would be able to flag problems or concerns about such investigations to Batchelor, the City Council or to the public.

    Aurora Councilwoman Amy Wiles, who has helped to organize community meetings to discuss police oversight as recently as this week, said residents need a neutral place to report police misconduct.

    “Right now, if you want to report something — you had a poor interaction with a police officer or you feel something wasn’t right — to call and report that is a bit invasive. You have to call the police department,” she said. “…So we are hoping this provides that level of security to community to say, ‘Hey if something went wrong, here is this neutral person you can reach out to.’”

    The Office of Police Accountability could receive complaints of police misconduct directly from the public, Batchelor said, and then would “partner with the (police) department to make sure that any complaints are fully investigated.”

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  • 2026 prediction: AI may unleash the most entrepreneurial generation we’ve ever seen

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    Editor’s note: This piece originally ran on the Clayton Christensen Institute’s blog and is republished here with permission.

    Picture someone sitting at a kitchen table after the kids are finally in bed, laptop open, half-drunk mug of herbal tea nearby. For years, she has had a vague idea for a business–custom curriculum design for small learning pods, for example, or a micro-studio creating bespoke art for local nonprofits. She never moved on it. Too many barriers: no time to figure out incorporation, no budget for a web developer, no clue how to do marketing or bookkeeping, no appetite for the legal and tax homework.

    But now she types a prompt into an AI assistant.

    Within an evening, she has a draft business plan, a shortlist of ideas for company names with available domains, a first version of a logo, a one-page website, basic contract language, a starter bookkeeping system, filled-out forms and instructions for registering her business, and a rough sense of how many clients she’d need to cover her bills. None of it is perfect. But it’s enough to move from daydream to first customer.

    That’s the quiet revolution we’re underestimating.

    Most of the public conversation about AI and the labor market is fixated on one (very real) side of the story: which jobs disappear, which tasks get automated, which industries will “lose” the most positions. 

    That conversation isn’t wrong. But it’s incomplete. The same technology that allows big companies to run with far fewer people also lowers the barriers to entry for people who want to create value on their own.

    AI is about to pull the labor market in two directions at once: inward, as firms need fewer employees; and outward, as more individuals gain the tools to act like firms.

    The coming wave of layoffs

    Inside large organizations, the logic is brutally simple. If a machine can do part of a task, fewer humans can do the same job. If a machine can coordinate multiple tasks, fewer humans are needed to manage them. AI turns out to be remarkably good at exactly the kind of work that employed millions of people: following procedures, coordinating handoffs between departments, and navigating bureaucratic complexity.

    Some companies will use AI to squeeze costs out of business-as-usual: automating reporting, drafting, customer support, basic analysis, etc. Others will be challenged by newcomers who never built the bulky structures at all. A firm launched in 2026 might not need a marketing department; it has an AI system that writes, tests, and schedules campaigns. It might not need layers of middle management; coordination and monitoring can be handled by software.

    Clayton Christensen wrote about “efficiency innovations“–efforts to improve profitability by letting a company do the same work with fewer resources. AI might be the ultimate efficiency innovation. Whether it’s deployed by incumbents to trim fat or by startups that never had the fat to begin with, the destination is similar: less demand for traditional employment inside firms.

    We will still have multinational corporations worth billions of dollars. But they will be increasingly lean on staff compared with their 20th-century predecessors: more revenue per employee, more output per headcount, and fewer career ladders.

    The personal back office

    At the same time, something more hopeful is happening at the edges of the economy.

    For most of history, the jump from “I have an idea” to “I have a business” required access to expertise. Lawyers to set up entities and contracts. Accountants to manage books and taxes. Designers and engineers to build products, websites, and marketing. Consultants or mentors to help you avoid rookie mistakes. You either had those skills yourself, had friends who did, or had enough capital to hire them. Many people simply didn’t.

    AI breaks that bottleneck. It turns fragments of expertise into something you can “rent by the prompt.”

    You still need judgment. You still need creativity. You still need taste, grit, and some tolerance for risk. But you no longer need a small army. The solo founder at the kitchen table has, for the first time in history, a kind of general-purpose back office: a system that can draft, design, summarize, translate, troubleshoot, and simulate at a level that used to require multiple professionals.

    Entrepreneurship won’t suddenly become easy. Most new ventures will still fail. Markets will still be unforgiving. Competition may become even more fierce as barriers to entry fall. But the option to try becomes widely available in a way it simply wasn’t before. The barrier shifts from “I can’t even begin” to “Is the potential upside on this idea worth the risk,” which is a very different kind of problem.

    The paradox young people will inherit

    Put these forces together, and the picture that emerges is neither techno-utopian nor apocalyptic.

    Inside firms, AI will quietly erode demand for routine cognitive work. Meanwhile, outside firms, AI will expand the frontier of what individuals can plausibly do on their own or in small teams. That’s the real tension: fewer stable slots in the big machines; more tools to build something of your own.

    Whether this becomes a story of flourishing or precarity depends on lots of things–tax policy, social safety nets, and the speed of change. But one piece of the puzzle is squarely in the domain I work in: how we educate young people for the world they’re walking into.

    The school of compliance in an entrepreneurial age

    For more than a century, mass schooling has been the farm system for large organizations. It has been remarkably good at what it was implicitly designed to do: teach people to be reliable cogs in bureaucratic machines.

    The official curriculum covers math, reading, science, history, etc. The unofficial curriculum teaches something else: how to succeed in a rule-bound institution.

    You learn that:

    • There is always someone above you who sets the assignment.
    • The path to success is deciphering what that person wants.
    • The safest strategy is to follow instructions faithfully.
    • Tasks come with rubrics that specify the criteria for a good performance.
    • Your job is to hit those criteria as cleanly as possible.

    Do that over thirteen years, and those who get good at winning in the game of school also get very good at reading institutions. They sense where the boundaries are, who has authority, and which boxes need to be checked. They become, in a word, employable–especially in environments where advancement comes from mastering the existing playbook rather than writing a new one.

    There is nothing inherently wrong with those skills. For much of the 20th century, this was a rational preparation for a world in which the dominant path to a middle-class life ran through large, hierarchical employers.

    But it’s almost the opposite of what today’s entrepreneurship requires.

    Innovative entrepreneurship is what happens when there’s no rubric, when no one has written the assignment. When the problem itself is fuzzy, you have to decide which part of it is worth solving. It rewards people who notice friction or unmet needs, test rough solutions, and iterate under uncertainty. It punishes those who are good at execution but expect someone else to tell them what to execute. It favors those who are comfortable with ambiguity and relish innovation. It hobbles those who see their purpose as delivering reliability and efficiency on well-worn rails.

    The risk we face is that we will send a generation of students into an AI-transformed economy superbly trained in the old game, just as the old game is shrinking. We’ve taught them to follow procedures, coordinate handoffs, and navigate bureaucracy–precisely the skills AI systems excel at. We’ve led them to expect that career success comes from mastering the rungs on tried-and-true institutionalized career pathways. Meanwhile, the jobs along those conventional pathways are dwindling.

    A different kind of preparation

    If AI really does reduce the number of people big firms need, while making it dramatically easier for individuals to create value directly, then schools have a choice.

    They can double down on being pipelines into a narrowing corporate world–ever more focused on test scores, credentials, and compliance with external standards. Or they can take seriously the task of preparing young people to navigate a world in which many of the best opportunities will be ones they help invent.

    That doesn’t mean abandoning core knowledge and skills. Young people will still need to know how to read and communicate with each other and with AI. They’ll still need math and science to conceptually understand how the world works. They’ll still need literature and history to engage with the narratives from the past that define the present. But it also means they’ll need repeated, meaningful practice in:

    • Identifying problems that no adult has pre-packaged.
    • Spotting unmet Jobs to Be Done where people are cobbling together workarounds.
    • Finding their comparative advantages rather than competing on narrow measures.
    • Designing and testing solutions that might fail.
    • Dealing with ambiguous feedback.
    • And exercising agency rather than just obedience.
    • Learning how to wrestle with problems that are complex, not just complicated.

    Traditional schooling trains students to compete for scarce slots–top class rankings, starting positions on teams, and admission to selective colleges–on standardized dimensions where everyone is measured the same way. That made sense when the goal was landing one of a limited number of corporate jobs. But entrepreneurship works differently. It rewards people who identify niches that are valuable but unattractive to large companies, and who figure out where they can meaningfully differentiate rather than trying to be marginally better than everyone else at the same thing.

    My prediction, then, is this:

    In the coming years, AI will allow companies to do more with fewer employees. At the same time, it will quietly lower the barriers to entrepreneurship and creative self-employment in ways we are only beginning to see. 

    The question for education is whether we will keep treating students primarily as future employees of large systems or help them become future innovators in a landscape where powerful new tools of creation are sitting right in front of them.

    For more on what the future looks like for today’s students, visit eSN’s Digital Learning hub.

    Latest posts by eSchool Media Contributors (see all)

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    Thomas Arnett, Clayton Christensen Institute

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  • Healey seeks to delay federal tax cuts

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    BOSTON — Democratic Gov. Maura Healey is seeking to blunt the impact to state coffers from changes to the federal tax code under President Donald Trump’s new tax cuts and policy law, but business groups say the move would hurt Massachusetts’ competitiveness.

    Healey has filed legislation that would delay implementation of what she described as the five “most costliest” changes in federal tax code created by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act until next year.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Cahill seeks $28 million City Council approval for City Hall renovation

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    BEVERLY — The City Council Tuesday night approved $28 million to renovate City Hall.

    Despite a lengthy debate, the council did not vote on the measure until late in the evening. The nine-member council approved the first major renovation of City Hall since 1935 on a 7-2 vote.

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  • Council OKs $28M for City Hall renovation

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    BEVERLY — The City Council Tuesday night approved $28 million to renovate City Hall.

    Despite a lengthy debate, the council did not vote on the measure until late in the evening. The nine-member council approved the first major renovation of City Hall since 1935 on a 7-2 vote.

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    By Caroline Enos | Staff Writer

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  • Study questions whether Detroit sales tax is worth it – Detroit Metro Times

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    Detroiters already pay one of the highest tax rates in the state. 

    Is the city ready for another tax hike?

    A new analysis from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan examined the potential impact of a 1% sales and use tax in Detroit and found that the revenue may be too limited to justify the steps needed to adopt it.

    The tax could generate between $42 and $72 million a year, but that is only 5% or less of the city’s budget, the report states.  

    The 59-page report, “Evaluating a Local-Option Sales Tax Policy for Detroit,” was produced at the request of the Detroit City Council’s Legislative Policy Division, which asked the nonpartisan research group to examine “innovative ways to increase city revenues” without “placing an undue burden on its residents.”

    The Citizens Research Council says the revenue from a local tax would be limited, and the barriers to adopt it would be significant. 

    “While the path to adopting a local sales tax option for Michigan’s local governments is daunting,” the report argues that broader access to local taxes could improve the fiscal health of large cities and counties.

    Detroit already has multiple local taxes, including a city income tax, casino wagering taxes, and utility surcharges, in addition to county and state levies.

    “Because of the layering of all these taxes, many of which are levied at the highest (or among the highest) rates in the state, Detroit residents are among the highest taxed in the state,” the report states. 

    Even estimating what Detroit could raise is complicated, the report says, because Michigan does not track sales tax collections by city and because visitor spending is hard to measure. 

    The Citizens Research Council used two main approaches. One relies on household retail spending estimates. Detroiters spend $16,727 per household on retail goods, which would translate to about $167 per household under a 1% tax. Multiplied across 253,207 households, that comes to $42.4 million annually. 

    The other approach attempts to capture a wider range of taxable activity beyond retail goods. Under that approach, the Citizens Research Council estimates that a local sales tax of 1% could raise nearly $72 million annually. 

    Even if Detroit’s leaders decided the money is worth it, the report says a local sales tax would require major state action first.

    “Authorizing a local sales tax in Michigan will require amending the state Constitution, adopting state statutes authorizing local sales and use taxes, the local governing body to enact an ordinance, and voter approval of a new tax,” the report states.

    Because so many purchases now happen online, the report says a local sales tax would probably need to be collected and managed at the state level.

    Madhu Anderson, the report’s author and a senior research associate for local affairs at the Citizens Research Council, said that the path of adopting a local sales tax “is daunting” and that the research suggests it “may be better suited to be levied at the county or regional levels to maximize potential revenue and minimize potential economic disruptions.”

    The report says the city is working to raise service levels in the years following bankruptcy, while also planning for major obligations ahead.

    “The City of Detroit is reviewing potential local option taxes to raise city revenues to improve city services and address needs it anticipates in the future,” the report states, citing efforts to put services “on par with surrounding communities,” make pension payments that are again “a city responsibility after a 10-year hiatus,” and “capture economic benefits from growth in visitor activity downtown.”

    The Citizens Research Council notes that the state’s municipal finance structure relies heavily on property taxes that are limited by state law. The report points out that local governments in Michigan have “few options to levy local taxes,” which can be especially punishing in communities with weaker tax bases.

    For now, the report does not urge Detroit to race toward a ballot proposal to raise the sales tax. It leaves city and state leaders to decide whether an additional $42 million to $72 million a year is worth pursuing a constitutional amendment, new statutes, a local ordinance, and a citywide vote, while also trying to avoid pushing residents and shoppers to lower tax areas.


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    Steve Neavling

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  • Trump said ending fraud would fix the deficit. It wouldn’t

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    Speaking in Detroit, President Donald Trump said unearthing and ending fraud nationwide would eliminate the country’s deficit.

    Trump criticized public services fraud by Somalis in Minnesota and also said there is fraud in “many other places.”

    “If we stop this fraud, this massive fraud, we’re going to have a balanced budget,” Trump said Jan. 13 at the Detroit Economic Club. We also fact-checked other statements from that speech.

    In Minnesota, investigators have identified fraud involving federal money for housing programs, autism services and child nutrition. Federal prosecutors charged dozens of defendants beginning in 2022 — before Trump’s current term — and have filed more charges since Trump took office in 2025.

    So far, the Minnesota fraud charges involve a minimum of hundreds of millions of dollars. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who led Minnesota fraud prosecutions, said in December that Medicaid fraud in the state could reach $9 billion, although not all of that would be federal money. (Thompson resigned Jan. 13.)

    Adding the dollars lost to fraud in Minnesota to federal losses elsewhere — which have been estimated as high as $521 billion annually — would not come close to the amount of the federal deficit. The fiscal year 2025 deficit — that year’s difference between revenues and spending —  was $1.775 trillion.

    “You can’t balance the books on waste, fraud, and abuse,” said Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group that tracks the federal budget. “It’s important to root it out, but the only way you get anywhere close to a balanced budget is fiscal restraint.” 

    The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this article.

    Federal report in 2024 found hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud

    In April 2024, the Government Accountability Office, during the tenure of former President Joe Biden, produced what it called a “first-of-its kind, government-wide estimate of federal dollars lost to fraud.”

    The office estimated $233 billion to $521 billion lost in fraud per year, based on 2018 to 2022 data from agency inspectors general and fraud reports submitted to the Office of Management and Budget. 

    The GAO’s topline figure included not only official fraud findings from legal proceedings but also estimates based on individual agencies’ findings of fraud. The agency also extrapolated figures it believed represented undetected fraud.

    The estimated annual losses amounted to 3% to 7% of what the government spent on average in those years. 

    Joshua Sewell, director of research and policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, previously cautioned that the GAO report is filled with caveats, including its overlap with the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in increased spending.

    Still, “it’s very, very unlikely that there is enough fraud in the federal government to balance the budget,” said Chris Towner, policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscally hawkish group. “For the $1.775 trillion deficit for that year to have been due to fraud, it would mean that one-quarter of federal spending was fraudulent, or some combination of fraudulent lost tax revenue and federal outlays totaled that amount.”

    Another challenge is that fraud is not easy to root out entirely. Historically, “only a small percentage of tax dollars lost to fraud are ever actually recovered by the government,” said Bob Westbrooks, a fraud and corruption risk expert who served as executive director of the federal government’s Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.

    Trump administration has sought to investigate fraud in blue states

    In recent weeks, Trump has spotlighted fraud in blue states such as Minnesota. But there have been notable high-dollar fraud investigations in other states, too.

    In Mississippi, a solidly Republican state, a trial is underway in a welfare scandal that auditors said resulted in the loss of $100 million in federal money from 2016 to 2020.

    In 2024, the U.S. Sentencing Commission pointed to the Southern District of Florida as the nation’s top district for fraud, adding that nationwide government benefits fraud offenses had increased 242% since 2020. Florida is also a red state.

    Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze access to certain child care and family assistance funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York — all blue states — saying it was related to fraud concerns. A federal judge blocked it temporarily.

    Our ruling

    Trump said, “If we stop this fraud, this massive fraud, we’re going to have a balanced budget.”

    The amount of fraud committed against federal programs is large, but the dollar amount does not come close to equalling the dollar amount of the federal deficit.

    The highest nationwide fraud estimate puts fraud losses at $521 billion. If all of that could be recouped, it would still be less than a third of the 2025 deficit.

    We rate the statement False.

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  • 3 Cheap Costco Dinner Finds I’ll Be Buying All Year (They’re All $10 or Less)

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    Patty CatalanoFood Editor

    At The Kitchn, I develop all of your favorite recipes and help you discover your most beloved grocery finds. I have more than 17 years of recipe development experience, including time spent in cookbook test kitchens and on Alton Brown’s culinary team. My two kids have lots of opinions on dinner.

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    Patty Catalano

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  • Budget 2026: Why A Higher LTCG Exemption May Help More Than A Lower Tax Rate

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    With Budget 2026 around the corner, expectations are building around a possible change in how long-term capital gains (LTCG) on listed equity and mutual funds are taxed. While some investors are hoping for a reduction in the tax rate, investment manager Kirttan Shah believes the government is more likely to raise the tax-free exemption limit instead.

    Quoting official tax data in a LinkedIn post, Shah pointed out the extreme concentration of LTCG among high-income taxpayers. “The total Long Term Capital Gains in AY 23-24 was Rs8,58,022 crore,” he wrote.

    “The interesting part is that 80 percent of this, or Rs6,90,370 crore, was earned by people having an income of more than Rs5 crore that year. In fact, 90 percent of this capital gain was earned by people having income more than Rs50 lakh.”

    That concentration is backed by public data. According to the Income Tax Department’s ITR statistics, just 191 taxpayers with LTCG above Rs5 crore accounted for Rs3.74 lakh crore in gains, roughly 44 percent of all reported gains. On the other end, taxpayers with total gains below Rs1.5 lakh together earned only about Rs10,564 crore, with an average of Rs36,000 per return.

    Currently, LTCG on equity and equity-oriented mutual funds is taxed at 12.5 percent for gains exceeding Rs1.25 lakh in a financial year. Gains below that threshold remain fully exempt. This Rs1.25 lakh exemption has become a key buffer for retail investors, many of whom realise modest profits annually.

    Shah argues that raising the exemption would deliver more meaningful relief to small investors than cutting the rate. “If the government reduces the LTCG tax, the lesser rich benefit very little but the rich benefit much more,” he wrote.

    “The exemption of up to Rs1.25 lakh makes more sense because that directly benefits the less rich.”

    He added that while a rate cut would help markets and sentiment, it is unlikely given the government’s recent policy patterns. “If you reduce LTCG back to 10 percent or lower because you are already charging STT, that would make sense and be great for the markets. But I think the way this government thinks, expect the Rs1.25 lakh limit to increase if at all rather than expecting 12.5 percent to become 10 percent.”

    Tax experts say the reasoning follows the logic of progressive taxation. A rate cut on LTCG benefits those making very large gains in absolute rupee terms. A higher exemption limit shields a larger portion or all of a small investor’s returns from tax.

    For investors watching Budget 2026, the key question may not be how low the rate goes, but how high the exemption cap could rise. 



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  • Beverly faces nearly $4 million budget shortfall this spring

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    BEVERLY — The city is facing a nearly $4 million shortfall in funding the fiscal 2027 operating budget.

    That number — $3,921,385, to be exact — was in a report by Beverly’s Financial Forecasting Committee released this month.

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    By Caroline Enos | Staff Writer

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  • In his national address, President Trump claimed he’s bringing prices down. Here’s what the data shows.

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    After nearly two months without new consumer price data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest report Thursday, providing a glimpse at energy costs, food prices and other everyday expenses.

    According to the consumer price index, inflation slowed in November, with prices rising 0.2% over the 0.3% observed in September. (BLS could not collect October data because of the government shutdown.)

    Still, inflation remains stubbornly high. Compared with a year ago, consumer costs are up about 2.7%.

    Thursday’s report came just a day after President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address from the White House in which he largely discussed affordability concerns, from housing costs to grocery prices, saying the U.S. is “poised for an economic boom.”

    “The last administration and their allies in Congress looted our treasury for trillions of dollars, driving up prices and everything at levels never seen before. I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast.”

    In truth, of the 11 everyday costs tracked month to month by the consumer price index, only five have decreased since January.

    Here’s a closer look at the president’s claims and how prices are changing, or not, during his second term in office.

    To see the average U.S. price of a specific good, click on the drop-down arrow below and select the item you wish to view.

    Eggs

    In the wake of all-time highs set earlier this year, egg prices have collapsed in recent months.

    That downward trend continued in November, with the price dropping a whopping 63 cents from September and settling at $2.86 per dozen. It’s the first time since June 2024 that the average nationwide price for a dozen large Grade A eggs registered below the $3 mark.

    This steep drop-off in prices is a result of a declining number of bird flu cases in commercial and backyard flocks. In the first two months of 2025, tens of millions of birds were affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza across 39 states, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. With entire flocks culled to prevent the spread of the virus, the egg supply was strained, leading to shortages in stores and record costs for consumers.

    Following another spike in cases in the early fall, the number of new infections appears to be subsiding again, with less than 2 million U.S. birds affected in the past two months. More notably, zero outbreaks among egg-laying chickens have been reported in November and December.

    Consequently, costs are “falling rapidly” as highlighted by Trump in his prime-time address earlier this week.

    “The price of eggs is down 82% since March, and everything else is falling rapidly. And it’s not done yet, but boy are we making progress. Nobody can believe what’s going on.”

    While egg prices have dropped considerably from March’s record high of $6.23 per dozen, the difference of roughly $3.37 from March to November represents a 54% decrease — not the 82% cited by the president.

    In a statement given to the Tribune, a White House official clarified that he was referring to wholesale costs, not retail prices.

    Milk

    The cost of milk also saw a measurable decrease from the previous month, falling 13 cents.

    A gallon of fresh, fortified whole milk is now priced at $4.00 — that’s 2.5% less than it was in December 2024, before Trump took office.

    Bread

    The average price of white bread fell in November to $1.79 per pound, marking a three-year low for the pantry staple. Time for bread pudding, anyone?

    Bananas

    The cost of bananas fell slightly from September’s all-time highs, dropping just a fraction of a cent to $0.66 per pound in November.

    Recent price inflation is likely a byproduct of the president’s trade war, with tariffs imposed on the country’s top banana suppliers like Guatemala, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Honduras and Mexico — all of which are currently subject to an import tax of at least 10%.

    But in mid-November, Trump took action to combat rising grocery costs, announcing that some agricultural products would be exempt from tariffs due to “current domestic demand for certain products” and “current domestic capacity to produce certain products.”

    Both fresh and dried bananas were among the listed exemptions, indicating that lower prices may be around the corner.

    Oranges

    No data on orange prices was available for November.

    However, in September, the cost of navel oranges was listed at $1.80 per pound, less than a cent shy of record highs and nearly 18% more than they were at the start of the Trump administration.

    Drastically low domestic orange production combined with steep tariffs on foreign growers have been helping to push costs skyward. But, as with bananas, oranges are now exempt from most reciprocal tariffs.

    Tomatoes

    As of November, the cost of field-grown tomatoes was $1.83 per pound. That price is 8 cents lower than the previous month of data and down roughly 12% since Trump took power.

    The change is somewhat abnormal given the growing season, as prices typically rise in the fall and peak in the early winter months, and could be attributable to the Trump administration’s recent course reversal on many of its tomato tariffs.

    Chicken

    The cost of fresh, whole chicken fell for a fourth consecutive month, to $2.04 per pound — its lowest price in a year.

    Rising feed costs and the effects of bird flu on the poultry supply chain have driven persistently higher prices, but with the number of cases dropping again, we could see lower prices in the new year.

    Still, the average cost is only about 2 cents less than it was when President Joe Biden left the White House.

    Ground beef

    Ground beef is getting more expensive.

    After shoppers saw some relief in September from climbing costs, the price of ground beef jumped another 18 cents.

    Rising costs can be attributed to a confluence of factors. The U.S. cattle inventory is the lowest it’s been in almost 75 years, and severe drought in parts of the country has further reduced the feed supply, per the USDA. Additionally, steep tariff rates on top beef importers also played a part in higher prices stateside, but as of Nov. 13 high-quality cuts, processed beef and live cattle are exempt from most countries’ levies.

    Still, since the change of administrations, ground beef costs have ballooned by 18% — translating to $1 per pound price increases at the grocery store.

    As of November, a pound of 100% ground beef chuck would set you back about $6.50.

    Electricity

    Electric costs have also been steadily rising.

    At approximately 19 cents per kilowatt-hour, the current price of electricity is a fraction of a cent off August’s high. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average American household uses 899 kWh every four weeks, translating to a monthly bill of about $170.

    Thankfully, the White House appears to be working to mitigate mounting costs. In his presidential address, Trump claimed that within the next 12 months his administration will have opened 1,600 new electrical generating plants.

    “Prices on electricity and everything else will fall dramatically,” Trump said.

    For many Americans, relief is needed. Since last December, the average price of electricity per kilowatt-hour has increased more than 7%.

    Gasoline

    Declining gas prices were another highlight of Trump’s Wednesday night remarks.

    The cost of gasoline has tumbled from the record-setting prices Americans saw three summers ago under Biden, and just last month, the price at the pump dropped more than 10 cents per gallon.

    “On day one I declared a national energy emergency,” Trump said. “Gasoline is now under $2.50 a gallon in much of the country. In some states, it by the way, just hit $1.99 a gallon.”

    According to the latest CPI data, the average nationwide cost for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.23. And though prices are noticeably lower than they were two to three years ago, that average remains higher than it was just a year ago and up nearly 3% during the Trump presidency.

    Prices in Chicago, meanwhile, are about the same month-over-month, costing an average of $3.29 per gallon, according to EIA data.

    Natural gas

    Bucking its previous downward trend, piped utility gas, or natural gas, is another expense that’s climbing. The nationwide cost jumped 3 cents in November, landing at $1.64 per therm.

    On average, Americans are paying close to 8% more to heat their homes, ovens and stovetops than when Biden left office. Year-over-year, that gap is even more drastic: a roughly 10% change or difference of 15 cents per therm.

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    Claire Malon

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  • Washington Governor Rolls Out $244 Million Dollar Supplement Housing Budget – KXL

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    OLYMPIA, Wash. — The first ever Department of Housing is being established at the cabinet level in the state of Washington.

    Governor Bob Ferguson rolled out his $244 million dollar supplemental housing budget proposal Thursday which touches on everything from more rental units to manufactured homes to help for first time home buyers.  And Ferguson says he signed an executive order creating a task force to help him create a new housing department.

    Ferguson says the historic floods forced his team to not only delay but reconsider this entire proposal. He says they diverted millions to help flood victims repair their homes in an early action proposal to fast track relief while the legislature debates the budget and this add-on for housing.

    A few of the numbers include:

    *$225 million for new rental units

    *$50 million for a housing trust fund preservation trust fund

    *$20 million for manufactured homes

    *$81 million for developing new affordable rentals

    *$73 million for first time home buyers

    *$11 million to support flood victims with housing

    More about:

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    Brett Reckamp

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  • NC leads nation in shrinking environmental agency, leaving water, land unprotected

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    Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in Duplin County, NC. Hog farms can be identified by the lagoons located next to the long hog houses. The hog waste is washed from the houses into the lagoon, where it is liquified and then sprayed on nearby fields as fertilizer. Hog lagoons have breached in flooding from storms, and lawsuits continue over the rights of farmers to spray waste on fields versus their neighbors’ right to clean air.

    Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in Duplin County, NC. Hog farms can be identified by the lagoons located next to the long hog houses. The hog waste is washed from the houses into the lagoon, where it is liquified and then sprayed on nearby fields as fertilizer.

    Hog lagoons have breached in flooding from storms, and lawsuits continue over the rights of farmers to spray waste on fields versus their neighbors’ right to clean air.


    Jeremy M. Lange

    Jeremy M. Lange

    After years of staffing cuts, North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality likely doesn’t have the resources to take on the extra enforcement work it would need to do if the Trump administration keeps slashing the Environmental Protection Agency, a new report says.

    The Environmental Integrity Project released findings Wednesday showing North Carolina cut the greatest percentage of jobs from its lead environmental agency of any state in the country from 2010 to 2024. The state cut 32% of employees at DEQ, formerly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The 386 job losses came through firings and the elimination of unfilled positions and have left the protection of air, water and land quality in the state at risk, the report says.

    Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in Duplin County, NC. Hog farms can be identified by the lagoons located next to the long hog houses. The hog waste is washed from the houses into the lagoon, where it is liquified and then sprayed on nearby fields as fertilizer.Hog lagoons have breached in flooding from storms, and lawsuits continue over the rights of farmers to spray waste on fields versus their neighbors’ right to clean air.
    Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in Duplin County, NC. Hog farms can be identified by the lagoons located next to the long hog houses. The hog waste is washed from the houses into the lagoon, where it is liquified and then sprayed on nearby fields as fertilizer.Hog lagoons have breached in flooding from storms, and lawsuits continue over the rights of farmers to spray waste on fields versus their neighbors’ right to clean air. Jeremy M. Lange Jeremy M. Lange

    The Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit watchdog group started by the former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Enforcement, said it looked at funding and staffing trends in environmental agencies in every state to see how they would be able to take on additional oversight work as President Donald Trump proposes additional severe cuts to the EPA.

    “Because of budget cuts, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is ill-positioned to confront the growing pollution footprint from the state’s rapidly expanding factory farming industry or the threat of climate-driven storms and flooding in its coastal communities,” the report says.

    North Carolina cut staffing to the Department of Environmental Quality by 32% from 2010 to 2024, according to a report released Dec. 10, 2025, by the Environmental Integrity Project. That’s the highest percentage reduction of any state, and the group says it means N.C. is in no shape to take on the work of the EPA if that agency suffers further cuts.
    North Carolina cut staffing to the Department of Environmental Quality by 32% from 2010 to 2024, according to a report released Dec. 10, 2025, by the Environmental Integrity Project. That’s the highest percentage reduction of any state, and the group says it means N.C. is in no shape to take on the work of the EPA if that agency suffers further cuts. Environmental Integrity Project

    The study looked at state budget documents from 2010 to 2024 and found that 27 states cut the budgets of their environmental agencies over the past 15 years and 31 states also have cut staffing.

    Congress has not approved a 2026 budget, and it’s not clear how much of the White House’s request for an additional $4.2 billion in cuts to the EPA lawmakers will approve. Since the start of Trump’s current term, more than 3,000 EPA staffers have retired or been fired, according to reports.

    The Environmental Integrity Project’s report argues that additional EPA cuts will combine with cuts at the state level to leave enforcement of environmental protections almost impossible.

    “These deep reductions mean that the Trump administration’s proposed downsizing of the EPA would have an increased impact on pollution control efforts across the country,” the report says. “Not only will the federal pollution cop no longer be on the beat, state authorities may not show up either. Many states will not be able to shoulder more environmental oversight responsibilities because of years of their own cost-cutting, with a gradual erosion of their capacity for managing pollution often as bad or worse than the downsizing at the federal level.”

    Following Hurricane Floyd in 1999, hogs wait for rescue on a hog barn near Trenton, NC as flood waters from the Neuse River inundated a farm.
    Following Hurricane Floyd in 1999, hogs wait for rescue on a hog barn near Trenton, NC as flood waters from the Neuse River inundated a farm. Mel Nathanson News & Observer file photo

    North Carolina as a case study

    A section of the report focuses on North Carolina’s DEQ, which was formed from DENR by the Regulatory Reform Act of 2015, signed by then-Gov. Pat McCrory. Lawmakers said at the time that the changes eliminated unnecessary regulation. Environmentalists said it eliminated rules designed to safeguard public health.

    The report says the state agency lost more than 200 jobs under McCrory, a Republican, but that it also lost more than 200 jobs under Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat. During Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s two terms, the report says, DEQ held relatively steady, losing jobs in some budget years and gaining them in others.

    Republicans have held control of the legislature throughout the 15-year period.

    Growing pains

    Over those years, North Carolina’s population grew, along with its economy, its budget and, the report notes, its factory farming industry.

    As of March 2025, the USDA reported there were 8.1 million hogs in North Carolina in concentrated animal feeding operations, also known as CAFOs, making N.C. the third largest hog-producer in the nation, behind Iowa and Minnesota. North Carolina’s broiler chicken industry is the fourth-largest in the country, producing nearly a billion birds for meat each year.

    All those animals produce millions of tons of manure each year. Runoff from farms can send that and other agricultural waste into streams during heavy rain events such as hurricanes and tropical storms, which scientists say are likely to continue to be more intense as the climate warms.

    ‘A regulatory vacuum’

    In the report, Drew Ball, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Southeast Campaigns team, said there’s “a regulatory vacuum” in the state where large hog and poultry farms are concerned.

    “The unchecked expansion of hog and poultry farms has left the state environmental agency unable to even evaluate the cumulative impacts,” Ball said. “At this point, policy experts and advocates can’t even get the information they need to protect the public. You can’t respond if you don’t know what’s coming online.”

    During an online press conference to announce the release of the report Wednesday, Ball said that with cuts to DEQ and EPA, North Carolina residents may find there is no one to call when their tap water is cloudy or smells like ammonia, or when flooding sends industrial chemicals or animal waste downstream to their neighborhood.

    Environmental protections, he said, are seeing “shrinking staff, shrinking budgets and shrinking political support.”

    This story is available free to all readers thanks to financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider a digital subscription, which you can get here.

    Martha Quillin

    The News & Observer

    Martha Quillin writes about climate change and the environment. She has covered North Carolina news, culture, religion and the military since joining The News & Observer in 1987.

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    Martha Quillin

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  • Festive and Flavor-Forward Stoned Holiday Baking

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    Explore festive and flavor-forward stoned holiday baking ideas with creative cookie experiments, TikTok hacks, and edible-adjacent treats.

    Holiday baking is a cherished tradition — but for many Millennials and Gen Z adults, it’s also becoming a creative playground for stoned culinary experimentation. With the rise of at-home cooking, TikTok baking trends, and a focus on creativity, holiday cookies are no longer limited to classic gingerbread men or sugar sprinkles. Instead, bakers are mixing unexpected ingredients, infusing new flavors, and creating snacks designed for munchies and holiday cheer. Here is a sample of festive and flavor-foward stoned holiday baking.

    Think of this as a lighthearted, modern approach to seasonal sweets where creativity beats perfection and flavor is everything.

    RELATED: The Best Cocktails For Holiday Day Drinking

    Not everyone wants full-strength infused treats — especially during family gatherings. Edible-adjacent baking offers a friendly compromise: traditional cookies served alongside low-dose gummies, or dough mixed with CBD butter for relaxation without the intensity. You can also add a few drops of cannabis-infused honey onto cooled cookies, swirl CBD chocolate into brownie-cookie hybrids, or dip shortbread in infused caramel for a mellow twist.

    Photo by Teddy Rawpixel via Rawpixel

    Munchie-Friendly Cookie Concepts Millennials Love

    Holiday flavors are expanding beyond peppermint and ginger. Popular stoner-friendly ideas include:

    • Potato chip + chocolate chunk cookies (salty-sweet perfection)

    • Brown butter marshmallow Snickerdoodles

    • Trail-mix breakfast cookies for late-night cravings

    • Cinnamon Toast Crunch cookie bars

    • Peanut butter-pretzel-M&M mashups

    These chewy, crunchy, sweet-salt combos are ideal for the munchies — no judgment, just joy.

    TikTok Hacks Which Actually Work

    TikTok’s baking side is a goldmine. The top viral hacks include:

    • Pre-made dough wrapped around mini candy bars

    • Air fryer cookies for faster batches

    • Cake-mix cookie shortcuts (just add eggs + butter)

    • Rolling dough in crushed cereal for extra texture

    Perfect for late-night cravings or relaxed holiday hangouts.

    RELATED: Upgrade Your Gift Game and Avoid the Lame

    Flavor Pairings for Different Cannabis Strains

    For those who enjoy pairing rather than infusing, flavors can enhance the experience:

    • Citrus-forward sativas (Lemon Haze, Tangie) → pair with lemon sugar or cranberry-white chocolate cookies

    • Dessert-style hybrids (Gelato, Wedding Cake) → pair with brown butter chocolate chip

    • Earthy indicas (Granddaddy Purple) → pair with spiced molasses, chai or ginger snaps

    It’s the craft-beer tasting flight — but sweeter, and a lot more fun.

    Holiday baking doesn’t need rules — just curiosity, good friends, and a willingness to experiment. Whether you’re micro-dosing edibles, pairing strains with sweets, or scrolling TikTok for hacks during a late-night cookie session, stoned baking is shaping up to be the season’s most laid-back tradition.

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    Sarah Johns

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  • The Broke But Festive Holiday Survival Manual

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    Learn smart budgeting, gift ideas, and low-cost fun with the broke but festive holiday survival manual.

    The holiday season is supposed to be joyful, but for many adults, the reality can feel stressful — especially in a tough economy. Rising prices for everything from groceries to rent mean that splurging on gifts, festive dinners, and night-out parties isn’t always an option. Here is the broke but festive holiday survival manual. But being on a budget doesn’t mean missing out on holiday cheer. With a little creativity, resourcefulness, and planning, you can stay festive, social, and in good spirits — all without emptying your wallet.

    RELATED: The Best Cocktails For Holiday Day Drinking

    Start by scaling celebrations to match your budget. Hosting a large dinner or lavish party may be tempting, but smaller, intimate gatherings can be just as enjoyable. Consider potluck-style dinners or cookie exchanges with friends — everyone contributes, and costs stay low. Thrifted decorations, DIY ornaments, and homemade gifts are also surprisingly charming, giving your holiday space a personal, cozy feel without the high price tag.

    Photo by Teddy Rawpixel via Rawpixel

    Digital tools can also help stretch your budget. For gift exchanges, try themed swaps like “under $10 finds” or “favorite snacks” rather than buying expensive presents. Curated playlists, video montages, or a heartfelt handwritten letter can serve as meaningful gifts that  don’t cost a dime. You can also stream Magic 101.9 New Orleans holiday music for freeto instantly set a festive mood at home — no subscription required.

    Going out and drinking can be one of the biggest holiday expenses. Luckily, there are alternatives that are often cheaper, healthier, and just as social. Vapes, gummies, and other cannabis products have become popular choices among younger adults looking for festive fun without the high cost of alcohol. A single pack of gummies or a vape cartridge can last multiple sessions and provide a controlled, affordable way to relax with friends. Pair these with cozy movie nights, board games, or outdoor walks to create memorable, low-cost holiday experiences.

    RELATED: Upgrade Your Gift Game and Avoid the Lame

    Remember, staying festive isn’t just about social events. The holidays can be mentally exhausting, and budgeting can add stress. Simple self-care rituals — like hot baths, journaling, or short walks under holiday lights — are free or low-cost ways to maintain your well-being. Even small touches, like lighting a scented candle, streaming holiday music, or making a favorite winter drink, can provide comfort and joy.

    Ultimately, the broke-but-festive approach is about prioritizing joy over expense. Get creative with your traditions, focus on quality time rather than costly gifts, and don’t be afraid to try new, budget-friendly ways to celebrate. The holidays can still feel magical — even when money is tight. With careful planning, thoughtful gifts, and affordable ways to relax and socialize, you can survive the season financially and emotionally while keeping the festive spirit alive.

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    Sarah Johns

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  • Healey signs $2.3B closeout budget

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    BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey signed a $2.3 billion supplemental budget Tuesday that plugs revenue gaps from the previous fiscal year and buoys the state’s Medicaid program with federal funding cuts looming on the horizon.

    The spending plan, approved by the Legislature before it recessed last week for winter break, calls for closing out the previous fiscal year’s books by providing more money for health care, education and the state’s life sciences industry.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Resilient learning begins with Zero Trust and cyber preparedness

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    Key points:

    The U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recently warned of a surge in cyberattacks from “insider threats”–student hackers motivated by dares and challenges–leading to breaches across schools. While this trend is unfolding overseas, it underscores a risk that is just as real for the U.S. education sector. Every day, teachers and students here in the U.S. access enormous volumes of sensitive information, creating opportunities for both mistakes and deliberate misuse. These vulnerabilities are further amplified by resource constraints and the growing sophistication of cyberattacks.

    When schools fall victim to a cyberattack, the disruption extends far beyond academics. Students may also lose access to meals, safe spaces, and support services that families depend on every day. Cyberattacks are no longer isolated IT problems–they are operational risks that threaten entire communities.

    In today’s post-breach world, the challenge is not whether an attack will occur, but when. The risks are real. According to a recent study, desktops and laptops remain the most compromised devices (50 percent), with phishing and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) cited as top entry points for ransomware. Once inside, most attacks spread laterally across networks to infect other devices. In over half of these cases (52 percent), attackers exploited unpatched systems to move laterally and escalate system privileges.

    That reality demands moving beyond traditional perimeter defenses to strategies that contain and minimize damage once a breach occurs. With the school year underway, districts must adopt strategies that proactively manage risk and minimize disruption. This starts with an “assume breach” mindset–accepting that prevention alone is not enough. From there, applying Zero Trust principles, clearly defining the ‘protect surface’ (i.e. identifying what needs protection), and reinforcing strong cyber hygiene become essential next steps. Together, these strategies create layered resilience, ensuring that even if attackers gain entry, their ability to move laterally and cause widespread harm is significantly reduced.

    Assume breach: Shifting from prevention to resilience

    Even in districts with limited staff and funding, schools can take important steps toward stronger security. The first step is adopting an assume breach mindset, which shifts the focus from preventing every attack to ensuring resilience when one occurs. This approach acknowledges that attackers may already have access to parts of the network and reframes the question from “How do we keep them out?” to “How do we contain them once they are in?” or “How do we minimize the damage once they are in?”

    An assume breach mindset emphasizes strengthening internal defenses so that breaches don’t become cyber disasters. It prioritizes safeguarding sensitive data, detecting anomalies quickly, and enabling rapid responses that keep classrooms open even during an active incident.

    Zero Trust and seatbelts: Both bracing for the worst

    Zero Trust builds directly on the assume breach mindset with its guiding principle of “never trust, always verify.” Unlike traditional security models that rely on perimeter defenses, Zero Trust continuously verifies every user, device, and connection, whether internal or external.

    Schools often function as open transit hubs, offering broad internet access to students and staff. In these environments, once malware finds its way in, it can spread quickly if unchecked. Perimeter-only defenses leave too many blind spots and do little to stop insider threats. Zero Trust closes those gaps by treating every request as potentially hostile and requiring ongoing verification at every step.

    A fundamental truth of Zero Trust is that cyberattacks will happen. That means building controls that don’t just alert us but act–before and during a network intrusion. The critical step is containment: limiting damage the moment a breach is successful.  

    Assume breach accepts that a breach will happen, and Zero Trust ensures it doesn’t become a disaster that shuts down operations. Like seatbelts in a car–prevention matters. Strong brakes are essential, but seatbelts and airbags minimize the harm when prevention fails. Zero Trust works the same way, containing threats and limiting damage so that even if an attacker gets in, they can’t turn an incident into a full-scale disaster.

    Zero Trust does not require an overnight overhaul. Schools can start by defining their protect surface – the vital data, systems, and operations that matter most. This typically includes Social Security numbers, financial data, and administrative services that keep classrooms functioning. By securing this protect surface first, districts reduce the complexity of Zero Trust implementation, allowing them to focus their limited resources on where they are needed most.

    With this approach, Zero Trust policies can be layered gradually across systems, making adoption realistic for districts of any size. Instead of treating it as a massive, one-time overhaul, IT leaders can approach Zero Trust as an ongoing journey–a process of steadily improving security and resilience over time. By tightening access controls, verifying every connection, and isolating threats early, schools can contain incidents before they escalate, all without rebuilding their entire network in one sweep.  

    Cyber awareness starts in the classroom

    Technology alone isn’t enough. Because some insider threats stem from student curiosity or misuse, cyber awareness must start in classrooms. Integrating security education into the learning environment ensures students and staff understand their role in protecting sensitive information. Training should cover phishing awareness, strong password practices, the use of multifactor authentication (MFA), and the importance of keeping systems patched.

    Building cyber awareness does not require costly programs. Short, recurring training sessions for students and staff keep security top of mind and help build a culture of vigilance that reduces both accidental and intentional insider threats.

    Breaches are inevitable, but disasters are optional

    Breaches are inevitable. Disasters are not. The difference lies in preparation. For resource-strapped districts, stronger cybersecurity doesn’t require sweeping overhauls. It requires a shift in mindset:

    • Assume breach
    • Define the protect surface
    • Implement Zero Trust in phases
    • Instill cyber hygiene

    When schools take this approach, cyberattacks become manageable incidents. Classrooms remain open, students continue learning, and communities continue receiving the vital support schools provide – even in the face of disruption. Like seatbelts in a car, these measures won’t prevent every crash – but they ensure schools can continue to function even when prevention fails.

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    Gary Barlet, Illumio

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  • Natomas teachers ready to strike over contract disputes

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    Educators in Natomas have informed the district of their readiness to strike if a new contract is not secured, marking a significant development in ongoing negotiations.The Natomas Teachers Association, representing more than 600 educators, has been working without a contract since June. Outside the Natomas Unified School District Wednesday evening, dozens gathered in support of the Natomas Teachers Association, chanting, “We can’t wait!” and “When we fight, we win!” They are advocating for a new contract with fully paid benefits and competitive wages.Ashley Battle, a parent of a student in the district and the wife of a teacher, said that educators are the backbone of the district and are being underpaid. “If you’re not paying them, how are they supposed to support their family? You want them to support everyone else’s child, but you don’t want to pay to help them support themselves?” Battle said. Battle brought these concerns to the board meeting, where dozens of teachers, parents, and students filled the room. Nico Vaccaro, president of the NTA, also spoke to the board, urging the district to use its millions of dollars in reserves to pay teachers more.”We know they have the ability to reprioritize their budget with the resources that they have. And that’s what we’re asking for,” Vaccaro said. KCRA 3 reached out to the district about the ongoing contract negotiations. They replied with an emailed statement reading:“We value our employees and prioritize providing competitive salaries and high-quality programs for our students. Even with the staffing crisis across California and the nationwide shortage of teachers, Natomas Unified has a high fill rate with 98.4% of our classrooms filled with credentialed teachers. For the classroom positions that are not filled, fully credentialed contractors or substitute teachers serve our students while recruitment efforts continue and candidates are in the hiring process.While prioritizing employee compensation, we are committed to being good stewards of our district finances. Our reserve protects us against unexpected expenses or changes in funding. This allows us to continue to pay staff, utilities and other basic services, all while maintaining consistent support to students. Reserves should not be used to fund ongoing salary or benefit increases, as reserves are one-time funds that are gone once they are spent, much like a savings account. In NUSD, the category that NTA leadership frequently refers to as the budget for “consultants” or “contractors” covers a wide range of professional services for the district. These funds provide more than just training and professional development to teachers and contractors who fill vacant certificated staff positions. They actually include expenses for essential services such as fire and safety requirements, heating/air conditioning maintenance, routine and preventative pest control, needed classroom repairs, vital health services for our students, after-school programs, staff training to implement state-required curriculum and assessments, and general district operations. Without allocating funding for these areas, we would not be able to provide these necessary services for our students and staff.”Vaccaro presented the board with a copy of the union’s strike readiness petition, which he said more than 90% of their members have signed. “While we do not want to strike, we are ready to strike if that’s what it takes to reprioritize the NUSD’s budget for our schools and our students,” he said. The Natomas Teachers Association will return to the negotiation table on Dec. 10.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    Educators in Natomas have informed the district of their readiness to strike if a new contract is not secured, marking a significant development in ongoing negotiations.

    The Natomas Teachers Association, representing more than 600 educators, has been working without a contract since June.

    Outside the Natomas Unified School District Wednesday evening, dozens gathered in support of the Natomas Teachers Association, chanting, “We can’t wait!” and “When we fight, we win!” They are advocating for a new contract with fully paid benefits and competitive wages.

    Ashley Battle, a parent of a student in the district and the wife of a teacher, said that educators are the backbone of the district and are being underpaid.

    “If you’re not paying them, how are they supposed to support their family? You want them to support everyone else’s child, but you don’t want to pay to help them support themselves?” Battle said.

    Battle brought these concerns to the board meeting, where dozens of teachers, parents, and students filled the room.

    Nico Vaccaro, president of the NTA, also spoke to the board, urging the district to use its millions of dollars in reserves to pay teachers more.

    “We know they have the ability to reprioritize their budget with the resources that they have. And that’s what we’re asking for,” Vaccaro said.

    KCRA 3 reached out to the district about the ongoing contract negotiations. They replied with an emailed statement reading:

    “We value our employees and prioritize providing competitive salaries and high-quality programs for our students. Even with the staffing crisis across California and the nationwide shortage of teachers, Natomas Unified has a high fill rate with 98.4% of our classrooms filled with credentialed teachers. For the classroom positions that are not filled, fully credentialed contractors or substitute teachers serve our students while recruitment efforts continue and candidates are in the hiring process.

    While prioritizing employee compensation, we are committed to being good stewards of our district finances. Our reserve protects us against unexpected expenses or changes in funding. This allows us to continue to pay staff, utilities and other basic services, all while maintaining consistent support to students. Reserves should not be used to fund ongoing salary or benefit increases, as reserves are one-time funds that are gone once they are spent, much like a savings account.

    In NUSD, the category that NTA leadership frequently refers to as the budget for “consultants” or “contractors” covers a wide range of professional services for the district. These funds provide more than just training and professional development to teachers and contractors who fill vacant certificated staff positions. They actually include expenses for essential services such as fire and safety requirements, heating/air conditioning maintenance, routine and preventative pest control, needed classroom repairs, vital health services for our students, after-school programs, staff training to implement state-required curriculum and assessments, and general district operations. Without allocating funding for these areas, we would not be able to provide these necessary services for our students and staff.”

    Vaccaro presented the board with a copy of the union’s strike readiness petition, which he said more than 90% of their members have signed.

    “While we do not want to strike, we are ready to strike if that’s what it takes to reprioritize the NUSD’s budget for our schools and our students,” he said.

    The Natomas Teachers Association will return to the negotiation table on Dec. 10.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Houston Restaurants Open for Thanksgiving 2025 – Houston Press

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    This Thanksgiving — coming up on Thursday, November 28 — skip the stress of cooking and let Houston’s top restaurants treat you to a festive feast. From family-friendly affairs featuring classic roast turkey and all the fixin’s to prix fixe menus featuring bubbles, oysters and TK, here is where to celebrate the season of gratitude with a tasty meal in Houston this year.

    The Audrey, 9595 Six Pines 

    Celebrate Thanksgiving November 27 from 2 to 9 p.m. with a three-course prix fixe featuring roasted parsnip bisque, herb-roasted turkey or chateaubriand and pumpkin pie. Cost is $55–$65 for adults and $18–25 for kids. 

    Bar Bludorn, 9061 Gaylord

    The neighborhood taver is offering a three-course pre-fixe Thanksgiving menu ($75 per person), with a two-course children’s menu for $55. Guests can enjoy holiday classics like roast turkey, squash soup, and stuffing, alongside Bar Bludorn specialties including country ham beignets, steak tartare, steak frites and mushroom ravioli. 

    Bludorn, 807 Taft

    Enjoy a special three-course Thanksgiving dinner of traditional favorites like roast turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, alongside Bludorn signatures such as steak tartare, hanger steak and Oysters Everyway. The three-course menu is $105 per person, with a two-course children’s menu available for $55.

    Brennan’s, 3300 Smith
    Enjoy a three-course prix fixe feast of Creole and holiday classics in a cozy, festive atmosphere, open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; reservations required. Cost is $87 per person plus tax and tip. Call 713-522-9711.

    Duck N Bao, multiple locations

    Create your own Chinese-inspired Thanksgiving with crispy-skinned Peking duck, soup dumplings, specialty rice, noodles, seafood and vegetable plates. Open regular hours; walk-ins welcome.

    Etoile Cuisine et Bar, 1101-11 Uptown Park

    Étoile will be open for Thanksgiving with a special three-course menu ($78 per adult, $28 per child, plus tax and gratuity) — expect seasonal hors d’oeuvres like butternut squash soup with orange zest, Scottish smoked salmon with dill cream, or chilled shrimp with tarragon cocktail sauce; main courses including free-range roasted turkey with all the classics, braised Akaushi beef, Iberico pork skirt steak, seared salmon, or a fall vegetable risotto with white truffle oil; and vanilla bourbon pecan pie or warm pear and brioche pudding with chocolate sorbet.

    Hongdae 33, 9889 Bellaire
    Break from tradition with all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue in a vibrant, high-energy space. $33 per person for 90 minutes of unlimited food; a la carte drinks available. Walk-ins welcome; no reservations needed.

    Leo’s River Oaks, 2009 West Gray 

    Guests can dine in style a three-course prix fixe from 2 to 9pm with — choose herb-roasted turkey ($75) or filet mignon ($85) with refined sides and pumpkin pie. Kids’ menu available. 

    Navy Blue, 2445 Times 

    The modern American seafood restaurant is hosting a festive three-course Thanksgiving dinner. Guests can choose from signature dishes like crab cakes, seafood gumbo, and seared scallops, as well as seasonal specials including roasted turkey roulade with puff pastry and sweet potato, and hanger steak with kale, bone marrow butter, and sauce bordelaise. The three-course menu is $85 per person, with a two-course children’s menu available for $55.

    Rainbow Lodge, 2011 Ella

    Celebrate Thanksgiving in lodge-style comfort with a three-course menu ($85 per adult, $45 child, plus beverages, tax and gratuity). Highlights include smoked duck gumbo, wild game tasting, Southern-style roast turkey with cornbread dressing and indulgent desserts like warm croissant bread pudding. Late-night snack packs with turkey, dressing, and gravy are also available to-go. 

    Remi, 1080 Uptown Park

    Hotel Granduca’s Remi is offering a pre-fixe Thanksgiving menu with oven-roasted heritage turkey, truffled mac and cheese, spiced pumpkin tarts and artisanal apple Dutch pies in an elegant setting. Seating runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for $105/adult and $54/children 10+. Reservations required via OpenTable or at 713-418-1000.

    Roma, 2347 University

    Enjoy a three-course Thanksgiving meal with Italian twists ($55 adults, $25 kids, $35 optional wine pairing), with options from butternut squash soup and hand-carved turkey breast to pecan pie or pumpkin pie.

    Tipping Point Restaurant and Terrace, 9787 Katy Freeway

    Tipping Point will be open on Thanksgiving with a special a la carte or three-course menu for $75. Highlights include raspberry brie en croute, lamb duo with apple chutney, slow-roasted turkey with green beans, cornbread stuffing, rosemary mashed potatoes and a yeast roll, roasted rack of lamb and pecan pie.

    Winsome Prime, 5888 Westheimer

    Winsome Prime will be open on Thanksgiving Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., offering a select menu of customer favorites and holiday specials.

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    Brooke Viggiano

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