The news that a Heat 2 was in the works delighted fans of Michael Mann’s original film. But then came the important question: What would a story for Heat 2 look like? Luckily, there’s a book for that!
The novel, written by Mann and Meg Gardiner, is both a prequel and a sequel to the original film. Now though, the new film is starting to feel a lot more real with some pretty exciting casting. We don’t yet know how the novel will play into the film but we do know that both Leonardo DiCaprio and, reportedly, Christian Bale will join the Mann picture.
Bale was speaking with journalist Jake Hamilton for the film The Bride when he gave some exciting information to Hamilton. “I’ll be back in Chicago soon for Heat 2!” Bale also spoke with Chalice Williams for Black Girl Nerds and hinted at his role in Heat 2. When he saw the posters she had hanging up on the wall behind her, he said “You know what’ll go great up there? Heat 2!”
The original film is described as follows: “Master criminal Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is trying to control the rogue actions of one of his men, while also planning one last big heist before retiring. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Hanna (Al Pacino) attempts to track down McCauley as he deals with the chaos in his own life, including the infidelity of his wife (Diane Venora) and the mental health of his stepdaughter (Natalie Portman). McCauley and Hanna discover a mutual respect, even as they try to thwart each other’s plans.”
We don’t yet know who DiCaprio and Bale would play respectively but there have also been rumors that Stephen Graham, of Adolescence fame, would play Neil McCauley in this new film.
It feels great having Christian Bale back in the fold
DiCaprio has been consistently working for most his life, with him releasing roughly one film a year for the last few years. Bale, on the other hand, takes a bit longer between projects. As someone who loves Bale’s work as I do, it is nice to see him working on projects more regularly now.
With the release of The Bride and the release of Madden later this year, Bale is back in a way we haven’t seen in a while. For most of the 2000s and into the 2010s, Bale had multiple movies out a year. But in the last 6 years, the amount of films he’s been working on has shifted. The last release was Pale Blue Eyes on Netflix.
So for someone like me, who grew up in the age of Christian Bale films, it is exciting to see him “back” and arguably better than ever.
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is the Editor in Chief of the Mary Sue. She’s been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff’s biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she’s your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell’s dog, Brisket.
Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.
Temperatures at Denver International Airport climbed to record highs on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 2:28 p.m., temperatures at DIA had reached 68 degrees, according to the weather service. The previous Feb. 15 record of 67 degrees was set in 2017.
The Sunday record is more than 20 degrees above Denver’s “normal” Feb. 15 high of 45 degrees, weather service records show.
With temperatures already plummeting in some parts of the U.S. as a fierce winter storm rolls in, federal safety regulators are warning consumers to stay safe as they fire up home heating devices in a bid to stay warm.
Gasoline-powered generators, furnaces and fireplaces can emit carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless gas that can cause sudden illness and death if inhaled. Heating sources can also spark fires. Electric space heaters are involved in an average of 1,600 fires a year, while fireplaces and chimneys are involved in an average of 15,400 such incidents, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Here are some tips from the CPSC on how to use home heating equipment safely.
Keep space heaters at least three feet away from flammable materials, such as drapes, furniture and bedding. Product safety regulators also advise people to plug the devices directly into wall outlets — not power strips — and to turn them off when you’re sleeping.
Gasoline-powered generators can emit carbon monoxide. As a result, the CPSC says portable generators should only be placed outdoors and at least 20 feet from the home.
Install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and test them to make sure they are working properly. The safety watchdog says these alarms should be placed on every level of a home, with smoke alarms in each bedroom.
Hire a professional to check fuel-burning heating systems, such as furnaces, boilers, fireplaces and wood stoves. The CPSC sayscarbon monoxide poisoning can occur if heating systems are not installed correctly. Fireplaces can also be risky if chimneys are cracked or have other issues.
Roughly 200 million Americans are in the path of the incoming winter storm, which is expected to unleash a mix of snow, ice and frozen rain across a huge swath of the country starting Friday.
Bam Adebayo scored 25 points, Norman Powell added 22 and the Miami Heat cruised to a 130-117 road win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.The Heat have won three of their last five and led by double digits the entire fourth quarter. Andrew Wiggins added 19 points, while Pelle Larsson had 16 points and a team-high nine assists.Simone Fontecchio scored 15 points off the bench on five 3-pointers. Miami shot 50% from 3-point range, hitting 21 of 42.Miami guard Tyler Herro (ribs) and center Kel’el Ware (hamstring) missed the game, leaving the Heat without two key rotation players. Ware — who is averaging a team-high 9.8 rebounds — missed his first game of the season.Sacramento has dropped two straight games after winning a season-high four in a row. DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 23 points, while Russell Westbrook added 22 on 9-of 14 shooting.Malik Monk scored 18 points, while Dylan Cardwell added 12 rebounds.The Heat took a 77-64 lead at halftime on the strength of a 45-point second quarter that included nine 3-pointers. Miami made 15 of 24 shots (62.5%) from behind the arc before the break.Miami snapped a streak of four straight road losses that all came by at least 12 points.Up nextHeat: At Portland on Thursday.Kings: Host Toronto on Wednesday.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. —
Bam Adebayo scored 25 points, Norman Powell added 22 and the Miami Heat cruised to a 130-117 road win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
The Heat have won three of their last five and led by double digits the entire fourth quarter. Andrew Wiggins added 19 points, while Pelle Larsson had 16 points and a team-high nine assists.
Simone Fontecchio scored 15 points off the bench on five 3-pointers. Miami shot 50% from 3-point range, hitting 21 of 42.
Miami guard Tyler Herro (ribs) and center Kel’el Ware (hamstring) missed the game, leaving the Heat without two key rotation players. Ware — who is averaging a team-high 9.8 rebounds — missed his first game of the season.
Sacramento has dropped two straight games after winning a season-high four in a row. DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 23 points, while Russell Westbrook added 22 on 9-of 14 shooting.
Malik Monk scored 18 points, while Dylan Cardwell added 12 rebounds.
The Heat took a 77-64 lead at halftime on the strength of a 45-point second quarter that included nine 3-pointers. Miami made 15 of 24 shots (62.5%) from behind the arc before the break.
Miami snapped a streak of four straight road losses that all came by at least 12 points.
Denver broke seven weather records last month and came close to breaking the record for warmest December in city history, according to the National Weather Service.
By the time the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, transitioning Denver into 2026, Denver had officially recorded its second-warmest December on record, according to the weather service.
Cold spells at the beginning and end of the month kept the city from breaking the overall December record, meteorologists said.
But the city still broke daily temperature records seven times in the month, including on Christmas Eve and Christmas. It also documented 21 days where the average temperature was more than 6 degrees above normal, according to the weather service.
The latest first snow in Denver was recorded on Dec. 10, 2021, weather service records show. That year also hosted the longest snow drought documented in Denver, with no snow falling in the city for 232 days.
How to save money on your energy bill as heating costs surge – CBS News
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The cost of heating a home is going through the roof, but there are steps you can take to try to keep your energy bills down. Ash-har Quraishi has details.
68 degrees in Boulder, which would tie the city’s record set in 2005;
49 degrees in Breckenridge, which would break the city’s 47-degree record set in 1906;
70 degrees in Brighton, which would break the 63-degree record set in 1980;
67 degrees in Castle Rock, which would break the 66-degree record set in 1971;
57 degrees in Estes Park, which would break the 54-degree record set in 1959;
62 degrees in Evergreen, which would tie the record set in 1971;
70 degrees in Lakewood, which would break the 63-degree record set in 1963;
69 degrees in Limon, which would tie the record set in 1955;
And 50 degrees in Walden, which would break the 45-degree record set in 1994.
The Denver area will remain dry, but there’s a chance snow will return to Colorado’s mountains Thursday, forecasters said.
If snow falls, the state’s mountain passes will see between a trace and 5 inches of snow, according to the weather service. Up to 18 inches of snow is possible on Mount Zirkel, the highest peak of the Rocky Mountains’ Park Range.
How to save on heat and energy costs this winter – CBS News
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Cold weather spikes often mean higher energy bills. Ash-har Quraishi has tips on how people can “energy audit” their own homes and lower the cost of their monthly heating bills.
The heat has been out for more than a month in a large part of the historic Alden Towers apartment complex on Detroit’s east riverfront, forcing tenants in 98 units to warm their homes with space heaters in a building that has a growing list of safety and maintenance problems.
The city’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) issued an emergency correction order on Nov. 24 after inspecting the four-tower complex and confirming that one tower lost heat on Nov. 4. Tenants say building management, Friedman Real Estate, didn’t turn on the heat until Nov. 1, weeks after temperatures dropped, and it went out three days later. Tenants still have no heat in the A Tower.
On Tuesday, one day after Metro Times contacted the city about the outage, Detroit began issuing $2,000 fines to the building’s owner, Alden Towers Holding Company LLC, and will continue writing tickets every day until heat is restored. The city is also weighing legal action.
“We have been aware of isolated heat complaints in one of the towers at Alden Towers but were unaware of it being a widespread issue until just recently,” BSEED spokesperson Georgette Johnson told Metro Times in a statement Tuesday. “Last week, we wrote an emergency correction order for the landlord to address the issues. As of Monday, the issue still had not been fixed. This is unacceptable. Yesterday, we issued tickets to the owner in the amount of $2,000 and will continue to write tickets daily until the issue is addressed and tenants have reliable heat. We also are working with the Law Department on potential legal action against the owner of the building.”
In May 2023, a three-alarm fire ripped through the B Tower after a candle fell in one of the units, sending thick black smoke through hallways and trapping residents. Tenants say some alarms never sounded. Two people were treated for smoke inhalation.
Now, tenants say they’ve been told to rely on multiple space heaters to stay warm because management cannot provide heat. Temperatures are expected to plummet to single digits this weekend.
“I have three space heaters. My son lives here with me,” one long-time tenant who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation tells Metro Times. “They were super late turning the heat on this season. We were already freezing on Halloween.”
Tenants are worried the space heaters will significantly increase their electric bills and potentially cause a fire.
Another tenant, who has lived in the building for about seven years, says he has trouble working because his apartment is so frigid.
“It’s been so cold,” he says. “I got home from business and it was freezing and I couldn’t even work. I have two space heaters.”
Tenants have posted handwritten signs on the hallways, encouraging residents to reach out to the city.
In a statement to Metro Times on Tuesday, Friedman Real Estate said the outage was caused by a failed boiler and circulation pump and that a temporary solution is in the works.
”A custom replacement circulation pump is already on order and is scheduled for delivery and installation in mid-January,” the statement read. “In the meantime, ownership has authorized the rapid deployment and installation of a temporary boiler to restore heat as quickly as possible. Supplemental heating is also available upon request, and our property management team is working closely with both the City and mechanical specialists to stabilize heating throughout the building as quickly as possible.”
Tenants countered that the ”supplemental heating,” meaning space heaters, has already ran out and is no longer available.
The owner did not return calls for comment.
Since August 2024, the city has cited the owner at least six times for a total of $1,600 in fines for violations ranging from failing to obtain a certificate of compliance and maintain clean, sanitary conditions to ignoring unsafe building conditions, broken fire-safety doors, and required safety equipment that wasn’t working.
One tenant says her family, including her baby, has developed significant health problems caused by mold in their unit. She says the building has not addressed the issue despite repeated complaints.
Overflowing dumpsters outside Alden Towers in Detroit. Credit: Steve Neavling
On Tuesday, Metro Times spotted dumpsters outside Alden Towers that were so overfilled that trash was heaped above the lids and spilling down the sides, with bags, boxes, and loose debris scattered across the snowy ground.
Alden Towers, originally built in 1922 and once considered one of the most distinctive apartment complexes on the Detroit River, now faces a long list of complaints, including broken elevators, mold, flooding, overflowing trash, roach infestations, unsafe hallways, and a management company that tenants say is indifferent and punitive.
Residents say the decline began after the building was purchased in 2019 by Alden Towers Holding Company LLC, a company tied to Belfor Holdings Inc., according to tax and state property records and a previous report from Crain’s Detroitthat lists a Belfor executive as a member of the LLC.
“It went extremely downhill,” one tenant says. “You can tell they don’t care. Previously it was calm and quiet. As soon as they let their guard down, they let in anyone. It changed the culture of the people living there.”
Maintenance issues have been piling up, tenants say.
“One of the biggest things is the elevators,” a tenant says. “They break down on a weekly basis. Sometimes both of them break down at the same time. What happens to people who are handicapped? There are no fire escapes.”
Several tenants say management has responded to complaints by refusing to renew leases, forcing outspoken residents out. One tenant says her lease was not renewed after she repeatedly contacted the city about problems in the building. She has lived there nine years.
“They said they refused to renew it,” she says. “I had to file a counterclaim against them. I’ve never paid rent late. I’ve never had complaints or violations of my lease.”
The threats of eviction stretch back at least a year or two. In a Metro Times story chronicling the problems at Alden Towers in April 2024, a resident said she was threatened with eviction after raising concerns about safety and sanitation. Other residents described poor conditions, from lack of heat and hot water to broken elevators and roaches.
It has only gotten worse since, tenants say, accusing the city of not taking quicker and more drastic action.
“It’s like being stuck,” the long-time tenant says. “The city is kind of scared to hold them accountable because they don’t want to scare away investors.”
With nearly 400 units across four eight-story towers, Alden Towers is home to seniors, working families, disabled residents, and lower-income tenants. According to census data cited by a resident, 22% of tenants live below the poverty line.
“We have vulnerable, elderly people here,” one resident says. “A lot of our residents are either really young or really old. A lot of them are SSI recipients.”
Without functioning heat, many tenants say they are worried about winter conditions and the risk of using space heaters in a century-old building that already experienced a major fire.
“Now you have a bunch of tenants with space heaters, which are potential hazards,” a tenant says.
Originally built as the Berman Apartments, Alden Towers features crenellated limestone rooflines, ornate brickwork, courtyards, and sweeping river views. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Its current website describes it as a boutique, modern riverfront community.
Tenants say the description is nothing like what they’ve experienced.
“It used to be a nice place to live and a good community,” a tenant says. “Now most people are trying to move.”
The long-time tenant who keeps three space heaters says she is leaving this month after nine years. She considers herself lucky.
“If I didn’t know where I was moving to, this would be a lot worse,” she says. “I love and care about my neighbors, and I really feel bad for them.”
Metro Times could not reach the owner or management company for comment.
Alden Towers is just the latest historic building in Detroit to face repercussions for neglect and deplorable conditions. The historic Leland House in downtown Detroit is on the verge of getting shut down because of delinquent DTE Energy bills and decades of neglect.
Federal funding that millions of Americans use to help pay their heating bills in the winter is arriving weeks behind schedule due to disruptions from the government shutdown, which ended earlier this month. The National Energy Assistance Directors Association announced Friday that $3.6 billion in funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has been released to states and tribes.“This release of LIHEAP funding is essential and long overdue,” said Mark Wolfe, Executive Director of NEADA. “Families can finally begin receiving the support they need to keep the heat on as winter begins.”Normally, states get this money at the beginning of November. Next, the money goes to heating vendors. Wolfe said in an email that the timeline will vary by state, but “most move pretty fast.” It can’t come soon enough. Wolfe said there were some utility shutoffs during the delay, and the lag affected many of the same families who rely on SNAP benefits for groceries, which were also disrupted by the government shutdown.Wolfe previously raised concerns that the funding delay could stretch into January, citing the Trump administration’s decision to lay off LIHEAP’s administrative staff earlier this year. The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees LIHEAP, previously said it would work “swiftly” to administer annual awards after the government reopened. As of Friday evening, HHS had not publicly announced the resumption of funding. The agency didn’t immediately return our request for comment. The longest government shutdown in American history started in October and ended after more than 40 days. For weeks, most Democrats refused to support a government funding extension while holding out for various healthcare demands. In the end, a handful of Democrats crossed the aisle to support a short-term funding deal in exchange for a future Senate vote on health policy, with no guaranteed outcome.Get more from the Washington Bureau here:
WASHINGTON —
Federal funding that millions of Americans use to help pay their heating bills in the winter is arriving weeks behind schedule due to disruptions from the government shutdown, which ended earlier this month.
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association announced Friday that $3.6 billion in funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has been released to states and tribes.
“This release of LIHEAP funding is essential and long overdue,” said Mark Wolfe, Executive Director of NEADA. “Families can finally begin receiving the support they need to keep the heat on as winter begins.”
Normally, states get this money at the beginning of November.
Next, the money goes to heating vendors. Wolfe said in an email that the timeline will vary by state, but “most move pretty fast.”
It can’t come soon enough. Wolfe said there were some utility shutoffs during the delay, and the lag affected many of the same families who rely on SNAP benefits for groceries, which were also disrupted by the government shutdown.
Wolfe previously raised concerns that the funding delay could stretch into January, citing the Trump administration’s decision to lay off LIHEAP’s administrative staff earlier this year.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees LIHEAP, previously said it would work “swiftly” to administer annual awards after the government reopened.
As of Friday evening, HHS had not publicly announced the resumption of funding. The agency didn’t immediately return our request for comment.
The longest government shutdown in American history started in October and ended after more than 40 days. For weeks, most Democrats refused to support a government funding extension while holding out for various healthcare demands. In the end, a handful of Democrats crossed the aisle to support a short-term funding deal in exchange for a future Senate vote on health policy, with no guaranteed outcome.
Hot iPads are a different kind of problem than hot phones. iPads are more often caseless, since many users keep them at home, and they often rest directly on a user’s lap. An iPad is also huge compared to a phone, and the Pro version is often used in processor-intensive ways—such as for music recording, gaming, and onboard AI apps, all of which can be slowed down for safety when that powerful M5 starts pulsating with heat.
But cutting-edge vapor cooling looks like it’s coming to the rescue. According to Mark Gurman, the Apple leaks guy at Bloomberg, a vapor chamber for the iPad Pro is now “on the company’s road map.”
Heat became a major problem for the iPad’s sibling the iPhone back in 2023, probably brought on by the switch from stainless steel to titanium for the device’s frame. It was rumored that the heat was so bad, even those weird people who use their iPhones caseless had to case up when they got iPhone 15s, not to protect their investments from damage, but instead as one would use an oven mitt—to spare their fingers from getting seared.
Apple evidently heard the ensuing user complaints, and brought vapor chambers to the iPhone 17. The cooling from that change to the iPhone’s guts, along with the relocation of the processor for similar reasons, was flagged in Gizmodo’s iPhone 17 review as a selling point.
And now, according to Gurman, iPad Pros should be getting vapor chambers in fairly short order too.
Apple didn’t invent these. Samsung phones, for instance, could boast vapor chambers all the way back in 2019. But Apple’s version of this system—a nearly empty gap sandwiched between two paper thin wafers of metal—is a fascinating piece of tech ingenuity all the same. They contain literal water, which literally boils inside your device in order to help dissipate heat.
Gurman notes that the product cycle for the iPad Pro is currently 18 months, meaning an updated device with advanced cooling should be in users’ delicate hands in spring of 2027.
If you’ve been suffering an unseasonably warm October, wondering when autumn will arrive and all this darn sunshine will go away so you can get into the proper chilly Halloween spirit, then here’s another concern for you: a new study found a correlation between hot weather and workplace injuries.
The data, published in a report at the journal BioMed Central, found that just over 1 percent of all reported workplace injuries in the U.S. in the period studied (2023) were directly attributable to “heat exposure on days exceeding a heat index of 70°F.” Though the researchers admitted that most of the injuries were associated with “high-hazard” industries, not all of the injuries are related to direct exposure to extreme heat, as you may imagine, say, an outdoor-based worker may be under climate change conditions. The report notes that the results were “consistent across nearly all industry sectors, including those that are predominantly indoors,” and that “heat exposure has been associated with subtler impairments in physiological and cognitive performance.”
In other words, heat makes you clumsy and inattentive, and you might be more likely to, say, trip over an office chair you hadn’t noticed and injure yourself in much the same way as an outdoor worker may be more likely to drop a tool from a height onto a coworker when it was hot outside.
Speaking to NPR, the lead author of the study, Barrak Alamahad, a research scientist in environmental health at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, underlined this fact. He noted that when heat rises, even in the “safe” environment of an office, there are indeed notable “cognitive effects — hand-eye coordination, your attention, your memory, and even judgment or risk-taking or irritation.”
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Interestingly, the team found that there was a link to government anti-heat efforts in the data. When it was hotter than 105°F, the odds of injury compared to the odds on a typical 80°F day increased by 16 percent in states without heat-related safety rules. Rates rose just 8 percent in states with regulations designed to protect workers from heat issues. When the temperature hit 110°F and higher, the odds of an injury increased 22 percent — that’s a significant amount — in states without occupational heat rules, compared to just 9 percent in states with rules. This suggests a “protective effect,” the report notes, while pointing out the data isn’t 100 percent accurate for this prediction.
The study also noted that some 28,000 injuries in 2023 were related to heat, according to OSHA data correlated with historic, geolocated weather data near the site of each injury. Overall the report suggests that there may be mechanisms for preventing heat-related issues, which could reduce the figures for injuries per year. That’s significant, because injuries do more than harm a worker’s health—they may take them out of commission for a while, directly impacting company productivity, or they may result in expensive medical bills, insurance fees or litigation against their employer.
What can you take away from this investigation for your own workforce’s safety?
Heat may be a much bigger problem for your workers than you realize. The report notes that even “moderate daily heat can subtly increase the risk of workplace injuries that are not thought of nor classified as ‘heat-related’.”
To prevent your workers from being injured, you can try technical solutions, like air conditioning for indoor facilities. But the researchers also note that you should carry out “occupational safety training” and that your company’s safety education process should “explicitly warn about the role of heat” in potential injuries. You can also plan for allowing workers rest, water and shade, and given them written heat plans—all of which could be “critical for safeguarding worker health, and reducing the ‘hidden’ economic costs of heat-related injuries.”
The other thing to note is that extreme heat events are on the rise, and climate change isn’t going away — so these sorts of injuries will likely be a growing factor in future workplace risks.
The thermometer may currently read 80 or 90 degrees, but now is the time when Minnesotans concerned about paying for energy costs this winter will want to create a payment plan so their heat isn’t turned off.
Although Minnesota has a Cold Weather Rule that prevents a utility service from being disconnected for both renters and homeowners, customers must also have a payment plan set up and maintained. The payment agreement will need to be agreed upon by both the customer and the company.
If a payment plan can’t be reached, customers can appeal under the Cold Weather Rule. According to CenterPoint Energy, a payment agreement will not only take into account the customer’s financial situation but also extenuating household circumstances.
However, officials with NEADA say homeowners with electric heat are expected to see an even higher increase. The average price last winter was $1,093, and this year, NEADA projects that same average cost to be $1,205. That’s an increase of $112, or 10.2%.
The Cold Weather Rule takes effect on Wednesday and lasts through April 30. If you want to create a payment plan, you should contact your utility provider to do so.
Americans will dish out more money to heat their homes this winter as electricity and natural gas costs continue to soar.
That’s according to a new study from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) which predicts thatAmericans will see their energy bill rise 7.6% to $976 on average this cold weather season. Those who rely on natural gas to heat their home could see an 8.4% jump in their bill, while those who use electricity could see a 10.2% increase.
While electricity prices vary by state, overall the cost is rising. In August, prices increased by 6.2% compared with the same month last year, according to the latest inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Those costs will continue to escalate as much as 18% in the next few years, according to a May report from The U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Natural gas prices are up 13.8% from last year, far outpacing the rate of inflation, which rose 2.9% in August on an annual basis.
Not all Americans will see an increase in their winter energy bills. Heating oil and propane users — roughly only 10% of U.S. households — could see their energy bills decrease by 4% and 5% respectively.
The overall rising home-heating costs follow greater summer air-conditioning use, amid warmer temperatures. “The average summer household electricity bill reached an estimated $776 in 2025, the highest in at least 12 years compounding household strain,” the report states.
“We had a period of relatively stable electric bills and then last year electricity went up twice the rate of inflation,” Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA, told CBS MoneyWatch.
As a result, more American households are falling behind on their energy bills.
Since Dec. 31, 2023, energy arrearages — unpaid energy bills that homeowners owe to their utility company — have risen by about 31%, from approximately $17.5 billion to $23.0 billion by June 30, 2025, NEADA said in its report.
The surge in energy arrearages comes as Americans are carrying record amounts of debt. With inflation continuing to ramp up the cost of daily living, ahead of wages, total household debt reached $18.39 trillion in the second quarter of 2025, with unpaid credit card balances exceeding $1.21 trillion.
Why are energy prices rising?
The main factors driving up energy prices is the ongoing high cost of maintaining and upgrading the grid, along with rising natural gas prices and increasing electricity demand from data centers according to the NEADA report.
“As demand goes up and supply is not matching that, prices are going to go up,” Abe Scarr, director of the Energy and Utilities Program at the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), told CBS MoneyWatch
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also created volatility in energy prices, government data shows.
So far this year, approximately 60 utility companies have either increased electricity and gas prices or proposed further increases, according to the Center for American Progress, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. With more rate hikes on the horizon, American households will have to try to stretch their income even further.
“Families just finished paying their high electric bills for the summer, and now they’re looking at high bills for the winter,” Wolfe said.
How to lower your utility bills
As winter approaches, what can Americans do to lower their utility bill?
Scarr suggests that people check with their utility companies, which often offer incentive programs to help customers implement cost-saving measures. Offerings vary by utility, but many companies provide free home energy assessments and discounts for people who want to insulate their homes.
For those interested in fortifying the envelope of their home to minimize heat loss, options include hiring a contractor for a professional retrofit or, for straightforward insulation projects, DIY tips, he said.
When it comes to general energy conservation, experts suggest unplugging small appliances or electronics when you’re not using them. While it might seem obvious, people can also turn down the temperature in the home a few degrees to save money, said Scarr.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a federally funded initiative with a network of state-run programs, is another resource. LIHEAP provides financial assistance to help eligible low-income households cover energy costs.
Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.
For those who like to crank the thermostat up during the winter, a new report showing data for the Midwest and other parts of the country says you should be prepared for a much higher price tag this season if you have electric heat.
Friday’s report from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association says that on average, heating costs will increase by more than 7.5% from last winter across the country, from $907 to $976. However, officials with NEADA say homeowners with electric heat are expected to see an even higher increase.
The average price last winter was $1,093, and this year, NEADA projects that same average cost to be $1,205. That’s an increase of $112, or 10.2%.
The association says electrical bill increases are due to the construction of large data centers, the rising cost of natural gas as well as maintaining and upgrading the electrical grid.
The report went on to break down estimated winter heating costs by region by using regional temperature and price projections. In the Midwest, electric heat users on average spent $1,251 last winter, according to the report, which projects this winter to cost $1,498. That’s an increase of $246, or nearly 20%.
Meanwhile, natural gas users in the Midwest should see an average increase of $99, while propane users should see an increase of about $5. Those are increases of 16.4% and 0.5% from last winter, respectively.
Since the winter of 2021-2022, NEADA says the average winter heating cost has risen by 31% for electric users and 26.5% for those who use natural gas.
According to NEADA, roughly 21 million households are behind on energy bills. Nationally, 3 million homes had their energy shut off in 2023, and another 3.5 million followed suit in 2024. This year, that number could reach 4 million.
In Minnesota, a state law known as the Cold Weather Rule prevents utility services from being shut off from Oct. 1 to April 30, while the Extreme Heat Law makes sure electricity isn’t turned off when temperatures reach excessive heat levels. However, to make sure your service isn’t disconnected, a payment plan must be made and agreed upon by the user and the utility company. A payment plan can be set up at any time during the Cold Weather Rule season.
Human-caused climate change drove up risky and unnatural heat for nearly 2 billion people this summer, according to a new report from Climate Central. CBS News national environmental correspondent David Schechter breaks it down.
Summer in Philadelphia got off to a blazing start, topping 100 degrees once in June and hitting 98 twice in July, but the city is entering Labor Day weekend at the end of an unusually cool August.
The National Weather Service in Mount Holly said Friday that the region as a whole is experiencing the coolest August it’s had in about 10 years. The final few days of the month will settle where this August lands historically, but as of Friday it’s Philly’s coolest since 2017.
Using readings from Philadelphia International Airport, the mean temperature in the city so far this month has been 75.4 degrees — which is 1.6 degrees below normal.
The average daily high for August is about 84 degrees, with the maximum reached in the month typically around 95 degrees.
This August, there have already been seven days in Philly with a high temperature under 80 degrees — the most since there were nine days under that mark in 2017.
There have been 20 days this month with a low temperature below 70 degrees, the most since there were 23 days that fell below that temp in 2017. Normally, the lowest temperature for August is 60 degrees. Thursday’s low reached 59 degrees, and the highest temperature reached this month was 94 degrees.
“It really just boils down to the pattern we’ve had,” NWS meteorologist Alex Staarmann said. “The first two weeks of the month were probably the most noticeably cool. We had pretty persistent high pressure over southeastern Canada and New England. Whenever we get that kind of a setup, it tends to result in a lot of onshore winds, which we had for about two weeks — constantly east winds coming right off the ocean.”
Staarmann said the high pressure pattern and winds explain why some coastal areas, including Atlantic City, are on track for their coolest August in 30 years.
NWS considers the climatological summer to be June through August. The mean temperature in Philly in June was 75.4 degrees, which was 1.9 degrees above normal. The mean for July was 81.9 degrees, which was 3.2 degrees above normal. Temperatures this summer often felt hotter than the readings at the airport, which don’t take into account “real feel” factors including humidity, cloud cover and wind.
This summer’s mean temperature has been 77.6 degrees despite the recent cool down. That’s higher than the usual summer mean of 76.7 degrees.
“June and July were so hot that it’s still not quite offsetting,” Staarmann said. “If this month had been really hot, then we could be looking at close to record territory.”
The Labor Day weekend forecast in Philly calls for a sunny Saturday with a high near 76 and another sunny day on Sunday with a high of 78. Labor Day will be mostly sunny with a high of 79. If the forecast holds, this August would likely end up being Philly’s coolest since 2014.
Despite the cooler month, Staarmann said Philly shouldn’t sleep on temperatures possibly heating up in early September. In 2023, the hottest recorded temperatures of the year in the city were in early September, when it hit 96 degrees on Sept. 4 and 97 degrees on Sept. 7.
“This August doesn’t necessarily translate to any (pattern) like it being a cool or wet fall,” Staarmann said. “We could end up having an above-normal September.”
SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon State Fair opened Friday with scorching triple-digit temperatures expected, but organizers say they’re ready to keep visitors and animals comfortable.
The fairgrounds in Salem are outfitted with two refrigerated buildings, seven drinking fountains, five bottle-filling stations, and five misting stations. Fans and shaded areas have also been set up to keep livestock cool as the heatwave continues, with highs expected in the 90s on Saturday.
This year’s theme, Flavors of Fun, highlights the variety of food vendors.
“We have a ton of food vendors and we’re really proud to host a diverse array of food,” said Alex Hasenstab, a spokesperson for the fair. “We’ll have the corn dogs and funnel cake, but you can also try things like a Korean corn dog and Spam fries.”
Along with food, the fair features crafts, produce, and retail vendors. Visitors will also find traditional farm animal exhibits, many of which are raised by kids involved in 4-H and FFA programs, plus horse shows and livestock competitions.
Entertainment includes 11 concerts and a carnival with 55 rides, including seven new attractions.
An Arizona man says police held him down on scorching asphalt while arresting him during the height of Phoenix’s summer heat wave, causing third-degree burns on his body.
Video obtained by CBS News from the man’s attorney shows Michael Kenyon talking on his cell phone walking in a parking lot on July 6 when police pull up in a Phoenix police truck. Two officers get out and Kenyon puts away his phone. Within a few minutes, they try to handcuff him and a struggle ensues. Two backup officers then arrive at the scene.
It appears from the video that the four officers push Kenyon onto the ground and hold him there. Officers then scuffle with Kenyon before he is finally handcuffed and the officers lift him from the asphalt and escort him into a police vehicle.
Kenyon’s attorney, Bobby DiCello, said he spent more than one month in the hospital after the incident recovering from burns from the asphalt.
When officers lifted Kenyon off the asphalt, his melted skin peeled off and fell to the ground, his attorney said. Police called an ambulance after an officer noticed his burns, police said.
Video stills show Phoenix police holding Michael Kenyon on the ground. He later said he got burns on his body from the asphalt.
Bobby DiCello
“They held a man — another human being — on a surface so hot that it caused his skin to bubble and boil. It defies all reason,” DiCello said in a statement, adding his client was now “scarred for life.”
Phoenix police said officers responded to a call regarding a theft in progress. “Officers made contact with Kenyon, telling him he was being detained so they could understand what may have occurred. The man struggled with police, which resulted with him being taken to the ground on the hot asphalt. The man sustained burns to different parts of his body from the time he was on the ground,” police said in a statement to CBS News.
Police said Kenyon was determined not to be the robbery suspect they were searching for that day. Later when he was taken to the hospital, officers learned he had a felony warrant out for his arrest.
Phoenix police said their Professional Standards Bureau is investigating the incident.
Cara Tabachnick is a news editor at CBSNews.com. Cara began her career on the crime beat at Newsday. She has written for Marie Claire, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. She reports on justice and human rights issues. Contact her at cara.tabachnick@cbsinteractive.com
The blistering, record-setting heat that has lingered over the San Francisco Bay Area for the past week will start to loosen its grip Monday, with officials downgrading local Excessive Heat Warnings to Heat Advisories.
While the temperatures will still be warmer than average on Monday, they will finally begin to decline this week starting Monday evening, the National Weather Service said.
With the higher confidence of deeper onshore flow Monday evening, all Excessive Heat Warnings were downgraded to Heat Advisories in effect until 11 p.m. Monday, officials said.
The Bay Area office of the National Weather Service posted about the downgrade on X early Monday morning, noting that the Heat Advisory for the coast was no longer in effect.
Okay folks. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. We’re tired of it too, but here’s some good news. All Excessive Heat Warnings have been downgraded to Heat Advisories (until 11 PM today), and the Heat Advisory for the coast is no longer in effect. We can do this!! 📉#CAwxpic.twitter.com/64RIyoZCMS
The Excessive Heat Warning was initially extended for much of the Bay Area through Monday, as a late heat wave sizzles the region for the seventh day in a row.
Temperatures across lower elevations were actually a couple of degrees warmer than this time Sunday morning, which may lead to a slight increase in the temperature forecast for Monday. However, temps at higher elevations are running a few degrees cooler than 24 hours ago, hinting that lower level temps in the atmosphere are beginning to gradually cool.
Temperatures Monday will likely fall off more quickly Monday evening as onshore flow is restored. However, for the day, moderate heat risk will persist across much of the region away from the coast in the interior East Bay, the Santa Cruz Mountains, the North Bay Mountains, and Eastern Santa Clara Hills.
🥵We know it was hot today, but what about record heat? Numerous records fell around the Bay Area and Central Coast on Sunday, October 6, 2024. #cawx#caheatpic.twitter.com/MLNuTC2q4n
San Rafael hit the highest temps in the Bay Area on Sunday, at 107 degrees. The closest temperature match there was when the city was 95 degrees back in 2023. Also in Marin, the town of Kentfield hit 102, beating out the previous high of 97 in 1930.
In Sonoma County, Santa Rosa reached 102 degrees, matching the same temps for this day in 1930.
In Napa County, highs at Napa State Hospital topped 102, also beating out the heatwave of 1930 when it was measured at 96 degrees.
Downtown San Francisco also beat its previous record of 94 in 1992, by reaching 97 degrees. At the airport it was 98 degrees, beating 2023’s high of 92.
In the South Bay, Redwood City reached 102 degrees, 3 degrees higher than its record of 99 in 1987. San Jose hit 103, beating out 2023’s 95-degree record. And the Salinas airport clocked a high of 98 degrees, matching 2023’s high.
The NWS noted that all these numbers are preliminary and official temps will be released from the National Centers for Environmental Information.
