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  • Social Security recipients get a 2.8% cost-of-living boost in 2026, average of $56 per month

    Social Security recipients get a 2.8% cost-of-living boost in 2026, average of $56 per month

    WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration’s annual cost-of-living adjustment will go up by 2.8% in 2026, translating to an average increase of more than $56 for retirees every month, agency officials said Friday.

    The benefits increase for nearly 71 million Social Security recipients will go into effect beginning in January. And increased payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will begin on Dec. 31.

    Friday’s announcement was meant to be made last week but was delayed because of the federal government shutdown.

    From June: DOGE cuts have made it hard for Philly seniors to get Social Security offices on the phone

    The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees and disabled beneficiaries is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers, up to a certain annual salary, which is slated to increase to $184,500 in 2026, from $176,100 in 2025.

    Recipients received a 2.5% cost-of-living boost in 2025 and a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, after a historically large 8.7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation.

    The smaller increase for 2026 reflects moderating inflation. The agency will notify recipients of their new benefit amount by mail in early December.

    From May: How will switch to all-digital Social Security payments affect Pennsylvanians?

    Some seniors say the increase isn’t enough

    Some seniors say the cost-of-living adjustment won’t help much in their ability to pay for their daily expenses. Linda Deas, an 80-year-old Florence, South Carolina, resident said “it does not match the affordability crisis we are having right now.”

    Deas, a retired information systems network operations specialist, moved to South Carolina from New York in 2022 to be closer to family. She says her monthly rent has increased by $400 in the past two years.

    She listed other items that have become more expensive for her in the past two years, including auto insurance and food. “If you have been into the supermarkets lately you will notice how prices are going up, not down,” she said.

    Deas is not alone in feeling that costs are getting out of control. Polling from the AARP shows that older Americans are increasingly struggling to keep up in today’s economy. The poll states that only 22% of Americans over age 50 agree that a COLA of right around 3% for Social Security recipients is enough to keep up with rising prices, while 77% disagree. That sentiment is consistent across political party affiliations, according to the AARP.

    In Deas’ case, the MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates that an adult living alone in Florence, South Carolina, would spend per year $10,184 for housing, $3,053 for medical expenses and $3,839 for food.

    AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said the COLA is “a lifeline of independence and dignity, for tens of millions of older Americans,” but even with the annual inflation-gauged boost in income, “older adults still face challenges covering basic expenses.”

    Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in a statement Friday that the annual cost-of-living adjustment “is one way we are working to make sure benefits reflect today’s economic realities and continue to provide a foundation of security.”

    Emerson Sprick, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s director of retirement and labor policy, said in a statement that cost-of-living increases “can’t solve all the financial challenges households face or all the shortcomings of the program.”

    The agency has been in turmoil in recent months

    The latest COLA announcement comes as the Social Security Administration has been navigating almost a year of turmoil, including the termination of thousands of workers as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce. Trump administration officials have also made statements they later walked back that raised concerns about the future of the program.

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in July that the Republican administration was committed to protecting Social Security hours after he said in an interview that a new children’s savings program President Donald Trump signed into law “is a back door for privatizing Social Security.”

    And in September, Bisignano had to walk back comments that the agency is considering raising the retirement age to shore up Social Security. “Raising the retirement age is not under consideration at this time by the Administration,” Bisignano said at the time in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press.

    “I think everything’s being considered, will be considered,” Bisignano said in the statement when asked whether raising the retirement age was a possibility to maintain the old age program’s solvency.

    Efforts to boost benefits for seniors

    In addition, the Social Security Administration faces a looming bankruptcy date if it is not addressed by Congress. The June 2025 Social Security and Medicare trustees’ report states that Social Security’s trust funds, which cover old age and disability recipients, will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034. Then, Social Security would only be able to pay 81% of benefits.

    Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago, when the federal government raised the eligibility age for the program from 65 to 67.

    While a permanent solution for shoring up the benefits program has not been passed into law, both the Trump and Biden administrations have recently signed into law new benefits for retirees, which are expected to boost their finances.

    The Trump administration, as part of Republicans’ tax and spending bill, gave tax relief to many seniors through a temporary tax deduction for seniors aged 65 and over, which applies to all income — not just Social Security. However, those who won’t be able to claim the deduction include the lowest-income seniors who already don’t pay taxes on Social Security, those who choose to claim their benefits before they reach age 65 and those above a defined income threshold.

    Additionally, former President Joe Biden in 2024 repealed two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — that previously limited Social Security payouts for roughly 2.8 million people, including largely former public workers.

    These measures have accelerated the insolvency of the old-age benefits program.

    Sprick at the Bipartisan Policy Center said “there have been longstanding questions about whether benefits are adequate for low-income seniors, which should inspire urgency among policymakers to work toward broader reforms instead of ignoring Social Security’s long-term solvency.”

  • What is the Shutdown Fairness Act 2025?

    The Shutdown Fairness Act 2025 is a GOP-backed bill that would pay federal employees who are working during the government shutdown, with Republicans continuing to put pressure on Democrats to reopen the government.

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune earlier this week announced the measure, Senate Bill 3012, as hundreds of thousands of federal workers will miss their paychecks, while the military, while paid Oct. 15, face missing their Oct. 31 paychecks. This as families face food security issues, with SNAP benefits stretched thin.

    Some Philly federal workers are working through the shutdown. It’s ‘awful’ and ‘depressing.’

    Senate Bill 3012, known as the S. 3012, is a measure that would pay federal employees who are working through the shutdown, including members of the military and contractors who support “excepted” work.

    Majority Whip Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, said live on the Senate floor on Thursday, Oct. 23, that there was “no single argument against passing it immediately” since it would pay the troops, Coast Guard, Border Patrol, members of ICE, air traffic controllers, TSA agents at airports, and Capitol police officers in Washington, D.C.

    The bill would provide “such sums as are necessary” to pay non-furloughed workers; however, Democrats have argued that all federal workers, including those on furlough, should be paid.

    Federal shutdown may bring a halt to food assistance for half a million Philadelphians

    The bill, sponsored by GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, applies only to “excepted” federal employees whose work is considered essential during a period of prolapsed funding. Those employees continue to work but cannot get back pay until the shutdown is over. Nonessential workers are placed on furlough, and also get back pay.

    The bill was first proposed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune this week. The legislation requires the backing of Democrats, but some have warned the bill would give power to President Donald Trump.

    “We know what will happen — any agencies that he doesn’t like won’t get paid,” Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, told reporters earlier this week, per CBS News.

  • NBA head coach and player charged in sprawling sports betting and Mafia-backed poker schemes

    NBA head coach and player charged in sprawling sports betting and Mafia-backed poker schemes

    NEW YORK — The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday along with more than 30 other people in a takedown of two sprawling gambling operations that authorities said leaked inside information about NBA athletes and rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.

    Portland coach Chauncey Billups was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games tied to La Cosa Nostra organized crime families that cheated unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. Heat guard Terry Rozier was accused in a separate scheme of exploiting private information about players to win bets on NBA games.

    The two indictments unsealed in New York create a massive cloud for the NBA — which opened its season this week — and show how certain types of wagers are vulnerable to massive fraud in the growing, multibillion-dollar legal sports-betting industry. Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, called it “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”

    “My message to the defendants who’ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended,” Nocella said. “Your luck has run out.”

    Both men face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges. Also charged was former NBA assistant coach and player Damon Jones, who stands accused of participating in both schemes.

    “The fraud is mind boggling,” FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multiyear investigation.”

    The alleged fraud, however, paled in comparison to the riches the athletes earned on the court. Billups, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, had about $106 million in earnings over his 17-year career. Rozier made about $160 million in his stops in Boston, Miami and Charlotte.

    Billups and Rozier have been placed on leave from their teams, according to the NBA, which said it is cooperating with authorities.

    “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the NBA said in a statement.

    Hours after his arrest, Rozier appeared in a federal court in Orlando, Florida, wearing a Charlotte Hornets sweatshirt, handcuffs and shackles. Billups appeared before a judge in Portland, Oregon. Both men were ordered released from custody on certain conditions.

    Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, issued a statement Thursday evening denying the allegations, calling his client a “man of integrity.” “To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall-of-Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game,” Heywood said.

    Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a statement that his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.” Trusty criticized authorities for not allowing his client to surrender on his own and accused officials of wanting “the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk.”

    Messages were left Thursday at a phone number and email address listed in public records for Jones.

    Roughly 20 other defendants appeared in federal court in Brooklyn, where most of them pleaded not guilty. Many of those charged with violent crimes or with lengthy criminal records and ties to organized crime were detained.

    Mafia families profited off gambling scheme, officials say

    The poker scheme lured unwitting players into rigged games with the chance to compete against former professional basketball players like Billups and Jones. The games were fixed using sophisticated cheating technology, such as altered card-shuffling machines, hidden cameras in poker chip trays, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table to read cards, authorities allege.

    The scheme often made use of illegal poker games run by New York crime families that required them to share a portion of their proceeds with the Gambino, Genovese and Bonnano crime families, according to court papers. Members of those families, in turn, also helped commit violent acts, including assault, extortion and robbery, to ensure repayment of debts and the continued success of the operation, officials said in court documents.

    Athletes accused of leaving games early

    In the sports betting scheme, Rozier and other defendants are accused of accessing private information from NBA players or coaches that could affect a player’s performance and giving that information to others so they could place wagers. Players sometimes altered their performance or took themselves out of games early to rig prop bets — a type of wager that allows gamblers to bet on whether a player will exceed a certain statistic, such as a total number of points, rebounds or assists, according to the indictment.

    In one instance, Rozier, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets in 2023, told people he was planning to leave the game early with a supposed injury, allowing gamblers to place wagers earning them tens of thousands of dollars, authorities said. That game against the New Orleans Pelicans raised eyebrows at the time. Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of the game before leaving, citing a foot issue. He did not play again that season.

    Posts still online from March 23, 2023, show that some bettors were furious with sportsbooks that evening when it became evident that Rozier was not going to return to the game after the first quarter, with many turning to social media to say that something “shady” had happened regarding the prop bets involving his stats for that night.

    The indictments contain the descriptions of several unnamed NBA players whose injury status and availability for certain games were the source of betting activity. Those players are not accused of any wrongdoing, and there is no indication that they would have even known what was being said about their status for those games.

    Those players include LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. Their identities are clear based on a review of corresponding injury reports surrounding games mentioned in the indictment. The indictments show that certain defendants shared information about the availability of those players in a game on March 24, 2023, involving the Portland Trail Blazers, and two games in 2023 and 2024 involving the Los Angeles Lakers.

    The NBA had investigated Rozier previously. He was in uniform as the Heat played the Magic on Wednesday in Orlando, Florida, in the season opener for both teams, though he did not play in the game.

  • Vance criticizes Israel’s parliament vote on West Bank annexation, says the move was an ‘insult’

    Vance criticizes Israel’s parliament vote on West Bank annexation, says the move was an ‘insult’

    JERUSALEM — U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized on Thursday a symbolic vote in Israel’s parliament the previous day about annexing the occupied West Bank, saying it amounted to an “insult” and went against the Trump administration policies.

    Hard-liners in the Israeli parliament had narrowly passed a preliminary vote in support of annexing parts of the West Bank — an apparent attempt to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Vance was still in the country.

    The bill, which required only a simple majority of lawmakers present in the house on Wednesday, passed with a 25-24 vote. But it was unlikely to pass multiple rounds of voting to become law or win a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu, who is opposed to it, also has tools to delay or defeat it.

    Before departing Israel, Vance also unveiled new details about U.S. plans for Gaza, saying he expected reconstruction to begin soon in some “Hamas-free” areas of the territory. But he warned that rebuilding the territory after a devastating two-year war could take years.

    “The hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years and theoretically you could have half a million people live (there),” he said, speaking of the strip’s southernmost city.

    That would account for about a quarter of Gaza’s population of roughly 2 million, 90% of whom were displaced from their homes during the war. Out of every 10 buildings that stood in Gaza prewar, eight are either damaged or flattened. An estimated cost of rebuilding Gaza is about $53 billion, according to the World Bank, the U.N. and the European Union.

    Trump’s choice: Let Israel adopt his ‘Gaza Riviera plan’ and expel Palestinians, or press Netanyahu for a ceasefire | Trudy Rubin

    Vance says the vote was an ‘insult’

    The Israeli parliament’s vote has stirred widespread condemnation, with over a dozen countries — including Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia — rebuking it in a joint statement that called all Israeli settlements in the West Bank a violation of international law.

    Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the “vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord.”

    Netanyahu is struggling to stave off early elections as cracks grow more apparent between factions in Israel’s right-wing parties, some of whom were upset over the ceasefire and the security sacrifices it required of Israel.

    Vance said that if the Knesset’s vote was a “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.”

    “I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”

    Vance expresses optimism about the ceasefire in Gaza while noting ‘very hard’ work to come

    The deputy Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Majed Bamya, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that Palestinians “appreciate the clear message” the Trump administration has sent in opposition to annexation.

    While many members of Netanyahu’s coalition, including his Likud Party, support annexation, they have backed off those calls since U.S. President Donald Trump said last month that he opposes such a move.

    The Palestinians seek the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future independent state. Israeli annexation of the West Bank would all but bury hopes for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians — the outcome supported by most of the world.

    Analysts like Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, say that a “de-facto annexation of very large parts” of the West Bank is already underway, referring to the growing number of Israelis living in settlements in the Palestinian territory — even without any law supporting annexation.

    Intense U.S. push toward peace

    Earlier this week, Vance announced the opening of a civilian military coordination center in southern Israel where some 200 U.S. troops are working alongside the Israeli military and delegations from other countries planning the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.

    The United States is seeking support from other allies, especially Gulf Arab nations, to create an international stabilization force to be deployed to Gaza and train a Palestinian force.

    “We’d like to see Palestinian police forces in Gaza that are not Hamas and that are going to do a good job, but those still have to be trained and equipped,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of his trip to Israel.

    Rubio, who was meeting with Netanyahu on Thursday evening, has also criticized Israeli far-right lawmakers’ effort to push for the annexation of the West Bank.

    Israeli media referred to the nonstop parade of American officials visiting to ensure Israel holds up its side of the fragile ceasefire as “Bibi-sitting.” The term, utilizing Netanyahu’s nickname of Bibi, refers to an old campaign ad when Netanyahu positioned himself as the “Bibi-sitter” whom voters could trust with their kids.

    Gaza’s dire need for medical care and aid

    In the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday the group has evacuated 41 critical patients and 145 companions out of the Gaza Strip.

    In a statement posted to X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on nations to show solidarity and help some 15,000 patients who are still waiting for approval to receive medical care outside Gaza.

    His calls were echoed by an official with the U.N. Population Fund who on Wednesday described the “sheer devastation” that he witnessed on his most recent travel to Gaza, saying that there is no such thing as a “normal birth in Gaza now.”

    Andrew Saberton, an executive director at UNFPA, told reporters how difficult the agency’s work has become due to the lack of functioning or even standing health care facilities.

    Another major challenge since the ceasefire began has been getting enough aid into Gaza — and distributed — to the meet the huge demand.

    “We expected Gaza to be flooded with aid the moment the ceasefire began. But that’s not what we’re seeing,” said Bushra Khalidi, who oversees the Palestinian territories division at Oxfam, a nonprofit focused on global poverty.

    More crossings into Gaza need to be opened in order to allow in more trucks, said Antoine Renard, head of the World Food Program in the Palestinian territories.

    “With only two crossings that are open, you are facing clearly congestion,” he said.

    The WFP has 36 distribution centers operating in Gaza, and aims to increase that to 145. Since Oct 11, the U.N. tracking system has recorded 949 aid trucks that were offloaded in Gaza.

  • Trump backs off planned surge of federal agents into San Francisco after talking to the mayor

    Trump backs off planned surge of federal agents into San Francisco after talking to the mayor

    ALAMEDA, Calif. — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he’s backing off a planned surge of federal agents into San Francisco to quell crime after speaking to the mayor and several prominent business leaders who said they’re working hard to clean up the city.

    Trump had been threatening to send the National Guard to San Francisco, a move Mayor Daniel Lurie and Gov. Gavin Newsom said was unnecessary because crime is on the decline. Separately, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began arriving at a Coast Guard base in the region earlier Thursday for a possible ramp up of immigration enforcement, a move that drew several hundred protesters.

    It was not clear if the president was canceling a National Guard deployment or calling off immigration enforcement by CBP agents. At his news conference, Lurie said he could not clarify and could only repeat what the president had told him. Lurie said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “reaffirmed” Trump’s commitment on Thursday morning. DHS oversees CBP agents as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    “The Federal Government was preparing to ‘surge’ San Francisco, California, on Saturday, but friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge,” Trump posted on social media. “I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around.”

    Specifically, Trump said he heard from Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. He said the federal government could handle crime better than city leaders, and he indicated he could still send agents in the future.

    At an afternoon news conference, Lurie said he welcomes the city’s “continued partnership” with the Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal authorities to get illegal narcotics off the streets and contribute to San Francisco’s falling crime rates.

    “But having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery,” the mayor said. Trump’s assertions of out-of-control crime in the city of roughly 830,000 have baffled local and state leaders, who point to statistics showing that many crimes are at record lows.

    Newsom’s office said on X: “Trump has finally, for once, listened to reason — and heard what we have been saying from the beginning. The Bay Area is a shining example of what makes California so special, and any attempt to erode our progress would damage the work we’ve done.”

    Protesters assembled just after dawn at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California, where CBP agents were arriving before Trump made his remarks. Several hundred people stood outside the facility, with many singing hymns and carrying signs saying, “Protect our neighbors” and “No ICE or troops in the Bay.”

    Police used at least one flash-bang grenade to clear a handful of demonstrators from the entrance as CBP vehicles drove onto the base. Organizers urged protesters to remain peaceful, as a line of Coast Guard officers in helmets watched from just outside the entrance.

    Protester Gala King participated in an interfaith vigil against the federal crackdown and in support of immigrants.

    “The Bay Area is a beautiful place full of diversity, and we are here to protect that,” King said. “Our faith traditions, our interfaith traditions, call on us to stand on the side of justice, to stand on the side of those that are most marginalized, that are most targeted right now.”

    Coast Guard Island is an artificial island formed in 1913, and the Coast Guard first established a base there in 1926. The island is owned by the federal government and is not open to the general public, so escorts or specific government ID cards are required for visitors. The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

    Trump has deployed the Guard to Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee, to help fight what he says is rampant crime. Los Angeles was the first city where Trump deployed the Guard, arguing it was necessary to protect federal buildings and agents as protesters fought back against immigration arrests.

    He has also said they are needed in Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Lawsuits from Democratic officials in both cities have so far blocked troops from going onto city streets.

  • Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, high-profile cryptocurrency figure

    Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, high-profile cryptocurrency figure

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and served prison time for failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.

    The pardon caps a monthslong effort by Zhao, a billionaire commonly known as CZ in the crypto world and one of the biggest names in the industry. He and Binance have been key supporters of some of the Trump family’s crypto enterprises.

    “Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice,” Zhao said on social media Thursday.

    Zhao served four months in prison after reaching a deal with the Justice Department to plead guilty to charges of enabling money laundering at Binance. But, in explaining the pardon, Trump said of Zhao, “He was recommended by a lot of people.”

    From May: Your guide to Cryptogate, Trump’s $4 billion corruption scandal that’s 10 times bigger than Watergate | Will Bunch

    “A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything,” Trump said. “He served four months in jail and they say that he was not guilty of anything.”

    The president added that he didn’t believe he’d ever met Zhao personally, but had “been told” he “had a lot of support, and they said that what he did is not even a crime.” He said Zhao had been “persecuted by the Biden administration.”

    “I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people,” Trump said.

    It’s the latest move by a president who has flexed his executive power to bestow clemency on political allies, prominent public figures and others convicted of crimes.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the pardon in a statement and later told reporters in a briefing that the White House counsel’s office “thoroughly reviewed” the request. She said the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden pursued “an egregious oversentencing” in the case, was “very hostile to the cryptocurrency industry” and Trump “wants to correct this overreach.”

    The crypto industry has also long complained it was subject to a “regulation by enforcement” ethos under the Biden administration.

    Trump’s pardon of Zhao fits into a broad pattern of his taking a hands-off approach to an industry that spent heavily to help him win the election in 2024. His administration has dropped several enforcement actions against crypto companies that began during Biden’s term and disbanded the crypto-related enforcement team at the Justice Department.

    Former federal prosecutor Mark Bini said Zhao went to prison for what “sounds like a regulatory offense, or at worst its kissing cousin.”

    “So this pardon, while it involves the biggest name in crypto, is not very surprising,” said Bini, a white collar defense lawyer who handles crypto issues at Reed Smith.

    Zhao was released from prison last year after being sentenced for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. He was the first person ever sentenced to prison time for such violations of that law, which requires U.S. financial institutions to know who their customers are, to monitor transactions and to file reports of suspicious activity. Prosecutors said no one had ever violated the regulations to the extent Zhao did.

    The judge in the case said he was troubled by Zhao’s decision to ignore U.S. banking requirements that would have slowed the company’s explosive growth.

    “Better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” was what Zhao told his employees about the company’s approach to U.S. law, prosecutors said. Binance allowed more than 1.5 million virtual currency trades, totaling nearly $900 million, that violated U.S. sanctions, including ones involving Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, al-Qaida and Iran, prosecutors said.

    “I failed here,” Zhao told the court last year during sentencing. “I deeply regret my failure, and I am sorry.”

    Zhao had a remarkable path to becoming a crypto billionaire. He grew up in rural China and his family immigrated to Canada after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. As a teenager, he worked at a McDonald’s and became enamored with the tech industry in college. He founded Binance in 2017.

    In addition to taking pro-crypto enforcement and regulatory positions, the president and his family have plunged headfirst into making money in crypto.

    A stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial, a crypto project founded by Trump and sons Donald Jr. and Eric, received early support and credibility thanks to an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates using $2 billion worth of World Liberty’s stablecoin to purchase a stake in Binance. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that are typically tied to the value of the U.S. dollar.

    A separate World Liberty Finance token saw a huge spike in price on Thursday shortly after news of the pardon was made public, with gains that far outpaced any other major cryptocurrency, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

    Zhao said earlier this year that his lawyers had requested a pardon.

    It is not immediately clear what impact Trump’s pardon of Zhao may have on operations at Binance and Binance.US, a separate arm of the main exchange offering more limited trading options to U.S. residents.

  • Skillet miso cod with warm slaw brims with protein, fiber, and flavor

    Everyone seems to be zoomed in on protein these days, but while protein is important, I suggest an expanded nutritional perspective. Instead of focusing on that one nutrient, consider a meal’s PFD — protein, fiber, and deliciousness. The acronym works, because together, these three elements provide the broader nourishment needed to ride life’s waves and to maximize the pleasure in doing it.

    This skillet recipe offers easily ample PFD in about 30 minutes. The protein is meaty fillets of cod, which also bring health-protective omega-3 fats and essential minerals to the plate. (Alternatively, any thick, steak-like fillet will work, such as salmon, halibut, or sea bass.) The fillets get nestled into a barely softened sauté of shredded cabbage, carrots, onion, and ginger. (You can slice the cabbage and carrots yourself, or use a package of slaw mix as a shortcut.) The vegetables introduce the gut-friendly fiber factor, plus a wealth of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

    A mixture of miso paste, softened butter, and a touch of honey, slathered on the fish and dolloped on the vegetables, amplify the deliciousness of these already-tasty ingredients. Add a little water to the pan and a brightening drizzle of rice vinegar, cover it, and let the resulting steam cook the fish until it’s flaky, the vegetables relax into a warm slaw, and everything is imbued with the savory-sweet richness of the miso butter.

    Sprinkled with fresh scallions and served with rice, if you’d like, it’s a meal that can save a busy weeknight all the while maximizing nutrition.

    Skillet Cod With Miso Butter and Warm Slaw

    An umami-rich mixture of miso paste, butter, and honey imbues this saucy skillet cod and warm, gingery slaw with savory-sweet flavor. It’s quick to prepare as written, but can be made even faster by subbing the cabbage and carrots with a bagged slaw mix.

    4 servings

    Total time: 30 minutes

    Storage: Refrigerate for up to 2 days.

    Ingredients

    3 1/2 tablespoons shiro (white) miso

    2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

    1 tablespoon honey

    4 (6-ounce) center-cut cod fillets, patted dry

    1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as avocado or canola

    1 medium yellow onion (8 ounces), halved and thinly sliced

    1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin matchsticks (about 1 tablespoon)

    5 cups (9 ounces) lightly packed thinly sliced green cabbage

    2 medium carrots, sliced into ribbons using a vegetable peeler

    1/3 cup water

    1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

    1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

    2 scallions, thinly sliced

    cooked rice, for serving (optional)

    Steps

    In a small bowl, combine the miso, butter, and honey, and mash with a fork until well incorporated.

    Spread a scant 1 tablespoon of the miso mixture on top of each cod fillet.

    In a large (12-inch) skillet over medium heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion and ginger, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and carrots, and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes more.

    Arrange the fish, miso side up, on top of the vegetables. Scatter small dollops of the remaining miso mixture over the vegetables in the pan. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the water with the rice vinegar, then drizzle the mixture over the vegetables in the pan, taking care to avoid the fish. Cover and cook until the fish is just cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, and adjust the heat as needed to maintain a steady, but not overly strong, steam.

    Transfer the fish to a cutting board or large plate. Stir the vegetables to coat them in the sauce and season with the pepper.

    Divide the warm slaw among plates or shallow bowls. Top each portion with the fish, garnish with the scallions, and serve warm, with rice on the side, if desired.

    Substitutions: Cod >> other firm fish, such as halibut or salmon. Sliced cabbage and carrots >> one 12-ounce bag slaw mix. Rice vinegar >> apple cider vinegar. Honey >> maple syrup or agave. Yellow onion >> white onion. Scallions >> chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves.

    Gluten-free? Be sure to seek out gluten-free miso.

    Nutrition | Per serving (1 fish fillet and 1/2 cup vegetables): 318 calories, 22g carbohydrates, 88mg cholesterol, 11g fat, 5g fiber, 33g protein, 4g saturated fat, 599mg sodium, 12g sugar

    This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.

    From cookbook author and registered dietitian nutritionist Ellie Krieger.

  • Google unveils quantum computing breakthrough on Willow chip

    Google unveils quantum computing breakthrough on Willow chip

    Alphabet Inc.’s Google ran an algorithm on its “Willow” quantum-computing chip that can be repeated on similar platforms and outperform classical supercomputers, a breakthrough it said clears a path for useful applications of quantum technology within five years.

    The “Quantum Echoes” algorithm, detailed in a paper published Wednesday in the science journal Nature, is verifiable, meaning it can be repeated on another quantum computer. It also ran 13,000 times faster than previously possible on the world’s best supercomputer, Google said. Taken together, the advances point to a broad range of potential uses in medicine and materials science, Google said.

    “The key thing about verifiability is it’s a huge step in the path toward a real world application,” said Tom O’Brien, a staff research scientist at Google Quantum AI who oversaw the completion of this work. “In achieving this result we’re really pushing us toward finding mainstream.”

    Alphabet shares rose as much as 2.4% Wednesday in New York trading before closing up 0.5%.

    The breakthrough brings Google a step closer to harnessing the processing power promised by quantum computing, also being pursued by rivals Microsoft Corp., International Business Machines Corp., and numerous start-ups. It follows Google’s announcement in December that Willow had solved a problem in five minutes that would have taken a supercomputer 10 septillion years.

    Quantum computers use tiny circuits to perform calculations, like traditional computers do, but they make these calculations in parallel, rather than sequentially, making them much faster. While firms have boasted of building quantum platforms that surpass classical computers, their challenge has been to find a useful application.

    Computer scientist Scott Aaronson, who wasn’t involved in the study, wrote in an email that he was “thrilled” by Google’s progress toward outperforming supercomputers in a way which could be efficiently repeated, and thus proved, on a second quantum computer — which had been “one of the biggest challenges of the field for the past several years.” Still, he warned that there was a lot of work ahead.

    “Getting from here to anything commercially useful, and/or to scalable fault-tolerance (which wasn’t used for this demonstration), will be additional big challenges,” wrote Aaronson, who serves as the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin.

    The Google team, which includes 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Michel H. Devoret, said it plans to continue to move toward real-world applications by scaling up and improving the accuracy of its machines.

  • 4 vaccines that are linked to a lower risk of dementia

    4 vaccines that are linked to a lower risk of dementia

    Vaccines don’t just protect us from infectious diseases or lessen their effects. Some are also associated with a reduced risk for dementia, research shows.

    “They’ll protect against these really potentially severe infections, especially in older adults, and preventing that alone is huge,” said Avram Bukhbinder, a resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who has conducted research on vaccines and dementia risk.

    “There seems to also be some kind of added benefit and ultimately it just adds a more compelling reason” to get routine vaccines, he said.

    Studies have found that many vaccines may be associated with a reduced risk of dementia — here are four of the most common ones with the strongest links.

    The flu shot

    An estimated 47 million to 82 million people in the United States — about 13 to 24% of all people — caught influenza, or the flu, during the 2024-2025 season with 27,000 to 130,000 Americans dying as a result, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Flu season generally runs from October to May in North America.)

    Influenza and pneumonia — a potential complication of flu — are associated with five neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia and Parkinson’s disease, according to a 2023 study analyzing biobank data from over 400,000 people.

    “I don’t know how many times in the adult world we hear, ‘My loved one got flu, was in the hospital for a week or two, and it just was never the same.’ Like quickly went downhill from there,” Bukhbinder said.

    Many studies have found that flu vaccination is associated with a lower risk of dementia years later.

    In a 2022 study, Bukhbinder and his colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston examined a large health database of over 1.8 million adults ages 65 and over. They found that those who received at least one flu vaccine were 40% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s — the most common form of dementia — during the next four years.

    Getting the flu vaccine was also associated with a 17% reduction in dementia risk in a 2024 study of over 70,000 participants.

    The CDC recommends all people over 6 months old get annual flu shots, typically in September or October.

    Fewer than half of Americans typically get their flu vaccine each season.

    The shingles vaccine

    The shingles vaccine has the strongest evidence for reducing the risk of dementia with multiple large-scale studies in the past two years corroborating the results of older studies.

    In one 2025 study, researchers tracked more than 280,000 adults in Wales and found that the shingles vaccine was linked with reducing dementia risk by 20% over a seven-year period.

    “There may be potential additional benefits beyond the protection that the vaccine provides for a particular condition,” said Pascal Geldsetzer, an assistant professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the senior author of the study. “So, that’s only an additional reason to get vaccinated.”

    A subsequent study examining over 100,000 patients in Australia similarly found that getting vaccinated for shingles was associated with reduced dementia risk.

    If you are eligible, you should probably get a shingles vaccine regardless of its chances of reducing your dementia risk. The vaccine reduces the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox in childhood and remains dormant in nerve cells afterward. When reactivated in adulthood, the virus manifests as shingles, which is characterized by a burning, painful rash and can sometimes cause lifelong chronic pain conditions or serious complications in a subset of people who get it.

    The CDC recommends two doses of a shingles vaccine for adults 50 and older or those 19 and older with a weakened immune system; 36% of eligible Americans got vaccinated in 2022.

    The RSV vaccine

    Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that can cause mild, coldlike symptoms in most people, but may cause severe infections in children as well as adults ages 65 and older. (The virus is the leading cause of hospitalization among American infants and causes an estimated 100 to 300 deaths in children under 5, and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths in people 65 or older, every year in the U.S.)

    The FDA approved the first RSV vaccine in 2023.

    A recent study tracking over 430,000 people found that the RSV vaccine (as well as the shingles vaccine) was associated with a reduced risk of dementia over 18 months compared with those who received the flu vaccine.

    The CDC recommends all adults ages 75 and older, as well as adults older than 50 at higher risk of RSV, get the vaccine.

    The Tdap vaccine

    Several studies have reported that the vaccine against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (or whooping cough), or Tdap, is associated with a reduced risk of dementia.

    One 2021 study with over 200,000 patients reported that older adults who received both the shingles and Tdap vaccines had further reduced risk of dementia compared with those who only received one of the vaccines.

    The CDC recommends routine Tdap vaccination for all adolescents and a booster for adults every 10 years. In 2022, about 30% of adults ages 19-64 who could be assessed had received a Tdap vaccine.

    How vaccines may reduce dementia risk

    Research has shown that severe infections, including flu, herpes, and respiratory tract infections, are linked to accelerated brain atrophy and increased risk of dementia years down the line.

    “We think it’s the uncontrolled kind of systemic inflammation that’s probably contributing to that,” Bukhbinder said. “And it’s very likely that they had the underlying Alzheimer’s or other dementia pathology already, but the inflammation is what pushed them over the edge.”

    Geldsetzer said that the varicella-zoster virus, which causes shingles, has the most clear biological links because it hibernates in our nervous system and can more directly affect the brain. (Getting a chickenpox vaccine in childhood can prevent this virus from taking hold in the first place.)

    Though different vaccines are linked to reduced dementia risk, there are inherent limitations to how the research was conducted. The link is associational, not causal, because the people who get vaccines may be different from those who don’t.

    For example, it could be that “those who are on average more health-motivated, have better health behaviors, are the ones who decide to get vaccinated,” Geldsetzer said. Even though researchers try to account for these confounding variables, it is not possible to fully filter out differences in health behaviors associated with dementia risk.

    But recent studies hint at a stronger link between the shingles vaccine and dementia-risk reduction. This research takes advantage of “natural experiments” because of arbitrary dates that the governments of Wales and Australia set for shingles vaccine eligibility; those born immediately before and after the eligibility date are probably not different and can be more directly compared. And when they are, those who got the shingles vaccines had lower risk of dementia, said Geldsetzer, who was an author on the Wales and Australia studies and is raising money to fund a randomized controlled trial.

    There are two broad biological hypotheses for how vaccines are linked to reduced dementia risk. Vaccines could reduce the risk of getting sick and infection severity, which have been linked to increased dementia risk.

    “I feel confident that that’s part of the story, but it’s not the whole story,” Bukhbinder said.

    Another, not mutually exclusive possibility is that the vaccine itself may activate the immune system in a beneficial way. Vaccination “may be honing or refining the immune system’s response,” Bukhbinder said.

    There’s “good evidence that what happens outside of the brain … seems to actually affect the inside pretty robustly,” Bukhbinder said.

    How to keep up-to-date on vaccines and reduce dementia risk

    Vaccinations, like all medical treatments, can have some risks and side effects, so it is important to speak with your doctor about your particular health needs.

    However, “I would say by and far the benefits of getting these vaccinations almost incomparably outweigh the risks,” Bukhbinder said.

    In addition, 45% of dementia cases could be delayed or prevented with lifestyle and environmental changes, according to the 2024 Lancet Commission report on dementia.

    To cut dementia risk and lengthen our cognitive health spans, research suggests steps such as changing lifestyle habits, staying socially connected, moderating alcohol intake, maintaining a healthy blood pressure, and addressing hearing loss (such as with hearing aids).

  • Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages

    Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages

    Millions of Americans are already seeing their health insurance costs soar for 2026 as Congress remains deadlocked over extending covid-era subsidies for premiums.

    The bitter fight sparked a government shutdown at the start of October. Democrats refuse to vote on government-funding legislation unless it extends the subsidies, while Republicans insist on separate negotiations after reopening the government. Now lawmakers face greater pressure to act as Americans who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act are seeing, or about to see, the consequences of enhanced subsidies expiring at the end of the year.

    Healthcare.gov — the federal website used by 28 states — is expected to post plan offerings early next week ahead of the start of open enrollment in November. But window shopping has already begun in most of the 22 states that run their own marketplaces, offering a preview of the sticker shock to come.

    Premiums nationwide are set to rise by 18 percent on average, according to an analysis of preliminary rate filings by the nonpartisan health policy group KFF. That, combined with the loss of extra subsidies, have left Americans with the worst year-over-year price hikes in the 12 years since the marketplaces launched.

    Nationally, the average marketplace consumer will pay $1,904 in annual premiums next year, up from $888 in 2025, according to KFF.

    The situation is particularly acute in Georgia, which recorded the second-highest enrollment of any state-run marketplace this year and posted prices for 2026 earlier in October. About 96 percent of marketplace enrollees in Georgia received subsidies this year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank that supports extending the subsidies.

    Now Georgians browsing the state website are seeing estimated monthly costs double or even triple, depending on their incomes, as lower subsidy thresholds resume.

    “We have people saying they will have to choose between their monthly premiums and mortgage,” said Natasha Taylor, deputy director of Georgia Watch, a consumer advocacy group.

    For example, a family of four earning $82,000 a year in Georgia could see their annual premium double to around $7,000 for a plan with midrange coverage, according to a CBPP analysis. If that family earned at least $130,000, they would have to pay the full cost of the annual premium, about $24,000 instead of $11,000.

    It’s a similar story in other states, where people in higher income tiers will see especially big premium increases as they become ineligible for subsidies. A 60-year-old couple earning $85,000 may have to pay $31,000 for a plan in Kentucky, $28,000 for a plan in Oregon and $44,000 for a plan in Vermont, according to CBPP.

    If Congress doesn’t extend the extra subsidies, Georgia could lose around 340,000 people from its 1.5 million-person marketplace, according to an estimate by nonpartisan advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.

    The enhanced subsidies had fully covered monthly premiums for millions of lower-income people in the marketplaces. Many of them will have to start kicking in some of their own money starting Jan. 1, while people with higher incomes will see their monthly subsidies shrink. People earning more than 400 percent of the federal poverty line will no longer be eligible for subsidies at all.

    The political fallout in Georgia has already begun to reverberate. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) broke with her party to demand an extension of subsidies, noting her adult children’s premiums are set to double. Greene’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    Sen. Jon Ossoff, considered the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in next year’s midterms, has seized on the issue of rising premiums. An Ossoff spokesman said the senator wants the subsidies extended, pointing to polling showing a majority of Georgians feel the same.

    Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who championed the state’s marketplace, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    Atlanta resident Jody Fieulleteau, 31, said she has been paying $160 a month for a subsidized plan on Georgia’s marketplace. She makes about $40,000 a year styling hair and providing behavioral therapy. She has yet to complete an application to see quotes for plans next year, but her monthly premium is likely to nearly double based on her age, income and Zip code.

    Fieulleteau said she rushed to schedule a surgery next week for a problem related to menstruation because she’s concerned about having insurance.

    “I’m feeling like I need to get everything done this year because I don’t know what next year is going to look like,” she said in a phone interview.

    Taylor, of Georgia Watch, said she finds that consumers often don’t understand that their plans are subsidized, which makes it difficult to explain that the pricey plans they see now could become cheaper if Congress votes to extend the subsidies.

    “For your average consumer, they look at the bottom line. What’s my out-of-pocket max,” Taylor said. “I don’t think they’re looking at the minutiae of why their premium is what it is.”

    The rising insurance costs highlight the political difficulties faced by Washington lawmakers.

    The Congressional Budget Office, the legislature’s nonpartisan bookkeeper, has estimated nearly 4 million fewer people will have marketplace plans a decade from now if the extra subsidies expire.

    Republicans say the premium assistance — intended to help people be insured during the coronavirus pandemic — are just a Band-Aid for a failure of the Affordable Care Act to rein in the costs of plans. They also say the subsidies were so generous they incentivized fraud, pointing to a CBO estimate that 2.3 million enrollees improperly claimed a subsidy this year.

    But 13 House Republicans who face competitive reelection campaigns next year wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) on Tuesday asking him to consider extending premium assistance.

    “Millions of Americans are facing drastic premium increases due to shortsighted Democratic policymaking,” they wrote. “While we did not create this crisis, we now have both the responsibility and the opportunity to address it.”

    Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) said in a news conference that she heard from families whose premiums are doubling as window shopping started in her state Tuesday. She said she heard similar stories from Idaho and Montana, noting most people who rely on premium assistance live in red states.

    “Families are logging on, looking for health coverage for next year, and coming face to face with massive price hikes because Republicans downright refuse to work with us to do something about it,” Murray said.

    Insurers have partially blamed the premium hikes on the expiration of the subsidies, saying they’ll cause healthy people to drop coverage, leaving a sicker, more expensive pool of customers behind. Insurers have also cited higher drug and hospital prices, expensive weight-loss drugs and medical inflation as reasons for raising premiums.

    But if Congress acts to extend the subsidies, even after open enrollment begins Nov. 1, some plans may be willing to lower premiums, said David Merritt, senior vice president of external affairs at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, whose member plans are sold in all marketplaces. Adjusting rates lower would get more complicated after Dec. 31, he said.

    Even if Congress does extend the subsidies, consumer advocates say damage has already been done.

    Many people will visit the insurance marketplaces and decide to forgo coverage after seeing pricey 2026 plans, they said, and not revisit their decision even if subsidies are restored.