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Simple Hacks to Make the Holidays Merrier (and Cheaper)
Loneliness, a year-round health issue for older adults, can be exacerbated during the holidays
(NAPSI)—The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, but when the average American is spending nearly $1,000 on gifts, food, and decorations, they can also be the most stressful. For many, the pressure to create a picture-perfect holiday can stretch budgets a bit too far. Many of today’s shoppers seek advice from their favorite online influencers, sourcing creative hacks, recipes, DIY projects, and tips to keep the holidays magical without overspending. In fact, 69% of consumers say they value and actively seek out influencer recommendations. Now, questions don’t need to get buried in the comments. This December, TextNow is flipping the script on holiday stress by introducing the Holiday Hotline , a free resource to help you navigate the season, with advice a mere text away. Whether it’s finding affordable gifts, creating a festive dinner on a budget, or even learning how to save on your monthly bills, the Holiday Hotline can make things simpler, cheaper, and—perhaps most importantly—more joyful. TextNow Holiday Hotline: Expert Advice at Your Fingertips From December 5–10, TextNow’s Holiday Hotline connects you with relatable experts (aka some of your favorite influencers including social media creator and podcast host Remi Cruz, Kayla Savings, and Melissa Weiss) who will share their go-to tips for a budget-friendly holiday. Here’s what you can expect: • Holiday Budgeting 101: Learn simple ways to stretch every dollar and avoid those dreaded post-holiday bills. • Affordable Gift-Giving Ideas: Thoughtful, creative gifts that won’t break the bank. • Festive Decorating on a Dime: Transform your home into a holiday wonderland with budget-friendly hacks. • Stress-Free Holiday Cooking: Recipes and meal-planning tips to impress your guests. Need more advice? Just text the hotline at 310-299-3584, and you’ll get personalized, practical tips sent straight to your phone. Win $1,000 for Your Holiday Dinner As if free expert advice wasn’t enough, TextNow is also giving you the chance to win big this holiday season. Enter the $1,000 Dinner Giveaway for a shot at a $1,000 gift card to cover your holiday expenses—whether it’s for food, gifts, travel, or whatever else makes your season special. Entering is simple: 1.Head to TextNow’s Instagram . 2.Like the giveaway post. 3.Share your best holiday tip in the comments (bonus: share the post to your story for an extra entry). 4.The giveaway runs from December 5-12, with winners announced from December 13-16. Save More This Holiday Season TextNow is more than just a phone service—it’s a way to take control of your budget, not just during the holidays but year-round. • Free Phone Service: Unlimited calling and texting on the nation’s largest 5G network free. No gimmicks, no contracts. • Free Essential Data: Get free data for such essential apps as maps, rideshare, and email when you activate your SIM card. • Additional Flexible Data Plans: Add extra data only when you need it, with hourly, daily, or monthly passes. Getting started with TextNow is easy. Download the app to call and text for free over Wi-Fi or unlock free cellular service with a $4.99 SIM card. Learn More For more details, visit www.TextNow.com . Word Count: 491(NAPSI)—The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, but when the average American is spending nearly $1,000 on gifts, food, and decorations, they can also be the most stressful. For many, the pressure to create a picture-perfect holiday can stretch budgets a bit too far. Many of today’s shoppers seek advice from their favorite online influencers, sourcing creative hacks, recipes, DIY projects, and tips to keep the holidays magical without overspending. In fact, 69% of consumers say they value and actively seek out influencer recommendations. Now, questions don’t need to get buried in the comments. This December, TextNow is flipping the script on holiday stress by introducing the Holiday Hotline , a free resource to help you navigate the season, with advice a mere text away. Whether it’s finding affordable gifts, creating a festive dinner on a budget, or even learning how to save on your monthly bills, the Holiday Hotline can make things simpler, cheaper, and—perhaps most importantly—more joyful. TextNow Holiday Hotline: Expert Advice at Your Fingertips From December 5–10, TextNow’s Holiday Hotline connects you with relatable experts (aka some of your favorite influencers including social media creator and podcast host Remi Cruz, Kayla Savings, and Melissa Weiss) who will share their go-to tips for a budget-friendly holiday. Here’s what you can expect: • Holiday Budgeting 101: Learn simple ways to stretch every dollar and avoid those dreaded post-holiday bills. • Affordable Gift-Giving Ideas: Thoughtful, creative gifts that won’t break the bank. • Festive Decorating on a Dime: Transform your home into a holiday wonderland with budget-friendly hacks. • Stress-Free Holiday Cooking: Recipes and meal-planning tips to impress your guests. Need more advice? Just text the hotline at 310-299-3584, and you’ll get personalized, practical tips sent straight to your phone. Win $1,000 for Your Holiday Dinner As if free expert advice wasn’t enough, TextNow is also giving you the chance to win big this holiday season. Enter the $1,000 Dinner Giveaway for a shot at a $1,000 gift card to cover your holiday expenses—whether it’s for food, gifts, travel, or whatever else makes your season special. Entering is simple: 1.Head to TextNow’s Instagram . 2.Like the giveaway post. 3.Share your best holiday tip in the comments (bonus: share the post to your story for an extra entry). 4.The giveaway runs from December 5-12, with winners announced from December 13-16. Save More This Holiday Season TextNow is more than just a phone service—it’s a way to take control of your budget, not just during the holidays but year-round. • Free Phone Service: Unlimited calling and texting on the nation’s largest 5G network free. No gimmicks, no contracts. • Free Essential Data: Get free data for such essential apps as maps, rideshare, and email when you activate your SIM card. • Additional Flexible Data Plans: Add extra data only when you need it, with hourly, daily, or monthly passes. Getting started with TextNow is easy. Download the app to call and text for free over Wi-Fi or unlock free cellular service with a $4.99 SIM card. Learn More For more details, visit www.TextNow.com . Word Count: 491
New York: Police don’t know who he is, where he is, or why he did it. As the frustrating search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer got underway for a fifth day Sunday, investigators reckoned with a tantalising contradiction: They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma. The suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a taxi. Credit: AP One conclusion they are confident of, however: It was a targeted attack, not a random one. New York City Mayor Eric Adams was quoted as saying on Saturday by the New York Post that authorities have identified the man suspected of killing UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson and are closing in on him. “The net is tightening,” Adams told reporters at a Police Athletic League holiday party in Harlem, according to the Post. He declined to name the suspect. This undated photo released by the New York Police Department shows a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 outside of a taxi. Credit: AP Police know the suspect ambushed Thompson at 6.44am on Wednesday as the executive arrived at the Hilton for his company’s annual investor conference, using a 9 mm pistol that resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise. They know ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics. The fact that the shooter knew UnitedHealthcare group was holding a conference at the hotel and what route Thompson might take to get there suggested that he could possibly be a disgruntled employee or client, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. Police divers were seen searching a pond in Central Park, where the killer fled after the shooting. United Healthcare chief executive Brian Thompson. Credit: AP Officers have been scouring the park for days for any possible clues and found his backpack there Friday. They didn’t immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be tested and analysed. On Sunday morning, police declined to comment on the contents of the backpack, or on the results of the search in the pond, saying no updates were planned. Investigators have urged patience, saying the process of logging evidence that stands up in court isn’t as quick as it looks like on TV. Hundreds of detectives are combing through video recordings and social media, vetting tips from the public and interviewing people who might have information, including Thompson’s family and coworkers and the shooter’s randomly assigned roommates at the Manhattan hostel where he stayed. Investigators caught a break when they came across security camera images of an unguarded moment at the hostel in which he briefly showed his face. Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus soon after the shooting outside the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, Kenny said. With the high-profile search expanding across state lines, the FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $US50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $US10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone. Loading Police distributed the images to news outlets and on social media but so far haven’t been able to ID him using facial recognition — possibly because of the angle of the images or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to use that technology, Kenny said. Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspected shooter that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi. The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue, medical-style mask. AP, Reuters Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here . Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Crime USA Health insurance Most Viewed in World Loading
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Colaba MLA Rahul Narwekar is set to be elected speaker of the Maharashtra assembly for the second time, a record hitherto held only by Congress MLA Balasaheb Bharde in the sixties. Narwekar’s appointment will be officially announced on Monday. On the day of filing nominations for the post of the speaker of the 15th Maharashtra legislative assembly, Narwekar’s was the only application received by returning officer Jitendra Bhole. The opposition does not have the adequate strength to claim the post. Pro-tem speaker Kalidas Kolambkar will complete the procedure by announcing Narwekar’s name in the lower house on the last day of the three-day special session. The MLA on Sunday claimed that nobody could point a finger at the decisions taken and rulings given by him in his first term as speaker. “The second term too will be dedicated to the people of the state by focusing on justice for them,” he said. “It will be an impartial tenure and I seek the cooperation of all my fellow MLAs in the lower house.” Narwekar is the second MLA to serve two terms in the speaker’s chair. Balasaheb alias Trimbak Bharde, a Gandhian and Congress leader who represented Shevgaon in Ahmednagar, served as the speaker from 1962 to 1972. Narwekar served a two-and-a-half-year term from July 3, 2022 and was the second-youngest speaker when elected to the post. Shivaraj Chakukar Patil was the youngest speaker of Maharashtra when he was elected to the post in March 1978. He was 42 then. Narwekar, 47, was a practising lawyer in the Bombay high court and is a two-term MLA from Colaba in South Mumbai. Son-in-law of senior NCP leader and former legislative council chairperson Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, he began his political career as the Shiv Sena spokesperson in 1999. He quit the Sena in 2014 after he was denied a Lok Sabha ticket and joined the NCP, subsequently contesting the Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully from Maval. In 2019, he joined the BJP and contested from the Colaba assembly constituency, winning as an MLA for the first time. In his election affidavit in November this year, Narwekar announced his assets as ₹ 129.81 crore, up from ₹ 38.09 crore in 2019 and ₹ 10 crore in 2014. His younger brother Makrand and sister-in-law Harshita were former BMC corporators from Colaba and Cuffe Parade while his father, Suresh Narwekar, was also a councillor from Colaba. During his tenure, Narwekar delivered two important decisions. The Shiv Sena and NCP had been vertically split in June 2022 and July 2023 respectively and Narwekar, as the speaker, held hearings to decide on the “real” Shiv Sena and NCP on the directions of the Supreme Court. He ruled that the breakaway factions of the Sena under Eknath Shinde and the NCP under Ajit Pawar were the real parties, and the name and symbol of the undivided parties were allotted to them. The MLA is also heading a committee to look into the constitutional provisions that deal with the defection of MLAs and MPs in the anti-defection law. The committee was announced by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla in January this year. The Shiv Sena too was reportedly demanding the speaker’s post as part of the power-sharing pact between the three ruling parties. However, the BJP retained the post, and picked Narwekar for it for the second consecutive time. Another name being considered was that of senior BJP legislator Sudhir Mungantiwar. “But the party leadership thinks that Narwekar is the best choice for the post, given his ruling in the disqualification petitions related to the Shiv Sena and NCP,” said a BJP leader. “Although he was eyeing a ministerial berth, there aren’t enough berths from Mumbai to accommodate him.” Narwekar was also interested in contesting the Lok Sabha election from Mumbai South, but the seat went to the Shiv Sena in the seat-sharing pact.
I’m a center-right “Scoop Jackson” moderate Democrat marooned on an island in today’s deep-blue Washington. My friends and I celebrate local election victories while our governor-elect appears eager to fight the incoming Trump administration. He will get the chance. Let’s remember. After four years of chaos, President Biden’s election was promised as a “return to normality.” It wasn’t. He quickly jettisoned normality for a progressive agenda. The Inflation Reduction Act did little to reduce inflation. It was in many ways a green wave, packed with spending on clean energy programs. Gov. Jay Inslee dropped his 2020 presidential run in the primary but his policies were adopted by Biden. And while we live in a state that buys into the green wave, voters nationally don’t. Our progressive blinders in Washington render us unable to focus on how to make our Democratic party once again nationally relevant. It’s national relevance that counts. And it’s not helped when the question asked is: “How could voters be so stupid?” But voters aren’t stupid. We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. And each of us has our own lens through which we see the world. Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat — and Donald Trump’s win — in the presidential election this year was sealed the day when Harris answered what James Carville calls “the money question.” A slow softball over-the-plate candidates beg for: Would she have done something differently than President Biden over the past four years? Her answer: “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” Biden’s popularity, at that moment: Around 43% approval. As Carville noted, in an election where voters are angry, “That’s the most devastating answer you could imagine.” Elections are built around perceptions. Trump won because voters wanted a change, and a strong leader, looking past that he is a racist and misogynist. They wanted “different.” They were angry about the price of eggs and their values being disparaged. “Equal opportunity,” not “equality” and a pox on a Democrat party built on the green wave, identity politics, and special interests like the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement and concepts like restorative justice. But time to stop grieving. This is not our first bad rodeo. Remember Hubert Humphrey on Vietnam, Hillary Clinton’s botched approach to “fly over country” and Ronald Reagan’s trouncing of Jimmy Carter — even here in Washington. Everyone in Democratic politics has an opinion on what to do. We need to better align our economic and social-cultural values with our voters. Our voters previously saw us as helping the underdogs. No more. They see us as upper-class white elitists. We need to revive something akin to the “Democrat Leadership Conference” chaired by former Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. It propelled Clinton to the presidency. To win, we need a course correction toward “it’s just the economy, stupid,” and less “identity politics,” which we have increasingly relied on for 20 years, gathering speed after George Floyd’s murder in 2020. We aren’t elitists. We are for working families, who have increasingly turned to Trump. I am old enough to remember shop class and home economics as required high school courses, and auto repair as an elective. Today, it’s Advanced Placement classes and college credits in high school. To earn a college degree is the gold standard. That’s misguided thinking and it’s part of the reason we are losing our base. These days, in many cases, getting your hands dirty will earn you more money than practicing law. U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who twice defeated a Trump acolyte in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, once a reliably GOP seat, recognizes this in how she talks about the trades and the nation’s workforce. Progressives were dumbstruck when she voted with Republicans against forgiving billions of dollars worth of college loans. To again become nationally relevant, Democrats must focus on the economy and more importantly how voters – district by district – perceive it. The key is for candidates and members of Congress to represent their districts, not progressive orthodoxy. That’s how Scoop Jackson, the “war hawk,” overwhelmingly defeated progressive Carl Maxey in 1968. It’s how Gluesenkamp Perez beat back her MAGA opponent. And it’s how U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, a farmer who voted to impeach Trump, won against a candidate endorsed by the former president in a district east of the Cascades. Things in Washington state are unlikely to change in terms of how the state’s politics are leaning more heavily progressive. But in national elections, we don’t count. ••• Jim Luce is a retired Bonneville Power Administration attorney. He worked on the Northwest Power Act and was legal counsel to the team that negotiated BPA’s aluminum company contracts. He wrote critically of the act in 2006 while a BPA attorney. He later chaired Washington state’s energy project siting council for 10 years.