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Bloomberg.com •

Flyers Book $34,000 Private Jets to Escape TSA Hell at Airports

As TSA chaos spreads through US airports, some travelers are shelling out thousands of dollars to skip the lines altogether. Airport security wait times have reached historic levels, due to a partial government shutdown, with people complaining of four-hour delays that make them “feel like cattle.”

As TSA chaos spreads through US airports, some travelers are shelling out thousands of dollars to skip the lines altogether.

Airport security wait times have reached historic levels, due to a partia...
Bloomberg.com •

Costco Lines, Canceled Trips, Fuel Rewards: Americans Hunt for Cheap Gas

Americans are searching for ways to offset rising gas prices as the effect of the war in Iran hits their wallets.At a Costco Wholesale Corp. gas station near San Antonio, wait times have stretched as much as 30 minutes and lines wrap around the block. Elsewhere, drivers are refreshing apps like GasBuddy and going out of their way for cheaper fuel and discounts as prices reach nearly $4 a gallon on average. Others say they are trimming spending on grocery, takeout and travel.

Americans are searc...
Bloomberg.com •

God and Money Mix as Christians Fast and Put Faith in Investing

This year, a small but growing group of Christians will spend Lent — the 40-day period before Easter, when tens of millions of people around the world sacrifice a personal luxury — rethinking their finances.Talk of financial fasting, or giving up spending for Lent, is bubbling up across social media. Nearly 1,500 videos on TikTok alone are tagged #nobuy2026, while surveys show Americans leaning into frugal-living challenges and cutting back discretionary purchases. Interpretations of what consti...
Bloomberg.com •

NJ Transit Riders See Simple Commutes Turn Into Hours of Agony

Danny Wild is a senior coordinator for digital operations at Major League Baseball’s office in Manhattan and he’s experiencing what can best be described as commuter misery.While some colleagues enjoy spring training in sun-dappled Florida and Arizona, he’s one of thousands of New Jersey commuters coping with extensive delays as Amtrak and New Jersey Transit reduce service so workers can transfer wires and electrical systems to a new bridge over the Hackensack River.

Danny Wild is a senior coor...
Bloomberg.com •

From Mink Coats to Miami Trips, Cold Wave Spurs Winter Splurges

The cold plunge that has enveloped New York City and the Northeast for weeks has many well-heeled residents coping the best way they know how: spending money.At Madison Avenue Furs & Henry Cowit Inc. in Manhattan’s Garment district, $1,500 mink jackets and raccoon coats are selling at unusual levels for the doldrum weeks of winter. Spa appointments for sauna and jacuzzi treatments across the city are surging. And four-figure “mercy trips” to warm destinations have normally cost-conscious travele...
Bloomberg.com •

Gold and Silver Fans ‘Hate This New Volatility’ But Keep the Faith

Gold investors tend to be a robust breed, inured to market moves. But the past week’s swings have had even committed gold bugs, along with the newer crop of silver investors, feeling queasy.The precious metals’ record-breaking rally ended abruptly Friday, with gold plunging the most since 2013 and silver suffering its biggest daily drop on record. Prices continued to slide Monday. Then Tuesday’s rebound saw gold climb more than 6% to near $4,950 an ounce, while silver rose more than 10% to $87....
Bloomberg.com •

‘Heated Rivalry’ Lures Sexy TV Show’s Fans to Ice Hockey Games

The racy romance between two hockey players in the TV show Heated Rivalry has captivated legions of fans. Now that adoring crowd is looking for some real-world thrills.Ticket resellers say interest in National Hockey League games has surged thanks to the series, starring Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. SeatGeek said its weekly hockey ticket sales jumped more than 20% after the show’s first episodes aired late last year, and revenue soared more than 30%.

The racy romance between two hockey p...
Bloomberg.com •

Trump Wants Homebuyers to Tap 401(k)s for Down Payments. Should They?

President Donald Trump’s new plan to boost home ownership risks leaving some Americans unprepared for retirement. As part of an ongoing push to improve housing affordability, Trump is seeking to allow savers in 401(k) retirement plans to use some of their money for down payments on a home purchase, according to National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. The plan will be unveiled next week at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

President Donald Trump’s new plan to boost...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Illinois native sets Guinness record visiting 185 places of worship in Chicago in a month

In 2023, the Rev. Vicki Garlock read a news story about an Indian man who received a Guinness World Record for visiting 76 places of worship in one month.“Not knowing at all what I was doing, I very cavalierly said to my husband, ‘Oh, I could beat that,’” Garlock said.Two years later, Garlock is now the current holder of that Guinness record after a monthlong quest in Chicago.“I had appointments at about 85 places,” Garlock said. “And I started to feel like 85 might be cutting it close, so I was...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Altered church Nativity scenes, one with a zip-tied baby Jesus, critique Trump's deportation campaign

Holding candles and flowers, a crowd gathered around an Evanston church’s Nativity display, where the familiar figurines stood quietly in the snow.But the Nativity display of Lake Street Church looked different this year, transformed to pay tribute to those targeted by President Donald Trump’s escalated deportation campaign.Mary wears a gas mask. The baby Jesus is wrapped in an emergency reflective blanket, his hands zip-tied. A sign says Joseph “didn’t make it” because of immigration enforcemen...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Thousands leaving Illinois prisons face high risk of housing instability, new study finds

After 13 years in prison, Maria Garza needed a place to live. But finding housing was not easy for Garza, who left Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln in June 2021.While living in homes of friends and family, as well as hotel rooms and her car, Garza also struggled to continue Northwestern University’s prison education program, which she started while incarcerated.“While I’m sitting there trying to take my class and learn, I’m trying to figure out where I’m gonna sleep,” Garza said. “It was dep...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Cook County’s top prosecutor touts increase in pretrial detention, urges electronic monitoring reform

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said one of her office’s top achievements during her first year in office has been increasing the pretrial detention rate for suspects charged with assault weapons possession, domestic violence and other violent crimes.Since taking office, judges have granted detention in 80% of violent crime cases, 85% of aggravated domestic battery and 76% of machine gun cases, all higher than under the previous state’s attorney, Kim Foxx, according to the stat...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Mayor Johnson, Cupich meet Chicagoans seeking help at pantries

Thynoise King is planning to serve a Thanksgiving dinner Thursday to his five children when they visit him.But King, 66, needs help to make the ends meet. On Wednesday, he joined dozens of Chicagoans to receive free food at Safer Foundation’s food pantry in Homan Square. Mayor Brandon Johnson also stopped by Safer to tour it. Another high-profile figure, Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich, joined volunteers Wednesday at St. Moses the Black Parish in Grand Crossing.Johnson urged Chicagoans to use Thank...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Illinois sues USDA to block changes to SNAP eligibility of immigrants

Illinois is among a group of Democratic states suing the Trump administration, seeking to block a change to the federal food stamps program that the states say unlawfully prevented some legal immigrants from accessing the aid.Kwame Raoul, Illinois’ top lawyer, and attorneys general from 20 other states and Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit Wednesday in an Oregon federal court against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its secretary, Brooke Rollins, asking the court to block the change’s im...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Bird watchers perch at Montrose Beach as snowy owls make early Chicago appearance

A pair of snowy owls, the latest celebrity visitors to the beach and pier near Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, have drawn hundreds for a glimpse at the Arctic birds of prey.Several dozen birdwatchers were still gathered at the pier at Montrose Beach just before sunset Tuesday afternoon. The city has closed a section of the pier for the black-and-white-feathered guests, and signs in the area advise spectators to keep at least 300 feet away as a “warm welcome” for the birds.About 4:15 p.m., one sno...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Fatal Loop 'teen takeover' leaves families, peers reeling

Armani Floyd helped organize marches and food giveaways with his father, who became an anti-violence organizer after abandoning the gang life.Ulysses Floyd Sr. said his son “had a good future” and was focused on keeping his grades up, honing his basketball skills and making a positive change. But on Friday night, Armani fell victim to the same violence he was working to prevent.He was killed and eight other teenagers were wounded as shootings erupted during a so-called “teen takeover” in the Loo...
Chicago Sun-Times •

CPS students cook up Thanksgiving dinner for South Side seniors

Students at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences in Mount Greenwood had a special lesson Tuesday.Starting at about 7 in the morning, a group of students began buttering turkeys, cutting up potatoes and preparing vegetables for a farm-to-table Thanksgiving feast.Ten hours later, more than 400 older adults filed into the school’s gym for its annual Thanksgiving dinner, a neighborhood tradition now in its 13th year, organized by 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea’s office with help from local...
Chicago Sun-Times •

'Brutal and vicious' Blue Line attack leads to terrorism charge after woman set on fire

Federal authorities say a man with “no business being on the streets” approached a 26-year-old woman scrolling through her phone on a CTA Blue Line train Monday night, doused her with gasoline and set her on fire.And then, 50-year-old Lawrence Reed allegedly watched her burn.Now, Reed faces a terrorism charge never before brought in Chicago’s federal court, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said Wednesday. Reed has been arrested at least 40 times since 1993, court records show. The “brutal and viciou...
Chicago Sun-Times •

As immigration enforcement surges in North Carolina, Chicagoans share advice, whistles

When federal immigration agents moved into Chicago’s streets, the sound of whistles followed. For months, the sharp blasts rang through many of the city’s neighborhoods, alerting residents to the presence of agents and attracting observers and protesters.The whistles have grown into a symbol of resistance in Chicago — and have already spread to other parts of the country targeted by President Donald Trump’s immigration blitz.“It’s effective because people start understanding that if they hear th...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Chicago police told to hold back after Border Patrol shooting in Brighton Park, body-camera footage shows

Newly released Chicago police body-camera footage shows officers were briefly told to steer clear of an Oct. 4 confrontation between protesters and federal agents in Brighton Park after a Border Patrol agent shot a woman.The heavily blurred videos, released Friday, confirmed the Chicago Sun-Times’ reporting that Chicago Police Department officers were ordered not to respond “per the chief of patrol,” Jon Hein, which has since sparked an intense backlash.These videos come after police officials b...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Hemp product ban, tacked onto law to reopen government, will hurt Illinois businesses

Amanda Montgomery and her husband started AM and PM Hemp Farm in downstate Kirkland in 2020. After her husband died unexpectedly last year, the farm, which produces and sells a range of hemp-derived goods, has been her “sole livelihood,” Montgomery said.But the farm could go up in smoke due to the Republican-led spending deal to reopen the federal government that passed Congress and was signed by President Donald Trump late Wednesday.“This bill would pretty much destroy my entire farm operation,...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Air traffic controllers to get back pay after shutdown, but flight cuts may linger, DOT chief says

Air traffic controllers will get most of their pay within two days after the federal government reopens, but traffic restrictions at the nation’s busiest airports could continue, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday.Duffy spoke at O’Hare Airport, which led the nation in flight cancellations over the weekend as the season’s first major winter storm compounded government-mandated airspace restrictions.The Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic cuts took effect Friday, with...
Chicago Sun-Times •

CTA's holiday train — Chicago's most festive ride — gleams in new photo book

For many Chicagoans, the surest sign that the holidays have arrived isn’t the first snowfall, but the Chicago Transit Authority’s holiday train, decked out in twinkling bulbs and garland and dashing through the city’s neighborhoods.That beloved CTA tradition for three decades is the subject of Chicago photographer Daniel Moreno’s new book, “Chicago’s Holiday Train,” a collection of photos that captures the train over the years.“Chicago, by the nature of how it works, there’s something specific t...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Masked ICE agents put damper on Oak Park Girl Scout food drive: ‘It’s heartbreaking as a mom’

When a group of Oak Park Girl Scouts and their parents set out for the group’s annual food drive Saturday morning, they imagined it would be a day of helping in their community.Instead, the girls encountered masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with weapons and vehicles with dark-tinted windows as the sounds of whistles pierced the air.“It just went from a morning of us trying to do something good and teaching the kids about helping others,” said Brooke Groulx, an Oak Park pare...
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