Amid a worldwide surge in cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Wall Street began the week of Christmas in a slump. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq composite were all down roughly 1.8% at various points Monday. Oil producers were some of the biggest losers Monday. U.S. crude fell 6% on…

Families eligible for the child tax credit received what could be their final payments Wednesday. The payments come as the prospects of extending the credit, which is currently set to expire at the end of the year, look bleak. Since July, about 36 million families have gotten monthly payments of up to $300 for every…

Update (Dec. 16, 2021): A day after Congress finished up passing a bill to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion, President Joe Biden signed the bill into law Thursday. The bill signing comes a day after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letter to congressional leadership saying she had to temporarily suspend two separate funds…

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s controversial statewide indoor mask mandate went into effect Monday in New York. The mandate comes a year after the state initiated its first vaccination, and COVID cases are rising. According to Hochul, the state has witnessed a 58 percent increase in new cases since Thanksgiving.  “The rest of the state now has a…

Inflation is a reality. We are all experiencing it at the grocery store, the gas pump, and just about everywhere else. But is it President Biden’s fault? Republicans think so, but let’s get one thing straight here: Joe Biden is not to blame for rising prices, especially at the pump. Presidents don’t have much power…

Inflation continues to set records, with the Labor Department reporting Friday that consumer prices increased 6.8% in November compared to the same time last year. That’s the highest annual inflation rate since a 7.1% surge for the year ending in June 1982. According to the department, consumer prices rose 0.8% from October to November. While…

Both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC approved Pfizer boosters for kids 16 and 17 years old Thursday, a day after the Senate blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses employing 100 or more workers. The FDA and CDC moves serve as the first to…

America’s economy is in a spiral, and lagging consumer confidence is the driving force. It’s showing up as millions of people are quitting their jobs at a record pace. One reason for the great resignation is when you leave a job, you often get a pay hike in the next one. When businesses pay employees…

The Department of the Interior released a report Friday on the United States’ “federal oil and gas leasing and permitting practices.” According to the department, “the report identifies significant reforms that should be made to ensure the programs provide a fair return to taxpayers, discourage speculation, hold operators responsible for remediation, and more fully include communities and Tribal, state,…

Countries around the world began issuing various travel restrictions affecting multiple countries in southern Africa Friday, in response to a new variant of COVID-19 that was detected earlier this week. B.1.1.529, now known as the Omicron variant, was first detected by scientists in South Africa, and has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong…