The FBI dropped a bombshell indictment on Thursday, announcing arrests and criminal charges against dozens of people allegedly involved with gambling and rigging NBA games. The whole thing involved not only some of basketball’s biggest names, but also the mob.
At a press conference in New York, FBI Director Kash Patel announced a historic arrest across a wide-sweeping criminal enterprise that envelopes both the NBA and “La Cosa Nostra, more commonly known as the Sicilian Mob or Mafia. Among some of the high-profile individuals indicted are Chauncey Billups, an NBA hall-of-fame player and current head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, and Terry Rozier, who currently plays for the Miami Heat. Damon Jones, another former NBA player, was also arrested and indicted.
A statement from the NBA, per CNBC, says that both Billups and Rozier have been placed on immediate leave from their teams, and that the league will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities.
The indictments arose from two fraud-related investigations that included sports betting and underground poker games. In the first instance, it appears that insider information related to player injuries (including one involving an injury to LeBron James) was leaked to sports bettors, effectively giving those bettors an advantagean injury to James, for instance, could impact his level of play, and turn the outcome of a game.
The underground poker games, on the other hand, sound like a scheme Tony Sopranos crew cooked up at The Bing.
As alleged, members and associates of organized crime families fixed illegal poker games as part of a highly sophisticated and lucrative fraud scheme to cheat victims out of millions of dollars and conspired with others to perpetrate their frauds, said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr., in a statement.
Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, acted as Face Cards to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed contacts lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big. Todays indictment and arrests sounds the final buzzer for these cheaters.
Its a huge shakeup in the world of professional sports, particularly as sports betting has become increasingly mainstream in recent years, and has been legalized in several states and jurisdictions. Since the Supreme Court struck down a ban on sports betting in 2018, data from Goldman Sachs shows that, as of last year, its become a $10 billion industry. Big sports betting companiessuch as FanDuel, DraftKings, and othershave also become seemingly synonymous with names like Wynn, MGM, and Caesars.
Its also another blow to the NBA, which was already contending with the news that superstar Kawhi Leonard, who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, was using an investment firm to circumvent the leagues salary capan investigation thats also snared Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, and has ties to entertainers like Drake and Leonardo DiCaprio
Late-night talk shows are a uniquely American invention that blend humor, the news of the day, and celebrity guests.
While Johnny Carson was not the first late-night host, he perfected the genre through trial and error during his 30-year tenure on NBCs The Tonight Show, setting the standard for years to come.
As the longest-running host in the shows 70-year history, Carson became a permanent fixture in the cultural zeitgeist and a kingmaker and queenmaker, giving many comedians such as Joan Rivers, Drew Carey, and Ellen DeGeneres their big breaks.
Recently, late-night talk shows have been making headlines for unexpectedand possibly politically motivatedreasons, calling into question freedom of speech and media monopolies.
The announced ending of CBSs The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and the temporary suspension of ABCs Jimmy Kimmel Live! were both controversial moves. (CBS maintains its decision was financial, not political.)
All this offstage drama is nothing new. Carson faced his own dilemmasincluding having a mobster put out a hit on him.
[Image: Penguin Random House]
That’s just one of the many intriguing stories found in the new book Love Johnny Carson (Dutton, 2025) by Mark Malkoff with David Ritz. It was released just two days before what would have been the legendary host’s 100th birthday on October 23. Lets talk about Malkoffs credentials before we get into the Frank Sinatra of it all.
Who is Mark Malkoff?
Malkoffs father first exposed him to Carsons late-night antics. Though my father was just an average fan of the show, like millions of other Americans, when he told me about seeing that taping, it struck a chord somewhere deep inside me, Malkoff writes.
A super fan was created.
A young Malkoff continued his Carson education by recording the seriesit presumably aired after his bedtimeand watching it the next morning while eating cereal. He would also make a pilgrimage to Carsons Los Angeles NBC studio and attend college at NYU to be close to Carsons New York history.
Malkoff began The Carson Podcast in 2014 and spent eight years interviewing people who knew the funnyman. This book feels like a natural extension of the podcast. Malkoffs purpose was to further educate the public on Carsons cordiality, calmness, cool, warmth, wit, and love.
How did Frank Sinatra save Carsons life?
Many different versions of this story have circulated for years. Malkoff spoke to comedian Tom Dreesen to get to the bottom of it all. Dreesen heard it both from Ermenegildo “Jilly” Rizzo, the owner of Jillys Saloon, and Frank Sinatra himself.
Carson was a talented entertainer who also had his fair share of demons, one of which was alcohol. In the spring of 1971, an already intoxicated Carson went out to Jillys with friends, where he spotted a beautiful woman. According to Dreesen, Carson approached her and put his hand up her miniskirt.
This woman was the girlfriend of notorious mobster Joseph Crazy Joe” Gallo, who was known for his bad temper. When Gallo found out, he warned that Carsons days were numbered.
The word all over Manhattan was Carsons a dead man. Hes gotta go into hiding, Dreesen told Malkoff.
Sinatra and Carson ran in similar social circles and had bonded six years earlier at a St. Louis benefit show, according to Malkoff.
The crooner came up with a plan to host Gallo and his family at an unpublicized charity show and make a big fuss over them. Backstage, after the event, Gallo thanked Sinatra and asked if there was anything he could do for him. Sinatra answered: Johnny Carson. While Gallo was not happy about this, he backed off for Ol’ Blue Eyes.
I dont believe anybody but Sinatra could have saved Carsons life, Dreesen told Malkoff.
So while Kimmel and Colberts recent experiences are unfortunate and life-changing, perhaps they can take solace in the fact that it was not a life-and-death situation.
Carson went on to host The Tonight Show until 1992, leaving behind a franchise that lives on today in an increasingly fractured TV environment that has been disrupted by streaming and other forms of digital media.
According to a UPI report at the time, his final episode attracted more than 62% of the television audience, some 55 million people.
Electric-truck maker Rivian is laying off another 600 people, or about 4% of its workforce as the global demand for electric vehicles decreases, the Wall Street Journal reported. This follows a previous round of layoffs in 2024.
Rivian is one of a number of technology and media companies that have seen layoffs in October, including: Meta, Paycom, Charter, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.
Unfortunately, October 2025 is no outlier. From technology companies to media conglomerates, the layoffs are part of a trend in both the U.S. and Europe as companies start to slash staff and downsize.
Some are blaming artificial intelligence (AI), though critics say it’s just an excuse for companies to trim staff. The layoffs could also be way to hedge against the current economic uncertainty triggered by inflation, tariffs, the skyrocketing cost of living, and now an ongoing federal government shutdown.
Below are some of the tech and media companies that have been laying off workers since the beginning of the month. Fast Company has reached out to all of the companies listed below for comment.
Rivian
On Thursday, there was news that Rivian was laying off about 4% of its workforce, after a previous smaller layoff affecting some 1.5% of the company last month. Rivian, like many EV manufacturers, is expected to see EV sales decline in the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to end a hefty federal tax credit for EV purchases. Rivian is also planning to launch a new vehicle in 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Meta
On Wednesday, Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp, said it is laying off about 600 employees from Alexandr Wangs new superintelligence research lab, after hiring the 25-year-old wunderkind and investing $14.3 billion in his company, Scale AI, in June. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the social technology company plans to invest between $60 billion and $65 billion in AI capital expenditures in 2025 alone.
Paycom
Earlier this month, Oklahoma City-based payroll and human resources software company Paycom laid off more than 500 employees, citing workforce restructuring due to efficiencies in advanced automation and AI-driven technologies that will impact a limited number of back-office roles.
Charter
Cable and broadband giant Charter Communications said on Wednesday that to streamline operations, it was laying off some 1,200 employees, or just over 1% of its 95,000-person workforce, mostly in corporate management and back-office roles. The roles would not be in sales or service positions.
The company lost 117,000 internet customers in Q2, and 60,000 in Q1, amid growing competition from mobile providers, per Reuters.
NBC News
Meanwhile, NBC News is laying off about 7% of its staff, or 150 people, in cuts that started rolling out last week on October 15. The cuts come ahead of a split and rebrand from cable news network MSNBC, which will now be called MS NOW (which stands for “My Source for News, Opinion, and the World”). The move is part of a larger spin-off from parent company Comcast, which also includes CNBC and USA Network.
The Wall Street Journal
Also this month, the Wall Street Journal laid off a dozen reporters and editors from its education, health, and science news teams, citing structural changes. I recognize that change can be unsettling, editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a staff memo. I want to thank them for them for their many contributions to the Journal, particularly Stefanie Ilgenfritz [who] has spent more than 35 years at the Journal and has helped shape distinctive and consequential journalism, including a series on Medicare fraud that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015.
Tesla is recalling more than 63,000 Cybertrucks in the U.S. because the front lights are too bright, which may cause a distraction to other drivers and increase the risk of a collision.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the recall includes certain Cybertrucks with a model year between 2024 and 2026. The vehicles were made between Nov. 13, 2023, and Oct. 11, 2025, with operating software versions prior to 2025.38.3.
The agency said that Tesla is not aware of any collisions, injuries, or fatalities related to the condition.
Tesla, which is run by billionaire Elon Musk, is issuing a free software update to correct the issue.
Earlier this month, federal regulators opened yet another investigation into Teslas self-driving feature after dozens of incidents in which the cars ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a filing that it was looking into 58 incidents in which Teslas reportedly violated traffic safety laws while using the companys so-called Full Self-Driving mode, leading to more than a dozen crashes and fires and nearly two dozen injuries. The new probe adds to several other open investigations into Tesla technology that could upend Musks plans to turn millions of his cars already on the road into completely driverless vehicles with an over-the-air update to their software.
In March, U.S. safety regulators recalled virtually all Cybertrucks on the road. The NHTSA’s recall, which covered more than 46,000 Cybertrucks, warned that an exterior panel that runs along the left and right side of the windshield can detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard for other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash.
On Wednesday, Tesla reported a fourth straight decline in quarterly profit, even as sales rose. The automaker reported third-quarter earnings plunged 37% to $1.4 billion, or 39 cents a share, from $2.2 billion, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier. That marked the fourth quarter in a row that profit dropped. And even the revenue rise, a welcome relief from a sales plunge earlier in the year due to anti-Musk boycotts, came with a significant caveat: Customers rushed to take advantage of a $7,500 federal EV tax credit before it expired on Oct. 1, possibly stealing sales from the current quarter.
Michelle Chapman, AP business writer
Personalized vaccines that steer the immune system to fight unique cancer cells show promise, but another powerful way to treat cancer might be hiding in plain sight.
People being treated for advanced skin and lung cancer lived longer if they had received a Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, according to new research published in the journal Nature. Both vaccines work using mRNA, which prompts cells to make a virus-like protein that triggers a useful immune response and teaches the body how to protect itself.
When a team working to develop personalized mRNA cancer vaccines found that those vaccines were mostly effective due to the broad immune response they promptednot their custom-built naturethey decided to see how well widely available mRNA vaccines worked at the same task.
The team analyzed records from almost 1,000 advanced cancer patients at Houstons MD Anderson Cancer Center, comparing outcomes between people that had received one of the two COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and those who hadnt. They found that lung cancer patients vaccinated with the Pfizer or Moderna shot lived almost twice as long after starting cancer treatment.
Patients with aggressive melanoma who received an mRNA vaccine also showed improved outcomes, but people in that group lived for so long their average survival time couldnt be determined in the study. Non-mRNA vaccines like those used for the flu did not show the same positive effect.
The patients with the biggest benefit were given the vaccine within 100 days of beginning the immunotherapy known as checkpoint treatment and those whose cancer looked the least likely to respond well to treatment. The research team believes that the immune response from mRNA vaccines sets up the immune system for more effective checkpoint treatment, which instructs T cells to work overtime to hunt down cancer in the body.
The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine acts like a siren and activates the immune system throughout the entire body Adam Grippin, co-author and radiation oncologist at MD Anderson told Nature. … We were amazed at the results in our patients.
Defunding the future
Future research will continue to explore the powerful potential of mRNA vaccines to fight cancer, but the path wont be easy. Science funding in the U.S. has taken a massive hit across the board under the second Trump administration, but the situation is especially grim for mRNA research.
In August, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the government would cancel $500 million in federal funds for mRNA vaccine research, throttling one of the most promising lanes of research with life-saving potential for everything from future pandemics to cancer and HIV.
In a video explaining the decision to slash mRNA research, Kennedy announced that he believed science using mRNA poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses and HHS would be moving beyond the limitations of mRNA for respiratory viruses and investing in better solutions.”
During Operation Warp Speed, the vaccine development program during Trumps first term lauded even by his critics, the president hailed Pfizers mRNA vaccine as a medical miracle. This is one of the greatest scientific accomplishments in history, Trump said at the time.
Experts across the medical world agree, with epidemiologists issuing particularly dire warnings about Americas future without mRNA research. There is no upside, Harvard Professor of Epidemiology Bill Hanage said of the cuts to mRNA vaccine development. There is only downside. We would be fighting any future pandemic with one hand tied behind our back.
Oil prices spiked Thursday after the U.S. announced massive new sanctions on Russia’s oil industry in an attempt to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and end Moscows brutal war on Ukraine.
U.S. benchmark crude jumped 5.8%, to $61.91 per barrel midday Thursday, and analysts say if the situation remains static, U.S. consumers will soon be paying more at the pump.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said while it was difficult to predict with certainty because of the number of moving parts, consumers will likely see a bump in prices as early as next week, if not sooner.
We’ll probably start to see motorists be impacted by the sanctions at the pump in the next couple days and it might take five days for that to be fully passed along, De Haan said, adding that the full impact also depends on whether the Russian or U.S. positions change.
Russia will feel pressure to come to the table in light of the new developments or President Trump may react when he sees oil prices rising to levels that become uncomfortable, so I dont think this is going to be very long-lasting, De Haan said.
Oil prices have been relatively low for the past few years and last week the cost for a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude fell below $57, its lowest level since early 2021. The price for a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude did rise near $79 a barrel early this year, just before President Donald Trump took office, a price not necessarily considered outrageously elevated by most analysts.
The broad, extended decline in oil prices pushed the average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. last week under $3 for the first time since December of last year, according to GasBuddy.
For much of 2025, inflation has been held mostly in check, partly due to cheaper prices at the pump. However, that could change quickly as higher energy costs have a downstream effect on prices for virtually all products and services across industries.
The impact to a lot of Americans is that products derived from cruel gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel are all likely to see price increases, De Haan said.
The main reason oil and gas have stabilized at lower levels this year is that the group of countries that are part of the OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries has continued to boost production. Earlier this month, OPEC+ leaders announced they would raise oil production by 137,000 barrels per day in November, the same amount announced for October. The group has been raising output slightly in a series of boosts all year after announcing cuts in 2023 and 2024.
Russia is the leading non-OPEC member in the 22-country alliance. The group’s next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 2.
The sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil follow calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well as bipartisan pressure on Trump to hit Russia with harder sanctions on its oil industry, the economic engine that has allowed Russia to continue to execute the grinding conflict even as it finds itself largely internationally isolated. The European Union on Thursday announced its own measures targeting Russian oil and gas.
The price for Brent crude, the international standard, rose $3.26 on Thursday to $65.85 per barrel.
Matt Ott, Associated Press business writer
Clippy, the animated paper clip that annoyed Microsoft Office users nearly three decades ago, might have just been ahead of its time.
Microsoft introduced a new artificial intelligence character called Mico (pronounced MEE’koh) on Thursday, a floating cartoon face shaped like a blob or flame that will embody the software giant’s Copilot virtual assistant and marks the latest attempt by tech companies to imbue their AI chatbots with more of a personality.
Copilot’s cute new emoji-like exterior comes as AI developers face a crossroads in how they present their increasingly capable chatbots to consumers without causing harm or backlash. Some have opted for faceless symbols, others like Elon Musk’s xAI are selling flirtatious, human-like avatars, and Microsoft is looking for a middle ground that’s friendly without being obsequious.
When you talk about something sad, you can see Micos face change. You can see it dance around and move as it gets excited with you, said Jacob Andreou, corporate vice president of product and growth for Microsoft AI, in an interview with The Associated Press. Its in this effort of really landing this AI companion that you can really feel.
In the U.S. only so far, Copilot users on laptops and phone apps can speak to Mico, which changes colors, spins around and wears glasses when in study mode. It’s also easy to shut off, which is a big difference from Microsoft’s Clippit, better known as Clippy and infamous for its persistence in offering advice on word processing tools when it first appeared on desktop screens in 1997.
It was not well-attuned to user needs at the time, said Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Microsoft pushed it, we resisted it and they got rid of it. I think were much more ready for things like that today.
Reimer, co-author of a new book called How to Make AI Useful, said AI developers are balancing how much personality to give AI assistants based on who their expected users are.
Tech-savvy adopters of advanced AI coding tools may want it to act much more like a machine because at the back end they know its a machine, Reimer said. But individuals who are not as trustful in a machine are going to be best supported not replaced by technology that feels a little more like a human.
Microsoft, a provider of work productivity tools that is far less reliant on digital advertising revenue than its Big Tech competitors, also has less incentive to make its AI companion overly engaging in a way that’s been tied to social isolation, harmful misinformation and, in some cases, suicides.
Andreou said Microsoft has watched as some AI developers veered away from giving AI any sort of embodiment, while others are moving in the opposite direction in enabling AI girlfriends.
Those two paths dont really resonate with us that much, he said.
Andreou said the companion’s design is meant to be genuinely useful and not so validating that it would tell us exactly what we want to hear, confirm biases we already have, or even suck you in from a time-spent perspective and just kind of try to kind of monopolize and deepen the session and increase the time youre spending with these systems.
Being sycophantic short-term, maybe has a user respond more favorably, Andreou said. But long term, its actually not moving that person closer to their goals.
Part of Microsoft’s announcements on Thursday includes the ability to invite Copilot into a group chat, an idea that resembles how AI has been integrated into social media platforms like Snapchat, where Andreou used to work, or Meta’s WhatsApp and Instagram. But Andreou said those interactions have often involved bringing in AI as a joke to troll your friends, which is different from the intensely collaborative AI-assisted workplace Microsoft has in mind.
Microsoft’s audience includes kids, as part of its longtime competition with Google and other tech companies to supply its technology to classrooms. Microsoft also said Thursday it’s added a feature to turn Copilot into a voice-enabled, Socratic tutor that guides students through concepts they’re studying at school.
A growing number of kids use AI chatbots for everything from homework help to personal advice, emotional support and everyday decision-making.
The Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry last month into several social media and AI companies Microsoft wasn’t one of them about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their AI chatbots as companions.
Thats after some chatbots have been shown to give kids dangerous advice about topics such as drugs, alcohol and eating disorders. The mother of a teenage boy in Florida who killed himself after developing what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship with a chatbot filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Character. AI. And the parents of a 16-year-old sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in August, alleging that ChatGPT coached the California boy in planning and taking his own life.
Altman recently promised a new version of ChatGPT coming this fall that restores some of the personality of earlier versions, which he said the company temporarily halted because we were being careful with mental health issues that he suggested have now been fixed.
If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it, Altman said on X. (In the same post, he also said OpenAI will later enable ChatGPT to engage in erotica for verified adults, which got more attention.)
Matt O’Brien, AP technology writer
President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchange and served prison time after failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking, and terrorism.
Zhao had asked Trump for a pardon previously.
He has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September.
Trumps most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which has launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio to the U.S. dollar.
World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance. Zhao also has publicly said that he had asked Trump for a pardon that could nullify his conviction.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Thursday that the Biden administration prosecuted Zhao out of a desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry. She said there were no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims, though Zhao had pleaded guilty in November to one count of failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program.
I failed here, Zhao told the court last year. I deeply regret my failure, and I am sorry.
Will Weissert, Associated Press
As weather disasters become more and more frequent, the home insurance system feels broken for Americans across the country. Now, the advocacy nonprofit Consumer Reports is trying to implement a homeowners insurance bill of rights to codify baseline protections across all 50 states.
According to a survey from the group, homeowners have seen their insurance rates climblike Sierra in North Carolina, whose insurance spiked 43% last year, with her provider citing the increased regional weather risks as well as Hurricane Helenes impact specifically.
Theyve been denied payouts, like Charmian in Illinois, who says their provider refused to pay for hail damage on their roof. Hail storms are becoming both more frequent and more damaging as global temperatures rise.
And some homeowners have been outright abandoned as insurance companies flee high-risk states and drop long-time customers. Because of the growing risk of wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and other disasters, homeowners have been dropped in states including California, Florida, and Louisiana, among others. Vicki in California is one example, even after she spent money on fire protection measures.
An industry ‘almost universally disliked’
Sierra, Charmian, and Vicki are some of the more than 500 Consumer Reports members who shared their insurance stories with the nonprofit when it began to look into the home insurance market.
Consumer Reports rates all sorts of products and services, from appliances to electric vehicles to anti-virus software. But it only just started covering insurance providers this year. The focus on home insurance was prompted by the January wildfires in Los Angelesand the news that major providers like State Farm and other insurers had canceled hundreds of policies in the months before that disaster hit.
It’s really been a flood of heartbreaking stories of people who have lost their homes that didn’t even know that they were in extreme weather risk regions and didn’t have sufficient insurance or even insurance at all to help rebuild, says Sara Enright, Consumer Reports senior director of safety and sustainability advocacy.
Consumer Reports put out the call for stories from its members that January, and received responses filled with frustrations like reduced or eliminated coverage and skyrocketing rates from all 50 states.
In September, Consumer Reports revealed its ratings of best and worst homeowners insurance, the first time it did such a list. The nonprofit looked at 28 providers, but after surveying 24,000 policyholders, only three received a Consumer Reports recommendation.
That’s pretty poor showing, Enright says. This is an industry that’s almost universally disliked by its customers.
Nine rights for homeowners
The insurance industry is clearly struggling with the realities of climate change, and the extent to which extreme weather is becoming more common. The scale of damage is increasing to such an extent that traditional insurance models no longer apply to our current reality.
Consumer Reports wanted to help figure out some solutions. We felt that there are things that the insurance industry could do to ease the pain on their customers in the meantime, as they figure out their business model under a world in which extreme weather events are going to occur more frequently, Enright says.
So the nonprofit got to work writing up a Homeowners Insurance Bill of Rights, one that prioritized consumer voices. Along with more than 500 stories from members, it engaged more than 56,000 consumers in total to get feedback, which it then analyzed for certain themes. It also partnered with advocates that have studied insurance, like United Policy Holders and the Consumer Federation of America.
It came up with nine rights it says all policyholders should be guaranteed, and which would make the home insurance market more fair:
A clear, plain-language explanation of what isand isntcovered by your policy
Knowing which risk factors are used to determine eligibility and set rates
Fair access to coverage based on property risk, not your finances
Receiving written notice and a full explanation well in advance of major changes to your insurance policy
Benefitting from incentives to harden your home against severe weather or wildfire risk
Insurance security during and after declared States of Emergency
No penalties for inquiries and unpaid claims
Prompt, full, and fair payment on a claim
Immediate and adequate financial support for emergency housing and essentials
Some of these rights seem obvious, or like theyd already existlike clear language around what a policy covers. But policies may not actually be that transparent to homeowners. Its also an intentional way to call out how the industry can seem unfair, and unaccountable to its customers.
A lot of the rights cover things where youre like, Why doesnt that exist? Enright says. Right after a disaster, don’t drop your home insurance policy rightthat’s not legally required in most states, and that just seems like a very low hanging fruit for insurers to be able to say no were not going to abandon you in your time of need.
A patchwork system
Though some of these rights arent legally required in certain states, the majority are already covered by at least one state law. The problem is that the insurance industry is a patchwork system, with different requirements and responsibilities from state to state.
We believe that those rights should then be extended to all policyholders, to create a stronger protection network for everybody, Enright says.
Consumer Reports wanted to ensure that these rights were possible, and that they could get onboard. Though it’s a fact that companies will drop customers in high-risk areas like California, the nonprofit didnt feel it could call for a change to such business practices.
Canceling policies because the risk is too high, or hiking insurance rates are business decisions that have to be made in the time of climate change, Enright says. Obviously we think that those should be overseen by state regulators, but it’s not something that we thought we could voluntarily ask insurance companies to say that they would stop doing.
But the bill of rights does call for actions like providing enough advanced notice so homeoners can respond, fight back, or find a new provider before their insurance ends.
The full bill of rights also shares some tips for what homeowners can do to protect themselves in the meantime, before these rights are (hopefully) enactedsuggestions like asking if any risk scores were used to determine their premiums, and how they could improve their risk score to lower their rate.
Theres a customer education component to this crisis, Enright adds; many people dont even know their basic home insurance package doesnt cover flooding, for example.
Consumer Reports next steps
Still, Consumer Reports wants the insurance companies to adopt these rights, and state legislators to codify them. They were formed so as not to require dramatic business changes, Enright says, and Consumer Reports is also reaching out to all 28 insurers it rated this year to talk about how they can implement these changes.
Our hope is that insurers will see some value in adopting, as an industry, universal rights that will level the playing field for all of them so that they are competing on customer service as much as anything else, she says.
The nonprofit is also reaching out to industry groups and talking to state legislators about putting consumer protection policies in place. The insurance industry is legislated at the state level, so thats where Consumer Reports is focusing. Consumer Reports also launched a petition asking for signatures in support of the Homeowners Insurance Bill of Rights.
At the federal level, like around FEMA or federal flood insurance, details are still up in the air as the Trump administration has cut departments and slashed services. Trumps moves to gut the NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, may actually increase home insurance premiums and make companies drop even more homeowners, experts warned back in February, because the data that department once provided is crucial to understanding risk.
Though Consumer Reports member stories reveal how frustrated homeowners are with their insurance companies, Enright wants to note that this effort isnt about painting insurers as bad actors.
This is a story about us adapting to extreme weather events driven by climate change, she says. We have to work together. We need the insurance industry to be strong so that communities can get through extreme weather events and be resilient. We need to find solutions that work both for insurance companies as well as consumers.
Chinas ruling Communist Party said Thursday it will focus on speeding up self-reliance in science and technology, a long-running push that has become more pronounced as the U.S. has imposed increasingly tight controls on access to semiconductors and other high-tech items.
The announcement by state media came in a communique after a four-day meeting that approved a draft of the party’s next five-year development plan.
China faces profound and complex changes and rising uncertainty, it said. The communique did not directly mention the trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. China’s leader Xi Jinping is expected to meet Trump for talks in South Korea next week.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has ramped up tariffs on imports in an effort to compel manufacturers to shift factories to the United States. That has added to pressure on the Chinese economy at a time when the leadership is struggling to resolve a prolonged downturn in the property market and stoke stronger domestic demand.
But China has managed to keep exports growing by shifting to other markets, and the statement signaled the government is confident it can counter external threats with domestic policy tools, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis, a French investment bank.
“It means China will likely demand more from the U.S. to reach a deal, if one is to be reached, he said.
The communique contained few surprises, largely echoing the policy direction set out by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who wants to build China into a tech leader and global power with a robust military able to command respect and exert international influence.
It provided only a broad overview of the coming 2026-2030 five-year plan, indicating its scope without details. More information may be released in the coming days, but the full plan won’t be known until March, when the legislature gives a rubber-stamp approval to the plan at its annual meeting.
The general impression of the communique is that it highlights much more continuity than change, said Xin Sun, a senior lecturer in Chinese and East Asian Business at Kings College London.
Ng said that compared to the previous plan five years ago, the government is deepening its push for technological self-sufficiency, income redistribution and a transition to clean energy.
The countrys industrial policy has driven the rapid development of the electric car and wind and solar industries in recent years and has turned now to robotics and artificial intelligence.
The party will accelerate the all-out green transformation of economic and social development, the statement said.
It said that China would continue to boost domestic demand and spending, an objective that economists said is important for the countrys economic growth, though it didn’t signal any significant change to that approach.
China has rolled out various policies to help increase consumption such as subsidies for consumer loans and child care and trade-in programs for electric vehicles and appliances. Economists are watching for more measures to support consumption by the year’s end.
Beijing said this week it is still on a solid foundation to achieve its full-year official growth target of around 5%, after Chinas economy grew 4.8% in the July to September quarter.
The meeting of the party’s Central Committee was notable for the low number of deputies, an indication of Xi’s deep purges among the Communist Party’s top ranks. Out of 205 members, 168 attended the meeting, the communique said, along with 147 out of 171 alternates. Eleven alternates were made voting members to fill vacancies on the committee.
The party meeting chose a replacement for China’s second-highest-ranking general. He was expelled from the party along with eight other senior military officials on suspicion of corruption, the Defense Ministry announced just days before this week’s meeting.
Zhang Shengmin was named vice chair of the Central Military Commission, the top military body. He was already a member of the commission and holds the rank of general in the Peoples Liberation Armys Rocket Force. He is secretary of the commission’s Discipline and Inspection Commission, which investigates corruption.
The elevation of Zhang shows an emphasis on political loyalty and anti-corruption as Xi continues a push to modernize Chinas military, Sun said.
Ken Moritsugu, Huizhong Wu, and Chan Ho-Him, Associated Press
Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed.
