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Voters are filling in their ballots today to choose who will lead America’s largest city for the next four years. New York being a center of global finance and business means that its local elections will always attract some degree of attention outside of the five boroughs, but the city’s mayoral race this year has garnered far more national interest than usual. That’s in large part thanks to Zohran Mamdani, the assemblymember from Queens who was virtually unknown outside of New York before he launched his campaign a year ago. Mamdani went viral early in the race with entertaining person-on-the-street videos in the wake of Donald Trump’s second presidential election victory. With support from an energized base of younger voters, he rode that wave to a primary election victory against former Governor Andrew Cuomo in June. Since then, the national headlines about Mamdani and the broader race for mayor haven’t stopped, which is to say that no shortage of eyeballs will be focused on New York’s election results as they begin to pour in on November 4. Most polls have shown Democrat Mamdani with a comfortable lead over his two main opponents: Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, the Republican on the ballot. If Mamdani coasts to victory as expected, he would be the first Muslim mayor of New York and, at 34, the youngest person to lead the city in more than 100 years. How can I track the New York City mayoral election results? News outlets with real-time decision desks offer the fastest way to see how the election is unfolding. We’ve rounded up some resources below: NPR (via Associated Press) New York Times CNN Decision Desk HQ Election polls close at 9 p.m. ET. This story is developing…
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E-Commerce
Restaurants, food banks, nonprofits, and other organizations have stepped up to offer assistance to the 41 million Americans who have been thrust into limbo this month regarding SNAP benefits that have been halved. But retailers are prohibited from offering discounts on groceries. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has sent notices to retailers alerting them that they cant offer special discounts to customers affected by the lapse in funding. Despite skepticism about the authenticity of these reports, the USDA confirmed the veracity of the notice to Fast Company, though a spokesperson didnt provide any additional comment. You must offer eligible foods at the same prices and on the same terms and conditions to SNAP-EBT customers as other customers, except that sales tax cannot be charged on SNAP purchases, the notice reads. You cannot treat SNAP-EBT customers differently than any other customers. The USDA has sent out these notices despite the government shutdown that began last month. EQUAL TREATMENT RULE The USDA appears to be invoking the equal treatment rule in an unprecedented way: The rule was intended to ensure that retailers couldnt discriminate against SNAP recipients by charging them more for eligible items. Now, the USDA wants to ensure that grocery stores dont charge these customers less for eligible items. Whats also unusual is that grocery stores, at their discretion, regularly offer discounts to customers for a variety of reasons including designated discount days for seniors. ACTION FOR SNAP VIOLATIONS Its unclear what penalties, if any, the USDA will impose on retailers who ignore this rule and offer discounts to SNAP beneficiaries. However, a discount apparently is considered a SNAP violation, and the Food and Nutrition Service within the USDA is tasked with monitoring such violations. FNS takes immediate administrative action to ensure stores that violate SNAP rules no longer participate in the program, reads a March 2025 fraud notification letter sent to retailers and posted on the USDA website. Retailers that commit program violations will face consequences, including losing the ability to accept SNAP benefits. Retailers who commit program violations may also be subject to monetary penalties, fines, and/or criminal prosecution. RETAILERS THRUST INTO LIMBO Some locally-owned grocery stores had promised discounts to SNAP recipients, along with DoorDash and Instacart, which deliver groceries for hundreds of grocery store chains. DoorDash sees no issue in waiving or reducing service and delivery fees for SNAP beneficiaries, as the company announced it would do previously, a company spokesperson told Fast Company. The company is among a group of pilot retailers for online SNAP that received a blanket regulatory waiver issued by FNS that waives the equal treatment requirement, said the spokesperson, who shared a copy of that notice. Instacart also received a similar waiver from FNS and had offered SNAP customers a 50% off their next grocery order, though a company spokesperson didnt explicitly confirm to Fast Company whether it would continue with this offer. At least two retailers had offered discounts to struggling customers and retracted them after receiving the notice from the USDA, according to Catherine Rampell, an MSNBC anchor, in a post on the X platform.
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E-Commerce
Chrysler is recalling more than 320,000 Jeep plug-in hybrid vehicles due to a faulty battery that can fail and lead to a fire, U.S. traffic safety regulators said. Chrysler, which is owned by Netherlands-based Stellantis, is aware of 19 reports and 1 injury potentially related to the issue. Owners of the vehicles, which include 228,221 Jeep Wranglers model years 2020-2025 and 91,844 Jeep Grand Cherokees model years 2022-2026, are being advised to park the vehicles outside and away from structures until a remedy for the problem is determined. Vehicle owners are also being told not to charge their vehicles, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration said. Interim notification letters are expected to be mailed to vehicle owners by December 2, 2025, with additional letters to be sent once the final remedy is available. The number for the recall is 68C and owners may contact Chrysler customer service at 800-853-1403. Vehicle Identification Numbers for this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning November 6, 2025. Vehicles that were previously recalled for the same issue under previous recalls will need to have the new remedy performed, the NHTSA said. The batteries were manufactured by Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Samsung SDI America.
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E-Commerce
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