In February, 38,840 US properties faced foreclosure filings of all kinds, including default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions – a 20% jump compared with the same month last year, according to a report released Thursday by data provider ATTOM.

“Foreclosure activity in February marked the 12th consecutive month of annual increases, extending a gradual upward trend that began early last year,” ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said in a statement. 

The number of Americans facing repossession in February jumped for the twelfth month in a row.

“While filings dipped slightly from January, both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosures remain higher than a year ago.”

The cost of homeownership has increasingly soared out of reach for many Americans, with the average family needing to earn $110,00 a year to own a typical home, according to real estate broker Redfin – about 29% higher than what the median household actually makes.

President Trump has unveiled several initiatives aimed at addressing the housing affordability crisis, including a $200 billion mortgage bond-buying spree and a homebuying ban on large investors. Critics have questioned whether these plans will have a wide-reaching impact. 

Despite the troubling trend in foreclosures, overall foreclosure rates “remain well below historic norms,” Barber added.

Still, economic pressures could multiply amid the war on Iran, which has sent oil prices soaring to $100 a barrel – the kind of shock that tends to ripple across consumer prices and reheat inflation, according to experts.

Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Delaware and Illinois were the states with the highest foreclosure rates last month, according to ATTOM.

Among metro areas with populations of at least 200,000, Lakeland, Fla.; Punta Gorda, Fla.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Evansville, Ind.; and Columbia, SC, were the cities with the worst foreclosure rates, the report said.

Nearly 40,000 homes faced foreclosure filings last month, according to ATTOM. Konstantin L – stock.adobe.com

Lenders started the foreclosure process on 25,928 US properties in February – a 14% jump from the same period a year ago. 

Texas, Florida, California, Georgia and Indiana saw the highest numbers of foreclosure starts.

Some 4,077 US properties were repossessed through completed foreclosures, a whopping 35% yearly increase, according to the report.

The states with the most repossessed homes in February included Texas, Michigan, Florida, California and Pennsylvania.

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March is Women’s History Month, so today, I thought I’d share some recommendations for books about women in history that also complete 2026 Read Harder Challenge tasks. We have memoirs and biographies about famous women in history, little-known women’s history, and books about women making history today. Let’s dive in!

Task #1: Read a microhistory

Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women’s Self-Defense Movement by Wendy L. Rouse

While you may be quite familiar with the suffragist movement of the early 20th century, you may be less familiar with the correlated birth of the women’s self-defense movement. Rouse explores why (white) women took to boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and other forms of defense in the early 1900s. Of course, the move was largely to protect themselves from the men in their lives, but Rouse doesn’t shy away from exposing uglier truths — like how white women wielded this tool of empowerment to reinforce their privileged spot above women of color. —Nicole Hill

Task #5: Read a nonfiction book about resistance

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

The Combahee River Collective was a group of radical Black lesbian feminists in 1960s and ’70s Boston who believed in intersectionality (before we had a word for it) and the idea that “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free.” This book reprints the Combahee River Collective Statement, still impactful and relevant almost 50 years later, and editor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor interviews Combahee members. —Alice Burton

All Access members, read on for more books to read for Women’s History Month and the 2026 Read Harder Challenge.

Task #7: Read a sports book by a woman, trans, or nonbinary writer

All In: An Autobiography by Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King is one of the winningest athletes in tennis, with an amazing twenty Wimbledon championships and thirty-nine grand-slam titles. She also inspired generations of young women, as she broke barriers in a sexist sport (most notably by beating Bobby Riggs in the famous “Battle of the Sexes”) and paved the way for other LGBTQ+ athletes. This is a fascinating, fierce memoir by a legend, one whose name will never be forgotten. —Liberty Hardy

Task #13: Read a nonfiction comic

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martinez

Dr. Hall and illustrator Hugo Martinez deliver a strong and unforgotten lesson on the countless Black women who have led slave revolts throughout history. While many of these brave women never made it into our history books, Hall dives deep into public records as well as her own family’s history to discover brave women who risked their lives for their families and communities in an effort to liberate us all. Women’s History Month would not be the same without learning about these heroes. —Erika Hardison

Task #15: Read a book by a librarian

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones

In this memoirifesto, Louisiana librarian Amanda Jones recounts how she went to advocate for the freedom to read at a local public hearing in 2022 and was immediately plunged into a nightmare. Right-wing book banners called her things like a pedo and a porn pusher, but she fought back. She sued her defamers and has been encouraging others to do the same. In That Librarian, she calls on all book lovers to stand up to the deluge of book bans the U.S. has been suffering through the last few years. —Erica Ezeifedi

Task #16: Read a queer picture book

One Day in June by Tourmaline

Trans artist and activist Tourmaline wrote Marsha, a phenomenal biography of icon Marsha P. Johnson that was released in 2025. It made a big splash, but many haven’t heard of the picture book companion for young readers, One Day in June. It’s a bright, colorful book about how Marsha P. Johnson’s joyful spirit helped shape the movement for LGBTQ+ rights and how we celebrate Pride today. —Susie Dumond

The post Read Harder This Women’s History Month appeared first on Our Story Insight.

The recently introduced “Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act” would include the additional money until July 2026. Recipients of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, veteran disability compensation, veteran pensions and railroad retirement would get the extra dough, the bill’s sponsors said.

The legislation is all but certain to fail in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Democratic senators have introduced legislation that could hike monthly Social Security payments by $200. Getty Images

Still, the bill’s prime sponsor Sens Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) argued that inflation has pushed prices so high that seniors need extra help.

The extra $200 per month would provide an “emergency lifeline for seniors struggling to afford Trump’s tariffs and rising inflation,” she said in a statement.

Upcoming cost-of-loving adjustment

The Social Security Administration said last month that benefits for more than 50 million American retirees will increase 2.8% next year as part of its annual cost-of-living adjustment, also known as COLA.

That is “simply not reflective of the current reality” for seniors, stated bill co-sponsor Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY.), the Senate minority leader.

Other sponsors of the legislation include Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

US inflation hit 3% in September – the highest level since January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index. 

Prices on products from a cup of coffee and kids’ toys to living room furniture and Amazon deals have soared in recent months.

Concerns around the recently ended government shutdown – the longest in history – and broader economic issues like inflation sent monthly consumer sentiment to its lowest level in over three years, according to data released earlier this month.

Meanwhile, adults are putting off homeownership for longer than ever.

The median age of first-time homebuyers hit 40 years old this year – a record-high, according to the National Association of Realtors’ annual report.

The Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act would add $200 to monthly benefits until July 2026. zinkevych – stock.adobe.com

‘Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act’

Separately from Warren’s bill, Democratic senators introduced the “Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act,” which would tweak the current formula for annual cost-of-living adjustments.

The Social Security Administration currently calculates the adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.

This inflation measure is based on the spending habits of younger, urban workers.

But the “Boosting Benefits” bill would base the adjustment on the CPI for older Americans, tracking the spending habits of retirees age 62 and older – which could raise the payments.

Democratic senators also introduced the Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act. Christopher Sadowski

“Americans deserve to retire with dignity, not spend their golden years just trying to get by,” Gillibrand said in a statement. 

“Our seniors have spent a lifetime of hard work paying into Social Security, but the payouts simply aren’t keeping up with rising costs, and this year’s annual cost-of-living adjustment is not enough to keep seniors afloat.”

The average retirement benefit in August was $2,008, according to the most recently available data.

About 73% of seniors depend on Social Security for more than half of their income, according to a study by the nonprofit Senior Citizens League. 

Social Security benefits are available to retired Americans age 62 and older. Surviving family members of deceased workers and some disabled citizens are also eligible.

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The Dow fell 798 points, or 1.7% — its worst day in more than a month after notching a new record high just the day before. The S&P 500 slipped 1.9%, led downward by Disney, which fell 8% after it reported disappointing revenue.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 2.3% as investors continued to panic over whether AI stocks have been massively overvalued, worsening a sell-off that started last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 700 points Thursday as investors continued to panic over AI spending. AP

Although the Nasdaq opened strong Thursday, investors quickly pulled back on companies that have been shelling out massive amounts of capital on pricey, power-hungry data centers.

The “Magnificent Seven” tech firms – which have pledged billions of dollars to AI efforts – were battered as shares in Nvidia, Broadcom and Tesla fell 3.6%, 4.3% and 6.6%, respectively.

Alphabet and Amazon each fell about 3%. Shares in Microsoft dipped 1.6% while Meta traded roughly flat.

Meanwhile, the US government reopened on Thursday after its longest-ever shutdown. 

The “Magnificent Seven” tech firms – which have pledged billions of dollars to AI efforts – were battered. REUTERS

“While that is a relief for markets and the economy, there is still plenty of uncertainty, particularly around the missed inflation and jobs data and how these fronts have been faring,” Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Private Wealth, said in a note Thursday.

She noted that monthly jobs and inflation data – which was almost entirely put on pause during the 43-day shutdown – is “so vital for interest rate expectations.”

Investors worried that the lack of government data could prevent the Fed from slashing interest rates. AP

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Thursday that the October jobs report will be released after a delay, though it will not include the unemployment rate.

Investors worried that the lack of data could prevent the Fed from slashing interest rates during its Dec. 10 meeting, since officials have been flying blind on guidance without government data.

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The odds of a quarter-point cut plunged to 51.9% on Thursday – a more than 10% drop from the previous day, according to CME FedWatch.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that October inflation and jobs reports may never be released, adding that the government shutdown could hit fourth-quarter GDP by as much as 2 percentage points.

“While we have always expected that many of the data points missed during the shutdown will remain dark, there are questions about what the inflation and jobs data will look like once these reports come back online,” Schleif said.

“We would not be surprised to see some market chop over the coming weeks as the government gears and economic data presses get turning again.”

The post Stocks have worst day in a month amid AI concerns, lower hopes for interest-rate cut appeared first on Our Story Insight.

The Halloween slasher film franchise has been around since 1978 and consists of 13 films. Now, we’re getting a new book exploring the themes, development, and impact of Halloween.

Author Wayne Byrne interviews several directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, composers, and actors from the Halloween films, including Gloria Gifford, Marianne Hagan, and Brad Loree, Tommy Lee Wallace, Dwight H. Little, Dominique Othenin-Girard, Dean Cundey, Alan Howarth, and more, to get the inside scoop on one of the most well-known horror franchises.

The post Horror Movie Buffs, August is a Big Book Month for You appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack.

Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.

View All posts by Erica Ezeifedi

It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, and while I always welcome a chance to dive into the various ethnicities and identities that make up America, I do have to admit my issue with this particular heritage month. In short, I feel like it’s too flat. Asian Americans alone encompass people with backgrounds that span from China to Nepal to parts of the Middle East.

I mean, having a history month dedicated solely to Asian Americans would already be jam-packed with all different kinds of languages and cultural traditions, but then the “Pacific Islander” label is added, and it becomes unwieldy. Why are we categorizing this many people under one group? There’s a part that feels reductive, and, honestly, racist. Racism is, at its heart, a thing that reduces people to certain stereotypes and categories, after all.

With that said, there are still some benefits to the small label for such a big group, as Harmeet Kaur points out for CNN. It seems to mostly lie in the fact that another, broader and more thorough label doesn’t yet exist, though.

My gripes aside, I always appreciate the chance to celebrate and shout out literature by Asian Amerians and Pacific Islanders, and since those two groups are still categorized together for this month, I tried to include authors who represented different aspects of the AAPI label. There’s an examination of how we shift ourselves depending on who we’re with, a Hawaiian Blade Runner meets Ocean’s 8, a gothic tale with juicy family drama centered around a Chinese Hollywood star, and more.

Audition by Katie Kitamura

Here, an accomplished actress and an attractive younger man meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. Who they are to each other is a question that Kitamura’s narrative unfurls, except it extends the question to all relationships. It looks at the dynamics—or roles—we have with different people in our lives, showing how we’re constantly auditioning, even with people who think they know us best.

Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto

“Hammajang” is explained in the official blurb as being a word from Hawaiian pidgin that means chaotic or messed up, which describes Edie’s situation perfectly. She just got done spending eight years on an icy prison planet, and it was all because of Angel. And Angel is exactly who she sees when she steps into freedom after getting early parole. Angel has one last job that involves a trillionaire tech god, and it’s really tempting.

Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara

Vara, author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated The Immortal King Rao, explores the long-lasting effects of having AI-powered technology communicating like human beings. She uses the viral essay about her sister’s death that she composed with the help of ChatGPT, as well as her history using online chat rooms as a teen to look at how technology has changed the way we communicate, and how we can use it to our actual benefit (and not just some corporate entity’s).

The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li

This has to be one of the juiciest-sounding gothic novels ever. It, like any other gothic novel worth its salt, starts with a death, Vivian Yin’s specifically. Yin was a trailblazing starlet and the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, but spent the latter years of her life as a recluse in a sprawling California garden estate. When she dies, her daughters expect to inherit her home, but a last minute will change grants it to an estranged family member. So now both sides of the family move into the mansion to lay a claim to it. But there are questions about what happened in the last week’s of Vivian’s life, and something sinister is haunting her mansion’s halls.

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack.

Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.

View All posts by Erica Ezeifedi

Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us by Anna Malaika Tubbs- History

The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien- Fiction

The History of We by Nikkolas Smith- Picture Books

The True Happiness Company: A Memoir by Veena Dinavahi- Memoir

Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li- Memoir, Essays

Things a Bright Boy Can Do by Michael Chang- Poetry

This Could Be Forever by Ebony LaDelle- Young Adult

Zarina Divided by Reem Faruqi- Middle Grade

Courtroom Drama by Neely Tubati Alexander- Romance

Esperance by Adam Oyebanji- Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction

Firespitter by Jayne Cortez- Poetry

Gingko Season by Naomi Xu Elegant- Fiction

Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline- Autobiography/Biography/Memoir, Nonfiction

One Day in June: A Story Inspired by the Life and Activism of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline, illustrated by Charlot Kristensen- Nonfiction, Picture Books

Out of Step, into You by Ciera Burch- Romance, Young Adult

Run Like a Girl by Amaka Egbe- Young Adult

Salvación by Sandra Proudman- Fantasy, Young Adult

Sanskari Sweetheart by Ananya Devarajan- Romance, Young Adult

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The post New Books to Read for AAPI Month and Beyond appeared first on Our Story Insight.

The Consumer Price Index rose 2.7% versus a year ago last month — above the 2.6% increase seen in October, but falling in line with expectations, the Labor Department said on Wednesday.

Month-over-month, the CPI rose 0.3%, above economists’ expectations of 0.2%.

Inflation rose 2.7% versus a year ago last month. REUTERS

Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 3.3% versus a year ago in November.

Month-over-month, core inflation grew 0.3% — in line with a month earlier.

“The increase in the inflation rate won’t be enough to spoil Christmas,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, said in a note. 

“The headline CPI was consistently above 3% in the beginning of the year and now it is consistently below 3%, so despite the fact that the series is a little noisy from month-to-month, we believe the Fed is likely to look through these fluctuations and continue on their easing path,” he added.

Interest rates are currently set to around 4.6%, above the 2.9% “neutral” rate that officials believe would help the economy chug along at a steady pace.

While policymakers largely agree that rates need to come down, there are doubts about how quickly cuts should be made.

Investors largely expect a third round of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve during their Dec. 17-18 meeting, though Fed Chair Jerome Powell has recently hinted at caution moving forward.

“We can afford to be a little more cautious as we try to find neutral,” Powell said at a New York Times event last week.

And during a press conference in November, he said: “Really the question is – is December….By December, we’ll have more data.”

Investors odds of a quarter-point rate cut shot up to 99.9% after the inflation report, up from 86.1% Wednesday morning, according to CME FedWatch.

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Inflation has cooled significantly since its pandemic-induced peak of 9% in 2022, but officials are aiming to deliver on their 2% goal.

Though inflation has stayed above 2%, the central bank slashed its key lending rate by an outsize half point in September and again by a quarter point in November after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.

Stock market futures remained flat after the inflation report, while the 10-year treasury yield ticked up about 0.02 percentage points.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 300 points before closing at 44,910.65, up 188.59 points, or 0.4%.

The S&P 500 gained 0.6% to 6,032.38, and the Nasdaq was up 0.8%.

All three main indexes rose more than 1% this week, while the Dow and S&P 500 had their best month of the year with gains of 7.5% and 5.7%, respectively.

The Dow rose nearly 200 points and closed at a record in Friday’s shortened session. REUTERS

Information technology stocks including Nvidia helped boost the benchmark S&P 500, while the industrial and financial sectors lifted the blue-chip Dow.

Investors monitored shoppers’ response to deep Black Friday discounts. Adobe Analytics estimated consumers would spend a record $10.8 billion in online purchases, up 9.9% from Black Friday last year.

Shares of Target, Hasbro and Macy’s rose.

“Retailers do a lot of importing. Inventory levels are very important to their profitability and ability to kind of control margins, so they will be one of the industries in the (tariffs) crossfire,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.

“But so far … (things are) looking pretty solid for the Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale.”

Chip stocks rebounded from Wednesday’s declines, sending the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index higher.

Adobe Analytics estimated consumers would spend a record $10.8 billion in online purchases on Black Friday 2024, a rise of 9.9% over last year. AFP via Getty Images

The small-cap Russell 2000 index also rose as Treasury bond yields retreated further from multi-month highs.

Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq leading declines, as technology stocks slumped on Thanksgiving eve on worries the Federal Reserve may be cautious about rate cuts following stubbornly strong US inflation data.

Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election earlier this month, along with his Republican Party winning the majority in both houses of Congress, provided the latest boost to equities.

Donald Trump’s victory, along with his Republican Party winning the majority in both houses of Congress, provided the latest boost to equities. AFP via Getty Images

Investors were pricing in expectations that Trump’s pro-business policies could spur economic growth and corporate profits. However, concerns prevailed that they could also stoke inflation, slow the pace of the Fed’s rate cuts and weigh on global growth.

Traders expect the  central bank to lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points at its December meeting, but see it pausing rate cuts in January, the CME Group’s FedWatch showed.

Crypto stocks were up as bitcoin climbed 2.5%, trading at about $97,000. MARA Holdings added 1.9%, and Bit Digital advanced 4.1%.

Applied Therapeutics plunged 76% after the Food and Drug Administration declined to approve its drug for the treatment of a rare genetic metabolic disease.

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