Seven Hundred Electric Blankets Bought on Amazon Are Smoking, Melting and Burning Through Their Fabric as Cold Nights Start Arriving Nationwide

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A woman peacefully sleeping on her side in a cozy, sunlit bedroom with decorative elements.

  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning on July 16, 2026, telling shoppers to stop using Melinora electric heated blankets immediately after five reports of the blankets smoking, melting, or burning through their own fabric. One of those incidents left a person with a documented burn injury. Only about 700 of the … Read more

Salem Massachusetts Homes Now Average More Than 600,000 Dollars, and the Witch Trial Town Tops a New Ranking of American Places With Spooky Charm

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white and gray wooden house near green trees under white clouds during daytime

  Salem, Massachusetts homes now sell for an average of $607,354, according to Zillow’s newest ranking of American towns with the strongest Halloween identity — more than double what buyers pay in New Orleans’ famously haunted French Quarter, and still nearly $370,000 less than the priciest town on the list. Zillow named 13 towns this … Read more

Ninety Thousand Milwaukee Chainsaws Sold at Home Depot Are Being Recalled After Their Safety Brake Failed and Sliced Open a Customer’s Finger

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a chainsaw sitting on top of a log in the snow

  About 90,860 Milwaukee M18 FUEL chainsaws sold at Home Depot are being recalled after the safety brake that’s supposed to stop a spinning chain within a fraction of a second failed at least twice, in one case badly enough to slice open a customer’s finger. The recall, announced by Milwaukee Tool with the Consumer … Read more

Roughly 5,500 Power Strips Sold on Amazon for Under 30 Dollars Are Being Recalled After Two of Them Sparked and Melted in Customers’ Homes

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white power strip

  About 5,543 CCCEI-brand power strips sold on Amazon for under $30 are being recalled after two of them sparked and melted inside customers’ homes — a small number of reported incidents, but a genuinely unnerving one, given how ordinary an unmarked black power strip looks sitting behind a desk, TV stand, or nightstand where … Read more

Foreign Buyers Spent 45.3 Billion Dollars on American Homes Over the Past Year, With Chinese Buyers Paying Close to a Million Dollars Apiece

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gray wooden house

Foreign buyers spent $45.3 billion on U.S. existing homes between April 2025 and March 2026, and buyers connected to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan paid the highest average price of any group by a wide margin, close to $1 million per purchase. The figures come from the National Association of Realtors’ 2026 International Transactions … Read more

Nearly 150,000 Generac Portable Generators Sold at Home Depot and Lowe’s Are Leaking Fuel and Risking Fire the Moment Owners Fill Them With Gas

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a grey chair sitting next to a black and white radio

  Roughly 149,400 Generac portable generators sold at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other hardware retailers are being recalled after 114 reports of gasoline leaking from the carburetor the very first time an owner filled the tank, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s April 16, 2026 notice. No injuries have been reported so far, but … Read more

One Person Has Died and Dozens More Have Been Burned by Small Tabletop Fire Pits That Shoot Flames Without Warning, Regulators Now Warn

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Hands warming over a campfire during a frosty winter evening, emphasizing companionship.

  Federal regulators have issued two separate warnings this year telling consumers to stop using tabletop fire pits immediately, after one death and dozens of burn injuries tied to a hazard called “flame jetting,” in which the small, alcohol-fueled pits can shoot flames or spray burning fuel without warning. The warnings, covering the Houswise and … Read more

More Than 554,000 Kobalt Cordless Trimmers, Blowers and Chainsaws Sold at Lowe’s Are Being Pulled From Garages After 34 Batteries Caught Fire

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Black and white photo of a man using a chainsaw in tall grass outdoors.

More than 554,000 Kobalt cordless trimmers, blowers, mowers, chainsaws, and pruning saws sold at Lowe’s are being pulled back after 34 reports of their batteries smoking, sparking, or catching fire while charging, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s July 9, 2026 recall. The tools themselves were sold from January through May 2026, meaning a … Read more

New Hampshire Just Recorded Its First Ever Sighting of an Invasive Bug That Destroys Maple Trees and Grapevines in Every State It Reaches Next

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orange and black bug on green leaf

New Hampshire has confirmed its first-ever spotted lanternfly detection, found in Salem this week, according to the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture. The invasive insect, which feeds on and damages maple trees and grapevines wherever it establishes itself, has now spread to 19 states and Washington, D.C. since it first turned up in Pennsylvania in … Read more

House Flippers Are Finally Making More Money on Renovated Homes Again After Seven Straight Quarters of Shrinking Profits Across Nearly Every Market

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a room that has a lot of stuff on the floor

Twenty-five point four percent. That’s the average return house flippers pocketed on a renovated home in the first quarter of 2026 — the first time that number has gone up in nearly two years, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q1 2026 U.S. Home Flipping Report. It followed seven consecutive quarters of shrinking margins, a stretch … Read more