Preschool Enrollment Has Finally Recovered to Pre-Pandemic Levels After Years of Steady Decline, Federal Education Data Now Officially Confirms

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people sitting on blue carpet

For years, every new federal data release on preschool carried some version of the same footnote: enrollment was climbing back from its pandemic collapse but still hadn’t quite closed the gap. That footnote is finally gone. The government’s newest education data shows enrollment for the youngest students has caught back up to where it stood … Read more

114,660 Britax Car Seats Are Being Recalled Because a Handle Can Detach and Drop a Baby Mid-Carry, With Free Repairs Not Starting Until October 19

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A child has a bag over their head in car

Britax is recalling 114,660 infant car seats because a screw in the carrying handle can work loose and let the handle partially detach, according to the automaker’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filing reported by ABC News. If it happens while a parent is carrying the seat by hand, a baby strapped inside can fall. … Read more

Nicolas Cage’s Malibu Mansion Is Being Swallowed by a Sinkhole So Large You Can See Ocean Waves Underneath the Driveway After Days of Storm Erosion

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A sinkhole opened beneath a $10.5 million Malibu beachfront property tied to actor Nicolas Cage on Tuesday evening, growing large enough that neighbors could see ocean waves moving underneath the driveway as coastal erosion ate away the bluff supporting the home, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. The collapse was reported just after 6:20 p.m. on … Read more

2.3 Million Candy Bottles Sold at Walmart and H-E-B Are Being Recalled Because a Rolling Ball Inside Can Break Off and Choke a Child, Regulators Warn

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About 2.3 million Ricky Joy Sour Crush rolling liquid candy bottles are being recalled because the plastic ball that rolls through the candy’s neck can break off and choke a child, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall notice, issued September 10. The candy was sold individually for around $3 and in multi-packs … Read more

Certain Pressure Washers Can Restart Themselves Inside a Closed Garage and Quietly Fill It With Deadly Carbon Monoxide, Regulators Warn

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Man washes a silver car in a car wash

If you park a pressure washer against the wall of your garage after a weekend cleaning job, you probably assume it stays off until you touch it again. Federal regulators say that assumption doesn’t hold for thousands of Generac and DR Power electric-start pressure washers now under an expanded recall, because a faulty start/stop button … Read more

Federal Law Bans These Specific Pool Drain Covers for Entrapment Risk, and Amazon Is Still Selling Several of Them to Shoppers Right Now

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An underwater view of a blue tiled swimming pool with a drain

A pool drain cover looks like the least interesting part of your backyard, right up until it isn’t. Federal safety regulators have pulled at least eight different pool and spa drain covers off the market in 2026 alone for violating the same federal entrapment-protection law, and several were sold almost exclusively through one place: Amazon. … Read more

Squatters Are Turning Empty Homes Into Nightmares for Their Owners, With One Case Involving a 500,000 Dollar Demand Just to Leave the Property

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Two women talking in a kitchen while cooking

Most squatting disputes people hear about involve a lockout, a locksmith, and months in housing court. A case out of Long Beach, California, shows how much further the problem can go once the people occupying a home start treating it as leverage instead of shelter, allegedly filing a fraudulent deed to claim ownership and then … Read more

Dual-Income Households With Kids Have Nearly Doubled Since 1975, Pew Research Finds, and the Shift Looks Very Different by Race and Education

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Woman working at desk with coffee

Fifty years ago, a household where both parents worked full time was the exception. Now it’s closer to the default, and a new Pew Research Center analysis lays out just how much ground has shifted underneath American families, along with how differently that shift has landed depending on your race and your degree. Photo: Ketut … Read more

A Real Christmas Tree Now Costs Almost as Much as a Cheap Artificial One Does, National Christmas Tree Association Data Shows, and the Math May Genuinely Surprise You

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green christmas tree with baubles

  A real Christmas tree is projected to cost about $83.87 on average this season, according to survey data compiled from National Christmas Tree Association figures, up roughly $4.50 from last year. An entry-level artificial tree at most big-box retailers runs somewhere in that same neighborhood, which means the gap between “buy fresh every year” … Read more

Washing Everything You Own in Hot Water Isn’t Actually Getting Your Clothes Any Cleaner, Textile Researchers Say, It’s Just Shrinking and Fading Them Faster

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white front load washing machine

About 90 percent of the energy your washing machine uses doesn’t go to spinning or cleaning at all. It goes to heating the water. That single number, cited by both ENERGY STAR and the American Cleaning Institute, is the first sign that the hot-water habit a lot of households never questioned is costing more than … Read more