In partnership with
❖ THE GRIPE ❖
A Personal Affront, Reported Faithfully
My phone bill is going up again. T-Mobile is raising its Regulatory Programs and Telco Recovery Fee from $4.49 to $5.49 a line on October 12. It was $3.99 until January and $3.49 until April 2025, so this is the third increase in less than two years. Mobile internet lines go from $2.10 to $2.60. T-Mobile says the fee helps it recover some of the costs it incurs to offer its services. I had assumed that was what the plan price was for. The name sounds like something Congress passed. T-Mobile picked it. I keep one line, mostly so I can let calls go to voicemail, and the fee alone now comes to $65.88 a year. The puzzle on my dining table has been missing a corner since Easter, and so far it has not charged me for the gap.
❖ THE DAMAGE REPORT ❖
Today's News, Ranked By How Much It Ruined My Mood
🔥 MOST ENRAGING
The national average for regular fell nearly 7 cents to $4.41, and AAA says prices are still the highest they have ever been this time of year. Nevada is at $5.49, up 13 cents in a week, and Reno is paying $5.81. Doug Johnson of AAA Mountain West says crude has dipped back into the $90 a barrel range. That is how the good news is phrased now.
😩 MOST EXHAUSTING
Senators are due back November 9, with 8 session days scheduled that month and 14 in December, and a pile of unfinished bills waiting. Vulnerable members wanted to get home and campaign. Senator Thom Tillis explained the hurry: “Every time you're here, it's a fundraiser you can't host or it's a town hall you can't speak at.” In that sentence, the job is the thing getting in the way.
😤 UNREASONABLY ANNOYING
The new base tier for United First charges a fee for seat selection, includes one checked bag and one carry-on, and allows no changes or refunds. The airline says every tier gets the same elevated onboard experience. So the seat is elevated, and finding out which one is yours is a separate purchase.
🤷 SOMEHOW ALSO HAPPENING
The cow got out of Cattlemen's Livestock Auction in Polk County and onto westbound U.S. 92, where video appears to show it ramming a truck. By the time sheriff's deputies arrived, someone had already moved it off the road. It was returned safely to the auction, which was the one place it had made very clear it did not want to be.
The CBD Brand that Actually Does What It Says
CBD is having a moment and CBD brands are everywhere right now. But with so many options, it can be tough to know what to look for – and which brands actually follow through on their claims.
That’s where CBDistillery sets itself apart. For the past decade, all of CBDistillery's products have been made with non-GMO, US-grown industrial hemp and with 100% clean ingredients – no corn syrup or artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or sweeteners.
They frequently introduce new and innovative products formulated to meet a variety of wellness needs and customer preferences. And every single batch of CBDistillery’s gummies, oil tinctures, topicals and softgels are tested by an independent, accredited lab to make sure what’s in the package matches what’s on the label.
Right now, CBDistillery is offering our readers a special deal: save 50% on orders of $75 or more with code NEWS50!
❖ AND SOME OTHER STUFF ❖
Briefly, And With Limited Enthusiasm
▸ Pandora is raising every paid plan by $1 a month. Premium goes to $11.99, and current subscribers start paying it October 22. The company says it did not make the decision lightly, and then made it.
▸ The Atlantic reached October without a single hurricane, a first since satellite tracking began in 1966. The season runs through November 30, which leaves about eight weeks for it to change its mind.
▸ A deer in Midland Park, New Jersey, walked around for more than a week with a pole and netting tangled in its antlers. Residents kept track of it until conservation officers tranquilized it Tuesday and took everything off. Nobody knows where the netting came from.
✦ THE ONE GOOD THING
Fine. The National Trust bought a golf course at Sandilands, on the Lincolnshire coast of England, in 2020. Workers dug a wetland across the equivalent of 45 football fields, and it will never see pesticide or public water again. Before the project was even finished, ranger Katie Scott says, avocets and oystercatchers nested and bred there, and little ringed plover chicks showed up for a second year in a row. I am going to stop mowing the back corner of my yard and see who moves in.
Enjoy the weekend. The Senate got a head start.
THE GRUMP · (AND LARRY)