Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some very compelling stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on.
Big changes are on the way for Social Security recipients, a Georgia judge issues a critical ruling regarding the upcoming election, and voting is already underway in some parts of the country.
Also, the U.S. Supreme Court has just made an important decision about a Pennsylvania gun law, and a pharmacy giant is closing down a huge number of its stores.
Social Security Makes Changes for 2025—What You Need to Know
The SSA says that next year, millions of Americans will get a 2.5 percent increase in their Social Security benefits and in their supplemental security income payments.The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin in January 2025, and that’s just two and a half months away. The increase will boost monthly benefits by about $50, and the average benefit will be just under $2,000 a month.
The SSA also outlined a number of other changes to the retirement program for next year, including a significant increase to the maximum benefit that can be received by a worker who retires at the full age of 67. Next year, that number will jump to just over $4,100 a month, and for workers who wait until 70 to retire, they can collect even more.
However, not everyone is happy with the increases. The Senior Citizens League called the adjustment “disappointing,” as well as “another lost opportunity to grant seniors the financial relief they deserve.”
The league’s executive director recommends changing the COLA based on a calculation that more accurately reflects the changing costs faced by senior citizens. Under the current formula, the SSA relies on the consumer price index, which tracks price changes in goods and services, in order to calculate the adjustment.
At the same time, AARP says that the adjustment will help provide some much-needed relief to older Americans who are struggling to pay their bills. It also says that Social Security is the primary source of income for 40 percent of older Americans.
Georgia Judge Rules on Election Results Certification
Earlier this week, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that county election officials must adhere to state law and certify election results by 5 p.m. on the Tuesday following the upcoming election, regardless of any irregularities or suspected fraud.The judge said that none of the county’s election officials can refuse to certify election results, or abstain from certifying those results. He also pointed out that any delay in receiving information requested by an election official is not a basis for refusing to certify the election results.
The ruling was made after a lawsuit was filed by a Republican member of the county’s election board. She filed the suit after the county’s appointed election director allegedly denied her repeated requests for access to the ballot-counting process earlier this year.
The board member voted against certifying the results of the presidential primary because she was not able to observe the county’s election processes herself. The lawsuit sought to clear up the extent of her rights to prevent fraud as an election board member, as well as to clarify the degree of the election director’s role in the vote-counting process.
Additionally, McBurney said that allowing election superintendents to “play investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge” and then to refuse to certify election results because of a “unilateral determination of error or fraud” would effectively silence Georgia voters.
The judge concluded by saying that both the state’s Constitution and Election Code do not allow for that to happen.
One more thing: the judge’s ruling coincided with the start of early in-person voting in Georgia.
More Than 5 Million Have Voted So Far Across the US
According to a tracking tool run by the University of Florida’s Election Lab, as of yesterday, more than 5 million Americans have already cast early ballots.The vast majority—4.4 million—have returned mail-in ballots, and more than 900,000 have voted in person.
For the record, nearly 2 and a half million of these voters are located in states that report party affiliation, and more than half of these voters are listed as Democrats.
Additionally, in the states that report gender, more than half who have cast early ballots are women, and nearly 60 percent of early voters are over the age of 65.
It’s also worth mentioning that around three-fourths of the early voters are classified as non-Hispanic white.
As I’m sure you know, the election is less than three weeks away, and a number of recent polls show former President Donald Trump gaining support from voters compared to Vice President Kamala Harris.
However, a pair of recent polls taken by CBS and ABC both show Harris with a very slight lead against Trump, but each of the polls indicates that the margin is slipping significantly compared to earlier tallies.
Another recent survey conducted by NBC shows that the race is dead even, which marks a 4-point gain for Trump since last month.
Supreme Court Upholds Gun Restriction
The high court just vacated a lower court’s ruling that had allowed adults under the age of 21 to openly carry firearms in public during a state of emergency.In case you didn’t already know, under the Uniform Firearms Act, Pennsylvania bars individuals aged 18 to 20 from openly carrying guns in public during a declared state of emergency, and recently, a lawsuit was filed that challenged that law.
The judges told a federal appeals court to reconsider the case, and the order vacated an earlier decision that had blocked the state law. The Supreme Court did not explain its ruling, and there were no dissents.
The high court’s decision means that it will not take up the appeal by Pennsylvania state officials who had sought to overturn the lower court’s ruling based on a previous Supreme Court decision regarding gun laws in the United States.
Earlier this year, an appeals court in Philadelphia had blocked the Pennsylvania law in a split decision. The appeals court said the state was not able to show that the age requirement adhered to the high court’s earlier decision, and that at the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification in 1792, there were sparse regulations regarding 18- to 20-year-olds.
However, Pennsylvania officials argued that the appeals court went too far in its decision, and they also said that the appeals court had misinterpreted the high court’s earlier ruling.
The state officials also made reference to an order made earlier this year by the Supreme Court that upheld a federal ban barring individuals from owning firearms if they are under domestic violence-related orders.
For the record, gun-rights groups and the plaintiffs both agreed with the earlier conclusion of the appeals court, which ruled that special restrictions for 18- to 20-year-olds regarding the Second Amendment are unconstitutional.
Walgreens Announces It Will Close 1,200 Stores Across US
Walgreens says that it will shut down 1,200 stores over the next three years.The massive chain said yesterday that the company’s net loss swelled to more than $3 billion in the final quarter of 2024, and that its bottom line was hurt in part by softer U.S. retail and pharmacy sales.
In a just-released statement, the company says that around 500 stores will be closed in the next fiscal year alone, and that these closures will immediately help the company by providing some much-needed cash flow.
Walgreens’ CEO says that these latest moves are part of the company’s disciplined cost management efforts, and that next year, it’ll focus on controlling costs even further in order to preserve patient access to its stores in the future.
The CEO says that his company’s turnaround will take time, but he says eventually, the process will be beneficial to both consumers as well as the company’s finances.
It’s worth mentioning here that Walgreens has been struggling for many years. The company has faced a number of challenges, including tight reimbursement for the prescription drugs it sells, along with rising operating costs.
Additionally, drugstore chains throughout the country have been dealing with stiff competition from other retail giants including Amazon, Walmart, and Target.
By the way, Walgreens isn’t alone. Over the past few years, both CVS and Rite Aid have also closed down a significant number of stores, and earlier this month, CVS said it was cutting around 2,900 jobs across the United States in an effort to reduce costs.
As of last year, Walgreens continued to operate more than 8,000 stores across the country.
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Wednesday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
Don’t forget the News Brief Motto: We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from the great Walt Whitman, who said: “Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.”
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
The Epoch Times News Brief program was written today by David Ross.
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For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another, and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.
