LeBron James Shrugs Off Criticism of His Helicopter Commute: 'Just Another Way of Transportation'

 

Most workers complain about traffic on the way to the office. LeBron James skips the traffic entirely — and that is exactly what has people talking.

Lebron at the Paris Olympics; CC BY-SA 4.0

The 41-year-old superstar is about to begin his first season with the Philadelphia 76ers, but he is not living in Philadelphia. James is keeping his home in New York and flying to work, turning a drive of roughly two hours into a helicopter ride of about 40 minutes.

After Friday night's preseason finale against the Boston Celtics, reporters finally asked him about the arrangement that has dominated NBA chatter for weeks. His answer was about as dramatic as a weather report.

"Yeah, I've done it before," James said. "Just another way of transportation. That's all."

How the LeBron James Helicopter Commute Actually Works

The daily routine behind the helicopter commute is more practical than it sounds. The 76ers practice at their training facility in Camden, New Jersey, and the helicopter lands on a pad on top of the team's business offices, right next door to the practice building.

James splits his time between New York and Philadelphia during the season rather than relocating full-time. The flight cuts a commute that can stretch to two hours on the road — longer on a bad traffic day — down to roughly 40 minutes in the air.

And whatever fans think of the optics, nobody can accuse him of coasting. Teammate V.J. Edgecombe told ESPN that James is in the building around 7:45 in the morning, ahead of every other player on the roster. "He was in there before everybody," Edgecombe said. "As usual."

James also has company in the sky. Sixers managing partner Josh Harris, the team's primary owner, commutes by helicopter too.

The Fanatics Deal Paying for the Flights

The rides are not coming out of the team's travel budget. James has access to the chopper through his endorsement partnership with Fanatics, the sports apparel and merchandise giant. According to reporting from Front Office Sports and TMZ Sports, the agreement gives him use of Fanatics aviation, including the helicopter.

"The deal we signed with Fanatics almost three years ago includes access to their corporate aviation," a spokesperson for James told Front Office Sports earlier this month. "It's a feature in many of their deals with their largest athletes, and we appreciate their partnership as LeBron splits his time between New York and Philadelphia."

The arrangement has drawn scrutiny as well as jokes. Helicopters bearing Fanatics logos have been spotted on the route, and investigative journalist Pablo Torre has said he plans to dig into the setup on his show, Pablo Torre Finds Out. The criticism centers on the money and the environmental cost of daily private flights — flights James is receiving for free as part of the endorsement deal.

Why the Helicopter Commute Makes Fans Uneasy

Part of the reaction has nothing to do with money. For many basketball fans, any story about an NBA star and a helicopter carries the shadow of Kobe Bryant's death, and that history makes the topic feel heavier than a normal celebrity travel story.

Others question whether a player should live in a different city from his team at all. But the New York-to-Philadelphia arrangement is not new in the league. Former 76ers guard JJ Redick, now the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, lived in New York during his time with the Sixers and made the same trip by car service. James has simply traded the two-hour drive for a 40-minute flight.

James, for his part, showed no interest in changing his plans or in feeding the debate. His comments Friday were short, calm, and final: he has done this before, it is transportation, and that is all.

A Shorter Trip for the Season Opener Against the New York Knicks

The commute talk will quiet down quickly once the games count. James makes his official 76ers debut on Tuesday, October 20, and the trip is an easy one — Philadelphia opens the regular season on the road against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, with tip-off at 7 p.m. Eastern on NBC and Peacock.

It is a marquee opener: ring night for the Knicks, in the city James calls home, with the whole league watching. He will travel with his teammates for that one, which makes it the shortest and least controversial commute of his season.

After that, it is back to the helicopter — early mornings in Camden, 40 minutes above the traffic, and a superstar who clearly is not losing any sleep over how he gets to work. For more sports news like this, keep it locked here.

Taylor Swift Tells Fan to Stop Filming Her at Chiefs Game — "Watch the Game Instead"

 

Taylor Swift had one simple request at Sunday's football game: watch the game. The pop star was in her VIP suite at Arrowhead Stadium, locked in on husband Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs' matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, when a fan below the suite decided the real show was Taylor herself.

credit: Glenn Francis; CC By-SA 4.0

A woman standing in the row beneath Swift's suite peered up into the luxury box and pointed her phone directly at the singer, filming or photographing her while the game played on. Swift noticed immediately, and what happened next was captured on video and is now racing around TikTok.

What the TikTok Video Shows

The clip, uploaded by TikTok user @imcampthomas, shows the blonde-haired fan facing the celebrity-filled suite with her camera raised. Before she started filming, she appeared to exchange words with a man in a green shirt and hat standing in front of the suite, a man fans online have identified as a member of Swift's security team. He shook his hand as if to wave her off.

She filmed anyway. Swift, 36, turned toward the fan and gestured for her to stop recording, pointing toward the field as if to say: the game is that way. The message landed. The woman quickly scrambled to turn around and, with security stepping in to guide her away from the suite, returned to her assigned seat.

It was a brief exchange, no shouting, no scene, just a clear boundary drawn in real time. But in the age of the viral clip, brief is all it takes.

Fans Defend Taylor Swift: "She Is Not an Animal in a Zoo"

If the fan expected sympathy online, she did not get it. Commenters under the original video overwhelmingly sided with Swift, condemning the woman for crossing a line even after being told to stop.

"I do not understand how people think this is OK even after she told you to stop you continue on until her bodyguard has to tell you to go," one viewer wrote. "How do people have zero self awareness or shame getting in someone's face taking pictures. It's so awkward. I'm glad she told the person to knock it off and watch the game," added another.

"Reminder that Taylor has always been courteous with fans, but we need to respect her. You're impeding on her right to enjoy the game if you're pointing a camera at her face the entire game," a third wrote. "She is not an animal in a zoo," fumed another. The consensus was clear: buying a ticket to a football game does not buy you the right to film a stranger, famous or not.

A Whirlwind Weekend: From the Academy Museum Gala to Arrowhead

Swift had rushed to Missouri after a glamorous Saturday night in Los Angeles, where she attended the invitation-only Academy Museum Gala. She commanded the red carpet in a strapless pale blue Dior gown that accentuated her waist, debuting a shorter hairstyle with curls framing her face.

Less than a day later, the gown was traded for a red turtleneck sweater and the red carpet for a luxury suite. She watched the game alongside WNBA star Caitlin Clark and Este Haim, with Donna Kelce also in the suite, and her striking wedding ring remained clearly visible throughout the afternoon. Swift and Kelce married in New York City this past summer, and she has continued showing up to games whenever her schedule allows.

Kelce and the Chiefs' 22-6 Win Over the Chargers

On the field, there was plenty worth watching. Swift had a big visible reaction when Kelce hauled in a key catch over the middle during the second quarter of Kansas City's 22-6 victory over Los Angeles. The tight end finished the game with four receptions for 53 yards, doing his part in a comfortable divisional win.

It was, by all accounts, exactly the kind of afternoon Swift came for: her husband making plays, a Chiefs win, good company in the suite. The only interruption was the one she had to handle herself.

The Ongoing Debate Over Swift at NFL Games

This is not the first time Swift's game-day presence has split the internet. Just last month, she pointed at her wedding ring after Kelce scored a touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts, a celebration many fans loved and others rolled their eyes at. Her appearances have also frustrated some NFL viewers who object to broadcasters cutting to her suite during games.

But Sunday's moment was different. This was not about too much screen time or an over-the-top celebration. It was about a simple boundary: she came to watch football, not to be watched. And judging by the reaction online, most people think she was right to say so, even if she had to say it with a hand gesture.

The viral video will fade from feeds in a day or two, as these moments always do. But the underlying tension is not going away. As long as one of the most famous people on earth keeps showing up to football games, someone in the stands will point a camera the wrong way. On Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, Taylor Swift pointed right back, toward the field, where the game was happening all along.

$64 Million SuperLotto Plus Jackpot Won in Anaheim — First Since March After 57 Rollovers

 

One winning ticket matched on all numbers. Someone was very fortunate.

credit: South Bay Examiner

Someone who stopped at a 7-Eleven in Anaheim is now holding a ticket worth $64 million. A SuperLotto Plus ticket sold at the convenience store at 240 South Magnolia Avenue matched all six numbers in Saturday night's drawing, winning the game's biggest jackpot in months and ending a rollover streak that stretched all the way back to spring.

The California Lottery announced that the winning ticket was the only one to match every number drawn on Saturday, October 17, 2026. The winner has not yet been identified, which means somewhere out there, a new multimillionaire may not even know it yet.

The Winning SuperLotto Plus Numbers for October 17

The numbers drawn Saturday night were 3, 25, 27, 29, and 37, with the Mega number 17. Players who want to check their own tickets should compare carefully against the official results on the California Lottery website, since a posted result is not the same thing as a completed claim.

Saturday's drawing was also kind to several other players. Three tickets matched all five regular numbers but missed the Mega number, and each is worth $13,920. Those tickets were sold at a liquor store in Citrus Heights in Sacramento County, the Northgate Market in Long Beach, and a Stater Bros. in Adelanto in San Bernardino County. Another seventeen tickets matched four numbers plus the Mega number, worth $1,228 apiece.

First Jackpot Since March After 57 Straight Rollovers

This was the first SuperLotto Plus jackpot won since March 28, when a single $10 million ticket was sold in Fremont in the Bay Area. Since then, the prize rolled over 57 consecutive drawings on its climb to $64 million, making Saturday's win one of the longest-awaited jackpots in the game's recent history.

With the jackpot finally claimed, the prize resets to an estimated $7 million, about $2.9 million in cash value, for the next drawing on Wednesday, October 21. For players who enjoy starting fresh at a smaller jackpot, Wednesday is the night.

SuperLotto Plus Odds and How the Game Works

SuperLotto Plus is California's own lotto game, sold only within the state for $1 a play. Players choose five numbers from 1 to 47 plus a Mega number from 1 to 27. The odds of matching all six numbers are 1 in 41,416,353, according to the California Lottery.

That is roughly seven times better than the odds of hitting a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot, and the ticket costs half as much as a Powerball play. The trade-off, of course, is that the jackpots are smaller than the billion-dollar prizes the national games occasionally reach. For California players who prefer better odds at a still life-changing prize, SuperLotto Plus is the local favorite.

What the $64 Million Winner Should Do Next

Lottery officials always give the same advice to big winners, and it is worth repeating. First, sign the back of the ticket immediately. An unsigned ticket is essentially cash: whoever holds it can claim it. Second, keep the ticket somewhere secure, like a safe deposit box, and make copies or photos of both sides.

Third, take a breath before claiming. Winners in California have 180 days from the drawing to claim draw-game prizes, so there is no rush. Most financial advisors recommend assembling a team first: a lawyer, a tax professional, and a financial planner who have worked with sudden wealth before. A $64 million jackpot comes with a massive tax bill, and how the prize is claimed, as a lump sum or annuity, changes the math considerably.

One thing California winners cannot do is stay anonymous. Unlike some states, California requires lottery winners' names and cities to become public record. Whoever holds that Anaheim ticket will eventually be in the spotlight, like it or not.

A Busy October for California Lottery Players

The Anaheim jackpot caps a remarkable month for the California Lottery. Earlier in October, a Powerball ticket sold in Lakeside matched five numbers for $2.26 million, and two Neon Jackpot players each won $1 million. On the scratcher side, seven players combined for $24 million in winnings, including two $7 million Crossword Xtreme top prizes.

October has a way of doing this. As the holidays approach and jackpots climb, ticket sales surge, and every few years the season produces a cluster of big winners. This year's cluster just happened to start with a 7-Eleven on Magnolia Avenue.

So if you bought a SuperLotto Plus ticket in Orange County for Saturday's drawing, dig it out and check those numbers: 3, 25, 27, 29, 37, and Mega 17. Somewhere in Anaheim, someone's Saturday night convenience store run just became the most profitable errand of their life. The only question now is how long it takes them to realize it.

Qualcomm Beat Arm in Court and Won Exactly $2 — No, That Is Not a Typo

Qualcomm won $2 in court...finally.

credit: Qualcomm

Two dollars. That is what a Delaware federal jury awarded Qualcomm after ruling that fellow chip giant Arm breached its licensing agreement and intentionally sabotaged Qualcomm's business. Not two billion. Not two million. Two single dollar bills, one for each claim the jury decided in Qualcomm's favor. And no, that is not a typo.

The verdict, delivered after a five-day trial in Wilmington, Delaware, is one of the strangest outcomes in recent tech legal history: a decisive-sounding win with pocket-change damages, with both companies immediately claiming victory. But the $2 is not the point. The breach finding behind it could unlock a fight over billions.

What the Jury Actually Decided in the Qualcomm vs Arm Trial

The jury found that Arm breached its Architectural License Agreement, the contract that lets Qualcomm design custom processors using Arm's chip architecture. Specifically, jurors concluded Arm withheld software patches and validation tools it was contractually obligated to provide, materials Qualcomm needed to test its custom CPU designs.

Second, the jury found that Arm intentionally interfered with Qualcomm's business relationship with Meta. Qualcomm had accused Arm of scuttling a roughly $170 million chip sale to Meta by leaking to Bloomberg News in 2024 that it planned to terminate Qualcomm's license, a disclosure Qualcomm said damaged its reputation just as the Meta deal was coming together.

For each of those two findings, the jury awarded exactly $1 in nominal damages. But it was not a clean sweep: the jury sided with Arm on four or five of Qualcomm's remaining claims, which is why Arm walked out of the same courtroom declaring that it had won too.

Why a $2 Verdict Could Still Be Worth Billions

Nominal damages sound like a joke, but in contract law they serve a serious purpose: they establish, on the record, that a breach happened. And that finding is the legal key Qualcomm needs for the next phase of the fight.

Buried in the companies' licensing agreement is a penalty clause that, if enforced, would let Qualcomm suspend its royalty payments to Arm for five years. Those royalties are worth roughly $1.5 billion. Qualcomm accounts for about nine percent of Arm's total revenue, approximately $443 million a year, which equals nearly half of Arm's $900 million in annual operating profit. Losing that stream for five years would be devastating for Arm.

That question now goes before U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, with closing arguments scheduled for October 20. Arm argues the suspension clause is unenforceable. Whatever the judge decides, appeals are all but certain, meaning this dispute will likely grind on well into 2027.

Both Sides Claimed Victory, and the Stock Market Shrugged

Qualcomm's statement was triumphant: "We are gratified that the jury found Arm breached its long-standing Architectural License Agreement with Qualcomm, failed to honor its commitments and intentionally acted to disrupt Qualcomm's businesses." The company said the verdict, combined with its earlier court win, further exposes what it called Arm's broader intentions to harm Qualcomm and its ecosystem.

Arm's response was equally confident in the opposite direction. The company said the jury's verdict confirms it "operated in good faith under its technology license agreement," arguing that an award of only two dollars validates its position. Arm has characterized the lawsuit as an attempt by Qualcomm to escape paying billions in royalties.

Investors split the difference. Arm shares dipped a little over one percent on the news while Qualcomm rose about one percent, the market's way of saying the headline number matters less than the royalty fight still to come.

The History Behind the Chip Lawsuit: Nuvia and the 2022 Case

This trial was actually the second round between the two companies in two years. The feud traces back to 2022, when Arm sued Qualcomm after its $1.4 billion acquisition of chip startup Nuvia, arguing Qualcomm needed new licenses to use Nuvia's designs. That case went to trial in December 2024, and Qualcomm later announced the court had granted it a "complete victory" by dismissing Arm's remaining claims.

It was during discovery in that earlier case, and in the testimony of Arm CEO Rene Haas on the stand, that Qualcomm says it found the basis for its own lawsuit, accusing Arm of withholding certification tools it was contractually required to provide. The relationship between the two companies, already strained since SoftBank took control of Arm in 2016, has never recovered.

What Happens Next in the Semiconductor Legal Battle

The immediate next step is the bench phase before Judge Noreika, where billions in potential royalty relief hang in the balance. Beyond that, expect appeals regardless of the outcome. Both companies have now spent years and untold millions in legal fees fighting over the architecture that powers nearly every smartphone on the planet, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips and its newer Oryon CPUs, which Qualcomm says remain its focus.

For the rest of the tech industry, the case is a reminder of how fragile the licensing relationships underpinning modern electronics can be. When the company that designs the architecture and the company that ships the chips go to war, the fallout touches everyone from Meta's data centers to the phone in your pocket.

So yes, Qualcomm won $2. But in the strange arithmetic of corporate litigation, two dollars today could become the foundation for billions tomorrow. That is why nobody in that Delaware courtroom was laughing, and why the real verdict is still to come.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Just Became the Highest-Grossing Movie in U.S. History — How It Beat Star Wars

credit: Sony Pictures / Marvel

Eleven years. That is how long the domestic box office record sat untouched, through a pandemic, the streaming boom, and a dozen would-be challengers that all came up short. On Tuesday, September 15, 2026, Spider-Man: Brand New Day finally slipped past Star Wars: The Force Awakens to become the highest-grossing movie in U.S. box office history, and it did it by about $110,000, a margin so thin it would barely cover a modest opening-night popcorn order.

The final tally at the moment of the crossing: roughly $936.77 million for the web-slinger against $936.66 million for the 2015 Star Wars film. The record has continued to grow since, climbing past $944 million by the film's eighth weekend and reportedly reaching $955 million domestically in recent days.

How Spider-Man: Brand New Day Broke the Box Office Record

The milestone arrived on what was, by blockbuster standards, a completely ordinary Tuesday. A single-day gross of $915,084 pushed Tom Holland's fourth solo outing as Peter Parker across the line, just 47 days into its theatrical run. Sony made it official the next morning, and the film's Instagram account marked the moment with four words: "Doesn't get bigger than this," thanking fans for helping the movie make cinematic history.

Consider what the old record survived. Star Wars: The Force Awakens set its $936.66 million mark back in December 2015, and nothing touched it for nearly eleven years. Avengers: Endgame, the global box office champion, never got there domestically. Neither did Avatar, Top Gun: Maverick, or Black Panther. An entire generation of moviegoers grew up never knowing a different film at the very top of the domestic chart.

The Cast and Story Behind the Record-Breaking Film

Tom Holland returns as Peter Parker, now truly on his own after the events of the previous film left the world having forgotten who he is. The story brings the character back to street-level crime fighting, a deliberate reset that producers described as making Holland's Parker a proper Spider-Man for the first time.

The supporting cast is stacked. Zendaya returns as MJ, with Jacob Batalon back as Ned Leeds. New additions include Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, better known as the Punisher, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and Michael Mando as Mac Gargan, the villain Scorpion. Behind the camera is director Destin Daniel Cretton, for whom this marks the biggest opening of his career.

Audiences responded. The film earned an A CinemaScore and a 90 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating, and strong word of mouth carried it through six straight weekends at number one. The marketing was enormous too, with the trailer reportedly becoming the first movie trailer to pass one billion cumulative views.

By the Numbers: Every Box Office Record It Now Holds

The domestic crown is only part of the story. Globally, the film has grossed approximately $2.45 billion, making it the third-highest-grossing movie in worldwide history, trailing only Avatar and Avengers: Endgame while sitting ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water and Titanic.

The full list of box office records now attached to the film is staggering:

It is the highest-grossing Spider-Man film ever made. It is the highest-grossing solo superhero movie in history. It is the biggest Sony Pictures release of all time. It is the biggest film of 2026 by a wide margin. And Sony noted that Peter Parker himself is now the highest-grossing movie character in history, with a cumulative $17.5 billion worldwide across his appearances.

The film also single-handedly powered the summer movie season to a record-breaking global haul of $4.765 billion, a benchmark that had stood since 2013, with help from heavy hitters like Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Toy Story 5, and The Devil Wears Prada 2.

The Top 10 Highest-Grossing Domestic Movies of All Time

For the record books, here is how the domestic chart now looks: Spider-Man: Brand New Day leads at approximately $936.77 million, followed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens at $936.66 million, Avengers: Endgame at $858.37 million, Spider-Man: No Way Home at $814.81 million, Avatar at $785.22 million, Top Gun: Maverick at $722 million, Black Panther at $700.43 million, Avatar: The Way of Water at $688.46 million, and Avengers: Infinity War at $678.82 million. A Spider-Man film now sits at both number one and number four.

What the Record Means for Marvel Movies

This was a desperately needed win for Marvel Studios. After a rocky stretch of uneven releases, Brand New Day proved the studio can still produce a genuine cultural event when the story connects. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has indicated that Holland will take a well-earned break before the broader MCU trajectory continues toward crossover events like Avengers: Doomsday.

The open question now is whether any film can become the first ever to reach $1 billion domestically. Without a re-release, that milestone looks like a stretch even for this record-breaker, as weekday grosses naturally cool with kids back in school and new releases cycling into theaters.

Still, records are made to be broken, and this one took eleven years to fall. The next challenger has a very high bar to clear: $936.77 million, a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and a Tuesday in September that nobody saw coming. The highest-grossing movies list has a new king, and for now, he wears red and blue.

Top Halloween Costumes for 2026: K-Pop Demon Hunters Lead the Pack as Spider-Man Swings Back and Witches Go Gothic

 

Halloween is officially on the way. This year, the holiday falls on Saturday, October 31, 2026, meaning maximum party potential and one of the biggest costume-shopping seasons on record. The National Retail Federation expects Americans to spend a record $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, about $115.14 per person, with roughly 74 percent of us planning to celebrate. Costumes alone account for $4.4 billion of that total, making them the single biggest slice of spooky-season spending.

If you have not picked your look yet, you are in good company. Every year millions of shoppers decide at the last minute, and retailers are ready for them. Here are the Halloween costumes 2026 shoppers are actually buying, from the breakout trend nobody saw coming to the classics that never die.

Credit: Spirit Halloween

K-Pop Demon Hunters Dominate This Year's Costume Trends

The single biggest story of the season is K-Pop Demon Hunters. The animated hit turned into a full-blown costume phenomenon, and Spirit Halloween reports it as one of the strongest-selling themes in stores right now. The appeal is obvious: idol-style neon outfits mixed with supernatural accessories, equally at home as a solo look or a full group costume. Target even carries exclusive K-Pop Demon Hunters costumes this year, a sign of just how mainstream the trend has become.

What makes this trend interesting is how it broke the usual pattern. Most years, the top costumes come from the summer's biggest live-action blockbuster. This time, an animated musical about demon-hunting pop stars beat them all. Expect to see these neon-and-leather looks everywhere on the 31st, from college parties to office costume contests.

Classic Favorites Return: Spider-Man, Witches, Vampires, and Batman

While one new trend steals the spotlight, the National Retail Federation's annual survey shows shoppers still love the classics. For adults, the top three costumes are the witch, the vampire, and Batman. For kids, the Spider-Man costume leads the pack once again, and for pets, the humble pumpkin takes the crown.

But even the classics have a 2026 twist. Witches have moved away from the green face paint and pointy-nose stereotype toward a softer gothic-romance look built on velvet dresses, flowing capes, and vintage-style jewelry. It is elegant, it photographs beautifully, and it works for everything from haunted houses to upscale Halloween parties.

Spider-Man endures thanks to fresh fuel: new comic storylines and screen appearances have renewed interest in both the classic red-and-blue suit and the Miles Morales version. Villain pairings are trending too, with Doctor Doom and Green Goblin costumes selling as the perfect counterpart for couples or duos who want a hero-versus-villain theme.

Batman and the Vampire: The Forever Costumes

Batman and the vampire never really leave the top ten, and 2026 is no exception. Batman benefits from a steady stream of comic and film appearances, while vampire costumes keep evolving with each new take on the genre. Both are reliable last-minute options because every costume shop stocks multiple versions at every price point.

Group and Couples Costume Ideas for 2026

Group costumes are where Halloween trends get creative. Beyond K-Pop Demon Hunters, shoppers are pulling looks from Prime Video's series Off Campus and the upcoming Toy Story 5 characters. For anyone wanting a period-drama spin on spooky season, Regency-era pieces like corsets, lace gloves, and tailored waistcoats are trending, offering a Bridgerton-meets-haunted-manor vibe that stands out in a sea of superheroes.

The best costume ideas for groups share a few traits: they are recognizable from across the room, they photograph well together, and each person can put their own spin on their piece. That is exactly why the demon-hunter idol look works so well, and why coordinated villain squads keep selling out.

Pet Costumes Are Bigger Than Ever

Do not forget the four-legged family members. Pet costumes have grown into a serious category, and this year the horror aisle belongs to the dogs. Spirit Halloween is selling dog costumes of Art the Clown, Michael Myers, Ghost Face, Chucky, Pennywise, and Sam from Trick r Treat, each priced at $24.99. Matching horror-themed collars and leashes from horror franchises round out the look for pets whose owners want the full ensemble.

Most other retailers stick to family-friendly territory for pets, think pumpkins, superheroes, and food costumes, so horror fans shopping for their dogs have essentially one destination. If you want one of the slasher looks, do not wait: seasonal pet items tend to sell through early.

Where Shoppers Are Buying in 2026

Target rolled out hundreds of new Halloween finds this year, with decorations starting as low as $5 and adult costumes dipping to around $14 during sale events. Nearly 70 percent of the retailer's Halloween collection is new for 2026, and several viral items have already sold out once, a reminder that waiting until the final week is risky for the most-wanted pieces.

Spirit Halloween remains the go-to for trend-driven and horror costumes, while Amazon is the fallback for procrastinators who need two-day shipping to save their October 30th panic. Sam's Club has also been clearing Halloween decor at up to 50 percent off for members willing to buy in bulk.

One word of advice from years of watching these cycles: the most popular items in any given year start disappearing in early October. If your heart is set on a specific look, especially one of the K-Pop Demon Hunters outfits or a licensed horror costume, buy it now rather than gambling on a restock.

Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday, spending is at an all-time high, and the costume options have never been more fun. Whether you go full demon-hunter idol, classic Spider-Man, gothic witch, or dress your dog as Ghost Face, the only real mistake is waiting until the shelves are empty. Happy haunting.

Chubby Group Raises $50 Million and Buys 47 GEN Korean BBQ Restaurants in $100 Million Deal

Photo: Korean barbecue on the grill (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Korean BBQ wars just got a lot more interesting. Chubby Group, the Los Angeles-based restaurant operator behind Chubby Cattle, Wagyu House, and The X Pot, has closed a $50 million Series A funding round and simultaneously signed a deal to acquire all 47 GEN Korean BBQ restaurants in the United States.

Announced October 15, 2026, the one-two punch of fresh capital and a blockbuster acquisition positions Chubby as one of the largest Asian dining groups in the country. Here are the details of the deal, what it means for the restaurants, and why investors are betting half a billion dollars on premium Korean BBQ.

The $50 Million Series A Funding

The funding round was led by Prysm Capital at a $500 million valuation, and it marks Chubby Group's first institutional investment. Until now, the company's growth has been funded by operating cash flow plus capital from its founders, local operating partners, supply chain partners, and family offices, with more than $90 million invested across its restaurants and supply chain.

"We've watched Chubby Group grow from 20 to 70 locations while staying profitable," said Matt Roberts, co-founder and partner at Prysm Capital. "They own everything from the supply chain to the in-house design to the loyalty program. Chubby Group turns this structural advantage into a fantastic experience at a great value for their customers, which is why they keep coming back."

The new capital will fund supply chain expansion and new openings, including plans for 30 new locations across the Mr. Chubby and Chubby Bowls concepts in 2027.

The GEN Korean BBQ Acquisition was a Big Deal

Alongside the funding, Chubby signed a letter of intent to acquire 47 GEN Korean BBQ restaurants and four development sites from GEN Restaurant Group (Nasdaq: GENK) in a transaction valued at up to $100 million. That is the entire US footprint of the GEN brand.

The deal structure is creative. The acquisition consideration includes a note convertible into Chubby Group equity at a $1.5 billion valuation, triple the company's current $500 million valuation. Chubby will also receive a perpetual license to the GEN brand, while GEN Restaurant Group retains brand ownership and its packaged foods business, which has been posting strong growth.

Closing remains subject to definitive agreements, license and lease transfers, and regulatory approvals. Chubby plans to take over the 47 locations in four phases over 12 months, with the first 12 sites targeted for November 1, 2026.

What Happens to the Restaurants

Chubby does not plan to simply keep the lights on. The company intends to move the acquired restaurants onto its own supply chain and its Chubby Club membership ecosystem, then relaunch each location either as GEN X, described as a wagyu-forward take on the Korean BBQ guests already know, or as one of the existing Chubby Club concepts. The conversions will be funded from Chubby's own capital.

For diners, the practical upshot should be better ingredients at similar prices. Chubby's whole pitch is vertical integration: it controls its supply chain, restaurant design, and loyalty program in-house, and reinvests the savings into the guest experience. GEN's locations get that machinery; Chubby gets 47 turnkey restaurants in established markets.

"We've built Chubby by investing in better ingredients, hospitality and value for our guests, and our Chubby Club members have become our biggest champions," said David Zhao, co-founder of Chubby Group. "Prysm's investment and the addition of GEN's 47 restaurants to our ecosystem will let us do that at a much bigger scale."

Why This Deal Matters for Chubby's

A few things make this restaurant acquisition stand out. First, the scale: absorbing 47 restaurants at once is a bet-the-company move that will roughly double Chubby's footprint. Second, the timing: GEN Restaurant Group's stock has struggled, and the sale lets it shed substantial lease liabilities while keeping its growing packaged foods division. Third, the structure: the convertible note at a $1.5 billion valuation signals that both sides expect Chubby to be worth far more than $500 million if the integration works.

The numbers behind the optimism are real. Chubby reported $233 million in 2025 systemwide revenue and projects $400 million for 2026. Growing from 20 to 70 locations while staying profitable is rare in the restaurant industry, where expansion usually burns cash.

What to Watch Next

The deal is not done until it is done. The letter of intent still needs to become definitive agreements, and 47 separate license and lease transfers plus regulatory approvals leave plenty of room for delays. The first real test comes November 1, when the initial 12 locations are supposed to change hands.

Investors will also be watching whether Chubby can convert GEN's restaurants without losing their existing customers. Relaunching a familiar neighborhood spot as a wagyu-forward concept is a bigger change than a fresh coat of paint, and regulars can be unforgiving.

But if Chubby pulls it off, the template is obvious: a profitable, vertically integrated operator rolling up struggling competitors and upgrading them with its supply chain. In an industry famous for thin margins, that is a story worth watching, and a lot of Korean BBQ worth eating.

Tesla's Flying Roadster Reveal: Upside-Down Driving, Mid-Air Flips, and the SpaceX Thrusters Behind Them

The Tesla Roadster doesn't want to be a punch line anymore.

credit: Tesla

Yesterday, Tesla finally showed the world what nine years of waiting looks like. At a stunt-filled event at SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, the company revealed its next-generation Tesla Roadster, and the demonstration was pure science fiction: the car drove upside down on a curved ramp, launched into the air, spun through a mid-air corkscrew, and landed safely.

The headline feature is the long-rumored SpaceX thruster package, a cold-gas propulsion system adapted from rocket technology. Here is everything the reveal showed, how the "flying" actually works, and the significant catches Elon Musk is not emphasizing.

What Happened at the Texas Roadster Reveal

The October 15, 2026 event was staged for maximum spectacle. The Roadster drove up a C-shaped ramp, came to a complete stop while fully upside down, then launched off the upper edge. Onboard thrusters fired, the car hovered briefly, executed what Tesla dubbed a "kick flip", a full 360-degree spin over a lineup of Tesla's own vehicles, including a Cybertruck, a Semi, a Model Y, and a Model 3, and then touched down.

An Optimus humanoid robot sat in the driver's seat, but Tesla confirmed the maneuvers were fully pre-programmed autonomous routines, not a human stunt driver at work. The company also posted a thruster-assisted 0-to-60 mph run of 0.81 seconds on its own timing equipment, a figure that would shatter every production-car acceleration record if it holds up outside a controlled demo.

Three Trims: Performance, Thrust, and Rocket

Tesla is offering the Roadster in three configurations, and they are very different machines.

The two-seat Performance trim is described as "road ready." It uses active aerodynamics and an underbody suction system for extreme track performance, with a claimed 0-to-60 time under 1.6 seconds. Reservations require a $50,000 deposit.

The Thrust trim is billed as "race ready," adding rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters to the suction system. Tesla claims 0-to-60 in under 0.9 seconds. This version requires a $250,000 deposit.

credit: Tesla

Then there is the Rocket trim: single-seat, invite-only, and described as "air ready." It carries the full flight system, ten cold gas thrusters positioned around the car. Tesla states plainly that this version is not approved for public-road use.

How the "Flying Car" Actually Works

The aerial stunts come from two separate systems. The upside-down driving is handled by multi-mode fans mounted beneath the car combined with a ground-sealing system. The fans actively evacuate air from under the chassis, generating enormous artificial downforce that glues the vehicle to inverted surfaces, even while stationary.

The flight maneuvers use cold-gas attitude-control thrusters adapted from SpaceX technology. According to Tesla engineering chief Lars Moravy, the car carries 600 liters of compressed air, with roughly 250 kilograms of it stored in Carbon Fiber Overwrapped Pressure Vessels, the same tank design SpaceX uses on its rockets, packed into every usable void in the vehicle. The tanks can recharge themselves, so no special refueling equipment is needed.

Driven by all-electric actuators, the thrusters make micro-adjustments within milliseconds to control pitch and stabilize descent. That is what allowed the mid-air corkscrew: short, violent, precisely controlled bursts of compressed air.

To be clear about what this is not: nobody has demonstrated sustained, airplane-like flight. Each jump was carefully planned and lasted only moments. The system produces brief hops and hovers, not a commute through the sky.

Speed, Range, and Price of Tesla Roadster

The headline numbers are staggering. Beyond the 0.81-second 0-to-60 sprint, Tesla claims a top speed exceeding 230 mph, with Musk suggesting the car could eventually "crack halfway to the speed of sound," roughly 380 mph. Promised range is over 300 miles on a single charge, though that is less than half of the 620 miles Musk originally promised back in 2017.

Pricing starts at $200,000, with a $250,000 Founders Series tier. The cabin features seats molded into the chassis, plus yoke steering with steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire, and throttle-by-wire systems. Musk called the Roadster "the last best driver's car," saying it will long-term be the only manually driven car Tesla makes, with everything else using various levels of self-driving.

Here's "The Catch" of the Tesla Roadster Rocket trim

For all the spectacle, the fine print is substantial. The Rocket trim, the one that actually flies, is not street-legal and is invite-only. No FAA aircraft certification exists for the Roadster, and without it, genuine flight capability cannot legally be marketed as such in US airspace.

The thrusters are also reported to be loud enough to cause hearing damage, which is why spectators were kept hundreds of yards back and the demo car was remotely operated. Musk himself conceded the car is "not necessarily a safety-optimized car" and that flying it may not be "legal in all jurisdictions."

Then there is the timeline. Musk confirmed production is slated for 2028, a full decade after the 2017 reveal that originally promised 2020 delivery. Given the car's history of serial delays, even that date deserves skepticism. And notably, Tesla's stock fell 1.4 percent the day after the reveal, suggesting investors were more impressed by the showmanship than the business case for a six-figure halo car.

Still, as pure spectacle, it is hard to argue with a production-shaped electric car doing corkscrews through the air. The flying car has been a punchline for decades. Yesterday, for a few seconds at a time, Tesla made it real.

iPhone 18 Pro Problems: Face ID Freezes, AT&T Signal Drops, and Fading Paint — What's Fixed and What's Not

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max have some issues that need to be talked about. This includes the face ID freeze bug and cellular problems on AT&T. Keep reading for more details.

credit: Apple

First, a quick clarification: there is no standard iPhone 18 on store shelves right now, and there is no "iPhone 18 Plus" either. Apple split up this year's launch. The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max went on sale September 18, 2026, while the regular iPhone 18 is not expected until around March 2027.

That means every one of the iPhone 18 problems owners are talking about right now comes from the Pro models, and there have been plenty. Multiple outlets are calling this Apple's most troubled launch in years. Here are the most prevalent issues, which ones are fixed, and what to do if your phone is affected.

The Face ID Freeze Bug (Fixed)

The most widely confirmed problem was a freeze-and-restart bug tied to Face ID. When a Face ID scan failed, particularly while opening Face ID-protected apps, some iPhone 18 Pro units would lock up completely, stop responding to touch, and force a restart.

The culprit appears to be the redesigned under-display Face ID system. Apple shrank the Dynamic Island and moved the infrared camera beneath the display, an engineering first for this generation, and the software handling failed scans had a bug that could wedge the whole phone.

The good news: Apple acknowledged the problem quickly and shipped a fix. The iOS 27.0.1 update, released September 28, specifically addressed restarts triggered by failed Face ID authentication. If you are still seeing this behavior, the first step is to check for the update in Settings, then General, then Software Update. Some owners who assumed their hardware was defective swapped phones at Apple Stores unnecessarily; for this bug, the software patch was the real fix.

The AT&T Cellular Problem (Ongoing and Serious)

The most alarming unresolved issue affects iPhone 18 Pro Max owners on AT&T. Affected phones cannot reliably make or receive calls, texts arrive extremely slowly, and the phone randomly drops service and falls into SOS mode, even while showing full bars of 5G.

This one escalated fast. AT&T sent text messages directly to customers warning that some phones "may be unable to complete calls/text/data, including to 911," and strongly advised updating to iOS 27.0.1 immediately. Apple itself has now acknowledged the issue.

Here is the troubling part: Apple's release notes for iOS 27.0.1 do not mention this problem, and many affected users report that installing the update does not fix it. The US version of the iPhone 18 Pro is reportedly the only model using a Qualcomm modem this generation, making the modem a prime suspect. If your Pro Max is dropping to SOS on AT&T, contact the carrier or Apple directly, since the software update alone may not resolve it.

Paint Fading and Camera Ring Discoloration

The most visible complaint is cosmetic but hard to ignore on a $1,199 phone. Owners report that the finish is fading or peeling, especially on burgundy models, and a lighter, pinkish ring is appearing around the rear camera lenses.

The discoloration reports started on Reddit and spread quickly. Burgundy and Black models show the ring around the camera housing; Silver and Glacier owners have not reported it so far. The marks do not wipe off, and at least one owner noted that Apple Store display units show the same ring, suggesting it is not limited to a bad batch.

Apple has not commented publicly on the finish problems. Some owners say Apple offered replacements when they asked, while others have returned their phones for refunds. The likely culprit is the colored coating on the phone's aluminum body; the iPhone 18 Pro uses the same aluminum alloy as the iPhone 17 Pro, which had similar chipping and fading complaints. If your phone's finish is degrading within weeks, document it with photos and contact Apple support, since other owners have already received replacements.

Speaker Crackling and Other Early Reports

A smaller but persistent group of owners reports a strange crackling sound from the speaker. What makes this one notable is that some customers who exchanged their phones found the same crackling on the replacement units, which points away from a one-off defect.

Other scattered reports include green or pink lines appearing on the display, though the legitimacy of those reports has been questioned, and a touchscreen freeze triggered by opening Notification Center and Control Center together. That last one was also fixed in iOS 27.0.1, and it affected other iPhone models too, which suggests a broader iOS 27 software issue rather than iPhone 18 Pro hardware.

What To Do If Your iPhone 18 Pro Has These Problems

If you own one of the new Pro models, here is the practical checklist. First, install iOS 27.0.1 if you have not already; it resolves the Face ID freezes and the Notification Center touchscreen lockup. Second, if you are on AT&T and your Pro Max is dropping calls or showing SOS, do not assume the update fixed it, contact AT&T or Apple, since this issue appears to need more than a software patch.

Third, for paint fading or the camera ring discoloration, photograph the problem and reach out to Apple support sooner rather than later. Owners are getting replacements and refunds, but inventory has been tight, with some buyers told to wait until mid-October. And if you are still deciding whether to buy, it may be worth waiting to see whether Apple publicly addresses the finish issues before spending four figures on a phone that could fade within weeks.

Early-adopter glitches are normal for any new smartphone issues cycle, and most get ironed out within a month or two. But between an acknowledged cellular defect, a cosmetic problem Apple will not discuss, and a launch some outlets are calling the most problematic in years, the iPhone 18 Pro generation is off to a rockier start than Apple would like.

Meta Admits Its Smart Glasses Recorded Conversations Without the Wake Word — What Owners Need to Know

Meta smart glasses were supposed to wait for a wake phrase before listening. According to the company itself, some of them did not. Meta has admitted that certain Ray-Ban Meta glasses captured conversations and stored audio recordings and text transcripts in the Meta AI app even when the wearer never said the trigger words.

The admission lands at an awkward moment for the wearable tech industry, as smart glasses privacy concerns keep climbing and more public places push back against camera-equipped eyewear. Here is what happened, how it came to light, and what owners should do now.

What Happened With the Meta Smart Glasses Recordings

The story broke the way so many tech controversies do now: on Reddit. A Ray-Ban Meta owner posted that their glasses had been recording conversations and saving both the audio and written transcripts inside the Meta AI companion app, despite the wake phrase never being spoken.

How the Reddit post exposed the problem

What made the post alarming was not just one person's claim. Other owners replied confirming the same behavior on their own devices. The pattern suggested this was not a single glitchy unit but something affecting more than one pair of glasses.

According to the reports, users who contacted Meta support were told to disable the microphone features. That advice technically stopped the unwanted recordings, but it also stripped the glasses of core functionality. Telling someone to turn off the microphone on a pair of AI glasses is a bit like telling them to take the engine out of a car to fix a strange noise.

The reports raised an uncomfortable question: if the glasses can record and transcribe without the wake phrase, what exactly triggers them, and how much audio has been quietly stored?

Meta's response so far

Meta eventually responded to the Reddit thread. The company acknowledged the issue and said it has been fixed. What Meta has not done is explain what caused the unwanted recordings in the first place.

That missing explanation matters. A fix without a root cause leaves owners guessing whether the problem was a software bug, a misconfigured sensitivity setting, or something deeper in how the always-on microphone pipeline works. For a device people wear on their faces in private conversations, "it's fixed, trust us" is a thin reassurance.

Why Smart Glasses Privacy Worries Keep Growing

This incident did not happen in a vacuum. Smart glasses privacy has been a running controversy since camera-equipped eyewear went mainstream, and each new story adds weight to the skeptics' case.

Bans, backlash, and the contractor footage incident

Various venues and public spaces have moved to ban or restrict smart glasses over the fear of being recorded without consent. Unlike a phone, which you visibly raise to take a photo, glasses with built-in cameras can capture video of everyone around the wearer without any obvious signal. That asymmetry is the core of the unease.

There is also history here. A prior incident involved contractors analyzing raw footage captured by smart glasses, which already put Meta on the defensive about who gets to see what these devices record. Now add recordings happening without any wake phrase at all, and the privacy picture gets darker.

The broader Meta privacy track record does the company no favors either. Between past data controversies and the sheer volume of personal information flowing through its apps, many users start from a position of skepticism, and stories like this one confirm their worst assumptions.

What Ray-Ban Meta Owners Should Do Now

If you own a pair, there are a few practical steps worth taking while Meta's explanation remains vague.

Check your Meta AI app for stored recordings

Open the Meta AI companion app and review what has been saved. Look for audio clips and transcripts you do not remember triggering. If you find recordings of conversations you never asked the glasses to capture, delete them and consider tightening your settings.

Review microphone and voice settings

Dig into the glasses' settings for anything related to voice activation sensitivity, always-on listening, or background audio processing. Meta's own support team pointed users toward disabling microphone features, which tells you where the company thinks the problem lives.

Think about where you wear them

Until Meta explains the cause, it is worth being deliberate about wearing the glasses in sensitive settings: private meetings, medical appointments, or any conversation where someone has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The people around you cannot see when your glasses decide to start recording.

The Bigger Question for Voice Assistants Everywhere

This story is about Meta, but the underlying issue touches every maker of voice assistants and always-listening devices. Smart speakers, phones, earbuds, and now glasses all depend on local wake-word detection deciding, moment by moment, whether you just summoned them. False triggers have been documented for years across the industry.

What feels different here is the form factor. A smart speaker mishearing you in your kitchen is one thing. Glasses recording a private conversation at a dinner table, transcribing it, and filing it away in an app is another level of exposure entirely.

Meta says the problem is fixed. Owners, regulators, and the growing list of venues banning these devices will be watching to see whether the company's actions match its words. In the tech news cycle, this story will fade. The recordings sitting in people's apps will not.

Barn Owls Nest in Manhattan for the First Time in Modern History — Inside the Upper West Side's Newest Celebrity Family

A barn owl in flight. Photo: Luc Viatour / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The newest celebrity family couple or a pop star — it's a family of barn owls that moved into a water tower on the Upper West Side. Experts say these owls are the first in modern history known to have nested in Manhattan, and their arrival has turned a quiet neighborhood into a nighttime gathering spot for birders. For a species in steep decline across New York, the nest is a small miracle — and a reminder of the dangers waiting for them in the big city.

How Scotty the Barn Owl Was Discovered

It started with screeches. Back in September, Upper West Side resident Elisabeth Williams and her husband kept hearing a loud, raspy sound from the patio of their apartment — night after night, the same call. Using the Merlin bird ID app, they identified the source: a barn owl. On October 3, Williams finally snapped a photo of the noisy neighbor, confirming it. She named him Scotty.

Barn owls don't hoot like storybook owls. They are ghostlike predators that fly in near-total silence, and their calls are harsh, drawn-out shrieks that can sound downright eerie echoing between apartment buildings. That otherworldly screech is what gave the family away.

Eight Owls in a Water Tower

Scotty wasn't alone. As many as eight barn owls — two adults and up to six juveniles — have been spotted coming and going from a hole in a neighborhood water tower, where the family has set up house. The nocturnal residents have drawn crowds of birdwatching enthusiasts who gather after dark hoping for a glimpse, with sightings tracked on social media accounts like Manhattan Bird Alert, run by birder David Barrett.

"It's a truly special experience... that people can come out to a public space like this and look at these owls at night," Barrett told CBS News. For New York City wildlife lovers, it's the kind of moment that doesn't come around twice.

Why This Manhattan Nest Matters

Barn owls are considered an extremely rare sight in New York City, with only occasional sightings in recent years. New York sits at the northern edge of the species' range, and their habitat has shrunk dramatically as land development has swallowed the open fields and old barns they favor. State wildlife officials list the species as in rapid decline.

That's what makes this nest so significant. "The presence of a nest right in the middle of the country's biggest city is really exciting," said Jessica Wilson, executive director of the NYC Bird Alliance. To Paul Sweet, an ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History, the Upper West Side owls are a sign that "some environments in New York City are becoming more raptor-friendly" — proof that even Manhattan can still make room for wild things.

The Rodenticide Danger Facing the Owls

But the celebration comes with a warning. Barn owls feast on rodents, and New York's rats are routinely poisoned with rodenticide. The poison doesn't stay in the rat — it travels up the food chain into the predators that eat them. "Rats in New York City are often poisoned by rodenticide, meant to kill the rats. But actually, what it does is kill the predators that feed on those rats," Wilson told CBS News. "And if barn owls are eating several rats a day, they are likely to fall prey to this horrible death."

The city knows this story all too well. In 2024, Flaco, the beloved Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped the Central Park Zoo and captivated the city, died after striking a building. The necropsy revealed a severe case of pigeon herpesvirus — and four different types of rodenticide in his system, which likely contributed to the fatal crash. In response, the city passed "Flaco's Law," including a pilot program to control rats with contraception rather than poison. Whether that shift comes fast enough to protect Scotty's family is an open question.

A Welcome Distraction for New Yorkers

For now, the owls are pure joy. Wildlife photographer and author David Lei called the nest "something to be celebrated," adding that it "should also galvanize people to do more to protect our wildlife." And for residents worn down by the daily news cycle, the owls are a gift. "You wake up in the morning and wonder what kind of new hell are we going to have today," neighbor Lydia Sugarman told the New York Times. "And now we have this wonderful distraction."

Eight barn owls in a water tower, shrieking over the Upper West Side — the first Manhattan nest in modern history, and a reminder that nature keeps finding its way back, even in the country's biggest city.

 

Arby's Coupon Deal Sheet for October 2026

Arby's has dropped a fresh sheet of Arby's coupons for October 2026, and this batch is stacked. The new flyer advertises over $40 worth of coupons, covering everything from 4-for-$12 roast beef sandwiches to $1 fries — plus the return of a fan favorite and a free sandwich offer for rewards members. Every coupon on the sheet is good through October 31, 2026, at participating U.S. locations. Here is the full breakdown of these fast food deals so you know exactly what to clip before they expire.

Arby's Sandwich Coupons for October 2026

The sandwich deals are the heart of this month's sheet. The headline offer is 4 Classic Roast Beef Sandwiches for $12 — the classic roast beef stack that built the brand, at $3 apiece. Right behind it: 2 Classic Beef 'N Cheddar Sandwiches for $7, pairing the signature roast beef with cheddar cheese sauce and Red Ranch.

Deli-style lovers get the Corned Beef Reuben Sandwich for $6, loaded with corned beef, Swiss, sauerkraut and Thousand Island on toasted marble rye. The 2 Ham & Swiss Melts for $6 deal covers the toasted ham-and-Swiss option, and slider fans can grab 3 Sliders for $5, choosing any three. Rounding out the sandwich lineup: the French Dip & Swiss Sandwich for $5, with roast beef, melted Swiss and au jus for dipping.

Arby's Meal Deal Coupons

If you want the full meal, the sheet has you covered. The 2 Can Dine for $11.99 deal bundles two Classic Roast Beef Sandwiches, two medium fries and two medium soft drinks — one of the best per-person values on the page. The Turkey Ranch & Bacon Meal for $8.99 pairs the turkey, ranch and bacon sandwich with medium fries and a medium drink, and the Double Roast Beef Meal for $8.99 does the same for double-meat fans.

Two more meals land at $7.99: the Gyro Meal (Greek gyro with medium fries and a medium drink) and the Chicken Cordon Bleu Meal (the crispy chicken, ham and Swiss sandwich with medium fries and a medium drink). And the budget pick of the bunch: the Chicken Tenders Snack for $3.99, with three-piece chicken tenders and small fries.

Arby's Snack Coupons: $1 Fries, $2 Shakes and More

The side of the flyer holds the cheapest thrills. Small Fries for $1 — your choice of crinkle or curly — is the kind of deal that barely exists in fast food anymore. A Small Shake for $2 in any flavor makes dessert nearly free, and 4-piece Mozzarella Sticks for $2.29 round out the snack lineup. Each of these allows up to three offers per visit, so the family can all get in on it.

Arby's Steak Nuggets Are Back

The front of the flyer makes the big announcement: steak nuggets are back. The "They're Back" banner sits over a photo of the seared steak bites that have become a cult item every time they return. They are available for a limited time only at participating U.S. locations — so if you missed them last time around, this is your window.

Free Sandwich With Arby's Loaded Rewards

The sheet's other big play is a new-member offer: a free sandwich with a $5 or more purchase when you join Arby's Loaded Rewards. The program pitches a "Double Welcome" (free sandwich now, double points next visit), "Large-Size Rewards" ($1 earns 10 points) and a "Monthly XL Boost" with a new offer every month. Heads-up on the fine print: the free sandwich reward requires new enrollment plus a qualifying $5 pre-tax food purchase, and it expires if not redeemed within 14 days of enrollment.

How Much You Can Really Save

Do the math and the "over $40 worth" claim checks out. Between the sandwich bundles, the meal deals and the $1 fries and $2 shakes, a family of four using a few of these coupons in one visit could easily save $15 to $20 off regular menu prices — and since most offers allow up to three redemptions per visit, the savings stack fast. The 2 Can Dine for $11.99 bundle alone covers two full meals for less than the price of one combo at some competitors.

Fine Print: How to Use These Arby's Coupons

A few things to know before you head out. All of these restaurant deals are valid through October 31, 2026, at participating locations, and most allow up to three offers per visit. They can't be combined with other discounts or offers, and they're not valid with delivery or online ordering — these are in-store, show-the-coupon deals, and tax and fees are extra. Clip the ones you want, check that your local Arby's is participating, and get there before Halloween, because when these coupons expire, they're gone.

New Charitable Tax Break Lets Standard Deduction Filers Deduct Up to $2,000 in Donations

Accountants at work during tax season.

For years, giving to charity only lowered your tax bill if you itemized your deductions — which left roughly 90 percent of American households out in the cold. That just changed. A new charitable tax deduction created under the 2025 Trump tax bill lets people who claim the standard deduction write off cash donations for the first time in years. According to Kiplinger, the provision reaches an estimated 144 million taxpayers. If you give to charity and take the standard deduction, here is what the new tax break 2026 means for your wallet.

What the New Charitable Tax Deduction Is

Under the new law, taxpayers who don't itemize can deduct qualified cash contributions to charity directly — no Schedule A required. The deduction sits on top of the standard deduction, so you get both. It is a return to something that briefly existed during the pandemic years, when a temporary above-the-line charity deduction was available, but this version is written into the new tax law rather than being a short-term relief measure.

How Much You Can Deduct: $1,000 Single, $2,000 Joint

The caps are straightforward. Single filers can deduct up to $1,000 in qualified charitable donations, and married couples filing jointly can deduct up to $2,000. Those are hard annual ceilings — if you give more than the cap, the extra does not roll over. Unlike some other tax benefits, there is no carryforward for donations above the limit, so timing your giving within the tax year matters.

Who Qualifies for the Charitable Tax Break

The key qualifier is simple: you must claim the standard deduction instead of itemizing. Since about nine in ten households take the standard deduction, that is why the provision touches an estimated 144 million filers. If you itemize, you already deduct charitable donations the old way, so this particular break isn't for you — though the new law changed some rules for itemizers too, as explained below.

Cash is King with the new Charitable Tax Donation Deduction

Not every gift qualifies. The IRS rules for this deduction are narrow:

Only cash counts. That means donations made by check, credit or debit card, or electronic transfer. Non-cash gifts — donated stock, clothing, cars, household goods — are excluded from this particular break.

The recipient must be a qualified 501c3 public charity. Gifts to donor-advised funds and private foundations do not qualify, even though those are legitimate charitable vehicles in other contexts.

There is no carryforward. Give $2,500 as a single filer and only $1,000 is deductible this year; the remaining $1,500 simply disappears for tax purposes.

How Much You'll Actually Save

An important detail: this is a deduction, not a credit. A credit reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar; a deduction reduces your taxable income, and your savings equal the deduction times your marginal tax rate. Kiplinger's example: a married couple with $200,000 of adjusted gross income in the 22 percent bracket would save $440 on a $2,000 donation. The same $2,000 as a hypothetical credit would have been worth the full $2,000.

Estimated federal savings run from roughly $100 to $120 for single filers in the 10 to 12 percent brackets up to about $700 for top-bracket taxpayers claiming the full amount. Modest, but for the 144 million households that previously got zero tax benefit from their giving, it is found money.

The Paperwork: IRS Rules for Claiming It

The IRS applies the same substantiation rules here as it does for itemized charitable deductions. Keep your receipts, bank records, or credit card statements showing the donation. For any single contribution of $250 or more, you need a formal written acknowledgment from the charity. And hang onto your records — the IRS generally recommends keeping tax records for up to seven years. When tax filing season arrives, make sure your donation records are organized before you sit down with your return or your preparer.

What Changed for High-Income Itemizers

The new law didn't only create a break for standard deduction filers — it also tightened the rules at the top. High-income taxpayers who itemize now face a 0.5 percent of adjusted gross income floor before their charitable gifts become deductible. In plain terms, a portion of their giving at the bottom no longer counts. It is a reminder that this tax break 2026 was aimed squarely at ordinary households, not wealthy donors.

What to Do Before You File

If you take the standard deduction and give to charity, a few steps now will pay off at tax filing time. First, confirm your charities are qualified 501c3 public charities — the IRS's online exempt-organization search can verify that in seconds. Second, give in cash-equivalent ways (check, card, electronic transfer) rather than goods if you want this deduction. Third, get written acknowledgments for any gift of $250 or more, and keep every receipt. Finally, remember the caps: $1,000 single, $2,000 joint, no carryforward. With 144 million filers newly eligible, this is one of the broadest tax benefits in the new law — and it rewards the simple act of giving.

Walmart Employee Gets Flowers After 44 Years: The Lost Profit-Sharing Perk That Sparked Outrage

Gayle holding the flowers given to her for 44 years of service at Walmart's Owensboro, Kentucky store.

A photo of a Walmart employee holding a bouquet of flowers has set the internet on fire — and not in a positive way for a big corporation.

The image shows Gayle, a worker at Walmart's Frederica Street store in Owensboro Kentucky, smiling with her flowers after reaching an almost unheard-of milestone: 44 years with the same company. The store's Facebook page posted the photo to congratulate her, calling it "a huge accomplishment." Instead of warm wishes, the post was flooded with criticism. To millions of viewers, a bouquet looked like a painfully small thank-you for four and a half decades of loyalty. But the story has a deeper layer: when Gayle started at Walmart, the company offered a benefit today's workers can only dream about — company-funded profit sharing. That is the Walmart profit sharing perk the headlines are talking about, and it has been gone for years.

How the Walmart 44-Year Flowers Photo Went Viral

The original post was simple enough: a smiling employee, a vase of flowers, and a caption reading, "Congratulations Gayle on 44 years with the company!! What a huge accomplishment! We appreciate everything you do!" The store has since removed the post, but screenshots had already spread across Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and beyond, where the reaction was brutal.

Commenters called the flowers an underwhelming reward for someone who gave the retailer nearly half a century. One person joked that the arrangement came from one of the store's own display cases. Another wrote that the look on Gayle's face "says it all." The angriest responses aimed at the bigger picture: one commenter wrote that employees used to get "pensions, bonuses," and "now it's pizza parties and poverty." The photo became a symbol of how corporate recognition has shrunk even as workers' loyalty hasn't.

The Perk Gayle Started With: Walmart's Profit-Sharing Plan

Here is the part of the story most people missed. When Gayle Walmart began her career in the early 1980s, the company automatically contributed to a profit-sharing retirement plan for eligible workers — no employee contribution required. At its peak, Walmart put up to 4 percent of a worker's pay into the plan every year, funded entirely by the company. For a career employee who stayed decades, that benefit compounded into a serious retirement nest egg. It was one of the things that made Walmart employee benefits genuinely competitive back then, and it rewarded exactly the kind of long-term loyalty Gayle gave.

Why Walmart Ended Profit Sharing in 2011

In early 2011, Walmart announced it would stop making profit-sharing contributions, replacing the program with matching contributions to employees' 401k retirement plans. The company framed it as a modernization: instead of the company automatically funding retirement, workers would now fund their own 401(k) accounts and Walmart would match contributions up to 6 percent of eligible pay. The switch cut the company's benefits costs — and quietly shifted the burden of saving for retirement from the employer to the employee.

The change was written into the plan documents for good. Walmart's own proxy filings note that the 401(k) plan was amended in 2011 to eliminate the profit-sharing component, and a related executive retirement supplement was frozen to new contributions in early 2013. The company-funded profit-sharing era was over.

What Walmart Employees Get Instead Today

Today's Walmart employee benefits package looks very different from what Gayle signed up for. Workers now get the 401k match — but only if they contribute their own money first, which is a meaningful ask for hourly retail workers living paycheck to paycheck. The company has added other perks over the years, including an associate stock purchase plan and education benefits, but the old deal — show up, work hard for decades, and the company builds your retirement for you — is gone. That contrast is exactly why the flowers photo stung so many people.

Why the Flowers Sparked Such a Backlash

The outrage was never really about one bouquet. It was about the math. Forty-four years of early mornings, holidays, and hard work, recognized with flowers that cost less than an hour of labor. Set against the vanished profit-sharing plan, the photo reads like a before-and-after picture of American retail work: the "before" was a company that shared its profits with the people who generated them, and the "after" is a social media post.

Defenders of the store point out the obvious — Gayle herself was smiling, her coworkers clearly care about her, and a local store's Facebook post was never going to include a retirement package. Nobody knows what Gayle actually received privately. But viral news doesn't run on nuance, and the image tapped into a frustration far bigger than one store in Kentucky.

What Gayle's Story Says About Retail Loyalty

There is a quiet irony at the center of this story. Gayle is part of a generation of retail workers who stayed because the deal was worth staying for — steady work plus benefits that built real security. She got in under the wire on profit sharing, which means her loyalty was, at least in part, rewarded the old way. The workers hired after 2011 will never get that version of the deal, no matter how many decades they give.

So was a bouquet enough for 44 years? The internet has rendered its verdict. But maybe the better question is the one the moneywise piece that started this conversation asked: what happened to the perk that made 44 years worth it in the first place — and what would it take to bring that kind of loyalty deal back?

Why Mike Tomlin was Frustrated Watching 'Disgusting' Giants vs. Commanders NFL Game

Cam Skattebo watching the final play of the Giants-Commanders game

Sunday's NFL Week 5 slate gave us one of the strangest finishes in recent memory. The New York Giants and Washington Commanders played 75 minutes of football at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, and neither team could win it. The Giants Commanders tie ended 27-27 in overtime, but the score tells only a fraction of t could win it. The Giants Commanders tie ended 27-27 in overtime, but the score tells only a fraction of the story. Cam Skattebo's crushing overtime fumble, Washington's clock-management meltdown, and Mike Tomlin's viral disgust turned this game into the most talked-about finish of the weekend. Here is how it all fell apart — twice.

How the Giants Commanders Overtime Tie Happened

Washington looked like it had the game in hand. The Commanders built a 27-13 lead with 11:05 left in regulation behind quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was playing his first game back after missing two weeks with a dislocated left elbow. But the Giants refused to go away. Quarterback Jameis Winston threw two late touchdown passes, including a 17-yard strike to Malik Nabers with 1:43 to play, and the game went to overtime knotted at 27.

Overtime only made things weirder. The Giants got the first possession and drove into range, but kicker Dominic Zvada — who had already missed from 50 and 57 yards — missed again from 46. Washington punted with about five minutes left, and New York marched back past the Washington 30 with roughly two minutes on the clock. A win was sitting right there for the taking.

Cam Skattebo's Overtime Fumble at the Washington 24

On the first play after the two-minute warning, the Giants handed the ball to rookie running back Cam Skattebo on first-and-10. Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne punched the ball free, and Shy Tuttle recovered it for Washington with 1:55 remaining. Just like that, the Giants' game-winning field goal attempt vanished.

The turnover stung even more because it fit a pattern. Skattebo, a 2025 fourth-round pick out of Arizona State, has now fumbled four times in five games this season — a ball-security problem that keeps showing up at the worst possible moments.

Jayden Daniels and the Commanders' Clock Management Disaster

Washington got the gift and gave it right back. Daniels, who had been brilliant all day — 17 of 25 passing for 199 yards plus 103 rushing yards and two touchdowns on runs of 38 and 26 yards — drove the Commanders 53 yards into field-goal range, including a 16-yard scramble. After a two-yard run by Rachaad White moved the ball to the Giants' 24 with 55 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, all Washington had to do was stop the clock and send out kicker Drew Stevens for a 42-yard game-winner.

Instead, chaos. The Commanders snapped the ball with 12 seconds left on a play designed for a quick throw toward the sideline. Daniels tucked it, was tackled for no gain with 8 seconds left, and Washington scrambled to line up for a spike — but couldn't get another snap off before time expired. Stevens never got on the field. The game ended in a 27-27 tie, and Commanders head coach Dan Quinn ripped his headset off and threw it to the ground.

Mike Tomlin's Viral Reaction to the Giants Commanders Finish

If you watched NBC's Football Night in America, you saw the moment that launched a thousand memes. Former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, now a studio analyst, did not hide his disgust. "I'd describe it as disgusting," Tomlin said. "Division wins are too precious in the National Football League. I was disgusted by the Skattebo fumble. I threw up in my mouth a little bit at the end of the game."

Tomlin was careful to note he wasn't laughing at his close friend Quinn's expense — having been in that chair himself, he was just glad he wasn't the one dealing with the fallout. But his revulsion summed up how the football world felt watching both teams fumble away a win. One former NFL scout went even further, calling the ending one of the worst moments in the history of the league.

Cam Skattebo Takes the Blame for the Giants Commanders Tie

To his credit, Skattebo didn't dodge anything after the game. "First of all, I fumbled the ball. We can't have that," he said. "I understand that. I'm going into the film room and get it fixed." The rookie explained his mindset on the play: "I felt like I had good protection on it. The kid made a hell of a play. I think in that situation what I think I could do differently is try not to get the extra yards because we're already in a good position and continue to take care of the ball... I'm the player that tries to fight for as many yards as possible for this team. It kind of bit me in the ass there."

Skattebo also admitted the obvious: Washington's even bigger blunder took some of the heat off him. He called the Commanders' final sequence "insane" and acknowledged it would lessen the criticism coming his way. "There's 11 guys on the other team who are screaming at you, telling you you messed up, it's your fault, you sold the game... it sucks," he said. Still, he put the result on his own shoulders: "We win that game if I do."

Dan Quinn "Furious" After the Commanders' OT Blunder

Quinn's anger didn't fade overnight. At his Monday press conference, he summed up his feelings in one word: "Furious." "Furious about our execution in the crucial moments of the game," he said. "We work really hard on things and it didn't look like it. Pissed about it."

The coach took full responsibility, absolving Daniels of blame for the final play. "The sequencing of that does not fall on him," Quinn said. "It's an outside throw or a clock — an out-of-bounds throw, or a clock. That has to come from me. I have to put him in that spot." He admitted the right call was to clock the ball early rather than chase extra yards: "We don't need to gain more yards." After the game, he had put it more simply: "Leaving tonight with a tie feels like a loss."

Daniels owned his part too. "We have to stop the clock. We have to know the situation," the quarterback said. "We got to relay that as an offense. It starts with everyone, top down. Ultimately, you know, it's on me."

They weren't the only ones stunned. Commanders co-owner Magic Johnson posted that he was in "total disbelief" over the clock management, writing, "All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game." In the radio booth, Bram Weinstein and London Fletcher were equally dumbfounded — "You've got to be kidding me," Fletcher muttered as the clock hit zero.

What the 27-27 Tie Means for the NFC East

The standings barely moved — the Giants sit at 3-1-1 and remain undefeated in divisional games, while the Commanders fell to 1-3-1 — but the vibes could not be more different. It was the third overtime tie between these two teams, matching the Packers and Vikings for the most since the NFL added overtime in 1974. The Giants host the Saints on Sunday, and Washington visits the 49ers on Monday night. Both teams will spend the week trying to forget a finish neither of them will ever live down.