Some healthcare workers are going without coverage as premiums become unaffordable, a measure of how far the insurance crisis has spread. Average family premiums for employer coverage reached nearly $27,000 in 2025, and employers expect another sharp increase next year. Workers in smaller practices may face particularly difficult choices when they cannot find lower-cost protection against major medical bills. Forgoing care can leave them sicker and put further strain on hospitals already short of staff.

The confident atheism that dominated public debate a generation ago has lost some of its force. Several prominent skeptics have reconsidered Christianity's place in culture, and religious identification in the United States has stabilized after years of decline. The argument goes further, pointing to the universe's beginnings and the conditions needed for life as reasons to take belief in a creator seriously. These remain philosophical and scientific debates, yet the old claim that science has settled the case against faith looks less convincing to a growing audience.

Roadside cameras record license plates and let police search a driver's movements long after a trip ends. At least 50 officers have been accused of or charged with using such systems for unauthorized purposes, including searches tied to personal relationships. Republican Katie Britt and Democrat Raphael Warnock are asking the Justice Department how it funds and oversees the cameras and what safeguards protect the public. Their unlikely alliance puts a basic question before Washington: who can search the record of where Americans have been, and who checks that power?

Trump rejected a proposed one-week ceasefire in the Iran war, then said he expects negotiations to continue this week. Qatari mediators remain involved, and Iran says it is awaiting a definitive response to its proposal while holding to its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Fighting and diplomatic contacts now run in parallel as American drivers face gasoline near $5 a gallon and diesel above $6. The prospect of a deal remains open, but neither side has accepted the other's terms.