Financial Mindset

Iran fired on U.S. allies in the Gulf early Wednesday following  a night of American bombardment  that Iranian state media says included a deadly strike on a wedding party. The latest violence came after a monthlong lull in fighting. The six-month war has led to a spike in oil prices,  roiled the global economy  and posed increasing  political problems  for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party ahead of November midterm elections. Fighting has escalated since the American military hit Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the  Strait of Hormuz  over the weekend, saying Iran was planning to use them to lay mines. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at American bases in Jordan that were intercepted. American military resources  are stretched and political pressure in Washington is mounting, while Iran’s economy  has been battered  by sanctions and an American naval blockade. Iran’s currency hit another record...

The House passed a short-term measure Tuesday to fund the federal government into early December, a move designed to avoid a chaotic shutdown as lawmakers campaign for reelection. Lawmakers needed to act before the fiscal year concludes at the end of September to avoid a funding lapse. They were determined not to bump up against that deadline during the campaign season following this past year’s historic shutdowns. The House passed the bill by a vote of 370-48. The Senate has already  overwhelmingly approved  the measure, so it now moves to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. “It gives the nation and our constituents certainty, certainty that the government will remain open, certainty that our service members will be paid,” said Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. A record  43-day shutdown  occurred last fall when the two parties disagreed on renewing an expiring  tax credit  that lower...

In a country increasingly divided along political ideologies, partisan politics are coming together to answer the age old dynamic between privacy and security. On Wednesday, the blue-leaning Tempe, Ariz. turned off its Flock automated license plate readers and said the city would not seek another company to replace the system. Three hours later, the nearby red-leaning town of Cave Creek did the same. The same day in Washington, D.C., Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, opened a formal investigation into the company, while independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders posted a lengthy statement pledging to introduce legislation against it. Tempe’s police department had used Flock’s cameras to help solve crimes, and the city said its own audits, conducted monthly, turned up no misuse. But that wasn’t enough to keep the system running. “These cameras have helped our police officers do their jobs, and we don’t discount that,” Tempe Mayor Co...

Evoking the same do-it-yourself pop-rock feminism of her ’90s musical influences,  Olivia Rodrigo  raised $20 million for women’s well-being with a benefit show that activated her young audience. Daisy Chain Fields united a women-led lineup boasting queer pop star  Chappell Roan , breakout rapper  Doechii  and riot grrrl pioneers  Bikini Kill behind issues of women’s health, workplace protections, and legal rights. Ahead of Saturday’s festival in Irvine, Calif., Rodrigo announced the show had already raised enough to make a $10 million donation to 10 nonprofit partners including Planned Parenthood, National Women’s Law Center, and Black Mamas Matter Alliance. Philanthropist  Melinda French Gates  pledged another $10 million through her Pivotal Ventures in a surprise appearance at the start of Rodrigo’s set, praising her for “showing a new generation how much their voices matter.” Rodrigo said the festival’s artists ...

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged his country’s economic woes amid pressure from the U.S., which is strangling its trade while protecting other countries’ ships carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Recent weeks have seen Tehran lose leverage over the critical energy chokepoint as traffic picks up, especially via a southern route along Oman’s coast. At the same time, warnings about Iran’s economy from Pezeshkian and the regime’s other relative moderates have been mounting. In an interview with state media on Friday, he signaled defiance in the face of all the economic pressure and credited Iran’s resilience to its unity. “We have many problems,” Pezeshkian said, according to a Google translation. “There’s inflation, economic issues, employment and many other problems, but the people are with us.” Indeed, inflation has soared above 80%, with prices for certain food staples up 100%. The...

U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on the  Strait of Hormuz  in the first military action in a month on Sunday, according to a U.S. official, breaking a lull in fighting during an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months. Forces with the Revolutionary Guard Corps were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail sensitive military movements. The U.S. military last week completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes. Semiofficial news outlets in Iran reported sounds of explosions near Larak island on the strait. The Guard in a statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster noted “the martyrdom and injury of several of our fighters and compatriots.” The statement said the attack will “result in punishment of the aggressor.” The fighting comes just days after the Trump administration said it would turn its f...

Officials struggled for years to curb  high-speed crashes  along a residential corridor cutting through Albuquerque, New Mexico, but simply  punishing the lead-footed drivers  didn’t seem to work. What ultimately did was rewarding the law-abiding ones with fewer  red lights . The solution, which the city credits for a dramatic drop in crashes and injuries along one busy stretch of road, is a relatively novel version of a longstanding  traffic safety  concept commonly known as “rest in red,” in which traffic signals default to red until a vehicle approaches. But Albuquerque and Portland, Oregon, took it a step further by adding speed sensors that grant a much earlier green light to drivers traveling at or below the  posted limit. “We’re finding that the technology itself is kind of its best advertisement,” Jennifer Turner, Albuquerque’s director of municipal development, said of the strategy the city deployed on Lead and Coal ave...