Consumer News: Real Water bottler hit with $5.2 billion award for selling adulterated water

Forgiveness plans revived after months of court battles

AFT lawsuit leads to new agreement restoring income-driven repayment cancellations
Borrowers in multiple federal repayment plans could see immediate debt relief
Those eligible this year will not face federal taxes on forgiven debt

Millions of Americans with federal student loans could soon see long-awaited relief after the Trump administration agreed to reinstate forgiveness programs it had previously stalled.

The deal, reached with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), allows the Department of Education to resume cancelling student debt for borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. The agreement follows a lawsuit filed by the AFT accusing administration officials of illegally blocking access to repayment and forgiveness programs that had been in place for years.

This is a tremendous win for borrowers, said Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director for Protect Borrowers, which represented the teachers union. With todays filing, borrowers can rest a little easier," the New York Post reported.

What the agreement means for borrowers

Under the deal, borrowers participating in income-based, income-contingent, pay-as-you-earn, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs will once again qualify for cancellation after making the required number of payments.

The administration also agreed to refund borrowers who made additional payments after they had already qualified for forgiveness and to process pending buyback applications for both IDR and PSLF participants.

For nearly a decade, the AFT has fought for the rights of student loan borrowers to be freed from the shackles of unjust debtand today, a huge part of that affordability fight was vindicated, said AFT President Randi Weingarten.

Tax relief built into the plan

Borrowers whose loans are forgiven in 2025 will not face federal taxes on the cancelled amount, the administration confirmed. Normally, debt discharged after 2025 would be treated as taxable income under current lawa change the AFT has described as a looming tax bomb.

To avoid that penalty, the Department of Education will treat the date borrowers become eligible for cancellation as the official date of discharge, even if paperwork delays push processing into 2026.

Next steps: court approval pending

The joint agreement still requires court approval to take legal effect. If approved, the Trump administration will be required to file six monthly reports detailing its progress on processing applications and cancellations.

The timeline for approval remains unclear, but if finalized, the deal could provide long-overdue relief for borrowers who have spent decades trapped in repayment plans.

Salmonella, Listeria lead, allergens in today's recalled foods

Here are todays shortform alerts for major U.S. food recalls/outbreaks:

• Eggs byBlackSheepEggCompany: Over 6million eggs recalled after facility environmental sampling found 40positivefor multipleSalmonellainfection strains; sold in AR, MO, MS, TX, CA & IN. No illnesses reported yet but risk is serious.
  

• Readytoeat meals/pasta by multiple firms: A multistateListeriosis outbreak (20ill, 19hospitalised, 4deaths) linked to prepared pasta & salads; eatandserve meals recalled/expanded nationwide. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
  

• Ground cinnamon 16 brands includingHAETAE,Roshni,Durra,WiseWife: Recalled for elevated lead levels (chronic exposure risk, especially children); widely distributed via chains such as DollarTree/SaveaLot. No immediate illnesses reported.
  

• Snack popcorn CabotCreamery SeaSaltCaramelCheddarPopcorn (byJodysInc.): Recalled due to undeclared peanuts lifethreatening allergen risk; distributed in CA, FL, IL, TX and other states. No illnesses reported so far. (Allrecipes)
  

Engineers traced the issue to a routine update that went wrong

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• The outage affecting Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Monday originated in the companys US-EAST-1 region (Northern Virginia).

• AWS reports the root cause was an internal subsystem failure tied to the health-monitoring of network load-balancers (which route traffic between servers) within its EC2 internal network.

• A key symptom was a failure of DNS (Domain Name System) resolution for endpoints of AWSs DynamoDB database service in that region, which triggered cascading service errors and widespread disruption of dependent applications.

Engineers at Amazon Web Services think they have pinpointed the cause of Mondays massive service interruption that caused thousands of websites and apps to go dark.

AWSs status updates show that the trouble began in the US East 1 region and manifested as increased error rates and high latency. AWS later described the issue as stemming from a subsystem that monitors the health of its network load balancers.

The failure started in one of AWSs main data centers in Northern Virginia after a routine update to the API, which connects various computer software programs. The update was being made to an important database service that stores information for websites.

According to engineers, there was an apparent error in the update that eventually disabled the Domain Name System (DNS), which translates website addresses into a series of numbers, known as IP addresses.

Without a properly operating DNS, apps and websites were disconnected from their IP address.

After the system failed, other AWS services also began to go dark. Reportedly, as many as 113 services were blocked by the outage. By Monday afternoon ET, AWS said most systems were restored.

Why this was especially disruptive

• US-EAST-1 is one of AWSs largest and often-used regions; many services default to it.

• When DNS resolution fails for a core API endpoint (like DynamoDB), the effect isnt limited to one application: many downstream systems depend on that service.

• The combination of internal routing failures and name-resolution failures creates what appears to be a cascading outage: one part stops, others rely on it, they fail, more parts go offline.

What remains unclear

• Exactly why the health-monitoring subsystem failed (design flaw? configuration error? software bug?)

• Whether the load-balancer health-monitoring failure directly triggered the DNS issues, or whether the DNS failure was a separate consequence.

• Whether AWS has taken all mitigations required to prevent such failure modes in the future.

• The full scope of back-logs and whether any data or services were permanently affected.

Monday's outage highlights how much the global internet ecosystem depends on few big cloud providers and on single regions within them.

The national average price is below $3 a gallon

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• The national average gas price fell below $3 per gallon for the first time since December 2024.

• The drop is largely attributed to increased oil production from OPEC and seasonal demand declines.

• Prices may not stay low in all regions due to refinery disruptions and local wholesale price spikes.

The national average price of gasoline has fallen below $3 per gallon for the first time since December 29, 2024. According to GasBuddy, the average price of gas across the U.S. started the week at $2.99 a gallon.

The milestone comes after months of steady declines in fuel costs, offering relief to drivers ahead of the holiday travel season. But analysts caution that prices may not remain at these levels for long, particularly in the Great Lakes region, where a recent refinery fire has pushed wholesale prices higher.

The sharp decline in gasoline prices can be traced primarily to OPECs decision earlier this year to increase oil production, reversing its 2023 policy of output cuts meant to sustain higher prices. Since March 2025, the oil cartel and its allies collectively known as OPEC+ have been steadily ramping up output, raising the prospect of a global crude glut.

That shift has sent oil prices tumbling. Some investment banks now suggest that crude could fall into the $40-per-barrel range by 2026, a level not seen since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Combined with the seasonal switch to cheaper winter gasoline blends and a drop in fuel demand, the result has been a rapid and widespread drop in retail gas prices nationwide.

By the numbers

• National average: $2.97/gal

• Median U.S. price: $2.82/gal

• Most common price: $2.89/gal

• 16 cents lower than a year ago

• 295 days since the last time the national average was under $3

One GasBuddy report even noted a cash price of $1.99 per gallon at a station in Evans, Colorado a sign of how dramatically prices have shifted in certain areas.

Global forces drive the decline

This drop is overwhelmingly being driven by the significant increase in oil production from OPEC throughout 2025, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, wrote in the companys blog. That, combined with weaker demand and inflation finally easing, has created the perfect environment for lower prices.

De Haan added that while some may be quick to assign political credit for cheaper fuel, global supply dynamics remain the dominant factor. He noted that 2025 marks the strongest potential for sustained sub-$3 gas prices since 2021.

Looking ahead, GasBuddy forecasts that the national average could dip into the $2.80s per gallon by years end, provided oil prices stay low and demand continues to soften. Seasonal factors, including reduced travel after Thanksgiving and the lingering effects of winter-grade gasoline, could further ease prices in most parts of the country.

Still, regional volatility remains likely. Areas impacted by refinery outages or supply disruptions could see short-term spikes even as the broader national average trends lower.

Turn customer service into your coupon stash

• Before checkout, open live chat with your cart ready and ask a polite one-liner: Any chance for a small coupon or free shipping?
• Use quick scripts: price-match nudge, bundle/save-the-sale, or new member/teacher/student/military
• After you buy, watch for a price drop and request a chat price adjustment with your order number

Paying full price online is my personal horror movie. But sometimes you just cant find a coupon code for a particular store, and there arent any sales happening. But waitI have one more trick to try before you complete your order at full retail.

Open up a live chat window and start a conversation with the retailer. In many cases, their AI chat assistant or actual human customer service rep has coupons to hand out to those who politely ask.

They know if youre asking for a discount, you probably have items in your cart and are about to complete the purchase. So often theyre happy to throw you a bone for 15-20% off your purchase or even free shipping.

The websites where this tends to work best

Keep in mind that this isnt a guarantee. But over the years Ive consistently had good luck with live-chat discounts with the following retailers.

And yes, many stores actually have coupon codes available but bury them on their site and theyre impossible to find. So, by asking in a live chat, you cut through the hunt and quickly find whatever coupons they currently have.

Apparel & shoes

• Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic (Ive gotten free shipping and 1020% off)
• J.Crew, Madewell (small % off or free ship)
• Levis, Columbia, Eddie Bauer (one-time codes)
• Adidas, Reebok, Under Armour (free shipping)
• Zappos, Famous Footwear, DSW (free shipping or $10 off)

Beauty & personal care

• Ulta, The Body Shop, Kiehls (free samples + free shipping; occasional % off)
• Function of Beauty, Native, Harrys (DTC brands often have save the sale codes)

Home, bedding & furniture

• Wayfair, Overstock, Ashley (free shipping or $ off thresholds)
• Brooklinen, Parachute, Buffy (DTC bedding: 1015% new customer codes via chat)
• Bed Bath & Beyond (the new version): free shipping or small % off

Electronics & gadgets

• Best Buy (bundle discounts especially for open-box items)
• Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile (accessory discounts added via chat at checkout)
• Etsy sellers (politely ask a seller for a shop coupon, works more than youd think)

Places where this rarely works: Apple, lululemon, Costco, Amazon, luxury labels (Gucci, LV), and hard-priced brands like Dyson. Doesnt mean dont try, just keep expectations low.

Pro Tip: Ask for a human when chatting with an AI assistant as they often have no idea what youre talking about. Simply type speak to a human (sometimes you have to type it a 2-3 times) and you should finally get connected.

Here are 7 actual scripts you should use

Feel free to copy and paste these live chat scripts right into the chat window, or tweak them however you like.

Keep in mind that this tip is not just for regular shoppers. Many online retailers offer specific discounts for veterans, teachers, and even students. And surprisingly they dont always advertise them. So, start a live chat and ask if they have any discounts specifically for you.

Below youll find a bunch of different scripts that have proven to work when asking for a discount.

1.Simple pre-purchase ask - About to complete my purchaseany chance theres a coupon for a little extra savings or maybe free shipping?

2.Shipping-only angle - Im all set to order, but shipping is pushing me over budget. Is there a free-shipping code you can apply?

3.Price-match nudge - Im seeing this for $___ at [Store]. If you can match or get me close, Ill order here right now.

4.Bundle/save-the-sale - Im buying [X + Y]. Do you have a discount if I grab both today?

5.Loyalty/new-customer - I just joined your rewards list. Are there any member or first-order codes you can add for me?

6.Student/teacher/military - Im [student/teacher/military]. Can you verify and apply that discount on my order?

7.Soft escalation (if they say no) - Totally understand. If theres any one-time code youre allowed to offer, Id really appreciate it and Id place my order right now.

Push for a discount exception

I was recently shopping for shoes on Zappos.com and was about to pay full price when I pulled up a chat window (screenshot above) and inquired about a discount.

The chat rep informed me that they only had a 10% discount available and it was only good for new members.

On a whim I asked, Im not a new customer, can I have an exception 10% coupon?

They got right back to me and said, Heres what I will do, I will issue you a $10 promo on your account towards your order.

Moral of the story: Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

After you buy: chat for a price adjustment

If the price drops within a week or two of your purchase, hop back on chat and say this:

Hi! I ordered [#____] on [date] and noticed the price is now lower. Could you adjust the difference or offer store credit?

Youll be surprised how often they'll give you some money back.