advisory
Flash flood watches: Big Bend and West Texas mountains, Sedona and Oak Creek, Superstitions, Sacramento MtnsArizona · New Mexico · West TexasThrough Fri Oct 30; burn scars and slot canyons most at riskchecked Oct 29
Weather & climate
Tropical moisture is bringing storms to Big Bend, the Guadalupe and Davis mountains, Sedona's canyons, the Superstitions and New Mexico burn scars. Stay out of washes, slot canyons and swimming holes.
By News Unc
The National Weather Service has flood and flash flood watches across much of the Southwest's best hiking country as another surge of tropical moisture meets an incoming storm system. In West Texas and southeast New Mexico, a watch runs through Friday afternoon for areas including the Chisos Basin and Lower Brewster County in Big Bend, the Guadalupe and Delaware mountains, the Davis Mountains and the Marfa Plateau. In New Mexico's Sacramento Mountains, the Albuquerque office warned of storms repeatedly crossing burn scars Thursday afternoon and evening, with 1 to 1.5 inches of rain possible.
In Arizona, the Flagstaff office has a flash flood watch from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday for Yavapai County, including Oak Creek and Sycamore canyons around Sedona, and northern Gila County, where soils are still saturated from flooding last week; it warns of flooding in creeks, normally dry washes, swimming holes and recently burned areas, with half an inch to an inch of rain and up to two inches in storms. The Phoenix office has watches Friday for the Superstition and Mazatzal mountains, the Tonto Basin and the Phoenix metro area.
If you are headed out: skip slot canyons and narrow washes until the watch ends, since a storm miles away can send water through a dry canyon under clear sky. Camp well above creek beds, never drive or walk into water over a low-water crossing, and check the latest from the Weather Service and the park or forest before you go. Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains national parks post road and trail closures on their alerts pages.
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U.S.
Nine companies must show whether they charge different people different prices based on personal data. It's a study, not an accusation, and here's what shoppers can do meanwhile.
By News Unc
The Federal Trade Commission has ordered nine companies, Delta, United, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart, to hand over detailed information on whether they use personal data to set the prices customers pay, and in the case of ride-hailing and delivery apps, what their gig workers are paid, the agency said October 28.
The FTC wants to know whether the price of a plane ticket, ride, delivery or other purchase can differ from one person to the next based on things like loyalty-program activity, browsing habits or other personal data run through pricing algorithms. "Consumers deserve to know whether companies use their web surfing habits or other personal data to estimate the highest price they can charge each consumer," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said. The orders are part of a study under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act; they are not an accusation of wrongdoing, though the agency can go to court if a company does not comply. In August the FTC also proposed a policy on when undisclosed use of personal data to set an individual price could be illegal.
Until the FTC reports back, a few habits help you see whether a price is really the price: compare fares and totals while logged out, in a private browsing window or on another device; check the same item on the store's website and in its app; look at the itemized fees before you pay; and remember that loyalty pricing can cut both ways. If you think you were charged unfairly, you can report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
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World
She leaves on February 7, about nine months before her term ends, as the bank held rates steady. European leaders begin choosing her successor now.
By News Unc
Christine Lagarde will step down as president of the European Central Bank on February 7, 2027, nearly nine months before her eight-year term was due to end on October 31, 2027, the bank said on Thursday, October 29. Lagarde informed the bank's Governing Council and European Council President António Costa, who said the process to choose her successor would begin immediately. The ECB gave no reason for her departure. 'It has been a great pride and a huge privilege to serve this institution,' Lagarde wrote on X.
Lagarde, 70, has led the ECB since November 2019 and previously headed the International Monetary Fund and served as France's finance minister. The timing lets European Union leaders choose her successor before France's presidential election next spring, Reuters and AFP reported. Former Dutch and Spanish central bank governors Klaas Knot and Pablo Hernández de Cos are seen as leading contenders, according to Reuters; no candidate has officially been named. Later the same day, the ECB kept its key interest rates unchanged, after raising them in June and September.
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