Today, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce another hike in interest rates, the White House pushes for more accessible mental health care, Meta’s new app Threads faces scrutiny, and a federal judge has blocked the Biden administration’s new asylum rules.

Financial Watch: The Federal Reserve is anticipated to raise interest rates in an attempt to balance the economy and curb inflation.
* According to NPR’s Stacey Vanek Smith, the Fed aims to sufficiently slow the economy to lower inflation without sparking a recession.
* Inflation is currently at 3%, which is not far from the Fed’s 2% target.

Healthcare Spotlight: The White House is proposing new regulations to make mental health care more accessible.
* These proposals aim to tackle the lack of data on how insurance policies impact patients, making it difficult to hold insurance companies accountable.
* The plans also include efforts to attract more therapists to the profession by providing better reimbursements.

Tech controversy: Despite the quick uptake of users on Meta’s Twitter rival, Threads, concerns have been raised about lack of policies on disinformation.
* The company has yet to announce how it plans to curb disinformation, prompting concerns from voting rights groups as the country approaches an election year.
* Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, expresses concerns over how Meta ensures accurate information on elections is disseminated to Americans.

Legal Updates: A federal judge has declared the Biden administration’s new asylum rules at the U.S-Mexico border unlawful.
* The rules were deemed to impose conditions on asylum seekers that were not intended by Congress.
* NPR’s Joel Rose suggests that the case will likely be appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, possibly reaching the Supreme Court after that.

Living Better: Research suggests increasing non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), everyday activities like doing laundry or unloading the dishwasher, can impact calorie burning.
* While not a substitute for structured exercise, increasing NEAT is considered beneficial given it contributes to daily calorie expenditure.
* Simple actions like standing during a Zoom call can burn 50-100 calories per hour, which is more than sitting.

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