Wingstop has a $9.99 combo; here’s what you get

• February 24, 2025

Wingstop has changed the recipe on its chicken tenders that, according to representatives, makes them crispier yet lighter.

Tenders are available in 12 regular flavors, either sauces or dry rubs, plus two limited-time flavors: Sweet Chili Glaze and Lakers Legendary Garlic.

The Dallas-based chain is promoting its tenders with a $9.99 combo. It includes three tenders in one flavor; one dip; seasoned fries or a different side; and a 20-ounce soft drink.

If you order online, you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade at every step. For instance, you can add on two extra tenders for $3 or Large Cheese Fries for $2.50 extra.

We tried it out sticking to the basic options and got three tenders with the Lakers dry rub, honey mustard dip, veggie sticks instead of fries and a cup for self-serve soft drinks.

The total with sales tax was $10.86, and the order took about 15 minutes to prepare.

The promotion also includes a giveaway of 1 million chicken tenders, according to a news release.

To qualify, visit Wingstop.com/MillionTenderGiveaway. There, in return for your phone number and ZIP code, you can get a message with a redemption code for a two-piece order of chicken tenders.

Since Wingstop has 2,550 locations, you might want to act fast if you’re interested in the freebie.

Information: wingstop.com

​ Orange County Register 

Denny’s adds egg surcharge to combat supply shortages

• February 24, 2025

By Daniela Sirtori | Bloomberg

Denny’s is temporarily adding a surcharge to meals with eggs at some locations due to a supply crunch that has led to a surge in prices.

The company said the extra fee will vary by region and location, and it declined to specify which restaurants will be affected.

Also see: In the dead of night, restaurants like Denny’s and Norms are destination dining

Denny’s, which has more than 1,500 locations, joins peers such as Waffle House in adding extra charges. The bird flu has killed millions of egg-laying chickens, driving egg prices to record highs.

Denny’s said it has tried to plan ahead with vendors on items such as eggs to minimize the volatility on costs and menu prices, but it needs to charge more in the face of the shortages.

“We understand our guests’ desire for value, and we will continue to look for ways to provide options on our menu,” the company said in a statement.

Denny’s on Feb. 12 said it was closing 70 to 90 restaurants this year as a part of a plan to slash underperforming locations.

The chain in October 2024 said it was cutting 150 restaurants by the end of the 2025 fiscal year. In its October report, Denny’s said it planned to close 50 locations by the end of 2024 and the other 100 in 2025.

The 70-years-old company has 1,326 locations nationwide with 354 in California, according to its website.

​ Orange County Register 

All Joann stores to close as auction winners plan to liquidate assets

• February 24, 2025

By Dorothy Ma and Jill R. Shah | Bloomberg

A group of term loan lenders, along with GA Group, a liquidation firm backed by Oaktree Capital Management, won an auction to acquire assets of bankrupt fabric and crafts retailer Joann and plan to shutter all of its stores.

GA Joann Retail Partnership LLC, a subsidiary of GA Group, along with the agent on the company’s pre-petition term loan, emerged as the winning bidders of substantially all of Joann’s assets, according to a court filing Saturday.

Also see: Forever 21 laying off 358 employees as it closes L.A. headquarters

The groups now “plan to begin winding down the company’s operations and conduct going-out-of-business sales at all store locations,” according to a company statement posted on Joann’s restructuring website. GA Group’s purchase of Joann and its assets still requires approval from bankruptcy Judge Craig T. Goldblatt. A hearing on the sale will be held on Wednesday.

The chosen bid was enough to pay in full both the pre-petition asset-based loan and first-in-last-out facilities, which totaled about $462.3 million at the time Joann filed for bankruptcy, along with a $105 million credit bid, according to the court filing.

About a week before the auction, a bankruptcy court approved to shut down more than 500 Joann stores as part of an effort to recover value for creditors. The retailer entered into bankruptcy with about 800 locations.

Joann had received an offer from liquidator Gordon Brothers Retail Partners during the beginning of its reorganization process, which became a stalking horse bid that set a floor for the company’s assets.

Oaktree took a majority stake in GA Group, or Great American Holdings, from B. Riley Financial Inc. last year.

–With assistance from Jonathan Randles.

​ Orange County Register 

Hungry mortgage lenders dangling deals and discounts

• February 24, 2025

By Jeff Ostrowski | Bankrate.com

Slashed rates. Discounts on future purchases. Speedy delivery.

No, these are not the promises of an auto dealer or eager e-retailer start-up. They’re coming from mortgage lenders.

The incentives reflect the harsh reality of the residence-financing scene. Since 2021, mortgage rates have more than doubled. The predictable result: American consumers — especially homebuyers — have sharply reduced their appetite for borrowing.

Mortgage originations plunged by 57% from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2022, ATTOM Data Solutions reports. As mortgage rates have remained stubbornly high, borrowers remain reluctant – in the third quarter of 2024, Americans took half as many mortgages as they did in the same period in 2021, ATTOM says.

The drop in applications puts lenders in a tough position — and, like any seller in a slow market, they’ve responded by dangling deals to get homebuyers to look past the run-up in rates. One big lender even has initiated a rewards program echoing those used by retailers, airlines and credit cards.

Here’s how to navigate the borrower-friendly strategies lenders are offering, now that rock-bottom rates no longer are driving business.

Refinance savings: A bet on lower rates

The interest rate rise affected not just purchase loans, but the refinance business: With mortgage rates flirting with 7% as of Bankrate’s Feb. 19 national survey of lenders — double what they were a year ago — there’s little incentive for mortgage-holders to swap out their old loans.

Many housing economists expect mortgage rates to fall below 6.5% by the end of 2025. If that scenario plays out, it might make sense for today’s homebuyers to refinance in the not-too-distant future. Even so, refinancing ain’t cheap – closing costs can total 3% to 5% of the amount of the loan.

The big lenders know that, so they’re trying to sweeten the pot for future refis. Rocket, for example, has responded with what it calls Rate Drop Advantage. A borrower who finances a purchase with Rocket gets discounted closing costs when refinancing between four months and three years after the initial closing. A lender credit at closing will cover fees for appraisal, credit report, recording and other costs. The savings total about $2,200.

In a similar tactic, lender Better in early 2025 unveiled Better Forever, a loyalty initiative designed to reward borrowers by waiving origination fees on future refinance or purchase loans. The discount is open to customers who funded a loan with BetterMortgage any time since 2019. On a $400,000 mortgage, the savings would amount to $2,500, says Vishal Garg, CEO and founder of Better.

Chase Home Lending, for its part, announced in mid-February that it was running a “rate sale” on mortgage refinances. Chase didn’t say how much the discount is worth – the savings will vary by borrower and loan type, the lender said. As of this writing, the offer is good only through March 7.

Rewards for renters

While Better rewards repeat borrowers, Rocket is aiming at first-timers.

On Feb. 18, the digital mortgage giant announced RocketRentRewards, a promotion that gives borrowers a sum that equals 10% of their past year’s rental payments, up to $5,000. The discount is applied to closing costs.

Considering that the national average rent payment is $1,800 a month, or $21,600 a year, the program would be worth $2,160 for a typical buyer.

The promotion is available not just to debut homebuyers, but also to buyers who have sold a place and have been renting while they search for a home, says Bill Banfield, Rocket’s chief business officer.

Fast results and bonus points

Lenders are turning up the volume on a variety of other blandishments. One enticement comes in the form of a fast answer on your mortgage application.

Ally Bank promises applicants preapproval within three minutes. Better.com promises a commitment letter, complete with locked-in rate, in 24 hours, a program it’s dubbing “One-Day Mortgage”; it’ll even throw in $1,000 in lender credits to be applied to closing costs. The name’s a bit of a misnomer, though: While commitment comes fast, it could still take weeks to get to the closing table and actually get your loan.

Touting speedy results is not really new in the industry. For several years, for example, Movement Mortgage has promised qualified applicants fully underwritten preapproval in six hours and complete loan processing within a week.

Rocket Mortgage, for its part, is taking a page from the likes of Starbucks and American Airlines. Its new Rocket Rewards program lets potential homebuyers earn points by completing various activities on the company’s website, including watching videos, reading articles about homeownership and using a mortgage calculator.

Members can earn 7,500 points, the equivalent of $75, just for signing up for an account. The idea: Borrowers will redeem the points when they buy a home – the balance will be deducted from closing costs.

All these promotions can help borrowers feel more comfortable about buying a home at a time of high mortgage rates. Remember, though, that shopping around is perhaps the most powerful weapon in a borrower’s arsenal. The refinance promotions in particular remove that option by locking you in with a specific lender for your next refi. And the promise of fast approval decision doesn’t necessarily mean an approval.

So don’t let a sweet-sounding deal stop you from looking hard at all the fundamentals of a lender’s offer.

​ Orange County Register 

Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes loses her appeal

• February 24, 2025

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has lost her appeal of her fraud conviction.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld lower court rulings finding Holmes guilty of felony fraud, sentencing her to more than 11 years in prison and ordering her to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution.

Judge Jacqueline Nguyen’s written opinion reflecting the panel’s decision rejected arguments by Holmes’ lawyers — that the trial judge improperly allowed some testimony and improperly prohibited other testimony, and that a regulator’s report could have misled the jury  — on a point-by-point basis.

Holmes’ lawyers did not immediately respond to questions about whether Holmes planned to appeal, or to seek a pardon from President Donald Trump.

Theranos, the now-defunct Palo Alto, California, blood-testing startup Holmes founded in 2003, falsely claimed its machines could use just a few drops of blood from a finger-prick to perform more than a thousand tests, for everything from diabetes and cancer to pregnancy and HIV infection.

Holmes, 41, is incarcerated at a federal minimum-security prison camp outside Houston. She is scheduled to be released in March 2032.

The ruling caps for now a saga that captivated the nation since the charismatic entrepreneur, known for adopting the black turtleneck of legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, was charged with criminal fraud in 2018. Over the six years, Holmes regularly attended proceedings in U.S. District Court in downtown San Jose, California, that were capped by a four-month trial that led to her 2022 conviction on four felony counts of defrauding investors.

Holmes gave birth to a son in July 2021 while awaiting trial. Between her November 2022 sentencing and her imprisonment the following May, she had a baby daughter with hotel heir Billy Evans, also the father of her son.

On June 11, her appeal was heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, with one of her lawyers and a prosecutor facing off before a three-judge panel. Appeals courts can order new trials if they find trial judges made mistakes in applying the law or if proceedings were not fair.

Holmes’s lawyer, Amy Saharia, claimed that Judge Edward Davila, who presided over the trial in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, had improperly allowed former Theranos scientist Dr. Kingshuk Das to give expert testimony before the jury. Appellate court Judge Ryan Nelson said that claim may have represented unfairness toward Holmes, but said her conviction was backed by “pretty overwhelming evidence.”

Saharia argued that the central issue in the case was whether Holmes knowingly misrepresented the capabilities of Theranos’ technology, Saharia said. “She in good faith believed in the accuracy of this technology,” Saharia told the appeals court judges.

Holmes, a Stanford University dropout, was charged in 2018 in connection with $878 million in losses among investors in Theranos, which was once valued at $9 billion. Her trial judge Edward Davila pegged the hit to investors resulting from her criminal conduct at $381 million.

In November 2022, Davila sentenced Holmes to 11 years and three months in prison. Holmes, U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate No. 24965-111, has slashed more than two years off her term, likely through good behavior and taking programs at her minimum-security prison.

Jurors in Holmes’ trial heard evidence that she doctored internal Theranos documents by adding pilfered pharmaceutical companies’ logos to suggest the firms had validated her technology, and that she and Theranos had falsely suggested to investors that her machines were in battlefield use. The jury also heard that Theranos provided investors with wildly inflated revenue expectations and that it sought to cover up the poor performance of its machines.

Holmes could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but its justices only hear about 100 to 150 appeals per year of the more than 7,000 it is typically asked to review, according to the courts system.

​ Orange County Register 

Lifestyle beats genetics on path to premature death, study finds

• February 24, 2025

By Naomi Kresge, Bloomberg News

Environmental and lifestyle factors play a far greater role than genetics in determining the likelihood of dying young, according to the largest study yet to untangle the contributions of nature and nurture to healthy aging.

A range of external factors including exercise and smoking — collectively dubbed the “exposome” — was almost 10 times more likely than genetic risk factors to explain premature mortality, scientists from the University of Oxford and Massachusetts General Hospital said in the Nature Medicine journal.

They analyzed mortality trends in the UK Biobank, which stores medical and genetic data from about 500,000 people.

The study shows how broader social context and environment shapes the likelihood of disease, a crucial factor as governments and payers wrestle with how to deal with rising health-care costs and an aging society. Many of the factors found to be linked to longer life were proxies for wealth and status, such as years of education, gym use and household income.

Understanding the role of environmental factors in aging could have a “profound impact on improving health for all of us,” said Austin Argentieri, a researcher in the analytic and translational genetics unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. “We were surprised at just how stark the difference was, how much more the environment matters.”

Factors from childhood, including whether a mother smoked around the time of her baby’s birth and a person’s being “relatively plumper” at around the age of 10, were also linked to cellular signs of aging as an adult. Being shorter at the age of 10 was associated with a lower mortality risk, however.

“We are not prisoners of our genes,” Aimee Aubeeluck, a professor of health psychology at the University of Surrey, who wasn’t involved in the research, said in a comment reacting to the study distributed by the Science Media Centre. “If we know that where we are born and how we live dictate our chances of aging well — or dying prematurely — why is policy action so slow?”

©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC as her evening show is canceled

• February 24, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC, the network’s new president announced in a memo to staff on Monday, marking an end to the political analyst and anchor’s prime time news show.

Reid’s namesake show, “The ReidOut,” has been a fixture of MSNBC’s evening programming since 2020. In the hourlong newscast, held at 7 p.m. E.T., Reid conducts extensive interviews with politicians and other newsmakers.

“Joy Reid is leaving the network and we thank her for her countless contributions over the years,” MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler wrote Monday. ”Her work has been recognized with several esteemed honors, including most recently, the 2025 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News Series.”

In the coming weeks, Kulter added, rotating anchors will host Reid’s hour.

Current hosts of MSNBC’s “The Weekend” — Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez — will now move to weekdays at 7 p.m. to host a new ensemble news program, Kulter also noted in Monday’s memo.

News reports about MSNBC cancelling “The ReidOut” emerged online over the weekend. Prior to Kulter’s memo, Reid took to social media to thank those who she said had reached out to her with messages of support.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement, both personally and in these social media streets,” Reid wrote in a message posted to BlueSky and Instagram just after midnight. “So very proud of The Reidout @joy.msnbc.com team, who are truly family, and all of our supporters & friends. See you tomorrow night at 7, one more time.”

​ Orange County Register 

These little-known bank accounts allow Americans with disabilities to save and invest

• February 24, 2025

By CORA LEWIS

NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Safarik, 32, of Lincoln, Nebraska, has worked in the food industry since he was 21, delivering for quick service restaurants like Raising Cane’s and stocking groceries at stores like Trader Joe’s. With his earnings, Safarik, who has Down syndrome, recently bought a treadmill to stay active when the weather’s bad and helped cover the cost of braces for his teeth.

That’s unusual, financially speaking, and it’s thanks in part to a little-known savings account called an ABLE account, which lets people people with disabilities save money beyond the $2,000 asset limit that’s linked to benefits like Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. Without the account, Safarik could have risked losing government assistance if he had more than $2,000 in assets saved at one time in a given month.

“With this ABLE account, we don’t have to worry as much,” said Deb Safarik, 71, Paul’s mother, with whom he lives. “It’s nice that he can work and save, and not have that be held against him.”

Named for the 2014 law that created them, the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, ABLE accounts have been available since 2016 to individuals identified by a doctor as having a disability before the age of 26. Next year, they’ll become available to those identified before the age of 46, which will increase access to an additional 6 million people, including 1 million veterans, according to Indiana State Treasurer Daniel Elliott, who administers the accounts in his state. An estimated 8 million people nationwide already qualify.

“The fact that it used to be that individuals could only save up to $2,000 or they could lose benefits — that was really restricting a lot of families,” Elliot said. “People were forced into a position where they couldn’t save for their futures. Now we’re seeing average account balances of (ABLE accounts) between $11,000 and $12,000.”

Generally, ABLE accounts may reach totals of $100,000 without affecting Supplemental Security Income. Lifetime balance limits for the various state ABLE accounts can range from around $300,000 to over $500,000. They’re administered by state treasurers, and the vast majority can be set up online via their websites. Some ABLE plans accept paper applications as well.

Anyone can contribute to an ABLE account — including the account owner, friends, family, organizations, nonprofits, and employers — up to $19,000 per year in 2025. If the account owner is able to work and not already contributing to a workplace retirement plan, they can contribute an additional amount equal to their yearly gross income. For 2025, that amount is up to an additional $15,560 to $18,810, depending on the state administering the account.

There are also tax advantages. Investment earnings from ABLE accounts remain untaxed as long as money taken from the account is used for “qualified disability expenses,” such as medical treatment, education, tutoring and job training. Account holders may choose from a number of investment options for the funds in their accounts or hold and save the money without investing it further.

Elliot said raising awareness of the accounts is the biggest challenge for the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST), for which he’s also the secretary treasurer.

“Many people are used to the idea that, ‘If I have a disability or my child has one, it could endanger their benefits to save money,’” he said. “We as a state and as a country need to start reaching out to people and saying, ‘Look, you actually can save money now. You could save towards the purchase of a home.’ The hardest thing right now is getting that message out. We need more people to be aware things have changed.”

According to NAST’s data, just 186,641 ABLE accounts existed at the end of 2024, despite an estimated 8 million people qualifying. When the age limit is raised, the accounts will also become available to people whose disabilities may have been the result of an accident in adulthood or developed later in life, such as after a COVID infection.

Andrew Warren, senior associate for policy and research at the Financial Health Network, who studies the financial circumstances of Americans with disabilities, said that the vast majority of people surveyed for a 2023 report by the organization did not know these accounts existed.

“Less than 1% of eligible individuals have these accounts,” Warren said. “Our research show that one of the major barriers to becoming financially healthy for this vulnerable group is asset limits. But there’s an information disconnect between caseworkers and direct services providers on the ground and (administrators of ABLE accounts).”

Here’s what to know:

How do I know if I qualify for an ABLE account?

Two online resources — ABLE Today and the ABLE National Resource Center — can guide you through questions to determine if you or a friend or family member qualifies.

Right now, ABLE accounts are for:

— People whose disability began before age 26, and

— People for whom the disability is “terminal or long-term (more than 12 months)” and for whom the disability causes “marked and severe functional limitations.”

A qualifying person must also meet one of the following criteria:

— Being eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) because of the disability; or

— A doctor has diagnosed the disability (physical or mental).

In 2026, the age limit for ABLE accounts will rise to 46.

What can I do to prepare if I or a family member will qualify next year?

You can begin educating yourself now about the process of setting up the account, so you can add money and fund the account right away beginning in January 2026. Family, friends, and organizations may also begin setting money aside with the intention of contributing it to the account in the individual’s name as of January 1.

The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

​ Orange County Register