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Gold toilet expected to fetch $10 million at auction

admin - Latest News - November 8, 2025
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Gold toilet expected to fetch $10 million at auction



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Oct. 2, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Aria BendixBecause Wednesday marked the start of the 2026 fiscal year, the WIC program — which provides free, healthy food to low-income pregnant women, new moms and children under 5 — was due for an influx of funding.Instead came the government shutdown. If it persists, access to the federal program, known in full as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, could be jeopardized. A USDA letter to WIC state agency directors on Wednesday confirmed that states would not receive their next quarterly allocation of funds during the shutdown.According to the National WIC Association, a nonprofit advocacy organization that represents state and local WIC agencies, “devastating disruptions” may deny millions of moms and children access to nutritious foods if the government remains closed for longer than a week or two. Given that Social Security checks will still go out, national parks remain partially open and most Medicaid and Medicare services are continuing, a lapse in WIC funding could be among the first widespread, tangible effects of the shutdown for nonfederal workers.WIC — a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture — served roughly 6.8 million people as of April 2022, the most recent data available. It receives funding from Congress, which the USDA then allocates to states on a quarterly basis. From there, states distribute it to WIC clinics, of which there are roughly 10,000 nationwide. The clinics distribute preloaded cards that members use to purchase program-approved healthy foods at participating grocery stores. New moms can also purchase infant formula and receive lactation counseling. Barbie Anderson, a mother of three who is pregnant, said she has relied on WIC to purchase healthy food since her oldest child was born nine years ago. Her family lives paycheck to paycheck in Milaca, Minnesota, she added, and the program helps them afford fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, peanut butter and yogurt. She has also used it for breastfeeding support, she said.Under normal circumstances, Anderson said, her WIC card would be reloaded on Oct. 15. She’s unsure if that will happen now. “All the food that we get from WIC goes to our kids. So you’re really harming the kids” if services pause, she said.During the shutdown, states will have to rely on up to $150 million in contingency funds from the USDA to continue offering services, along with a small amount of rollover funding from the previous fiscal year in some cases, according to the National WIC Association. The group warned that the funding could dry up in a week or two if the shutdown persists, depending on how states allocate it. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told House Republicans during a conference call Wednesday that WIC is set to run out of money by next week if the government doesn’t reopen, according to two GOP sources on the call.“Historically, when there has been a shutdown, WIC has remained open for business, but because this one falls at the start of the fiscal year, there are some risks,” said Georgia Machell, president of the National WIC Association. She called on Congress to pass a funding bill that protects the program and keeps it running without interruption. A USDA spokesperson told NBC News that WIC’s continued operation will depend on “state choice and the length of a shutdown.” “If Democrats do not fund the government, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) will run out of funding and States will have to make a choice,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.However, some House Democrats say the federal government has the power to keep WIC afloat — if the USDA commits to replenishing state funds used during the shutdown after it ends. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., called on the USDA to do that.Without her WIC card, Anderson said, she may have to stop buying oranges for her children, which she feeds them to boost their immune systems.“My concern is, health wise, my kids’ immunity is going to go down,” Anderson said, adding that if they get sick, she’d also worry about affording doctor’s bills.Anderson’s family lives in a rural area where options for affordable food are limited. Her WIC benefits allow her to shop at the nearest grocery store, which would otherwise be outside her budget, she said: A gallon of milk there costs roughly $5. “We could go buy chips all day long for 99 cents, if we wanted to, at a run-down grocery store. But what’s that nutrition for our kids? That’s nothing,” she said.The closest Walmart, where prices are lower, is about 45 minutes away, but the price of gas makes regular shopping there expensive, too, she said.Anderson said she isn’t eligible for other food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. That program is expected to continue during the shutdown. (WIC generally has a higher income limit than SNAP.)The ability of WIC clinics to keep functioning will likely vary by state. Brandon Meline, director of maternal and child health at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, said he was told that Illinois clinics have sufficient money to last through the month. But Meline worries about the program being used as a bargaining chip in shutdown politics. “This is the first time that WIC has ever been sort of dragged into political fray nationally. We hear discussions about SNAP and cash assistance, but WIC has sort of been politically untouchable up until now,” he said.Aria BendixAria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.Melanie Zanona and Julie Tsirkin contributed.
November 2, 2025
Nov. 2, 2025, 5:00 AM ESTBy Caroline Radnofsky and Griffin EcksteinTwo years ago, Derek and DeAnna Huffman were desperate to leave Humble, a suburb of Houston. Their three daughters, they believed, were being brainwashed by public school and mainstream media to support LGBTQ rights. American culture in general no longer offered white people the same opportunities as other races, they said.The couple yearned to live in a place that shared their “Christian values” and where they “weren’t going to be discriminated against” as white, politically-conservative Christians.So in March, the Huffmans became the first family to move to a community planned for fellow English-speakers some 30 miles west of Moscow, a project they had been following online run by long-term American expat and former Kremlin-sponsored RT host Tim Kirby. The family is among a small but growing number of Americans who have moved to Russia because the United States, in their opinion, has become too “woke.”The Russian government has welcomed these culture war refugees. In 2024, President Vladimir Putin issued an executive order offering temporary residence to people wanting to move to the country because they rejected “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” of their home countries.Around 1,500 of these “ideological immigrants,” as they’ve been dubbed by the Russian media, including 127 Americans, have applied for temporary residence in Russia, according to the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs.”President Putin is an amazing leader and he’s done great things for Russia,” Derek Huffman, 45, said in a video on his family’s YouTube channel on March 9. “It’s nothing like you see on the news.” The social media platform X “is the only place where you get real information” about America’s own problems, Derek says. The family initially found a community of Russians and westerners on social media who encouraged their move, with donations from some of their 15,000 YouTube subscribers providing financial support after their arrival in Russia. But when Derek Huffman voluntarily joined the Russian army in May, the family became a lightning rod for broader online scrutiny.Derek Huffman said he joined the Russian army to expedite the family’s applications for Russian citizenship, as well as to show support for their new homeland.“Above and beyond the citizenship, the money, a big part of it for me is about the respect and earning our place here in Russia,” he said on the Huffmans’ YouTube channel on May 26.But in a follow-up video posted in June, which was subsequently deleted, DeAnna Huffman, 42, told viewers that her husband had been “thrown to the wolves.” NBC News viewed a re-upload of the video.The couple had hoped Derek Huffman would put previous welding experience to use in the repair battalion and “actually be utilized for his skills,” she said in the video. Instead, she said, he was sent to the front line and struggled to understand his training, which was in Russian.Pro-Ukrainian commentators, keen to publicize hardship for pro-Russian figures, said on social media that Derek Huffman had been killed. A post on X claiming to have access to drone footage of his death has more than 2 million views. NBC News did not find video to substantiate the claim, and DeAnna Huffman denied the reports.Derek reappeared in several videos on the family’s YouTube channel uploaded on October 25, celebrating his daughter’s birthday and signing forms to receive his Russian passport.In one filmed in the family’s neighborhood, he said he was back “on vacation” after being deployed for six months, and praised his wife for keeping the family going while he was gone.“I’m happy that I’m still alive and doing what I can to survive, and be of service to Russia. I’m so thankful to all the Russian people who have reached out and helped my family while I’ve been gone,” he said.Another family, the Hares, also moved from Abilene, Texas, to Russia to shield their three sons from what they say are harmful elements of American culture.“It was the promise of a country that would not promote the LGBT agenda. We liked the fact that LGBT is basically outlawed here in official ways,” Leo Hare, 62, told NBC News via a video call from the family’s new home in Ivanovo, Russia.Russia has strict laws against the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relationships,” which have in practice banned public displays of LGBTQ identity, including wearing or posting the rainbow flag on social media.The Hares sightseeing after arriving in Moscow in December 2023.”We’re living really comfortably now … We have great friends,” Chantelle Hare said. SuppliedHis wife Chantelle Hare, 53, says in a video on the family’s own YouTube channel that when they lived the U.S., she and her husband preferred to get their news from Alex Jones and Mike Adams, who are far-right commentators and conspiracy theorists. They felt particularly disillusioned with American politics after the 2020 election, and don’t believe Donald Trump’s return to power will change the country enough to convince them to return.“When we left, it was final. We don’t plan to come back. There will not be anything to come back to,” Chantelle Hare said.The Hares have endured their share of hardship trying to build a new life in Russia.They say their initial plan to rent an apartment in Moscow fell through just as they boarded the plane from Texas, and the family spent a bitterly cold winter caring for chickens, horses and rabbits on a farm 70 miles south of Moscow in exchange for free board. At one point, they even had to bring the goats and their newborns inside their cabin to keep the animals from dying.Leo Hare thought their troubles were over when their landlord’s son offered a generous interest rate for investing their $50,000 nest egg in what he described as a car import business. But they only saw one payment before he stopped sending them money and refused to return their money, Leo Hare said.The couple went to the police and the local court to file complaints about their lost money and with their concerns that they had been swindled, but say they have received no help from law enforcement officials. NBC News contacted Domodedovo police for comment but did not receive a reply.The Hares’ sons, 17, 15, and 12, have had difficulty adapting to life in Russia, and the two older boys want to return to America, according to their father. They feel isolated and are disappointed that school is not an option since Russia requires students to pass a language test to study in public schools.Leo and Chantelle, who ran a carpet cleaning business and a mobile snack business back in the U.S., are now working as English tutors. They have found an apartment in Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, and “are living really comfortably now.” They are currently homeschooling their children. Leo Hare said it probably “would have been a dealbreaker” if they knew about the school restrictions.The Hares have not met the Huffmans. Leo Hare says he never considered joining the army because of his age and safety concerns, and says that Derek Huffman “assumed a little too much” about life in the Russian military.”We assumed a lot, too,” he admitted. “But we do have a faith in Christ and He is leading us, even though we’ve made mistakes.” Caroline RadnofskyCaroline Radnofsky is a supervising reporter for NBC News’ Social Newsgathering team based in London.Griffin EcksteinGriffin Eckstein is an New-York based intern for NBC News’ Social Newsgathering team.
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