Nearly 1 million New York City households relied on the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) last winter to help afford their heating costs, more than any other region in the state. Applications for this year’s benefits are on hold indefinitely until federal funding resumes, officials said.

The delay comes as household energy costs are rising, advocates say. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

A program that helps low-income New Yorkers pay for heating in the winter is on hold because of the federal government shutdown, state officials announced Wednesday—at a time when many households are already behind on, or struggling to pay for, their energy bills.

Nearly 1 million New York City households relied on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (known as LIHEAP, or HEAP) last winter to help afford their energy costs, more than any other region in the state. Applications for this season were supposed to open Nov. 3, but are being delayed for at least a few weeks—or until the federal government reopens and reallocates funding, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.

“Thanks to Washington Republicans’ government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers are about to be left in the cold,” Hochul said in a statement. “By refusing to open the government and delaying heating assistance funding, Republicans are once again willfully turning their backs on their constituents.”

The federal government has been shutdown since Oct. 1, after Republican and Democratic lawmakers hit an impasse over healthcare spending: Democrats in Congress want to extend subsidies that help residents pay for health services under the Affordable Care Act, to avoid huge hikes in people’s monthly premiums.

Other public programs are also at risk, should the closure continue: funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, is due to run out Nov. 1, meaning more than 3 million New Yorkers could lose the benefits that help them pay for groceries each month.

In a statement Wednesday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees LIHEAP through its Administration for Children and Families, blamed the “Democrat-led shutdown” for “preventing states from receiving new funds.”

“The Trump Administration is committed to reopening the government for the American people,” HHS Press Secretary Emily G. Hilliard said in an email.

LIHEAP provides both emergency and one-time payments toward utility bills or the cost of fuel delivery. Eligibility is based on household size, income (a single person, for example, must earn below $41,685 a year to qualify), and other factors, like if the household includes someone who is 60 or older, 6 or younger, or permanently disabled. 

Last year, it doled out $287 million in heating assistance across the state, with $54 million of that going to households in the five boroughs.

The program’s delay comes as New Yorkers’ energy costs are going up, and as many already struggle to afford their heating bills.

A report last year from the climate policy think tank Switchbox found that one out of every four New York residents is “energy burdened,” meaning they spend at least 6 percent of their income on utility costs. In the Bronx, 34 percent of households are energy burdened, among the highest of any New York county, the report found.

Statewide, more than 1.2 million households are over 60 days behind on their energy bills, collectively owing nearly $2 billion, according to advocates with AARP and the Public Utility Law Project.

The two groups put out a statement earlier this week imploring Gov. Hochul to fund LIHEAP directly during the shutdown so it can open on time this winter, saying more than 1,800 New York households per day had their energy service disconnected just in August alone.

“Without immediate action, more than a million households could be forced to choose between heat, food, or medicine as temperatures start to drop,” the organizations said in a statement.

Those in need of immediate assistance should check their eligibility for other emergency funds, the advocates said, like New York City’s One Shot Deal or the state’s Energy Affordability Program.

To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org. Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Program That Helps New Yorkers Pay Winter Heating Bills Delayed by Federal Shutdown, Gov. Says appeared first on City Limits.

By Phil Galewitz, KFF Health News

With the federal shutdown entering its fourth week, spurred by a stalemate over the cost of health insurance for 22 million Americans on Affordable Care Act plans, a new report shows that over 154 million people with coverage through an employer also face steep price hikes — and that the situation is likely to get worse.

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Premiums for job-based health insurance rose 6% in 2025 to an average of $26,993 a year for family coverage, according to an annual survey of employers released Oct. 22 by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

It’s the first time in two decades that the cost of covering a family of four has risen by 6% or more for three consecutive years, data from KFF shows.

Over the last five years, the average premium for family coverage has increased by 26%, compared with a 29% increase in workers’ wages and nearly 24% growth in inflation. The average cost for family coverage is now about the same as a new Toyota Corolla hybrid.

The average annual premium for an individual health plan provided by employers increased by 5% to $9,325 — nearly $3,000 higher than in 2016, according to the survey.

“It’s a concern as health costs just keep going up,” said Eric Trump, controller at Steve Reiff Inc., a small company in South Whitley, Indiana, that specializes in sandblasting and painting heavy equipment.

Trump, who is not related to President Donald Trump, said his company’s health insurance costs rose 8% for the 2026 fiscal year — roughly the same as they have in the last few years.

Workers at Reiff pay about half the cost of their health coverage. About half of its 20 current employees decline the insurance because they get coverage through a family member or choose to go uninsured, he said. “There’s not a lot we can do as we don’t have enough employees to spread out the costs.”

Most people with job-based insurance contribute to the cost of their premiums, with the average worker this year contributing $1,440 for individual coverage or $6,850 for family coverage.

Over time, more workers have paid increasingly higher deductibles, the amount they must spend out-of-pocket on medical services before their insurer pitches in. More than one‑third of covered workers are enrolled in a plan with a deductible of $2,000 or more for an individual. The share of workers with such a plan has increased 32% over the last five years and 77% over the last 10 years, the report said.

Rising drug and hospital costs are often cited as major culprits for rising health insurance costs, and neither shows signs of ebbing.

“Early reports suggest that cost trends will be higher for 2026, potentially leading to higher premium increases unless employers and plans find ways to offset higher costs through changes to benefits, cost sharing, or plan design,” the KFF survey said.

One big concern among employers is the high price of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, which a growing number of companies cover. Their high prices, combined with strong demand, have led some workplaces to tighten or eliminate coverage for weight loss.

“Large employers know these new high-priced weight-loss drugs are an important benefit for their workers, but their costs often exceed their expectations,” study author Gary Claxton, a KFF senior vice president, said in a press release. “It’s not a surprise that some are rethinking access to the drugs for weight loss.”

Employers typically respond to higher health costs by shifting costs to their workers, but it’s unclear how much more financial pain workers can take. The survey found nearly half of large employers said their employees have “moderate” or “high” concerns about their level of cost sharing.

While the rising cost of employer-sponsored insurance has outpaced general inflation, the issue received scant attention in recent months on Capitol Hill. To help pay for extending tax cuts, Trump’s tax and spending law reduces by billions of dollars the amount the government spends on Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for 70 million low-income and disabled people. Congressional budget scorekeepers predict the cuts to Medicaid will lead to millions more people becoming uninsured over the next decade.

The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1 as Democrats refuse to vote for a new spending measure unless Republicans agree to extend tax credits that help about 22 million people buy health coverage through the ACA marketplaces. Without congressional action, the tax credits will expire, and premiums will double for many consumers, starting in January.

The KFF report is based on a survey this year of 1,862 randomly selected nonfederal public and private employers with 10 or more workers.

©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell this week to its lowest level in more than a year, extending a recent trend that’s helped give lagging U.S. home sales a boost.

The average long-term mortgage rate fell to 6.19% from 6.27% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.54%.

This is the third straight weekly decline and it brings the average rate to its lowest level since Oct. 3, 2024, when it was 6.12%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also eased this week. The average rate dropped to 5.44% from 5.52% last week. A year ago, it was 5.71%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year yield was at 3.99% at midday Thursday, not far from around 3.97% the same time last week.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained above 6% since September 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows. The housing market has been in a slump ever since.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. Sales have remained sluggish this year, but accelerated last month to their fastest pace since February as mortgage rates eased.

Mortgage rates started declining in July in the lead-up to the Federal Reserve’s decision last month to cut its main interest rate for the first time in a year amid growing concern over the U.S. job market.

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At their September policy meeting, Fed officials forecast that the central bank would reduce its rate twice more this year and once in 2026. Still, the Fed could change course if inflation jumps amid the Trump administration’s expanding use of tariffs and the recent trade war escalation with China.

Even if the Fed opts to cut its short-term rate further that doesn’t necessarily mean mortgage rates will keep declining. Last fall, after the Fed cut its rate for the first time in more than four years, mortgage rates marched higher, eventually reaching just above 7% in January this year.

The late-summer pullback in rates has helped spur homeowners who bought in recent years after rates climbed above 6% to refinance their home loan to a lower rate.

Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, slipped 0.3% last week from a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But applications for mortgage refinance loans made up nearly 56% of all applications, a slight increase from the previous week.

Many prospective homebuyers are also turning to adjustable-rate mortgages. Such loans, which typically offer lower initial interest rates than traditional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, accounted for 10.8% of all mortgage applications last week.

Mortgage rates will have to drop below 6% to make refinancing an attractive option to a broader swath of homeowners, however. That’s because about 80% of U.S. homes with a mortgage have a rate below 6% and 53% have a rate below 4%, according to Realtor.com.

Fletcher Merkel led an adventure into the middle of Huntington Bank Stadium in October 2024.

It was a Saturday evening that has become cherished, and even eulogized, after that charismatic 8-year-old boy was murdered in the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Aug. 27.

Last year, Fletcher, three of his second-grade friends and two chaperon dads attended the Gophers’ home game against 11th-ranked Southern California. Boyhood antics ensued before and during the game, but when Minnesota pulled off the 24-17 upset, Fletcher didn’t joke around when asked if he wanted the group to join rowdy college kids and elated adults in a field storming.

“Absolutely,” Fletcher said.

Will Sharpe, who coached Fletcher in flag football and other sports, shared that synopsis during Merkel’s funeral service at Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church on Sept. 7.

“That was Fletcher: Up for anything, loving life, loving sports, loving every moment,” Sharpe said from the pulpit.

‘A distinct memory’

It was a memorable contest for the Gophers, but for those there with Fletcher, it has become an indelible experience.

Family friend Michael Roaldi and his son MJ, along with dad Adam Dietenberger and his son Sebi, brought Fletcher and Will’s son, Trip Sharpe, to the USC game. On the ride up from south Minneapolis, Fletcher and the other football-loving boys talked about how the Gophers were going to win.

Fletcher might not have been the biggest Gopher fan of all-time — he did wear a Richfield baseball shirt to the game — but his positivity, energy and leadership shined through all evening.

“A glue guy,” Sharpe told the Pioneer Press. “When you think about someone who will pull kids together, who kids look to, that’s him in the classroom and on the field.”

On the walk to the stadium, the boys goofed around and tossed a football. “All smiles, all excitement, just so much energy,” Roaldi said.

Inside the stadium, Roaldi tried to remind the boys the Gophers were underdogs; betting odds placed the Trojans as 8½-point favorites. Yet after an early Gophers score, the boys ripped off their shirts and waved them over their heads. After more Minnesota points hit the scoreboard, his friends mobbed Fletcher as if he had scored the winning touchdown.

As the U kept it close, the boys made sure to remind Roaldi that he said the Gophers were likely to lose.

When the upset became official, the dads helped the little boys onto the field and the foursome took a bunch of photos, including one from the bench as if they were Big Ten players. In that pic, Fletcher lounged on the end, giving a thumbs up.

Fletcher Merkel, left, gives a thumbs up from the Minnesota Gophers bench after storming the field when Minnesota upset No. 11 Southern California 24-17 at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Oct. 5, 2024. Joining Fletcher, are from left, Sebi Dietenberger. MJ Roaldi and Trip Sharpe. These children and their families are members at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis and cherish this game as a memory after Merkel was killed in the mass shooting at the church on Aug. 27, 2025. (Courtesy of Michael Roaldi)

Last Friday, the Gophers pulled off another upset of a ranked team, a 24-6 win over then-No. 25 Nebraska. Fans stormed the field for the first time since USC.

Afterward, head coach P.J. Fleck embraced how the win allowed fans to “create moments and memories” on the field.

Roaldi choked up when recalling that fun night.

“It means a lot,” he said in an interview this month. “It’s great to have that memory because I know (Fletcher) had an amazing time that night. He was smiling ear-to-ear for four hours. … It’s easy to lose some of the details of what he was like day-to-day, but it’s a big event like that, such a distinct memory of how Fletcher was and what he meant to us.”

‘Samson of the moment’

Former Gophers lineman Matt Stommes and two of his children lived through the shooting inside Annunciation church the morning of Aug. 27.

He and his wife Molly took their four children from their home across the street to the church and school grounds. After dropping the kids off, Molly returned home to work, while Matt went inside the church for the first weekly Wednesday school mass of the academic year.

Matt and Molly’s youngest twins stayed in their kindergarten classroom that day, while their 8-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter entered the sanctuary. The service started.

Once the first shots rang out, children screamed and school leaders told the children to get down.

Stommes said he dipped low toward the outside his rear pew and crawled to the nearest exterior doors to hold them shut. The doors were locked, but he “felt as though blocking those doors was the most important thing I could do at that time,” he wrote in an email to the Pioneer Press.

The Stommes’ two older children were unharmed physically in the shooting spree, while Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski were slain. There were 30 total victims, including 24 other children and three adults injured by gunfire.

Roaldi and Sharpe consider what Stommes did inside that church during those horrific moments to be a heroic act. Once it was over, Stommes and other parents carried injured children out of the church as first responders arrived.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Matt,” Sharpe said. “He embodies Annunciation. He’s part of everything. He has four kids there. His wife is part of everything. Matt is like 6-(foot)-6. Someone described him as the Samson of the moment. … He’s putting himself in harm’s way for the kids. I just think that’s indicative of him.”

When asked about his heroism, Stommes turned attention to how the older school children protected the younger ones in a “buddy system,” and how parish leadership and school staff were on “the front lines” protecting all the children.

“They are all heroes for me when I think of their courage and strength,” Stommes wrote. “Several parishioners and parents I was standing next to at mass ran toward the children to help them immediately.”

The Annunciation shooting happened on a Wednesday; the Gophers football team opened their 2025 season the following evening.

Stommes, who grew up on a dairy farm in Eden Valley, Minn., played defensive line and then offensive line for the Gophers, winning letters from 2007-09 before a brief stint with the New York Jets. He still follows his former college team.

Gophers running back Amir Pinnix, center, celebrates his game-winning touchdown with teammates Justin Valentine, left, and Matt Stommes, right, as Minnesota defeated Miami of Ohio 41-35 in triple overtime at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on on Sept. 8, 2007. (Doug Pensinger / Getty Images)

After the tragedy, Stommes avoided watching local or national news. Yet late Thursday night, he flipped on highlights of the Gophers’ win over Buffalo, and then caught Fleck’s news conference.

Fleck’s impassioned, minutes-long opening statement touched on the “demonic tragedy” that occurred only seven miles south of the stadium. Stommes recalled Fleck saying he was praying for the victims and how he talked to his team about the shooting. How they were “playing to give hope to people, maybe for a minute,” while adding, “I’m sure this doesn’t make anyone feel better.”

Fleck’s voice cracked during his speech, but his message gave Stommes comfort and hope. Days after the game, Stommes wrote a note of thanks to Fleck. In turn, a wooden oar signed by Fleck was delivered to Stommes home.

“Matt, we are all rowing with you during this horrific time. RTB! (Row The Boat).”

Rain to rainbows

The Annunciation community was in mourning and didn’t know how to proceed with its annual September Fest, set for three weeks after the shooting. Some thought they should take a year off, but they opted for alterations instead.

After approval from church leadership, chairwoman Lisa Stocco infused the event with more than 20 Gophers football players serving as guest pitchers and coaches for the event’s centerpiece whiffle ball games. She had reached out to her old college friend Matt Simon, the Gophers’ receivers coach. She played soccer at Northern Illinois when Simon was a receiver for the Huskies.

Simon passed the request to Norries Wilson, the U’s director of player development, and he asked Stocco what she needed when and where.

“It was just one of those things that if I said ‘jump,’ they would say, ‘How high?’ ” Stocco said in a wavering voice. “It was … I didn’t even know what I needed. And they were just willing to do anything.”

The Gophers program under Fleck prides itself on “serving and giving” in the community, and a drove of players turned out on a free Friday night before their bye week on Sept. 20.

“I want to write their moms’ notes to tell them they raised good kids,” Roaldi said. “… Imagine the fun things they could have been doing, but to spend that much time with those kids, just talking to them and encouraging them, that was really cool.”

Sharpe ran into star defensive lineman Anthony Smith as they walked separately into the event, at first blown away by Smith’s mammoth stature at 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds. Smith came up to Sharpe and shook his hand.

“(He) obviously wanted to be there, wanted to be present,” Sharpe recalled. “That was just a meaningful, small glimpse into what took place.”

For Gophers players, the reality of the shooting set in when they interacted with kid victims, including 12-year-old Lydia Kaiser. The eighth grader suffered a traumatic brain injury and had surgeries to remove bullet fragments and alleviate brain swelling. She was released from the hospital in early September, with half of her head covered in long brown hair, and the other side shaved.

“When they saw Lydia, you could just see it kind of hit a lot of them — how real it was,” Roaldi said.

Gophers linebacker Devon Williams met a family effected by the shooting and gathered players for a picture. In one photo, the Gophers players surrounded Endre Gunter, a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the stomach. After being shot, he protected a 6-year-old school mate.

“It was a very humbling experience,” Williams said.

More than 20 Minnesota Gophers football players volunteered at the Annunciation Church and School’s Sept. Fest in Minneapolis on Sept. 19, 2025. They are pictured with 13-year-old Endre Gunter, wearing black in the middle, who was a victim in the mass shooting at the church on Aug. 27, 2025. (Courtesy of Lisa Stocco)

The September Fest whiffle ball games started in the rain, but the storm clouds passed as the sun and even rainbows shined through.

“It was wonderful,” Stocco said.

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