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--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Friday, October 21st, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: Due to spiking inflation, the IRS will increase tax brackets for Americans by about 7 percent. That means Americans may be keeping more of their paychecks and paying less in taxes when they file in 2023.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden traveled to Pennsylvania to tout his infrastructure bill. Biden also appeared in Pittsburgh with Democrat Senate candidate John Fetterman, who is locked in a tight race with Republican Mehmet Oz. A recent Insider Advantage Fox 29 poll found that Oz and Fetterman are in a dead heat.
--:-- John Bickley: Researchers at Boston University are now under investigation by the National Institute of Health after the university released a study implying they'd created a new strain of COVID by combining strains from Omicron and the original virus. The study also indicated that the new strain caused an 80 percent lethality rate in rodent tests. The university is pushing back on reports that they engaged in gain research calling the assertions false and inaccurate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Sales of existing homes fell to a 10 low in September as interest rates spiked. Sales declined 1 in September from the previous month. The decline comes as the average 30-year fixed rate rose over 7%. At the start of the year, interest rates were less than half of that at about 3%.
--:-- John Bickley: The European Medicines Agency has recommended the use of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines in children as young as six months old. The move comes one week after a Pfizer executive told European officials that the clinical trials had not tested the vaccine's ability to prevent transmission.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Social Security Administration announced Wednesday that Americans can now self-select their gender when filling out records. And Americans will be paying a lot more money to heat their homes this winter, according to the Energy Department. Heating bills are projected to jump 28 percent this winter for those who rely on natural gas, which is used by nearly half of U.S. households for heat. Heating oil is projected to be 27% higher and electricity 10% higher, the agency said.
--:-- John Bickley: Those are your drive-home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning. Also, look for this week's episode of Election Wire, which offers the latest election news, airing on this feed, YouTube, and dailywire.com this Sunday afternoon.
--:-- Georgia Howe: From all of us here at Morning Wire, We hope you're enjoying the show. Did you know that if you subscribe to Daily Wire Plus, you can get access to all Daily Wire has to offer? That means news, commentary, documentaries, movies, and so much more. Become a subscriber today. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and take us with you wherever you go.
