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President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are offering different answers to Americans worried about high prices. Trump has promoted what he calls a golden age, while Vance has acknowledged that gas and grocery costs still strain families and said the administration has more work to do. The contrast comes as consumer confidence has fallen, long-term mortgage rates have risen, and unemployment edged up last month. The Associated Press reports that higher gasoline prices are adding to inflation and lifting costs elsewhere in the economy before the midterm elections.

Justice Elena Kagan said recent Supreme Court decisions on voting, campaign finance, and redistricting have made the country more polarized and less democratic. Speaking at Catholic University law school in Washington, she criticized rulings that weakened parts of the Voting Rights Act and limited campaign finance rules, while allowing partisan gerrymandering disputes to remain outside federal courts. Kagan dissented in those cases. She also said it would be unfair to say the Supreme Court always supports President Donald Trump, pointing to decisions involving tariffs, birthright citizenship, and mail ballots.

Apu spoke again on The Simpsons this week after nearly a decade largely off screen. The Kwik-E-Mart owner and his wife, Manjula, returned in a Halloween episode voiced by Indian American actors Sunil Malhotra and Janina Gavankar. The character faded from view after criticism that his earlier portrayal reinforced stereotypes and after Hank Azaria, a white actor, stopped voicing him. The Simpsons says it wanted to bring Apu back in a way that let the character evolve. The return has restarted a long-running conversation about representation on American television.