Take a look at the trending topics today, September 25.
Free COVID tests
Covid-19 tests can now be ordered free of charge from the US government.
Starting Monday, people can order four tests per U.S. household through Covidtests.gov. People without an internet connection can call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489) to request testing.
Rapid Covid-19 tests can be done at home and can be used regardless of whether a person has symptoms. Tests should be good until the end of the year. Some dates listed on tests may indicate that they have expired, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended these dates.
The US government has already sent more than 755 million free Covid-19 tests to people who request them. The program has been suspended since May. Covid-related hospitalizations have been on the rise in the United States since July, with weekly admissions now more than three times what they were two months ago.
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GO STEP BY STEP: William Byron took the lead for the first time after the final restart with six laps remaining Sunday to win at Texas, advancing him to the round of 16 of the NASCAR playoffs while giving Hendrick Motorsports its 300th victory . Byron managed to get under Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe as they battled for the lead in front of him. Wallace led a career-high 111 laps to start the second round, but finished third behind Byron and Ross Chastain, another playoff contender. Wallace moved up three spots to ninth in the standings, still one below the cutoff line after this round ended. It was Byron’s sixth victory this season.
AP FILE PHOTO
NASCAR
William Byron grew up being a huge fan of Hendrick Motorsports, watching Jimmie Johnson win championships and knowing how much he wanted to drive for this organization one day.
Byron, 25, is now one step closer in his sixth Cup season to having the opportunity to compete for Rick Hendrick’s next title after earning the team owner a historic victory in the first round of the playoffs NASCAR playoffs.
Byron led only the final six laps Sunday at Texas, passing Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe just after the final restart, and advanced to the round of 16 with his series-best sixth win of the season . It was Hendrick’s 300th, coming just over two years after he surpassed Petty Enterprises’ long-standing record of 268 wins for the most wins in Cup history.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy walks to his Capitol office on September 21.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Government shutdown
With six days to go, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a choice to make: will he risk a shutdown to keep his job or will he antagonize Republican hard-liners by working with Democrats ?
It was a defining moment that lasted for months. To curry favor with his critics, McCarthy is allowing Republicans to vote on a series of appropriations bills this week, even though they will be dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
But time is running out and the Republicans have not been able to rally around a short-term option. And the promises McCarthy made in January when he bowed to hard-liners to get his president’s gavel are finally delivering.
“This is the third major fight in Congress: opening week, the debt ceiling and now government funding,” said Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, one of McCarthy’s trusted allies who helped broker the bipartisan debt ceiling deal. “It was always going to be a battle.”
