The penny costs nearly 4 cents to make. Here’s how much the US spends on minting its other coins

NEW YORK (AP) — The impending “death” of the U.S. penny has spotlighted the coin's own price tag — nearly 4 cents to make and distribute each, or quadruple its value.

Months after President Donald Trump called on his administration to cease penny production, the U.S. Mint announced this week that it had made its final order of penny blanks — and plans to stop making new 1 cent coins after those run out.

Coin production costs vary thanks to different raw metals used, complexity of their designs, labor needed and more. Many of those expenses have been on the rise — and the penny isn't the only coin entering our wallets today that costs more to make than it's worth (enter the nickel debate).

Here's a rundown of U.S. Mint production costs from the government's latest fiscal year.

Homeowners spend on renovations and repairs despite the uncertain economy and higher prices

LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. homeowners are spending more on home renovation projects, bucking a broader pullback by consumers amid diminished confidence in the economy.

Sales at building materials and garden supply retailers rose 0.8% last month from March, the biggest gain since 2022, and were up 3.2% from April last year. At the same time, U.S. retail sales overall rose 0.1%, a sharp slowdown from March.

The trend comes even as prices for home improvement products have been rising.

The cost of home repairs and remodeling climbed by nearly 4% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Verisk’s Remodel Index. The strategic data analytics firm tracks costs for more than 10,000 home repair items, from appliances to windows.

Investors behaving badly

Finance professor Chi Liao’s background in mathematics often comes in handy in her line of work.

After all, both corporate and investment finance are built upon numbers. Yet financial reporting — balance sheets and cash-flow analysis — is not her area of interest.

In fact, her expertise has less to do with the numerical side of money and more to do with how our emotions affect how we manage our hard-earned cash.

“I’ve always been fascinated by people-watching and why it is we do what we do,” says Liao, who studied mathematics and finance before completing a PhD in behavioural finance from the University of Toronto in 2014.

Winnipeg School Division proposes 9.3 per cent tax increase

Manitoba’s largest school division has tabled a draft budget that raises local property taxes by upwards of nine per cent.

The Winnipeg School Division has released a $549.7-million blueprint for its 82 schools, which are attended by 32,000 children.

The plan freezes staffing at current levels, upgrades information technology systems and resumes full-day kindergarten.

“What we’re proposing is basically a stand-pat budget where we want to maintain (our roster of) teachers, EAs and clinicians, ” chief superintendent Matt Henderson told a public budget meeting on Tuesday. “With that, though, comes some pressure.”

Housing affordability challenges remain despite recent improvements: CMHC

A new analysis from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. shows housing affordability challenges have eased in recent years but still remain at historic highs, and have even spread to other major cities.

The national housing agency says affordability issues are no longer limited to Canada's largest cities and have spread to other areas such as Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. One of the key factors, CMHC said, was the impact of labour mobility brought on by remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has persisted even as the job market has changed.

"Affordability started recovering slightly since 2023, when it reached historical lows. For home ownership, we observed improved affordability, while for renters we saw stabilization over the last two years," said Mathieu Laberge, CMHC chief economist and senior vice-president of housing insights, in a news release Wednesday.

"Even with these improvements, we cannot overlook how much housing affordability has eroded in recent years, especially in Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, clearly demonstrating that Canada's housing affordability crisis is no longer limited to Toronto and Vancouver."

Police warn about AI use in sophisticated scam calls

Police warned Manitobans about the rising use of artificial intelligence to clone voices for use in phone scams, while launching a campaign Tuesday to protect seniors from fraud.

The six-month “Just Hang Up” campaign will alert seniors, their children and their caregivers about grandparent or emergency scams that have become prevalent and increasingly sophisticated.

“These scams are designed to be high pressure. They prey on the ones we love the most — our grandparents, the ones we know who are going to help us in the time of need,” Winnipeg Police Service Insp. Jennifer McKinnon said at a news conference.

Manitobans aged 60 and older reported losing almost $350,000 to grandparent or emergency scams in 2024, as reported by the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. The actual total is likely much higher because scams are vastly underreported.

Tax-filing season begins today. Here’s all you need to know

Gather your tax slips and receipts because it's that time of the year. The 2025 tax-filing season officially kicks off on Monday. It will last a little over nine weeks, ending with the April 30 deadline for most taxpayers.

Big rent hikes — a made-in-Manitoba problem

Premier Wab Kinew began 2026 by capping the price of milk in a bid to make life more affordable for Manitobans.

Now, Manitobans feeling the pinch of stagnant wages and inflation won’t have to swallow cost increases with their morning bowl of cereal. This spring, the premier has an opportunity to address one of the single largest monthly household expenses paid by Manitobans: rent.

Few provinces regulate milk prices, but most Canadian jurisdictions regulate rents. In Manitoba, rent increases are allowed once a year and capped based on changes in the consumer price index. This annual rent guideline is a fair process that accounts for increased costs while protecting tenants from rent gouging.

Despite these rules, each year thousands of tenants continue to face huge rent hikes — some well over 100 per cent.

It’s the first tax season since the CRA revamped its services. Here’s what to expect

The Canada Revenue Agency says taxpayers should have an easier time this tax season, a year after it faced criticism for long wait times and, in some cases, bad advice from representatives.

Food inflation spiked 7.3% in January. Here’s what’s driving the increase

OTTAWA - Statistics Canada reported an easing in the headline inflation rate Tuesday but a jump in the pace of food inflation amid tax changes and lingering pressures at the grocery store continue to put the squeeze on consumers.

StatCan said Tuesday that the annual rate of inflation edged down to 2.3 per cent in January. Economists had expected inflation to hold steady at 2.4 per cent.

The agency said gas prices were 16.7 per cent lower year-over-year in January, largely thanks to the end of the consumer carbon price in April. Shelter inflation — long a pain for households in Canada — also fell to its lowest level in nearly five years as rent pressures abate.

Those declines helped offset food inflation, which accelerated to 7.3 per cent annually in January from 6.2 per cent a month earlier.

Food inflation expected to jump in January amid tax changes: economists

OTTAWA - Economists expect tax changes from a year ago will result in a year-over-year surge in food prices when Statistics Canada reports January inflation figures later this week.

StatCan will publish its January consumer price index report on Tuesday, a day later than originally scheduled.

The agency recently adopted a Monday publishing schedule for the consumer price index but shifted the January release to account for a regional holiday in eight provinces.

A Reuters poll of economists expects the annual rate of inflation held steady at 2.4 per cent in January, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Affairs of heart inevitably require less romantic finance talk sooner or later — so why not today?

Valentine’s Day may be for lovers, and a chat about personal finance certainly risks dulling the passions of the day. That is unless you love money.

Yet it is a discussion that nonetheless should happen … eventually. Often sooner is better than later, hopefully, well before popping the big question.

That decisive question could be happening right now. Valentine’s Day is the premier day for couples to get engaged and that big ask (and hopefully affirmative answer) often comes with a hefty capital allocation for a sparkling speck of costly rock set in a ring made of an increasingly high-priced precious metal.

De Beers coined the notion of three months’ salary as the rule of thumb to spend on an engagement ring amid the Great Depression. At the time, diamonds weren’t common for engagement rings. Today, the world’s priciest gem is considered the norm — and the bigger the rock, the greater the profession of your love, according to the marketing.

Canada’s university funding system is broken

For decades, Canadian universities have delivered a world-class education at a remarkably accessible cost. Nationally, Manitoba has among the lowest tuition fees in the country. However, like many universities across Canada, the University of Manitoba is facing a new reality that can no longer be ignored.

Province to power up smart thermostat program, rebates

Manitobans may get cash for turning down the thermostat during peak energy-use periods next winter.

Increased taxation requires thorough justification

This year, the City of Winnipeg sent me two “love letters.” The first arrived in May, informing me that it (the city) was “delivering affordability,” with the lowest municipal property tax rates in Canada, the lowest municipal fees on new housing, and the lowest garbage and recycling fees in Canada.

Canadian Tire ordered to pay nearly $1.3 million for false advertising

MONTREAL - Canadian Tire has been ordered to pay just under $1.3 million after pleading guilty to 74 counts of violating sections of Quebec's Consumer Protection Act related to false advertising.

Crown prosecutor Jérôme Dussault says the Canadian retail giant agreed to the settlement after initially pleading not guilty.

At the Montreal courthouse, Quebec court Judge Simon Lavoie approved the agreement, which includes fines and costs ranging from $15,625 to $18,150 per count.

The case stems from a six-month investigation by the province's consumer protection office in 2021.

Ottawa to relaunch EV rebates program in 2 weeks with new auto strategy

OTTAWA - The federal government announced a suite of new electric vehicle policies Thursday, including the reintroduction of the popular rebate program and the elimination of the EV sales mandate in favour of stricter emissions standards for the auto sector.

The move is the latest rollback of climate policies enacted by former prime minister Justin Trudeau. The government of Prime Minister Mark Carney cancelled the consumer carbon price and halted the implementation of an emissions cap on the oil and gas sector.

Speaking at an auto parts manufacturer in Woodbridge, Ont., Carney said Thursday Ottawa pitched the new plan as a transformation of Canada's auto sector, which has been battered for months by U.S. tariffs.

"We have everything we need to take the lead in the vehicles of tomorrow, and we're positioning Canadian workers and businesses to seize that opportunity," he said.

LRSD says 12 per cent increase needed to avoid layoffs if provincial funding frozen

St. Vital homeowners are being warned about a “worst case scenario” property education tax hike of nearly 12 per cent.

The Louis Riel School Division laid out a range of 2026-27 budget scenarios for residents during a 90-minute meeting on Wednesday.

The event was held two weeks after the division issued a bleak warning about its finances and called on community members to lobby the province to top up its funding.

“Worst case scenario is an 11.53 per cent mill rate increase for the ratepayer,” said Jamie Rudnicki, secretary-treasurer and chief financial officer of the division in southeast Winnipeg.

Higher school taxes a preventable problem

Tens of thousands of Manitoba home and business owners face the prospect of permanent double-digit increases to the school tax portion of their property tax bills.

Why AI is poised to become Santa’s little helper this holiday

Dan Box tells ChatGPT about his kids all year long.

By the time the holidays roll around, his hope is that OpenAI's artificial intelligence-based chatbot will have gleaned enough about their hobbies and interests to identify the perfect gifts and where they're priced lowest.

"For years, I always felt stressed out by things like Christmas because I really wanted it to be great and I really wanted to buy great gifts, but it's always just so much work and time," said Box, a Vancouver-based gaming executive. "This feels easier and I like it."

The way Box is shopping is no anomaly. Consumers are increasingly turning to AI to recommend products, notify them of sales, help them make purchases and arrange deliveries.