According to the National Retail Federation, the next few days will be the heaviest shopping days of the year. And retailers are offering the steepest discounts in years for two reasons: they are overstocked with goods and they fear a recession will slow spending after Christmas. The best days to find deals may be ahead. 

A “bomb cyclone” is about to snarl traffic in the air and on the nation’s highways. And shippers like FedEx and UPS warn the same wintery blast may delay last-minute Christmas deliveries. AccuWeather warns that holiday weekend “could be one of the most intense and prolonged periods of Arctic air in decades during Christmastime.” Major travel hubs, including Chicago, St Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Nashville, could get snow. And the National Weather Service is telling residents in Chicago, parts of Indiana and Ohio to reconsider traveling Thursday through Friday night.

This extreme cold spell will be a test for new owners of electric vehicles. Electric car batteries can lose a fifth to a third of their mileage range in cold weather, which could be a problem if you are stuck in ice and snow traffic.

The pending federal budget bill includes changes to Electoral Count Act. The act, which has both Democrat and Republican sponsors clarifies the Vice President’s role in counting electoral votes. The measure would say the vice president has only a “ministerial” role at the joint session of Congress where electoral college votes are counted and it raises the threshold necessary for members of Congress to object to a state’s electors. All of this might prevent another Jan. 6-type event.