INDIANAPOLIS (CONSUMER REPORTS) — You’re in the middle of something when your phone pings — a text from an unknown number. Is it real, or another scam?

A new Consumer Reports survey finds texting and messaging scams have jumped 50% in the past year, and it might surprise you that Gen Z is getting hit the hardest. Consumer Reports reveals some smart tips to help you stop those messages and protect your money.

Whether it’s text that looks like it’s from your bank or a bogus bill from a toll road – if you think you’re getting more unsolicited calls, texts and messages, you’re right. The new Consumer Reports Cyber Readiness Report finds scam attempts are up more than 50% and they’re growing the fastest among GenZers.

Scammers are trying to rip off young adults. Those from 18 to 29-year-olds are falling for scams at record levels. Reports of scams attempts from GenZers tripled and it makes sense because they text frequently. It’s a primary form of communication and they have instant access to money on their phones.

Lower income households were three times as likely to lose money from scams. And the racial divide is striking too — 37% of Black Americans who ran into a scam lost money, compared to just 15% of white Americans.

According to the Federal Reserve, 86% of white adults use credit cards while only 70% of black adults do. Credit cards are safer than many other payment methods because you have the right to request a chargeback for fraudulent transactions. Consumers who do not use credit cards have fewer rights to dispute fraud when it occurs.

How can you protect your money?

First, don’t reply to random or unsolicited texts. Responding confirms your number is active. So, fraudsters might keep bugging you or sell your number. Instead, block the number and mark it as spam.

Next, cut down on text spam before it reaches you. Check with your phone carrier — most offer free tools to filter or block unwanted messages.

Also, watch out for phishing scams. Be suspicious of requests for personal information from texts, emails, or messaging apps. If the message seems urgent or time-sensitive, that’s another red flag.

Finally, when shopping online, use a credit card. Payment Apps like CashApp, Venmo, and Zelle usually don’t offer the same purchase protections.

One additional piece of protection: Use a password manager. That way, you have a strong, unique password for each account.

BANGKOK (AP) — A woman in Thailand shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation.

Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok, posted a video on its Facebook page, showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pickup truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered.

Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press on Monday that the 65-year-old woman’s brother drove her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated.

He said they heard a faint knock coming from the coffin.

“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” he said. “I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”

According to Pairat, the brother said his sister had been bedridden for about two years, when her health deteriorated and she became unresponsive, appearing to stop breathing two days ago. The brother then placed her in a coffin and made the 500-kilometer (300-mile) journey to a hospital in Bangkok, to which the woman had previously expressed a wish to donate her organs.

The hospital refused to accept the brother’s offer as he didn’t have an official death certificate, Pairat said. His temple offers a free cremation service, which is why the brother approached them on Sunday, but was also refused due to the missing document.

The temple manager said that while he was explaining how to get a death certificate when they heard the knocking. They then assessed her and sent her to a nearby hospital.

The abbot said the temple would cover her medical expenses, according to Pairat.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The American Dairy Association Indiana has unveiled the Indiana Cheese Guide, a curated list of local dairy destinations across the state, offering a unique culinary experience for cheese enthusiasts.

The guide includes popular stops such as Heritage Ridge Creamery in Middlebury, Crystal Springs Creamery in Osceola, J2K Capario in Walkerton, Kuehnert Dairy Farm in Fort Wayne, Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Freshly Dairy in Lizton, and Traders Point Creamery in Zionsville. These destinations are known for their high-quality, locally-sourced dairy products, perfect for holiday recipes like gourmet cheese, milk, ice cream, and butter.

Brooke Williams, Director of Communications for the American Dairy Association Indiana, emphasized the importance of supporting local dairy farmers. “We represent almost 700 dairy farms in the state of Indiana,” she said. “And we’re seeing a rise in those dairy farmers that want to bring more people to their farm by way of food.”

The Indiana Cheese Guide was initiated four years ago to bring more attention to local dairy farmers and their products. With 13 cheese processors across the state, the guide serves as a pathway to explore the diverse offerings of Indiana’s dairy industry.

Williams highlighted the significance of visiting these farms, especially during the holiday season. “There’s always room for a charcuterie board at a holiday gathering,” she noted, encouraging people to pick up local cheeses for their celebrations.

The guide not only promotes local products but also aims to connect consumers with the farmers behind them. “It’s a nice way to get people out, right? To go explore more of Indiana and to really get to know the farmer and the faces behind the food that they’re enjoying each and every day,” Williams explained.

Indiana’s dairy industry is substantial, with nearly 700 dairy farms, mostly family-owned. These farms range in size, with some having as few as 150 cows and others hosting several thousand. The association is proud to represent these families and encourages visits to the farms to meet the farmers and enjoy their products.

The Indiana Cheese Guide offers a delightful opportunity to explore the state’s rich dairy heritage while supporting local farmers. As the holidays approach, it provides a perfect excuse to embark on a culinary adventure along the Cheddar Brick Road.

(WISH) — If you think stretching is only for athletes, you’re wrong.

Experts say stretching is good for everyone, and a 2023 study found that adults who stretched five days a week had a 20% lower risk of dying over the next nine years than those who didn’t.

Experts shared which stretches you should start doing today and why.

If you go straight from sitting to exercising, you could be setting yourself up for a serious injury.

Tatyana Siddeeq, lead flexologist for StretchLab Winter Park in Florida, said, “Everybody needs to stretch. It’s really important to help your body stay mobile. It helps with recovery. It helps to prevent injury and just helps you live a better quality of life.”

You shouldn’t just stretch when you feel tight.

Caitlin Ann Cheruka, clinical assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, said, “When we don’t stretch, we will lose our flexibility and over time that’s gonna limit our mobility and our range of motion.”

That range of motion can be lost in 4-8 weeks. However, you don’t want to stretch to the point of pain.

Siddeeq said, “If you’re going from a scale of zero to 10, you want to get to maybe that seven mark. Once you get to that nine, 10 mark, that is when there’s a greater chance of injury.”

Siddeeq recommended that everyone do the forward fold, which opens your back and loosens up your hamstrings and calves.

If you sit a lot every day, Cheruka recommended stretching the hip flexor. She also recommended targeting every muscle group, so you should also do a hamstring stretch, a chest opener, a quadriceps stretch, and a shoulder stretch.

One more reason to stretch, Cheruka said: “Stretching can help improve our cardiovascular health, which is super important because we know that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.”

Finally, when is the best time to stretch? Cheruka said before a sport, after a sport, and any day you don’t do a sport. In other words, whenever you can.

If you’re considering trying stretching to fix your back pain, Cheruka recommended strengthening exercises instead. Stretching may only provide temporary relief. To help back pain, you should focus on developing core strength.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis police were investigating a fatal overnight shooting on the city’s southeast side.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded at around 11:55 p.m. Monday to a shooting in the 700 block of Turtle Creek North Drive. That’s an address within the Brookwood Apartments at U.S. 31 and Thompson Road.

Officers arrived and found a female who had been shot. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

No other information was immediately available.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The weather pattern is set to change dramatically starting Wednesday, with a sharp cooldown expected to last through the weekend. Temperatures will drop significantly, and there is increasing confidence in accumulating snow for some areas late Friday night into Saturday.

Today:

A batch of steadier rain will shift east, leaving scattered showers through the morning. By late morning to early afternoon, this will transition into areas of drizzle under a low deck. Despite the gloomy sky, mild air will surge in, pushing highs into the mid-50s north to around 60 degrees south.

Tonight:

Tonight, the region will remain mostly damp and cloudy early, with a few leftover light showers. A strong cold front is expected to move through between midnight and dawn, causing temperatures to drop from the low 50s into the mid-30s by sunrise, accompanied by increasing west winds of 25 to 35 mph.

Major shift in temperatures:

From Wednesday through Friday, the pattern will flip to much colder weather, with falling temperatures on Wednesday and highs only in the 30s on Thursday and Friday. Wednesday will be particularly blustery, especially in the north, with gusts near 40 to 45 mph possible. A few flurries or snow showers are expected on Wednesday, too.

Thanksgiving:

Thursday will be cold and breezy, with highs in the 30s and wind chills in the 20s. Friday will be cold but quiet, likely the best weather of the long weekend.

Weekend snow system?

Confidence is growing in accumulating snow late Friday night into Saturday morning as the next system arrives. A thump of snow on the front end is increasingly likely, with potential travel impacts on Saturday morning. As warmer air moves in aloft, snow may mix with or change to rain later on Saturday, especially in the south.

On Sunday, a transition to mainly rain is expected, though brief wintry mix remnants are possible early. Another system may bring more mixed precipitation early next week, but there is low confidence on the type of precipitation.

Overall, a cold, active, wintry pattern is setting up for early December with multiple systems to watch.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis may soon have its first designated outdoor refreshment area, or DORA.

The Rules and Public Policy Committee of the Indianapolis City-County Council will hear a proposal that could make Irvington a place where customers can publicly take their drinks from the bar to the outdoors and walk around.

The state government lists 46 DORAs, including ones in Carmel and Speedway.

The Irvington proposal has people divided. Supporters say this will boost business, while others say they’re concerned about safety.

Democratic City-County Councilor Andy Nielsen, who represents the area, said he’s listened to residents’ concerns and is tweaking the proposal in time for Tuesday’s meeting. He said he’s heard overwhelming support. “Anywhere from neighbors, community leaders, and other businesses that they’re excited about for our neighborhood. It’s going to be a positive development, but we also heard some of the comments on Tuesday (during the last meeting) and got to work.”

Initially, the proposal covered one large area: Bonna Avenue and East Washington Street between South Auduben Road and South Ritter Avenue.

Under Nielsen’s new amendment the area is broken down in two smaller sections along South Audubon Road between Bonna Avenue and East Washington Street. Nielsen says the change is to ensure that streets where customers can drink are more focused next to bars instead of on residential areas.

“There were a few neighbors who were concerned about the residential properties, the number of homes in the physical DORA and we took that to heart. This will allow DORA to operate as it was intended. The new map and old map, while they look different, they are operationally the same,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen added another change, which will include recyclable drink cups for participating DORA bars to limit waste. Nielsen said participating bars will be responsible for providing these cups and trash cans.

“The DORA is really exciting. It’s allowing all the businesses who choose to participate in it to make money and to be on the same playing field as breweries and alcohol distributors that come into town.”

Bar owner Carey Shea said the DORA could bring more revenue not just for his bar but for the surrounding businesses as customers walk around the mapped areas. At the moment, he said, his bar is limited when it comes to large public events including the annual Irvington Halloween Street Festival. Those events can bring in 40,000 to 80,000 people.

“The important thing to know about is the change is very little. People can already walk around with open containers in the city, they just can’t take it from a business. What this allows is during events when we have other breweries and other alcohol distributors come to town, they’re allowed to sell that alcohol and people can walk around those festivals. But (currently without DORA) if people were to come into our business, people can’t leave our business (with a cup of alcohol in hand).”

Shea said Dora will be regulated and bartenders can still deny alcohol to unruly people if they’ve had too much. He said it might make it safer for the community.

As of now, he said, residents can walk around drinking if the alcohol came from their home or a liquor store.

On Tuesday, the committee will hear the proposal at 5 p.m. in the City-County Building and make recommendations. The event is open to public feedback.

The full City-County Council could vote on an Irvington DORA as soon as Dec. 1.

If it passes the council, the DORA could be in effect early 2026.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — Kansas City Chiefs defensive end and two-time Super Bowl champion George Karlaftis is giving back to his hometown with a $10,000 donation to support West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School’s backpack program, which helps ensure students have food during school breaks.

The donation will assist 50 families and more than 80 students who regularly rely on the program. In addition, Payless, a Kroger brand grocery, is contributing $75 gift cards to be included in each backpack.

A representative from Kroger will be on site Tuesday morning to help staff pack the bags. Karlaftis, a 2019 graduate of West Lafayette, will not attend.

Karlaftis, who was born in Greece and moved to West Lafayette as a child, became one of the state’s most celebrated high school football standouts before starring at Purdue University. He earned All-Big Ten honors with the Boilermakers and became a first-round NFL draft pick in 2022. In his first three professional seasons, he played a key role on a Chiefs defense that helped secure back-to-back Super Bowl titles.

The event will begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday at West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School, 1105 Grant St.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Cade Cunningham had 24 points and 11 rebounds and the Detroit Pistons won their 13th straight game to tie the franchise record, holding off the Indiana Pacers 122-117 on Monday night.

The Pistons matched winning streaks by their 1989-90 and 2003-04 championship teams, two seasons after losing 28 in a row to break the NBA season record and tie the overall mark. Eastern Conference-leading Detroit is 15-2.

Down 18 early in the fourth quarter, the Pacers pulled as close as two points. Bennedict Mathurin missed a 3-pointer with a chance to tie it with 11 seconds left.

Caris LeVert added 19 points for Detroit, and Jalen Duren had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Jaden Ivey scored 12 points in his second game back after breaking his left fibula in January.

Pascal Siakam had 24 points for injury-ravaged Indiana. Jarace Walker added 21. The Pacers have lost 10 of 11 to fall to 2-15.

Indiana has been lost without Tyrese Haliburton, the star guard who tore his right Achilles in the Pacers’ Game 7 loss to Oklahoma City in the NBA Finals.

Detroit outscored Indiana 36-23 in the second quarter for a 71-55 lead, The Pistons shot 58.5% from the field in the half, hitting seven of 14 3-pointers.

The Pistons led 101-88 after three quarters.

Up next

Pistons: At Boston on Wednesday night in an NBA Cup game.

Pacers: At Toronto on Wednesday night in an NBA Cup game.

This story was updated to correct an error from The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson was released on Monday from a Chicago hospital where he had been receiving medical care for at least 12 days, according to his family.

The 84-year-old Baptist minister, social activist, and former U.S. presidential candidate “remains in stable condition” following his discharge from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, his son and family spokesperson, Yusef Jackson, said in a statement issued through the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a Chicago-based political action organization the elder Jackson founded.

Jackson’s hospital admission was announced by Rainbow PUSH on Nov. 12, when he was described as being “under observation” for a degenerative neurological disorder called progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP. Jackson was diagnosed in 2013 with Parkinson’s disease, but his diagnosis was changed in April of this year to PSP, according to Monday’s statement.

No further details about Jackson’s condition or medical treatment were disclosed. But the family expressed thanks to friends and supporters for their prayers and visits.

“We bear witness to the fact that prayer works and would also like to thank the professional, caring and amazing medical and security staff at Northwestern Hospital,” Jackson’s son said. “We humbly ask for your continued prayers through this precious time.”

Jackson has been at the forefront of the U.S. civil rights movement since the 1960s, joining the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as a young protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and was present when King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

Some two decades later, as an outspoken critic of the Republican President Ronald Reagan, Jackson mounted a Democratic primary bid for the White House in 1984 but finished in third place. He ran for president once more in 1988 but failed again to clinch the party’s nomination, placing second.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry)