Cheddar News anchor Shannon LaNier visited Westchester County, New York for a closer look at how some families are saving on energy by installing heat pumps.
Many experts consider electrically-powered heat pumps a green alternative to gas heat. They have both air conditioning and heating functionality and work by pulling air from the outside. They also happen to be relatively quiet.
"How much could someone save on their energy source here? I mean, it's gonna be different for every house, but ultimately, if you have the system sized appropriately and use the correct eligible technology, you can see some good savings based on the efficiency," said Watson Milliston, energy efficiency specialist at Con Edison.
Just don't forget to insulate your homes, he added, otherwise those efficiency gains go to waste.
"You want to weatherize your house and just trap all that heat that you're paying good money to keep," he said.
Five people were killed and two children were wounded in a shooting in Philadelphia as police arrested a suspect who was wearing a bulletproof arrest. Meanwhile in Fort Worth, Texas, three died and eight were hurt as police said several men were shooting at random near a festival celebrating July 4th.
Lawyers for Civil Rights, a nonprofit based in Boston, is filing the civil rights complaint on behalf of Black and Latino community groups in New England, alleging that Harvard’s admissions system violates the Civil Rights Act.
Tobacco manufacturers have started posting new warning signs about cigarettes in over 200,000 stores across the country, one of the final steps in a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against Big Tobacco in 1999.
Pope Francis' appointment to lead a Vatican office that oversees sexual abuse allegations was called 'baffling' and 'troubling' by a U.S.-based accountability group.
