The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has begun acting to rein in abuse, producing a report critical of the industry and requiring two payday businesses to provide refunds and pay million-dollar fines. The bureau also is drafting rules that could provide further protections for consumers.
Brian Curtis took out his first payday loan when he was 19. It took more than a decade before he got out from under it and the climbing interest payments
Some financial institutions, banks and credit unions in Iowa are trying to create alternatives to payday loans and help people who are unbanked open accounts. The program provides second-chance bank accounts and small dollar loans.
At least 80 groups spent more than $50 million lobbying over the Farm Bill overhaul of crop insurance. Yet, crop insurance does not ensure more food, an Iowa State University researcher says in this special report by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and Harvest Public Media.
The $956 billion Farm Bill, which set U.S. food policy for the next decade, is no longer the purview solely of agricultural interests. It has evolved from a spotlight on commodities to a focus on consumers, a joint investigation by Harvest Public Media and the Midwest Center for Investigative Report
The FDA has been outgunned and overmatched for years as a rising tide of imported food has found a place at the U.S. dinner table, Fairwarning reports.
The thought of turning your dinner table leftovers, old cardboard boxes and even dirty diapers into fuel for your car might sound ambitious, or even absurd. But scientists, bioengineers and profit-minded businesspeople say they can do it.
Federal crop insurance programs may serve even greater roles when it comes to farmers’ risk management plans, in light of a recent government report on global warming, industry officials say.
GOING GLOBAL special report: studying abroad experience can give graduates valuable skills in areas such as communication and collaboration, in addition to cultural awareness, an increasingly sought-after trait in a global economy.
Changes to nutrition labels on food packaging are in motion, and the industry will pay upfront. The new labels will require businesses to re-print, redesign and redistribute the new labels at their own cost while the federal government is overhauls nutrition labeling.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing changes on nutrition labels on food and beverage packaging to bring the information up to date with the latest research and to help people understand what they are eating and drinking. It will take public comment until June 2.
