Author: Brian Lund
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Social Security stops taxing wages above $184,500 this year, a jump of $8,400
A worker who crosses $184,500 in wages sometime this year will notice a line item on their pay stub change: the 6.2 percent Social Security tax that had been coming out of every paycheck simply stops. Social Security raised that wage ceiling by $8,400 for 2026, the biggest single-year dollar increase in the program’s history,…
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Supplemental Security Income pays up to $994, and $2,000 in savings ends it
Supplemental Security Income is built for people who have almost nothing else to fall back on, and its two defining numbers tell that story every year. Social Security’s 2026 update raises the maximum federal SSI payment to $994 a month for an individual, or $1,491 for a couple. The other defining number in the program…
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Victims aged 59 to 87 lost $7.5 million in cash and gold, prosecutors say
More than $7.5 million in cash and gold moved from nine elderly victims to a single alleged courier, according to federal prosecutors in Buffalo. Nine people in New York and New Jersey, ranging from 59 to 87 years old, were talked into converting their savings into cash and gold and then handing it to a…
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Original Medicare is testing AI prior authorization, and the companies reviewing claims are paid a share of the savings
Original Medicare has always let patients see any provider or supplier who accepts it, with claims paid after the fact under long-published coverage rules. A new model launched this year adds a layer that looks more like commercial insurance: outside companies using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help decide, in advance in some cases,…
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Trump opened a 300,000-ton duty-free quota on imported beef starting September 1 to bring down ground beef prices
Ground beef has been one of the more visible price increases at U.S. grocery stores this year, and the federal government just made a second attempt this year to address it through trade policy rather than direct payments. A presidential proclamation signed August 26 temporarily expands how much beef can enter the country without paying…
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The $700 million Google Play settlement is now paying out, mostly without a claim form
Google’s Play Store customers who spent money on apps and in-app purchases between August 2016 and September 2023 are starting to see money move back into their accounts. A federal judge signed off on the $700 million antitrust settlement earlier this month, clearing the final legal hurdle in a five-year fight over how Google ran…
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South Carolina blocks soda and candy on SNAP cards August 31, and North Dakota does the same September 1
Grocery shoppers using SNAP benefits in South Carolina and North Dakota are about to see fewer items ring up as eligible purchases. Both states received federal waivers letting them remove certain products from the program’s approved food list, and the clock has nearly run out on the old rules. The changes take effect one day…
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A Georgia man drew the maximum 20 years for a $380 million Ponzi that emptied college funds
A federal judge in Atlanta handed down the maximum prison term the law allows to the man behind what prosecutors call likely the largest Ponzi scheme in Georgia history. Todd Burkhalter is now serving 20 years for a fraud that took in roughly $380 million from more than 2,000 investors, many of whom, prosecutors say,…
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The FTC shut down a credit-repair operation that took nearly $200 million by posing as debt collectors
A federal court in Arizona has temporarily shut down a sprawling credit-repair network the Federal Trade Commission accuses of taking in nearly $200 million by posing as debt collectors and creditors. The FTC alleges the operation, doing business as Credit Glory since at least 2016, bought paid search ads that intercepted people already looking up…
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The SEC says 38 firms used phony filings and fake auditors to pass as registered advisers
An investor searching for a financial adviser online has no easy way to spot a name built purely on paper. That gap is what the Securities and Exchange Commission says 38 entities exploited, filing paperwork with the agency designed to look like proof of legitimacy without a licensed adviser, a real office, or a working…