Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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A financial adviser owes $2,037,103 after moving a 75-year-old client’s savings to gambling websites
Eric James Stone spent about three years building a relationship with a 75-year-old woman who trusted him with her money because of the title on his business card. By the time federal investigators finished tracing where that money went, Stone had moved her through more than 600 separate transactions, and most of what she sent…
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A jury convicted a Las Vegas man who took $24 million from 400 investors by claiming the FDIC insured it
A Las Vegas jury needed nine days of testimony to reach a conclusion federal investigators had been building toward for years: Brent Kovar’s cryptocurrency company was never going to make good on the $24 million he had collected from hundreds of ordinary investors. On August 24, jurors found Kovar guilty of wire fraud, mail fraud…
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The July inflation report put airline fares up 25.5 percent over the year
Airfare was one of the standout increases in the government’s most recent inflation report, and it lands hardest on retirees who fly to see grandchildren rather than business travelers on expense accounts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for July 2026, released August 12, listed airline fares among the largest year-over-year increases in…
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Trump declared a national emergency over the power grid, and the order exempts local delivery lines
A new executive order signed this week puts foreign-made equipment inside America’s power grid under direct federal scrutiny, but it stops well short of reaching the wires and transformers that actually carry electricity into most homes. President Trump signed Executive Order 14420 on August 26, declaring a national emergency over the bulk-power system, the high-voltage…
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Rents are falling in 52 of the 100 biggest cities, and the national median is $1,390
The apartment market that punished renters with double-digit rent hikes a few years ago has quietly flipped in the other direction for more than half of the country’s largest cities. Apartment List’s latest national rent report puts the median U.S. apartment at $1,390 a month as of August, and in 52 of the 100 largest…
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Candy and chocolate are forecast up 7.1 percent this year, the grocery increase nobody is watching
Beef gets the headlines, but it is not the only grocery category running hot in USDA’s own price data this year. The Economic Research Service now forecasts sugar and sweets prices, the category that covers candy and chocolate, rising 7.1 percent in 2026. That puts it among the fastest-growing sections of the grocery store, well…
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A working student under 22 can earn $2,410 a month before Social Security cuts an SSI check
Most Supplemental Security Income recipients see their monthly check shrink as soon as they report any earnings. One group gets a far bigger cushion: full-time students who are still young enough, and still enrolled, to qualify for Social Security’s largest earnings exclusion. In 2026, that exclusion lets a qualifying student keep several thousand dollars of…
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Social Security says more than 80 percent of people billed for an overpayment now repay online
Two years ago, a Social Security overpayment notice usually meant writing a check or standing in line for a money order. Today, according to the agency’s own numbers, most people just log in and pay instead. Social Security says more than four out of five people who owe money back to the program are now…
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CHI St. Vincent is set to leave every Arkansas Blue Cross network, including Medicare plans, September 1
A contract dispute between one of Arkansas’s largest hospital systems and the state’s dominant health insurer is set to come to a head on September 1, and Medicare Advantage enrollees across central Arkansas are the ones with the most to lose if the two sides don’t reach a deal in time. CHI St. Vincent, part…
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The VA built a $29 million fund for homeless veterans, with $18 million of it for free rides
The Department of Veterans Affairs has created a $29 million fund aimed at homeless veterans, and more than half of that money, up to $18 million, is set aside for a service many housing programs do not fund directly: rides. The VA announced the program on August 14, 2026, saying it will use recent legislation…
