Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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A Massachusetts restaurant operator used more than 100 stolen identities to create 24 fake food stamp households and collect about $440,000 in benefits
A Massachusetts restaurant owner was sentenced on October 5 to two years in federal prison for a food stamp scheme built on other people’s names. Raul Fernandez Vicioso, 38, of Fitchburg, ran El Primo Restaurant in Leominster. Prosecutors say he used the stolen identities of more than 100 real people to create 24 fake SNAP…
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Most Pennsylvania food stamp recipients get an average of $18 more a month starting Oct. 1, and the minimum benefit rose to $25
Food stamp benefits in Pennsylvania went up on October 1. Most recipients get an average of $18 more a month, and the smallest monthly benefit rose from $24 to $25. The state Department of Human Services announced the change on September 29, and said that no one’s benefit goes down because of it. The annual…
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Overseas packages worth up to $2,500 would need a customs filing before they land, and mail left unentered for 15 days would count as abandoned, under a CBP proposal
Customs and Border Protection has proposed that overseas packages worth $2,500 or less would need an electronic customs filing on or before arrival, and that mail left unentered for 15 days would count as abandoned. The agency published the proposal as a rule in the Federal Register on Oct. 8. It is a proposal, and…
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Veterans who owe VA for a benefit overpayment can now get 36 months to repay instead of 12 when above the minimum monthly payment, with no financial form for plans up to 60 months
Veterans who owe the Department of Veterans Affairs for a benefit overpayment can now be placed on a repayment plan of 36 months instead of 12, and plans of up to 60 months no longer need a financial form. The change appears in a VA notice published in the Federal Register on Oct. 6. It…
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Immigration fees set by Trump’s tax law rise Oct. 16, with parole going to $1,050 and initial asylum work permits to $570, and filings with the old fee will be rejected
Several immigration fees set by the 2025 tax-and-spending law, known as H.R. 1, go up on Oct. 16. The parole fee rises from $1,020 to $1,050, and the fee for a first work permit for an asylum applicant rises from $560 to $570. Any request postmarked on or after Oct. 16 without the proper fee…
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A coalition of 21 states and D.C. sued to overturn the Trump administration’s fuel economy rollback, saying drivers would lose nearly $220 billion in fuel savings
Attorneys general from 21 states and the District of Columbia went to federal court on Oct. 2 to try to overturn the Trump administration’s rollback of fuel economy standards for new cars and light trucks. They say drivers would lose nearly $220 billion in fuel savings under the weaker rules. The suit was filed in…
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Cleo AI customers owed FTC refunds are getting notice emails through Oct. 26, and the FTC says it never charges anyone a fee to receive a refund payment
More than $15.8 million in Federal Trade Commission refunds is headed to 2,124,796 people who paid Cleo AI for instant cash advances, and the notice emails are going out through Oct. 26. The FTC announced the payments on Oct. 8. The agency also says it never charges anyone a fee to receive a refund payment,…
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The Trump administration froze new Obamacare agent and broker sign-ups on the federal marketplace until Feb. 1 after canceling about 315,000 policies covering more than 760,000 people
Federal health officials have shut the door on new insurance agents and brokers for the federal Obamacare marketplace, and the freeze lasts until Feb. 1, 2027. The Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced it weeks after it canceled about 315,000 policies covering more than 760,000 people who had signed up with an…
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Social Security lists seven changes SSI recipients must report by the 10th of the following month, from a new living arrangement to 30 straight days outside the U.S.
Anyone who gets Supplemental Security Income has seven kinds of life changes to report, and each report is due by the 10th of the month after the change. Social Security laid out the seven in an October 7 letter to advocates who help SSI recipients. They run from a new living arrangement to 30 straight…
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The FTC is sending 170,571 more AdvoCare refund payments worth over $11.4 million to former distributors who accepted a first one, and checks should be cashed within 90 days
A second round of AdvoCare refunds is going out from the Federal Trade Commission. The agency is sending 170,571 more payments worth more than $11.4 million to former AdvoCare distributors who accepted their first payment, according to the FTC’s AdvoCare refund page, which carries an October 2026 date. No form is involved. Anyone in the…