Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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A Michigan mother is accused of spending $30,000 of the Supplemental Security Income paid for her own disabled son
To keep receiving her son’s disability benefits after he left her custody, a Michigan mother lied to the Social Security Administration about where he lived, and even had another person impersonate him during an SSA review, according to the Justice Department. She is Keshaune Pace, also known as Keshaune Jenkins, and the department says she…
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The largest of 17 new Social Security theft cases accuses an Ohio woman of taking $170,166 in benefits
Seventeen people now face federal charges in a month-long Justice Department sweep of Social Security benefit theft, and the biggest case on the list belongs to Lizbeth A. Reinhard of the Northern District of Ohio, whose entry carries an intended loss of $170,166. The department announced the cases on September 29, 2026. Every one of…
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Food stamps exempt seven groups from the three-month time limit, among them veterans, people without housing, and anyone with someone under 18 in the household
Seven groups of adults are excused from SNAP’s three-month time limit, according to the USDA’s page on SNAP work requirements, and the list is shorter and more specific than many summaries suggest. Veterans are on it. So are people experiencing homelessness, and so is any adult whose SNAP household includes someone under 18. The time…
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The RealPage rent price-fixing settlements go before a judge on October 15, after the deadline to opt out passed on September 22
A judge in Nashville will hear the case for final approval of the RealPage rent settlements on October 15, 2026, and the window for renters to opt out or object has already shut. It closed on September 22. What remains open is the claim form, which the administrator says is due by January 29, 2027.…
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Eighteen states hold a standing start date for food stamp purchase limits, after a federal court threw out the waivers for Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia
Count the rows in the federal table of SNAP food restriction waivers and the total is 23 states. Take away four whose approvals a federal court vacated, plus Nebraska, which has no live date, and 18 states are left with a standing start date for limits on purchases of items like soda and candy. The…
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Heating assistance opens to every eligible household on November 1 in Iowa and Illinois, and on November 2 in Pennsylvania
November 1 is the date the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, opens to the general eligible public in Iowa and Illinois, and Pennsylvania follows a day later on November 2. In Iowa and Illinois that is the second stage of a two-step rollout, because older adults and other priority groups were…
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Medicare enrollees whose Advantage plan is not renewed have from December 8 to the last day of February to choose, and fall back to Original Medicare otherwise
For a Medicare Advantage enrollee, the worst plan-year surprise is a letter saying the insurer will not offer the plan again. Medicare.gov sets a calendar-fixed rescue window for that case: between December 8 and the last day in February of the following year, people whose plan is not renewed can choose new coverage. If they…
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Amazon’s returns settlement covers purchases as far back as September 5, 2017, and pays unpaid amounts plus a share of prejudgment interest
Amazon has agreed to put $309.5 million into a non-reversionary common fund to settle a class action over how it handled returns and refunds, and the settlement reaches back to purchases made on or after September 5, 2017. Payments are built from the unpaid transaction amounts plus a share of prejudgment interest. Some class members…
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An email or a letter from the President follows Medicare’s $90 rebate in mid-October, and paper checks arrive later in the month from the Treasury for beneficiaries without direct deposit
The sequence for the Medicare Improvement Fund premium rebate runs in three steps across October 2026. Most beneficiaries get a $90 direct deposit on or around October 8, an email or a letter from the President follows in mid-October, and paper checks from the U.S. Department of the Treasury go out later in the month…
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Amazon’s Prime refunds now reach people who used between 11 and 20 Prime benefits in a year, with payments starting October 1
“The revised order will ensure more consumers who were harmed by Amazon’s deceptive enrollment and cancellation practices benefit from the FTC’s historic settlement,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, when the agency announced the change on September 17, 2026. Under the revised order, Amazon began issuing automatic payments on October…