While the EPA is telling residents of East Palestine, Ohio that tests on their drinking water aren’t showing any contaminants linked to the toxic train wreck, not everyone is convinced. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates that more than 40,000 small fish have died following the disaster on Feb. 3. Now reports are trickling…

Senators on Capitol Hill reacted to the end of emergency COVID-19 allotments for the SNAP food program. Congress created the benefit to ease financial burdens during the pandemic, but they ended Feb. 28.  “Let’s get real about the struggles that many families face in America, whether it’s paying off a student loan, or putting bread…

Investors were cheering over the last few months on signs that inflation was easing and deflation had arrived, but the most recent CPI numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate the Federal Reserve’s path to tame prices will be anything but smooth. Some economists point to services inflation as inflation’s newest culprit, replacing supply…

President Joe Biden delivered a speech in Poland on the Ukraine war; an industrial plant explosion shook the outskirts of Cleveland; United Airlines is changing their seating policy to benefit families after backlash; and a baby formula is being recalled. These stories and more highlight your daily rundown for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023.  Biden, Putin…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and six states are suing Roomster, alleging the roommate pairing app used fake positive reviews and fake listings to lure new customers. The company is accused of buying 20,000 fake customer reviews. According to a court filing, the defendants “have inundated the internet with tens of thousands of fake positive…

As residents of the United Kingdom deal with a late January cold snap, British utility company National Grid is asking for help with saving energy. The company asked its customers to participate in its Demand Flexibility Service from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Monday night. The service rewards people, usually via money off their bills, for turning off…

The average age of people who get their news from broadcast or cable television networks is over 60 and only going higher. The vast majority of young people get their news from social media and have never even read a newspaper. Mainstream news sources are withering, leaving an increasingly divided news landscape where people can’t…

The Federal Reserve is seeing some progress in efforts to curb inflation, with consumer prices slowing to a lower-than-expected 7.1% increase in November. That didn’t stop the board from issuing its seventh interest rate hike of 2022, albeit a less aggressive increase than previous hikes. But what about long-term interest rates, such as the ones…

CVS Health has announced it has reached a $5 billion settlement over its role in the opioid crisis. Under the deal announced Wednesday, CVS would pay $4.9 billion to state and local governments and about about $130 million to Native American tribes over the next decade. The $5 billion figure would make the settlement, if…

Inflation is synonymous with the consumer price index, which comes out less than two weeks after the end of each month. But there’s more than one way to measure inflation, and CPI is not the Federal Reserve‘s favorite one. When Fed Chair Jerome Powell says “My colleagues and I are strongly committed to bringing inflation…