The financial news that actually matters
A general consumer finance category covering everyday money decisions, budgeting, saving, debt management, credit behavior, and personal financial improvement strategies.
Montana, North Dakota and South Carolina are scheduled to stop SNAP benefits from paying for candy on November 1. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food restriction waiver table, updated October 2, lists November 1, 2026 as the target implementation date for all three, and candy appears in each state’s list of restricted items. That puts…
No one has been paid yet from Google’s $700 million Play Store settlement, and the court has not signed the order that would start the payments. The settlement administrator’s website says so in a banner: “The final approval order has not yet been signed, and distribution of payments has not yet begun.” The judge held…
A St. Paul man has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for taking about $1.66 million in money meant to feed children, the 31st defendant sentenced in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota announced the sentence on October 1 for Abdi Nur Salah….
Members of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines’ shared Atmos Rewards program can now pick how their flights earn points. Alaska Air Group says the choice opened October 1, 2026, and it applies to flights departing on or after January 1, 2027. The three options are distance, price paid and segments. In the company’s September 29…
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have charged five people with using other people’s Social Security numbers to run up more than $140,000 in debt at retailers, then filing for bankruptcy to wipe it out. Four of the five were arrested, and one remains at large. Affiliate links — we may earn a commission. The U.S….
The federal government spent $95.0 billion on food stamps in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, down from $106.1 billion in the year before, according to the Treasury Department’s daily statement for Sept. 30, 2026. The prior-year figure comes from the statement for Sept. 30, 2025. The drop is about $11.1 billion, or roughly…
A Worcester man collected about $12,623 in food stamps under the identity of a person who died in 2006, and Massachusetts approved his application even after a caseworker’s note flagged a possible death match, federal prosecutors say. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced the indictment on October 1. Prosecutors say the…
Troy Clinton Van Sickle, 55, of Temecula, California, pleaded guilty on October 6 to a romance fraud scheme that took more than $1.8 million from two elderly women. Prosecutors say he spent part of it on a $734,000 Ferrari while he was on federal supervision for an earlier fraud conviction. Affiliate links — we may…
People who bought shares in Zymergen’s April 2021 initial public offering have until October 11, 2026 to submit a Proof of Claim to a $125 million securities class action settlement. A federal judge in San Jose will hold the final approval hearing two days later, on October 13 at 10:00 a.m. The settlement website says…
Raul Fernandez Vicioso, 38, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution for a food stamp and pandemic unemployment fraud scheme. Prosecutors say he used fraudulently obtained SNAP cards to buy the bulk food that stocked his Leominster restaurant. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for…