Consumer protection agency finalizes rule limiting overdraft fees
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Thursday that it has finalized new rules limiting the fees that banks can charge when customers overdraw their accounts.
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Congress passes Young-backed bill to add more U.S. judges, but veto looms
A bill that would create dozens of new federal judgeships across the country received final approval in Congress on Thursday morning, setting up a likely veto from President Joe Biden even as his administration pushes to confirm his final nominees to fill existing judicial vacancies.
Naval Academy can consider race in admissions, federal judge rules
The ruling came Friday in a closely watched case that followed last year’s Supreme Court decision rejecting the use of affirmative action in college admissions.
FTC is preparing to investigate Microsoft’s cloud business
The Federal Trade Commission is planning to launch an investigation into Microsoft’s cloud software business over alleged anticompetitive practices, as the Democratic-led agency tries to cement a legacy of aggressive regulation during President Joe Biden’s final weeks in office.
FTC antitrust case against Meta can move to trial, court rules
The Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accuses Facebook owner Meta of holding an illegal monopoly over social media.
Trump taps Musk, Ramaswamy to oversee ‘drastic’ changes to U.S. government
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, will provide recommendations to slash regulations, cut staff and overhaul federal operations.
Trump expected to try to halt TikTok ban, allies say
The video-sharing app faces a January deadline to find a new owner not based in China or lose access to U.S. users, under a law passed in April with bipartisan support.
Minority-owned firms face ‘crisis’ as affirmative action programs fall
Minority- and women-owned businesses are bracing for the end of affirmative action in federal contracting—and the potential loss of contracts worth at least $70 billion a year.
Amid backlash, FDA changes course over shortage of Lilly weight-loss drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after intense public pressure and a lawsuit, is reconsidering its declaration barely two weeks ago that a shortage of the appetite-suppressing drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound—both made by Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co.—is over, a temporary about-face that will allow pharmacies to keep selling unbranded copies.
Lilly Ledbetter, a stalwart in the fight for fair pay, dies at 86
Ledbetter was a manager at a Goodyear tire plant who, after discovering that she was earning far less than the men in her position, spent years battling for equal pay for women and filed a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court. She also inspired federal legislation named in her honor
Sweeping bill to overhaul Supreme Court would add six justices
The legislation by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, is one of the most ambitious proposals to remake a high court that has suffered a sharp decline in its public approval after a string of contentious decisions and ethics scandals in recent years.
Trump’s second-term agenda on LGBTQ issues alarms civil rights groups
The former president, who has shifted his position over the years on LGBTQ issues, is planning to lead the GOP charge on gender identity if he returns to the White House, according to his campaign and interviews with allies
U.S. antitrust case alleges rent collusion enabled by tech firm’s software
The Justice Department and attorneys general from eight states are suing a Texas-based software company accused of using complex algorithms to enable widespread collusion in rents by landlords.
Fifth Third Bank to pay $5M to settle auto insurance allegations
Fifth Third Bank has agreed to pay millions to settle allegations that it forced auto loan customers into duplicative car insurance policies that made their monthly payments more expensive, leading in some cases to repossessions of vehicles from customers who could not afford to pay.
IRS apology in Trump-related case reveals agency’s shoddy tax security
IRS officials, pushed by a lawsuit filed by Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin, apologized to him and the other taxpayers through a news release last week after an agency contractor leaked the private tax data of more than 80,000 people and businesses.
Judge rejects $30 billion Visa, Mastercard swipe-fee settlement
The decision jeopardizes an agreement reached in March that was meant to end two decades of litigation related to the fees card companies charge retailers on each purchase a customer makes.
U.S. consumer agency proposes to ban medical debt from credit reports, loan decisions
The rules would ban credit reporting agencies from incorporating medical debt when calculating credit scores. They would also bar lenders from using medical debt to determine loan eligibility.
In the pandemic, we were told to keep 6 feet apart. There’s no science to support that.
Congressional investigators are set Monday to press Anthony S. Fauci, the infectious-disease doctor who served as a key coronavirus adviser during the Trump and Biden administrations, on why the CDC’s recommendation to stay six feet apart during the pandemic was allowed to shape so much of American life for so long, particularly given Fauci and other officials’ recent acknowledgments that there was no science behind the six-foot rule after all.
Tesla settles defect case involving fatal Indianapolis crash
Tesla has settled another case linking a passenger’s death with an alleged vehicle design defect, records show, the second time in less than two months that the automaker has avoided a jury trial just days before it was set to begin.
FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg says he will resign after hostile workplace claims
Martin Gruenberg, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., announced Monday that he would resign once President Biden appoints and the Senate confirms a successor to lead the banking regulator, after a searing report said Gruenberg led a hostile workplace at the agency.