LendUp, an online lender, will pay $3.63 million because it didn’t give consumers the opportunity to build credit and provide access to cheaper loans, as it claimed to consumers it would. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered the company to provide more than 50,000 consumers with about $1.83 million... Read more →

Sept. 27 is National Voter Registration Day, an unofficial national holiday on which thousands of community groups and volunteers register people to vote. Started in 2012 for the presidential election, National Voter Registration Day is designed to create an annual day when the entire nation focuses on registering citizens to... Read more →

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting describes the fun of her community’s fall festival, Funfest. However, my experience with “festivals” this weekend is quite different. I’m a photojournalist, so as I go by the Legislative Building and see an interesting view with some emerging fall foliage, I decide to... Read more →

Erin Brockovich Photo: Eva Rinaldi Chromium-6, a carcinogen, contaminates the tap water of two-thirds of Americans at levels above what scientists say is safe, according an analysis of federal water testing data by the Environmental Working Group. Under an Environmental Protection Agency program, from 2013 to 2015, local water utilities... Read more →

Adams Farm Slaughterhouse is recalling beef, veal, and bison products due to possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination. Seven people from four states have been infected, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Five of them have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. The recalled products have establishment number... Read more →

The Trump Hotel Collection has agreed to pay $50,000 and improve its data security after data breaches exposed more than 70,000 credit card numbers and other personal information. “It is vital in this digital age that companies take all precautions to ensure that consumer information is protected, and that if... Read more →

Photo: Coolcaesar Information from at least 500 million user accounts was stolen from the Yahoo network in late 2014, the company said Thursday. The account information included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, some passwords and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. The stolen... Read more →

Last year, I planted what I thought were sweet green peppers. They were narrow and pointed, and a friend told me they were hot peppers. I gave them to her. This year, when I went to the co-op to buy seedlings, I asked the sales associate about the pepper plants... Read more →

This week we’re offering you reviews of movies and restaurants, an analysis of upstate New York versus California living, and how to get better prices on your new iPhone. Laura Lee Carter of the Adventures of the New Old Farts is the host for this, the 466th, edition of the... Read more →

Samsung is recalling about 1 million Galaxy Note7 smartphones sold before Sept. 15. The lithium-ion battery can overheat and catch fire, posing a serious burn hazard to consumers, the company and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. Samsung has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the United States,... Read more →