News

2021

May

07

• Therapy on aisle 7: Pharmacies enter the mental health market. Since January CVS has added licensed clinical social workers trained in cognitive behavioral therapy to 13 locations in the Houston, Philadelphia and Tampa metro areas. The providers will offer mental health assessments, referrals and counseling either

06

• Federal judge vacates nationwide eviction moratorium. A federal judge ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its legal authority by issuing a nationwide eviction moratorium, a ruling that could affect millions of struggling Americans. Within hours of the

• How to apply for a $50 discount on your broadband bill. The Emergency Broadband Benefit provides a discount of up to $50 a month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 a month for households on qualifying tribal lands. You qualify for the Emergency Broadband

• New homes cost $36,000 more because of an epic lumber shortage. As the pandemic crushed the US economy last spring, sawmills shut down lumber production to brace for a housing slump. The slump never arrived and now there isn't enough lumber to feed the red-hot

• Condado de Los Ángeles: Sistema de transporte impulsa tarifa gratis para usuarios. A pesar de que el sistema de transporte Metro del condado de Los Ángeles tiene programas de tarifas con descuento para pasajeros de bajos ingresos, estudiantes y personas mayores, muchos no hacen uso de

05

• All about liability insurance. The most valuable portion of your insurance policy may be the liability coverage, which can protect you from financial ruin. In our latest issue of Consumer Action News, we explain the coverage that kicks in

• Can Biden's agenda fix Middle America’s deepest problem?. One key economic goal is to create the virtuous cycles of innovation and jobs that already occur in many coastal cities.

• What to know about the surge in state antiabortion bills. In Oklahoma and Idaho, state lawmakers just banned most abortions at the first sign of a fetal heartbeat. In Montana, providers can no longer perform abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, while abortion pills, available via

• Call the IRS first if you owe and can’t pay your tax bill. Dreading the May 17 tax deadline because you can’t pay your bill? A former national taxpayer advocate offers advice on tackling the debt.

• What Americans should know about COVID testing during travel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said fully vaccinated people can travel with less risk to their health and don’t need to get tested before or after travel, unless their destination

• Employers must prepare for Covid’s mental health fallout. Companies are slowly calling staff back to the office. They bring with them the emotional scars of a year filled with fear, isolation and sorrow.

• Firmas explotan a empleados que ganan menos durante pandemia. Abrumados por los largos turnos y por las tasas de infección, los trabajadores esenciales que se exponen todos los días a un contagio en medio de la pandemia del coronavirus, enfrentan

04

• A new deal, this time for women too. A big chunk of the money in the administration’s twin spending bills, the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, is aimed at helping people better balance paid work and family obligations.

• Meet the man now at the center of the student debt debate. Richard Cordray, a close ally of Senator Elizabeth Warren who served as the first director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the Obama years, has been selected as the new head of federal

• Proyecto en EEUU ayuda a personas pobres a salir de prisión. Un esfuerzo en Estados Unidos que ayuda a personas pobres y de bajos ingresos a salir de la cárcel con fianzas prevé expandirse al extremo sur del país, se anunci

03

• Fortnite maker’s fight against Apple goes before the court. Apple faces one of its most serious legal threats in recent years in the form of a trial opening Monday that could upend its iron control over its app store, which brings in billions of

• The pandemic has led to a rental car crisis (at the worst time). Consumers are fuming as prices have spiked after firms shed hundreds of thousands of cars, with fleets depleted until 2022.

April

30

• Investors mine for profits In affordable housing, leaving tenants at risk. Tenants' Development Corp. officials never imagined this scenario when they tapped into the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program back in 2003, to renovate their buildings. Under these deals, a nonprofit forms a partnership with an

29

• Confused when online shopping? It might be a dark pattern. Dark patterns are manipulative, often deceptive strategies that retailers and marketers use. Like you know when you think you're signing up for a one month trial subscription to something and then you somehow, mysteriously,

• Diapers, cereal and, yes, toilet paper are getting more expensive. Procter & Gamble is raising prices on items like Pampers and Tampax in September. Kimberly-Clark said in March that it will raise prices on Scott toilet paper, Huggies and Pull-Ups in June, a move that