Fg Trade | E+ | Getty Images On a recent weekend, Jami Hagerman embarked on the budget-vacation equivalent of a blind date. The hairstylist and her husband spent about $400 on Groupon “mystery vacation” vouchers that promised accommodations and airfare for the pair — but no say in the destination. The Oklahoma City residents were…
Tom Werner | Digitalvision | Getty Images As borrowers come up against new federal limits on student debt, they may encounter financing options from an unexpected source: their state. But don’t assume these government-backed loans are a close substitute for federal student loans. Consumer advocates say state student loans are more akin to private student…
A customer shops for cilantro at a Walmart Supercenter on July 23, 2026, in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images The nation’s largest multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis linked to shredded iceberg lettuce has expanded to nine states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The four newly linked states — Illinois, Kansas,…
As more companies insist their employees return to the office, they know they need to offer something in return to attract and retain good people. That’s why finding a place where people will want to live is an increasingly important factor as companies decide where to set up shop. “Quality of place, especially investing in…
President Donald Trump speaks about Trump Accounts at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., Jan. 28, 2026. Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images Soon-to-launch Trump Accounts are a new vehicle for long-term savings and investing geared toward children, but they are not the first of their kind. In 2007, thousands of families in…
Oklahoma voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure that would have raised the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029, marking a rare loss for the issue on a statewide level. State Question 832 would have immediately lifted the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour, a figure it has remained at for…
O2o Creative | E+ | Getty Images Some state lawmakers want to ban a common practice among insurance companies that can drive up costs for consumers. Bills are pending in several state legislatures — including in Iowa , New York, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania — that would generally prohibit insurers from using consumers’ credit history to…
As a kid, I moved around a lot. I was born in California, but I’ve lived in Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia, Montana and Oklahoma. I never had the chance to call anywhere “home” for too long. So if you’d told me back then that I’d end up in China, I would’ve laughed. I visited…
Seized catalytic converter thefts from Operation Heavy Metal in 2022. Courtesy: Department of Homeland Security A New Jersey man pleaded guilty in Oklahoma federal court to leading a massive theft ring that stole catalytic converters from vehicles and sold them for more than $600 million in total to a refinery that extracted precious metals contained…
