News

2021

April

12

• In infrastructure package, child care help is delayed. Many parents have been eagerly anticipating President Biden’s infrastructure bill, a landmark piece of legislation expected to include sweeping benefits for caregivers and fundamentally reshape the U.S. child-care system. But the Biden

• How epidemiologists will vacation with their unvaccinated kids. The pandemic has made it tough for families to figure out safe travel options. So we asked some experts what they’re doing this summer.

• The U.S. government’s new $30 million effort to stop pandemic scams. Under the American Rescue Plan, signed by Biden on March 11, $24 million went to fund full-time employees at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address unfair or deceptive acts or practices, including those related to the

09

• Don’t file an amended return after the stimulus tax break. The Internal Revenue Service is telling people not to file amended returns after the recent stimulus package's tax break on the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits.

• The $50 billion race to save America’s renters from eviction. With judges ruling against a federal eviction ban, pressure mounts on the Biden administration to distribute billions in aid to renters.

• Employee benefits in the post-vaccine world are changing. Metro and parking subsidies may not make as much sense for employers with a remote workforce, but subsidies for cellphones and office equipment might.

08

• Veterans should get $1,400 stimulus payments by April 14. Recent distributions also include supplemental or “plus-up” payments for people who have received partial stimulus payments based on their 2019 return. Under the American Rescue Plan, the IRS could use a taxpayer’s 2019

• Online scammers have a new offer for you: Vaccine cards. Sellers listed them for $20 to $60 each, with a discount on bundles of three or more. Laminated ones cost extra. All were forgeries or falsified copies of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination cards,

• Facebook leak exposes personal data on half a billion users. Telephone numbers were just the top layer of what was stolen. Security researcher Alon Gal detailed that a person’s Facebook ID, full name, location, past location, birthdate, email address, account creation date, relationship

07

• FDIC tries to help unbanked Americans get stimulus payments. To make it easier for millions of households to get their stimulus funds, the FDIC has launched a public awareness campaign—#GetBanked—to persuade unbanked individuals of the benefits of having a bank

• Predatory debt collectors might soon be barred from pandemic relief. Debt collectors already have gained more than $520 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program. The bill would bar debt collectors that have been sanctioned from participating any more in the program.

• Union drive at Amazon signals labor movement sea change. Veteran labor organizers say the attention the effort to unionize Amazon has drawn—with President Biden released a surprising video expressing support for the Amazon workers—is already serving as a boon by

• Administration to launch funeral aid program for COVID victims. FEMA has reimbursed for burial costs before, but it has never offered so large a payment to so many.

• The new job training: free until you're hired. State and federal officials are now looking for new ways to improve work force development. President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan, announced last week, includes billions for work force development with an

06

• New proposal would ban most foreclosures until 2022. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a new rule that would prevent servicers from starting foreclosure proceedings until after Dec. 31. The intent, bureau officials said, is to give borrowers coming off forbearance time to consider

• Free banking in California?. If it passes, the California Public Banking Option Act would create BankCal, the first state government program in the nation to offer universal consumer banking, according to financial policy experts. The program would provide no-fee

05

• Online scammers traffic in fake COVID vaccination cards. Fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards are being sold online, and authorities have warned individuals not to buy or make one — which is illegal. The FBI’s alert comes a month after the Federal Trade

• CFPB warns mortgage servicers to be flexible with homeowners. The CFPB said that the agency expects mortgage servicers to assist millions of homeowners as pandemic protections end and will closely monitor efforts to help borrowers remain in their homes.

• School back to normal this fall? Kind of, sort of, maybe.. School districts across the country are planning to return to full-time, in-person classes this fall. But some also are planning for hybrid systems that combine in-person and remote learning as a fallback. Masks and other

• 533 million Facebook users’ personal information exposed online. Personal information on more than 500 million Facebook users — previously leaked and now made more widely available — was shared online Saturday, according to the news site Insider, worrying experts who said the compromised data