Daily Digest – October 22. Louisiana Sends Out 1.2 Million Letter To Collect $444 Million; ACLU Sues Mississippi City For Jailing Debtors

Some quick links to start your Thursday. McDonald’s is testing selling Monster-brand energy drinks in some of its stores … Banks are going to spend more money on technology next year, especially in the area of data and information security … Subway is going to have measuring devices on hand to ensure the length of it’s foot-long sandwiches … How the Democratic presidential candidate field shakes out now that Vice President Joe Biden is not running … Former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke says we should be considering negative interest rates to help spur the economy … Browser extensions to make you more productive at work … How the government is tracking your phones … The highest-paying jobs for people who don’t like to sit at a desk … What happened at the company that set a $70,000 minimum wage for employees.

NEWS 

• The state of Louisiana spent $500,000 to send out 1.2 million letters to residents and former residents, seeking to collect on $444 million in unpaid fines. People who received the letter are upset because, in some cases, the offenses occurred more than a decade ago, and the state is threatening to send the accounts to collections if the fines are not paid. A collection fee of 25% will be added to the amount if the fines are not paid within 60 days, according to the letter.

• Three individuals, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, are suing the city of Biloxi, Mississippi for allegedly sending them to jail when they couldn’t pay their court fines. The city should have known better, the suit alleges, because a similar suit was filed against the nearby city of Gulfport, Mississippi 10 years ago. A similar suit was filed against the city of Jackson, Mississippi last week.

• When it comes to life events affecting your credit, millennials are more likely to understand how smaller events, like being late on your rent, are going to impact their credit score than something big, like getting married.

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