skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Money Magazine Names a Utah "Hero"

play audio
Play

Monday, July 14, 2014   

SALT LAKE CITY – Money magazine is naming a Utah man one of its 50 Heroes in 50 States for his work on predatory lending issues.

Art Sutherland, a retired aerospace engineer who lives in Sandy, has worked with city council members and state lawmakers for several years to enact laws and policies that limit payday lenders.

Sutherland pursues his mission as a volunteer with the Coalition of Religious Communities. He says for the customer, borrowing from a payday lender means huge interest rates.

"Well, the interest rates on an APR basis typical in the State of Utah is about 400 percent,” he points out. “And the charges run, I guess that would be about $15 per $100 borrowed."

Sutherland says nearly every municipality in the Salt Lake City area now limits the number of payday lenders that can set up shop.

He adds the Utah State Legislature passed a recent law that allows consumers to repay loans from payday lenders interest-free, under certain circumstances.

Sutherland says payday lenders tend to target those living at the bottom of the economic ladder who often enter a cycle of borrowing money they cannot repay.

"They can go right down the street and borrow from another lender, and the first lender won't know about it because there's no record kept, no central database, about how many people or how many loans they have out simultaneously," he explains.

Sutherland says he is flattered by the recognition from Money magazine, but stresses that changes in how Utah treats predatory lenders resulted from the work of many people.

In addition to his work with the Coalition of Religious Communities, Sutherland also volunteers for AARP Utah.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021