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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Voters Decision on Payday Lending Applauded

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Thursday, November 6, 2008   

Columbus, OH – Those who fought hard for Issue 5 are celebrating their victory. Advocates are delighted Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved the measure to keep caps on short-term loans. AARP was a leader in the Coalition for Responsible Lending, and spokesman Bill Sundermeyer says they fought an uphill battle in the campaign.

"Our total amount of money was less than $350,000. The payday lenders spent a little more than $22 million dollars."

Sundermeyer says before this measure, lenders were charging interest as high as 391 percent on loans.

"Under Issue 5, they can only make 28 percent profit on their money that they loan out, as compared to 391 percent. The credit card companies, for instance, have been living with that for many, many years."

Opponents of Issue 5 argued it would endanger financial privacy records of individuals and leave consumers with fewer financial tools during tough times. They also warned the measure would drive payday lending companies out of Ohio, but Sundermeyer says many lenders already are filing for certification to continue under the new statute.

"While they said on the one hand that it's going to eliminate jobs, well over 90 percent of them are already planning to continue their operation and operate under the law that was passed."

Eighty-seven of Ohio's 88 counties supported the measure.






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