Career News 24/7: Ferguson Sued Over 'Debtors Prisons' (Newser Nine at Nine)

Monday, February 9, 2015

Ferguson Sued Over 'Debtors Prisons' (Newser Nine at Nine)

The nine most recent stories, in your inbox bright and early.

Ferguson Sued Over 'Debtors Prisons'

(Newser) - Debtors prisons vanished from most of the US in the 1830s, but Ferguson, Mo., is still routinely locking up people who can't afford to pay fines, according to a group of civil rights lawyers suing the city. A pair of lawsuits accuses Ferguson and Jennings, another St. Louis suburb,... More »

Kanye: I Wasn't Kidding About Beck's Win

(Newser) - After Beck's surprise Album of the Year win last night at the Grammys, Kanye West stormed the stage and appeared to almost interrupt Beck as he took the mic—and the Internet laughed, assuming West was making a joking reference to the 2009 VMAs when he told Taylor Swift,... More »

Neil Armstrong Brought Back 'Purse' From the Moon

(Newser) - After Neil Armstrong's death, his widow, Carol, found something unexpected in a closet: A white bag full of parts from the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle. The spacecraft parts were originally thought to have been left on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the New York Daily News... More »

New Storm Could Leave 80-Inch Snow Piles in Mass.

(Newser) - Just what Massachusetts needs: more snow . Given the amount of the stuff that's already on the ground, the latest accumulation—which marks the third snowstorm in two weeks—could leave piles as high as 80 inches in some areas of the state, the Boston Globe reports. By tomorrow morning,... More »

Feds Aiming Crackdown at 'Chameleon' Lenders

(Newser) - Payday loans can lead to what one borrower describes to the New York Times as a "black hole," with one high-interest short-term loan leading to another as borrowers struggle to repay the money. While state laws have targeted the problem, federal agencies have stayed out of the matter—... More »

China Executes Mining Tycoon

(Newser) - A former mining tycoon who led a mafia-style crime gang that ran casinos and killed rivals has been executed along with four of the gang's members, a court in central China said today. Liu Han had been chairman of energy conglomerate Sichuan Hanlong Group in the southwestern province of... More »

Mom Denies Abandoning Down Syndrome Baby

(Newser) - An Armenian woman whose husband made headlines with his refusal to give up their newborn with Down syndrome disputes his version of events—though she admits she had to make "the most ruthless decision in my life" hours after baby Leo was born. In a Facebook post , Ruzan Badalyan... More »

Guy Tries to Stop Robbery, Gets Charged With Felony

(Newser) - A man who tried to stop a robbery in a Wisconsin bar has been charged with a felony because he wasn't supposed to be carrying the Taser he allegedly threatened the suspect with. According to WKBT-TV , Jeff Steele was at the King's Korner bar in La Crosse just... More »

Huge Leak Exposes Bank's Tax-Dodging Secrets

(Newser) - Herve Falciani may not be a household name, but he has done to banking giant HSBC what Edward Snowden did to the NSA. A huge cache of files the IT expert obtained in 2007 has revealed how HSBC's Swiss arm not only held secret accounts for some of the... More »