MONTANA — I (Kendall Hudson) looked at why investing can be several steps away for many workers, especially when rent, child care and keeping a car running take most of what they earn.

More than 140 companies just agreed on something. BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and Coinbase have all put their names behind a single new dollar-backed stablecoin called Open USD, or OUSD, according to reporting from late June 2026. Rivals who spend most of their lives competing for your wallet decided to build one together, and they did it on the same network behind the sol price people watch every day. 

Roughly $75 million in large-dollar donations poured into Missouri politics this year. That’s a lot of cash for an election year with no governor or U.S. Senate race. Where did all that money go? More than $42 million flowed to committees fighting over constitutional amendments, referendums and other ballot measures. Amendments 4 and 5, the […]

A new state law prohibits merchants from adding surcharges to debit card transactions, but critics say the ban actually benefits the banks and credit card companies that created the fees.  Supporters of Act 751, which took effect Aug. 1, have promoted the measure as a consumer protection law that bars merchants from imposing surcharges specifically […]

Voters will decide whether to upend campaign finance in Michigan when they head to the polls in November as outrage over money in politics intensifies pressure for reform. The ballot proposal is one of the most significant efforts to curb outside spending in state politics after a years-long stalemate in Lansing. If it passes, some […]

Washington state lawmakers this year approved spending nearly $20 million to ensure immigrants here could retain long-term care insurance coverage they’re set to lose under federal law.  Legislators and advocates thought that money would put the state on a path to cover nearly 1,200 lawfully present noncitizens. It turns out that it’ll only be enough […]