A grocery receipt was the first step. Not a dramatic hack, not a scandal, not a breach. A few too many digits of a customer’s credit card number were displayed on a slip of thermal paper that was printed at a Trader Joe’s in Florida in 2019. Brian Keim was that client. What he saw on that receipt ultimately led to a $7.4 million class action settlement that may now protect thousands of consumers nationwide. Although the complaint’s main point is rather technical, it is important. A particular provision of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA, states…
Author: Sierra Foster
Sierra Foster
Born in Kansas City, Sierra Foster writes about politics and serves as Senior Editor at kbsd6.com. She was raised paying attention to this city, not just living in it. Sierra has a strong, deep connection to Kansas City, from the neighborhoods east of Troost to the discussions that take place in the city hall halls. Sierra, who is presently enrolled at the University of Kansas to pursue a degree in Political Science, applies the rigor of academic study to her journalism. She writes about politics in Missouri and Kansas as someone who genuinely cares about what happens to the people in these communities—the policies that impact them, the leaders who represent them, and the civic forces influencing their futures—rather than as an outsider watching from a distance. Her editorial coverage encompasses state-level policy, local government, and the national political currents that permeate bi-state regional life. Whether it's a city council vote or a Senate race, she has a special gift for turning complex policy language into writing that feels urgent, relatable, and worthwhile. Sierra seldom sits still off the page. She claims that playing soccer on a regular basis has sharpened her instincts for political reporting because of the sport's teamwork, strategy, and requirement to read a changing game in real time. She's probably somewhere in Kansas City with her friends when she's not writing or on the pitch, discovering new reasons to adore a city she already knows so well.
Watching a company worth tens of billions of dollars struggle to explain why childlike sex dolls started to appear for sale on its platform is almost disorienting. Shein is currently facing accusations ranging from dishonest shipping practices to the kind of content moderation errors that keep regulators up at night, not just once, in one courtroom, but in several jurisdictions. Citing potential infractions of the Digital Services Act, the European Commission launched a formal investigation into Shein earlier this year. The issues are serious. Investigators are examining whether the platform’s systems effectively stop the sale of illicit goods, including what…
Winning a class action settlement and then learning you can’t really use the money is almost ridiculous. After receiving a $28.34 Tremendous prepaid Mastercard as part of a 2022 settlement payout, a man from New Jersey found himself in a situation similar to that. He entered Walmart. He gave McDonald’s a try. He made a stop at a nearby store. Each and every one of them rejected him. The card would just not be accepted at any physical register. A proposed class action lawsuit based on that story has been filed in a federal court in New Jersey. It raises…
It is rare for fifteen states to go to court together over a vaccination schedule. Public health does not typically operate that way. However, a subtle and swift change occurred in January, and the consequences are still being felt. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC’s decision to revoke the universally recommended status of seven childhood vaccines is at its core. No input from the public. No discussion using the conventional scientific methods. Public health officials nationwide claim that this policy change directly contradicts decades of medical evidence. Along with 14 other states, California co-led the…
Observing a company that claims that product safety is a “top priority” while selling 10,000 new clothing designs every day is almost ridiculous. Shein is in this predicament, and it is getting harder to ignore the discrepancy between its public claims and what independent researchers are actually discovering in its apparel. According to data released by Greenpeace Germany in November 2025, 18 out of 56 tested Shein clothing items had hazardous chemical levels higher than those allowed by the European Union. Not just a little bit. Extreme margins, in certain instances. Phthalates, plasticizers associated with reproductive disorders, and PFAS, the…
Finding out that a gadget in your kitchen might have been recording conversations it wasn’t supposed to hear is a little unsettling. Not in a conspiracy-theory, dramatic manner. Just in the ordinary, day-to-day sense that a product you trusted was sometimes acting against your wishes. That’s basically what’s at the heart of two significant Google settlements that are currently going through the legal system; if you used an Android phone or owned specific Google devices between 2016 and the present, you might be eligible for compensation. Google Assistant is involved in the first settlement. The assertion is fairly simple: Google…
A game that allows you to flip the board out of frustration and then just reverse it has a subtle genius to it. The two-person studio Berserk Games created Tabletop Simulator, which accomplishes just that. The dice tumble like they would on a real kitchen table, the cards shuffle with convincing weight, and the pieces fall realistically in this physics-based sandbox. However, nothing is genuine. And it turns out that’s not as important as you might think. The concept began modestly. One of the founders of Berserk Games, Jason Henry, studied engineering in college while also creating game mods. Kimiko,…
For the past few months, Shabana Mahmood has been living inside a certain type of political pressure that builds silently before exploding. The UK Home Secretary is getting ready to present an immigration bill that will annoy nearly everyone because it is too complicated for most people in the middle to understand, too soft for the right, and too hard for the left. Fundamentally, what she said is a useful concept. The Home Office intends to implement capped safe and legal routes that enable businesses, churches, universities, and community organizations to sponsor refugees entering the United Kingdom. It is based…
The state pension is meant to be straightforward. Pay in for a sufficient number of years, get to the appropriate age, and get your money. At least that’s the concept. In reality, the situation is more complicated, and for a surprisingly large number of people, there is a noticeable discrepancy between what they anticipate receiving and what actually ends up in their bank account. For 2025–2026, the entire new state pension is £230.25 per week, or about £11,973 annually. That figure is predicated on 35 years of eligible National Insurance contributions. Your payments will decrease proportionately if you miss that…
On British television, there was a Hardeep Singh Kohli that felt truly unique. A Glasgow-based Sikh man with a turban and a sardonic sense of humor appeared on Channel 4 documentaries and BBC panel shows, symbolizing a type of British experience that the media had long disregarded. It was difficult to ignore him, and for a time, being able to see him felt significant. Although Kohli was born in London in January 1969, his family moved to Glasgow when he was four years old. His parents were from Punjab in the 1960s; his father was a teacher who eventually accumulated…