Woodstock Institute is back to the business of advancing economic security and community prosperity after celebrating the holidays with our loved ones. Here are some stories on dangerous medical testing, shoring up the US Postal Service, subprime lending and the foreclosure crisis, the (surprisingly) long struggle to cap payday loan rates, and more that sparked the interest of our staff while we were out:

Deadly Medicine (Vanity Fair)—A worrisome investigation of whether the increasingly popular trend of outsourcing medical trials to countries with lax regulation could be putting our health in danger. —Katie Buitrago, Policy and Communications Associate

The Postman Always Pings Twice (New York Times)—The United States Postal Service is losing money. Could they make it up by having their trucks perform double-duty as air-quality or weather monitors? —Sarah Duda, Research and Project Associate

Quick Cash: The Story of the Loan Shark – The how and why of payday lending in Chicago, and an insightful historical record documenting the 100 year struggle against triple digit interest rates throughout Illinois.  –Tom Feltner, Vice President

Foreclosed: High-Risk Lending, Deregulation, and the Undermining of America's Mortgage Market—Former Woodstock Institute staffer Dan Immergluck explores how irresponsible subprime lending and regulatory failure led to the housing crisis. —Dory Rand, President

American English Dialects Map – A extraordinarily comprehensive map of dialects in the US that includes audio samples. —Geoff Smith, Senior Vice President

Comments (0)