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    Hunter Stuart

    Hunter Stuart

    News Editor, The Huffington Post

  • Brian Williams Used Racial Stereotype To Dramatize Katrina Story

    Brian Williams has been accused of many things, but being racist has not been one of them. That story -- told over the years to various reporters, writers and others -- concerns the time Williams spent at the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, where he claims groups of dangerous men roamed the hallways with criminal intent. “Our hotel was overrun with gangs,” Williams told former "NBC Nightly News" managing editor Tom Brokaw in a video published by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in June 2014.

  • Companies Are Rethinking The Open Office, And It's About Time

    In 2012, when Ethan Giffin was designing a new office for his Baltimore startup, he wanted an open floor plan that would encourage communication among his employees. Although a majority of American workers go to offices with open floor plans (70 percent of us, according to the International Facilities Management Association), companies are beginning to acknowledge that this set-up isn’t always the best for getting work done. Without walls, there can be a lot of interruptions and distractions, making even the most diligent employee less productive.

  • Payday Lenders Are Using The Internet To Evade State Law

    Borrowing from any payday lender can be a risky endeavor. The pitfalls of borrowing from storefront payday lenders -- companies that offer short-term loans with high interest rates -- are already well-documented. Regulators and consumer groups have long warned such loans can trap people in vicious cycles of debt.

  • Did Boring Business Meetings Kill Barbie?

    Mattel Inc., which owns the iconic doll, has seen Barbie sales plummet 18 percent this year. Sales of other big Mattel brands have also fallen recently, including Hot Wheels and Fisher-Price, according to the company's financial statements. To explain the fall in popularity among once-desirable toys, Monday’s Wall Street Journal points to an unusual target: boring business meetings.

  • How We Outsourced CIA Torture And Why It Matters

    One big revelation in the explosive summary of the Senate report on CIA torture is just how much the U.S. government is outsourcing its dirty work. The 500-page report on CIA interrogation tactics, released last week, details shocking instances of waterboarding, forced rectal feedings and various other torture methods, in one case leading up to a detainee's death. It also includes a somewhat-overlooked statistic: Eighty-five percent of the interrogations completed as part of the CIA's covert program in the wake of 9/11 were conducted by private contractors, who were paid tens of millions of dollars for actions.

  • New York City Protests Eric Garner Decision

    New York City residents took to the streets on Wednesday after a grand jury said it would not bring charges in the death of Eric Garner, a Staten Island man who died in July after a police officer placed him in a chokehold. Garner, 43, was being arrested for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on July 17 when New York City Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in an illegal chokehold. The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide, but the grand jury said Wednesday it would not indict Pantaleo.

  • Wells Fargo Deliberately Pushed Dangerous Loans On Blacks, Hispanics: Lawsuit

    The suit alleges that Wells Fargo violated the Fair Housing Act, a federal law that prohibits race-based discrimination by mortgage lenders.

  • Your Credit Rating Might Predict How Likely It Is You'll Have A Heart Attack

    A new study has found that your credit rating may be able to predict how likely you are to have a heart attack or stroke.

  • Used Car Dealership Hit With $8 Million Fine For Allegedly Harassing Customers

    Elizabeth Warren's brainchild watchdog agency is cracking down for the first time on a used car dealer that also acted as an auto lender for allegedly harassing customers who were late on their payments. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, conceived by Sen. Warren (D. Mass.) during the financial crisis, fined Phoenix-based DriveTime Automotive Group, Inc., the country's largest "buy here, pay here" lender, $8 million on Wednesday. As part of a settlement agreement, DriveTime and its finance company, DT Acceptance Corporation, said they would change debt collection practices.

  • Oregon's Cheap Legal Weed Could Starve Washington's Market

    Could Oregon’s legal marijuana market starve Washington’s? Voters in Oregon decide on Tuesday whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana. If the measure passes, Oregon and Washington will boast the first shared border in the world of legal retail pot.

  • If You Had A Verizon Family Plan In The 2000s, There's Some Cash Coming Your Way

    Verizon agreed to a proposed settlement last week under which it would pay $64.2 million to settle claims that it overcharged customers who signed up for family plans. Family SharePlan customers were allegedly billed for in-network calls that were supposed to be free, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2006 in a New Jersey federal court. Customers with that plan were also allegedly billed more than the advertised rate for additional minutes they used over their monthly allowance.

  • Gas Hasn't Been This Cheap In Nearly Four Years

    At most of the nation’s gas stations (56 percent), the price of gas is now under $3 per gallon.

  • Americans Fear Hacking More Than Any Other Crime, Poll Finds

    The crime that Americans fear the most is having their credit card information stolen by hackers, according to a new poll. A Gallup survey published Monday found that 69 percent of U.S. residents worry “frequently” or “occasionally” about computer hackers stealing their credit card information from stores. Target, Neiman Marcus and Home Depot are among retailers that have recently experienced massive breaches.

  • Brooklyn Bowling Alley 'The Gutter' To Reopen After Ebola Cleanup

    The bowling alley used by a New York man the night before he was diagnosed with Ebola will reopen Friday, according to the New York Times. Williamsburg bowling alley The Gutter, shut down on Thursday as a "precautionary measure" while it worked with the New York Health Department to have the bar cleaned and sanitized, it said on its Facebook page. Although bowling alleys where people rent shoes and share balls are notorious incubators of germs, it's extremely unlikely that you can get Ebola from a bowling ball.

  • Tech Company Makes Gun That Could Help Prevent Police Brutality

    Police may soon start using electronic guns that can track how, when and where the weapons are used, which could lead to greater accountability in investigations of police shootings. The firearms technology company Yardarm Technologies has developed a new product that can record crucial information about when, where and how police officers use their firearms. This technology could be a welcome tool amid growing criticism of heavy-handed police tactics in the U.S., which were exemplified by the controversy around the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August.

  • WhatsApp CEO 'Deeply Sorry' For Assaulting Ex-Girlfriend In 1996

    Koum allegedly frightened her to the point that she would lock herself in the bathroom to hide from him.

  • Microsoft CEO Never Had To Ask For A Raise Or Promotion, Apparently

    Nadella never asked for a raise or promotion and somehow just got tapped to be CEO? Really?

  • Comcast Sued By Man Who Says He Lost Job After Complaining About Awful Customer Service

    A California man claimed earlier this year that a nightmare customer-service experience with Comcast caused him to lose his job. Conal O'Rourke, 50, filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Jose on Thursday accusing Comcast of, among other things, defamation, breach of contract and illegal disclosure of his personal information to his employer. The lawsuit follows a yearlong dispute between O'Rourke and Comcast over bad service.

  • 9 Reasons We Should Abolish Tipping, Once And For All

    Tipping pushes waiters into poverty, so let's stop doing it.

  • Walmart Is Planning To Abandon The Minimum Wage

    The latest sign that the tide is turning in favor of better pay for low-wage workers: Walmart's CEO on Wednesday announced the company's intention eventually to abandon the minimum wage. Walmart chief executive Douglas McMillon told reporters after an investor conference that the company plans to pay all of its workers at a rate higher than the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. "It is our intention over time that we will be in a situation where we don't pay minimum wage at all," McMillon said, according to multiple sources.