Domestic Glance
Dollar General, the retail giant that promises “convenience, quality brands and low prices”, has agreed to pay at least $15m to settle claims that it overcharged customers at many of its 20,000 US stores.
The settlement resolves lawsuits in multiple states alleging that shoppers at the dollar-store chain often see one price on the shelf but pay a higher price at the register. Customers anywhere in the US may be eligible for repayments.
It is the second settlement Dollar General has signed this month. The company also agreed to pay the state of Pennsylvania $1.55m to resolve similar allegations.
The claims in the consumer lawsuits and the state investigation mirrored the findings of a 3 December Guardian investigation, which revealed that Dollar General stores have failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states since January 2022. Many of the stores are located in rural towns and low-income urban neighborhoods with limited retail.
The five lawsuits that sparked the national settlement targeted the company’s operations in New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and South Carolina. They include two cases in New Jersey, one in state court and one in federal court. The suit involving the company’s practices in South Carolina was filed in Tennessee, where Dollar General is headquartered.
After a 137-year struggle, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has finally received full federal recognition from the U.S. government.
A former law enforcement officer in Tennessee is suing his county and sheriff after he was jailed for more than a month for posting a meme on Facebook related to the 10 September assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his immediate family and others on board a business jet were killed after the plane crashed and burst into flames in western North Carolina on Thursday, Dec. 18, according to the family members of the people on board and NASCAR.
The US government admitted Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration and the army played a role in causing the collision in January between an airliner and a Black Hawk helicopter near the nation’s capital, killing 67 people in the deadliest crash on American soil in more than two decades.
Rob and Michele Reiner's children are breaking their silence following the couple's killing.
Authorities said on Dec. 16 that they launched a homicide investigation after a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was fatally shot at his home.
