New York

A John Jay College of Criminal Justice study found that New York sober homes, or residences for poor drug and alcohol addicts, are often unsanitary, dangerous and accept kickbacks from outpatient drug treatment programs to require their residences to attend those treatment programs, ProPublica reported today.

ProPublica also notes: "The report estimates that as many as 10,000 New Yorkers currently reside in three-quarter [or sober] houses. Residents are often former prisoners or recent patients of residential drug treatment programs. Most are unemployed and receive Medicaid. A little less than half have been homeless at one point in their lives."

A federal judge in New York has ruled the state's banking regulator can control the lending done to New York consumers by online lenders associated with sovereign American Indian tribes, the Washington Post reports. Loans are made by the lenders that violate state law, including on maximum interest rates. "Once states began introducing interest rate caps, some ... lenders began forging relationships with Native American groups to take advantage of their sovereign-nation status," the Post reports. The tribal plaintiffs argued the ruling undermines their sovereignty and their ability to be economically self-sufficient, the Post also reports.