Urban News

(NEW YORK) -- The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs has filed a lawsuit claiming that H&R Block employs deceptive advertising techniques and misleads consumers about the true nature of loans that the tax preparation company makes against anticipated tax refunds.

The suit was filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on March 12. It was first reported last week in Newsday. It accuses the company of running ads that do not spell out the interest rates that H&R Block charges on the loans.

According to the filing, the interest rate exceeds 50 percent in some cases. The lawsuit accuses the company of putting the interest rate information in such small print that it violates city rules that require such information to be conspicuous.

John Radziejewski, a spokesman for the Consumer Affairs Department, told The New York Times that officials "dissuade consumers from using these types of loans because the interest rates are exorbitantly high." He said H&R Block's ads don't make it clear whether tax filers are getting rapid refunds or loans at interest rates that might come as a surprise.

H&R Block issued a statement from its headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., calling the lawsuit unnecessary.

"The company has acted in good faith over the last several months in trying to reach a settlement regarding the alleged violations," said the statement. "Our efforts have been virtually ignored by D.C.A."

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- Cherry trees are in full bloom in the nation's capital, and tourism officials are relieved that people are coming to see the spectacle -- a little more than six months after the terrorist attacks in New York and the Washington, D.C.-area sent the travel and tourism industries into an economic dive.

The Washington Post reports that, halfway through the two-week cherry blossom festival, officials say attendance is about the same as -- or possibly a little better than -- last year's turnout. Ticketed events are sold out, and several hotels report they are doing capacity business.

Donna Thompson -- a desk clerk at a hotel in Alexandria who is acting as a volunteer tour guide outside the Jefferson Memorial -- told the paper she's heard a lot of visitors say they're going to go where they want to go and do what they want to do, and they're not going to let terrorism deter them.

"On the shuttle to the airport," said Thompson, "I've heard people say they aren't afraid to fly and Osama bin Laden can't dictate to them."

Nancy Schlagenhauf told the Post the Sept. 11 attack is one of the main reasons why she made the trip from Milwaukee to see Washington with her family.

"It's important to see this, especially after what happened Sept. 11," she said. "I want my kids to see it, with all it stands for. Our freedom, really."

The Schlagenhaufs said they intended to drive past the Pentagon, in particular.

(LOS ANGELES) -- According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, a 40-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, who had been one of its highest-ranking officials until his retirement recently, is being investigated in connection with real estate transactions that authorities believe may have been used to launder money from a major cocaine ring headed by his son.

The paper reported that Maurice Moore, 66, retired as deputy chief in January, as investigators from the LAPD and the FBI examined his financial ties to Kevin Moore, his son and a convicted cocaine trafficker.

Maurice Moore, through his attorney, denied any wrongdoing.

The Times said LAPD investigators have been looking at allegations involving Moore for more than a year. Moore, described as a longtime friend and special assistant to Police Chief Bernard Parks, was permitted to keep his job during that time.

Parks refused to discuss the specifics of the case, but issued a brief formal statement.

"At the conclusion (of the investigation)," said Parks, "we will determine if there's anything he is culpable of."

The Times reported that investigators are looking into at least two real estate deals involving Maurice Moore to determine whether he tried to hide assets generated by his son's Detroit-based cocaine dealing.

(CHICAGO) -- Chicago public school officials are trying to get state lawmakers to pass legislation that would exempt them from a federal mandate to let families pull students out of failing schools and send them to better schools.

According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, the mandate -- part of the education law President Bush signed in January -- requires districts to provide busing beginning this fall, to carry students to better-performing schools. It also requires the district to offer private tutoring to students who stay in failing schools.

In Chicago, the paper reported, students in 309 of the system's 596 schools could try to take advantage of that provision of the law, because their schools qualify as failures under provisions of federal law.

Chicago school officials want state lawmakers to pass legislation that would, in effect, leave only about 100 schools open to students from failing schools. Officials say the point of the proposed legislation is to preserve order at successful schools, prevent racial resegregation in the district's diverse magnet schools, and head off the need to overcrowd classrooms or conduct classes in portable classrooms.