Diesel 5029 Norfolk Southern US Rail freight train. By Peter Alder (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Diesel 5029 Norfolk Southern US Rail freight train. By Peter Alder (Own work) [GFDL () or CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

These are some of the stories we’ve been following this week.

  • Hopeful EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program applicants are seeing their applications delayed while potential EB-5 projects are investigated over allegations of fraud.
  • In Texas, property taxes are outstripping household incomes. While median household income increased 26 percent from 2005 to 2014, county and city property taxes jumped 70 and 60 percent, respectively.
  • The chemical PFOA, used to make Teflon, has been found on more than 250 properties in New Hampshire. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich said that the contamination is even more widespread.
  • Cleveland could soon be joining Seattle in raising the local minimum wage to $15 an hour. However, unlike Seattle, Cleveland’s minimum wage would increase in January. Seattle is gradually increasing to $15 an hour.
  • A fourth lawsuit against DuPont is now being heard in court. The company is accused of dumping Perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as C8, into the Ohio River.