...high cost loans illegal. Mr. Hawkins said the compromise his panel drafted would let payday lenders perform their advertised service - provide residents emergency money to get out of a financial jam - while ensuring customers don't become "indentured...

...more fair than advertising and taking the lowest bid?" Mr. Smith asked. However, the county hasn't always advertised services it contracts. In February, it contracted its engineering services to an employee who had been working as county...