Department of Education investigators say that a DOE purchasing agent used his department-issued debit card to buy $55,000 of items—for himself. The Post reports that Cecil Darrell (who is now fired) bought "two handheld metal detectors favored by oddball beach trollers - at a price tag of more than $1,300" as well as a "Bose audio equipment and iPod speakers as well as camcorders, digital cameras and a total of 27 notebook computers between 2004 and 2007." The Daily News says Darrell also took flights to Florida and California with his wife—who is still a DOE employee—and paid to fly relatives from Guyana to NYC. The case is now with the Manhattan DA's office; the DOE tells the News it will be "implementing new procedures to control the use of procurement cards." more ›

We knew that retailers are desperate to boost their revenue, but this is ridiculous: According to the Staten Island Advance, for customers who used debit cards when shopping at Macys, "A computer glitch may have caused multiple debits to some customers' checking accounts on Dec. 20 from 1 to 2:45 p.m. in Macy's Central and East divisions." And, yes, that affects NYC-area locations. Macy's says the problem has been corrected and that it is working with customers' bank to fix the situation, but it may take a few days. So, in the mean time, anyone "affected by the glitch should fax their bank statements to Macy's at 513-573-2433. Write 'Attention Third Party Credit' on the bill, and block out the account number on the statement before faxing it. And in other news, some clothing makers are disputing with Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue over the huge discounts they offered during the holidays; usually vendors compensate retailers for discounts, but this year has been unusual. more ›