SWEEPSTAKES GET SENATE SCRUTINY

The official-looking envelope in the mailbox says you're a finalist in a well-known sweepstakes. Instructions on how to claim your prize are inside. Who wouldn't rip open the envelope to see how big the check will be?

Then you remember you didn't enter the sweepstakes. So how can you be a finalist?

Good question, say outraged members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in Washington. The subcommittee has had sweepstakes executives answering questions about how they run their giveaways and listening to regular Americans tell their tales of woe about the deceptive and misleading sweepstakes propaganda that regularly floods the Postal Service.

It's all in the fine print, of course. But the sweepstakes companies depend on the big print. If the Senate finds a way to even things out for the consuming public, it will be a great service.