Los Angeles is a city crawling with artists and graffiti vandals, and both sectors — as well as other folks who like to paint stuff for legitimate reasons — are big on buying spray paint. In order to keep closer tabs on the graffiti types, the L.A. City Council is proposing a law that would require anyone who buys spray paint to submit their address and identification so police can keep the information on file. [More]
L.A. City Councilman Proposes Making Spray Paint Buyers Provide Addresses, IDs
By September 9, 2011
Government Wants Organic Small-Batch Ice Cream Maker To Stop Making Organic Small-Batch Ice Cream
By August 15, 2011
Nice Cream is a small ice cream company in Chicago that does something strange and daring in the modern food landscape: they make and sell ice cream using only ingredients with names that ordinary people can pronounce. Ingredients such as “cream,” “eggs,” and “pie.” The tiny company was a classic recession success story: a laid-off teacher experiments at home with her Cuisinart ice cream maker, and with hard work and creativity creates a delicious product that’s eventually sold at Whole Foods. But the state of Illinois doesn’t really see it that way, and Nice Cream will have to shut down or make drastic changes to its products and process in order to stay legal. They’re first, and other small-batch ice cream makers could be next. [More]
1956 Ad Says Feed 7-Up To Babies
By June 28, 2011
This Seven-Up ad from a 1956 LIFE is simply amazing. Who needs mother’s milk when you have Seven-Up? [More]
Adding Calories To Menus Doesn't Affect Consumption, Study Says
By January 27, 2011
Though the move to require menus to sport calorie information was met with applause by health advocates, a new, limited, study of Taco Time restaurants in Seattle says they don’t change what people decide to eat. [More]
Calorie Count Rules Coming To Theaters, Airplanes, Convenience Stores, Supermarket Food Courts
By August 31, 2010
The FDA says the law that requires restaurant chains with more than 20 locations to post calorie counts also applies to other types of businesses, reports the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, movie theaters, airplanes, trains, food courts in grocery stores, and convenience stores are all considered chains and will soon have to start following the law. The agency hasn’t made up its mind yet whether things like salad bars in grocery stores will have to fall in line. The FDA will announce official guidelines in December. [More]
Public Menace? Las Vegas Wants To Ban Gigantic Hula Hoops
By August 9, 2010
We’ve never been to Las Vegas, but apparently there is a serious problem with giant hula hoops going on. According to AOL, the Las Vegas City Council is considering banning hula hooping on a five-block pedestrian mall called “The Fremont Street Experience.” (Warning: link is annoying.) [More]
Lawsuit Asks FDA To Regulate Sperm-Damaging Antimicrobial Soap Chemicals
By August 1, 2010
Thirty years ago, the FDA considered regulating two toxic chemicals that can damage reproductive organs, sperm quality, and hormone production. Rather than do something, the agency instead did nothing. Last week, the National Resources Defense Council sued the agency, asking them to finally finish the job and regulate the chemicals triclosan and triclocarban. [More]
Airlines May Be Forced To Treat You Like A Person
By June 3, 2010
Earlier this week, we got word that the Department of Transportation was considering requiring airlines to offer more cash to passengers that get bumped from flights. Turns out those rumors were true, and were just one piece of a package of changes proposed by the DOT. If the new regulations go into effect, airlines would be required to play straight about baggage fees and fare prices, would have to allow no-penalty cancellations within 24 hours of ticket purchases, and would have to add new contingency plans for long tarmac delays. [More]
USDA Tightens Chicken Rules
By May 11, 2010
Yesterday the USDA announced new poultry safety rules intended to slightly reduce the number of poisonings annually from salmonella and campylobacter. An agency official says that the new rules should prevent about 65,000 cases of food sickness a year, which is only a fraction of the over a million cases annually. However, most of the other food products that contribute to that number fall under FDA regulation, so the USDA can’t say anything. “This is something we can do, so we’re doing it,” the spokesman told the Los Angeles Times. [More]
FCC May Step In To Restore Net Neutrality
By May 6, 2010
Fighting back against a court ruling that found the FCC has no authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks, the commission has proposed regulating broadband under rules designed for phone networks, the Wall Street Journal reports. [More]
SEC Soaking Up To Their Eyeballs In Porn, Can't See Fraud
By April 23, 2010
ABCNews is reporting that “a new government report reveals that some high-level regulators have spent more time looking at porn than policing Wall Street.” It seems that the report, obtained by ABC News, says senior employees of the SEC spent hours on the commission’s computers looking at sites like naughty.com, skankwire, youporn, and others, thus clearly removing their only defense, the fact that “X” is right next to “C” on the keyboard. [More]
If An Airline Loses Your Luggage, Get Compensation
By April 5, 2010
The U.S. Department of Transportation says that despite what the airline tells you, there are certain regulations it must follow when it loses a passenger’s luggage. Here are the things to remember if you’re in this unfortunate situation. [More]
Continental Will Cancel Flights To Avoid Fines For Late Takeoffs
By March 9, 2010
Starting next month, airlines delayed over 3 hours where passengers can’t disembark will be fined a hefty $27,500 per passenger. Continental CEO Jeff Smisek said that to get around the fines, they’ll just cancel the whole flight entirely. See, you can’t fine a flight for not taking off on-time if the flight doesn’t exist anymore. [AP] (Thanks to Brandon!) [More]
Come September, Freecreditreport.com Must Come Clean In Ads
By March 2, 2010
If you really love those Freecreditreport.com commercials just the way they are, take this next half year to pause and reflect on what they mean to you, because in September, the Huffington Post reports, owner Experian will have to start telling people their side business isn’t the real way to get free annual credit reports from the government. We had this story last year, but in the wake of CARD act reforms, it bears repeating. [More]
Citibank Freaks Out Customers With Weird 7-Day Rule On Withdrawals, But It's Not As Devious As It Looks
By February 22, 2010
Some Citibank customers recently received notice that the bank reserved the right to require 7 days written notice before authorizing a withdrawal on checking accounts. (It’s also on page 23 of Citi’s Client Manual [PDF].) As you can imagine, this freaked some people out. A Citibank rep quickly moved to clarify the rule, and he pointed out that it’s actually required by federal law for certain types of accounts, and it’s not unique to Citibank, and they don’t intend to enforce it. [More]
Get Up To Speed On What The CARD Act Will Do To Credit Cards
By February 11, 2010
In just a little over a week, the CARD Act will go into effect, and a new set of rules will apply to credit card issuers. Here’s a great summary of what will change and what won’t, so you’ll know what to expect. For instance, did you know that cards issued to business entities rather than individuals are exempt? [More]
Watch Out For These Tricks After The CARD Act Kicks In Next Month
By January 25, 2010
The credit card reform bill will go into effect at the end of February, but that doesn’t mean you should stop paying attention to what your credit card company does with your account. There are lots and lots of loopholes, notes WalletPop. For example, your card issuer can still raise rates on future purchases any time and for any reason. In addition, there’s no limit to the number of fees that can be invented and applied to your account. The only way to make sure you don’t get screwed by a profit-hungry card issuer is to read every single thing that’s mailed to you, and closely review your statement for evidence of any changes that you may have missed. [More]
States To Consider Labeling Requirements For Printer Ink Cartridges
By January 11, 2010
At the National Conference on Weights and Measures later this month, some states are planning to talk about printer ink cartridge labeling and whether it should be more standardized. “It’s time to sort all of this out,” the Florida Weights & Measures chief told the Kansas City Star. Of course, printer companies aren’t about to go along with any changes quietly–Lexmark has already submitted a letter saying that displaying any information on the cartridges will only confuse consumers, because the cartridges are micro-machines and not just ink containers. [More]
