A federal grand jury has indicted the co-owners and two employees of the California slaughterhouse at the center of a massive beef recall earlier this year, and we’re now getting a better idea about how the plant allegedly got away with processing “diseased and unsound animals” that were “unfit for human food.” [More]
Government Policy
3 Myths Comcast Is Telling The FCC About TWC Merger
By 8.15.14
Comcast has been justifiably criticized for blatantly trying to curry favor with the FCC by trying to spend $110,000 to sponsor a fundraiser honoring FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, but while the Kabletown Krew shrugged off those allegations, Comcast EVP David “The Merger Whisperer” Cohen was meeting with the FCC to push the company’s slate of semi-truths about its pending acquisition of Time Warner Cable. [More]
Most U.S. $100 Bills Are Not In The United States Right Now
By 8.15.14
$100 bills: what are they good for? Most Americans don’t use them, some stores won’t accept them, and their untraceability makes them tempting to steal. What you may not realize, though, is that two-thirds of all United States $100 bills aren’t in circulation in the United States. Instead, they’re the currency of choice in places where people have no faith in their own country’s government and the money it prints. [More]
USDA Bans Imports Of Young, Sick Puppies
By 8.15.14
First of all, let’s all look at those puppies there on the left. Don’t they look like they’re from a really adorable puppy version of The Shining? Maybe The Barking? Anyway, those puppies* are unrelated to this story: The United States Department of Agriculture has a new rule banning the importation of puppies that are too young or sickly to be coming into the country. [More]
Ford Recalls 83,000 Vehicles Because Losing Power Or Rolling Away Isn’t A Perk
By 8.15.14
Another day, another round of cars that might roll away even if they appear to be in the “park” position. This time Ford is recalling more than 83,000 vehicles because a faulty part could cause them to lose power to roll away. [More]
Comcast Decides To Not Spend $110K On Party For FCC Commissioner
By 8.14.14
Comcast — no stranger to lining the pockets of those who can help the company get what it wants (or rewarding them afterward with high-paying jobs) — was befuddled earlier this week when it and Time Warner Cable were heavily criticized for plunking down a total of $132,000 to sponsor a dinner honoring FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn… who just happens to be in the process of reviewing the two companies’ pending merger. Realizing that maybe this might look like something just short of bribery, the cable giants have decided to pull their money — sort of. [More]
Sketchy Retailer Caught Scamming Servicemembers With Pointless Fees
By 8.14.14
A discount retailer that came under fire last month for its questionable lending and marketing practices received a slap on the wrist from federal regulators for allegedly tricking thousands of servicemembers into paying fees for legal protections they already had and for certain services that the company failed to provide. [More]
Founder Of One Laptop Per Child: Maybe Net Neutrality Isn’t Such A Good Idea After All
By 8.14.14
The FCC is still working through the public comments about their current net neutrality proposal, and it will be many months still before any final rule is made. But one industry veteran, with over four decades of experience in defining the digital world, suggests that maybe we want to slow down and rethink this a bit. What if, he suggests, true net neutrality isn’t actually everything we think it’s cracked up to be? [More]
CFPB Orders Online Mortgage Lender To Pay $19.3 Million For Bait-And-Switch Scheme
By 8.14.14
Business wasn’t exactly booming for mortgage lenders after the great recession and housing market slump, but that doesn’t mean they had the right to mislead consumers just to make a few (million) bucks. One company that allegedly did just that must repay million of dollars to customers it wronged. [More]
Land Rover Recalls 40,000 Luxury SUVs For Passenger Airbag Issues
By 8.13.14
Safety is a priority for car manufacturers, if it wasn’t there likely wouldn’t be recalls at all. But since it is, the recalls keep coming, this time in the form of 40,000 Jaguar Land Rover luxury SUVs with potentially malfunctioning passenger airbags. [More]
CFPB: Bitcoin, Dogecoin And Other Virtual Currencies Like “Wild West,” Now Accepting Complaints
By 8.12.14
Most financial investments come with significant risks and uncertainties. The mostly unregulated world of virtual currency is no different and U.S. regulators are warning consumers of a “Wild West” environment where there may be little to no recourse should things go south with their digital wallets. [More]
Your Wrapped Meat Leaks Bacteria-Laden Juice Everywhere
By 8.11.14
The poultry that you buy at the grocery store is securely wrapped up specifically so consumers don’t spread traces of chicken juice on everything that they touch, right? Well… about that. For a new study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the government agency in charge of making sure that our meat doesn’t kill us, scientists followed shoppers around and checked surfaces that they touched for poultry proteins. Guess what they found? [More]
GM Recalls 269,001 Saturns, Chevrolets, Cadillacs, Buicks, And Pontiacs
By 8.8.14
Well, it’s the end of business on a Friday afternoon, so that means it must be time for another General Motors recall! As part of their apparent effort to recall every GM vehicle on the roads at least once, this afternoon the company announced the recall of 202,115 cars from current brands Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet, and from defunct brands Saturn and Pontiac. [More]
Verizon’s “All Kids Do It” Excuse For Throttling Isn’t Good Enough For FCC Chair
By 8.8.14
First, Verizon announced it would start throttling LTE users who devour the most data, but only those with grandfathered-in unlimited plans. Then FCC Chair Tom Wheeler said he was “deeply troubled” that Verizon may be trying to force users into more expensive plans under the guise of “network optimization.” Verizon tried to get Wheeler to back off with its “everyone’s doing it” defense, but that didn’t seem to work. [More]
NFL Threatens To Put Games On Cable If Blackout Rules Are Eliminated
By 8.8.14
Last fall, the FCC announced that it would look into whether or not it was time to eliminate blackout rules affecting local sports broadcasts of games that weren’t sold out. Since most MLB, NBA, and NHL teams have moved their broadcasts to regional sports channels and away from over-the-air TV, the only league that would be realistically impacted by the elimination of these decades’ old rules is the NFL, which recently told the FCC that it will pick up its ball and go to pay-TV if it can’t be allowed to black out games anymore. [More]
Hyundai Fined $17.35M For Failing To Issue Brake Recall For More Than A Year
By 8.8.14
If we’ve learned anything this year it’s that vehicle recalls are a big deal, and, as a car manufacturer, ignoring signs of a recall will most certainly land you in hot water with U.S. regulators. And so, Hyundai will pay more than $17 million for delaying a recall related to defective brakes. [More]
GM Advising Owners Of 182K Recalled SUVs To Park Outside Until Fire Hazard Fixed
By 8.8.14
Back on June 30, General Motors issued six separate recalls totaling more than 7.5 million vehicles in just the U.S. One of those recalls involved around 182,000 SUVs that were at risk for a fire because of overheating power window switches. It was the third time that GM had recalled these particular vehicles for this problem and it still isn’t fixed. Now the car maker is notifying owners to keep affected SUVs parked outside until the defect is repaired. [More]
FDA Warns Consumers, Tattoo Parlors To Be On The Lookout For Contaminated Ink
By 8.7.14
Not all tattoo ink is created equal. Some brands come in a variety of colors, and apparently others come with loads of bacteria that can cause painful skin infections. [More]
