Oh, you forgot you had that bottle of shampoo in your carry-on? That’s a little woops. But three different people forgetting they had guns in their bags within two hours at the Atlanta airport? That’s what we call a Transportation Security Administration headache. Police say they arrested three people after discovering firearms in each person’s bag while they were trying to go through the security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. [More]
Government Policy
Makers Of Recalled Nap Nanny Sued By CPSC Following Deaths Of 5 Infants
By 12.5.12
In 2010, the death of an infant in a Nap Nanny baby recliner led to the recall of 30,000 of the devices. But since then, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has learned of additional fatalities and more than 70 potentially harmful incidents involving the Nap Nanny. [More]
Trader Joe’s Recalls Butter Chicken With Basmati Rice Meals
By 12.5.12
Have you bought a frozen meal from Trader Joe’s recently? Check your freezer, because a batch of their butter chicken meals, which are imported from Canada, have been recalled for possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria of nastiness.
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Report: Cops Want Wireless Carriers To Save Text Messages, You Know, Just In Case
By 12.4.12
That thing you texted to that person the other night which you deleted out of overwhelming shame the next day? Messages like that could be pored over in the future by cops if various law enforcement officials have their way. They’re reportedly asking Congress to make wireless carriers record and store customers’ private text messages for at least two years, in case police need that info for a future investigation. [More]
State Says Restaurant’s Church Bulletin Discount On Sundays Isn’t Discriminatory, But Needs Work
By 12.3.12
Is a promotion offering discounts to customers who bring in a “current church bulletin” discriminatory or unfair to people who aren’t religious? One Pennyslvania restaurant won’t remove or re-word their 10% off promotion for churchgoers, saying that it’s helped business on Sundays. It has, but it also got the attention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. [More]
FDA Replies To Lawsuit Over Food Regulation Deadlines: Slow Your Roll, We’re Working On It
By 12.3.12
Back in January 2011, the government signed a law that said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have to undertake an overhaul in food safety regulations, the first of its kind in about 70 years. Well, time’s been a-ticking and now a new lawsuit leveled at the agency claims the FDA has missed a bunch of deadlines required by the Food Safety Modernization Act. But the FDA says that’s not the case, it’s just that it’s a big job that it’ll take time. [More]
16 U.S. Cities Have Installed Special Traffic Lights Just For Bicyclists
By 12.3.12
For anyone who’s ever stopped confidently into a crosswalk only to have a bicyclist zip by and almost take off your nose, or for those on two wheels shaking a fist at that dang car that just cut you off, we’ve got some good news: American cities are becoming more European, and it has nothing to do with baguettes (mmm, bread). At least 16 U.S. cities now use special traffic lights installed just to direct bike traffic. [More]
FTC Shuts Down Robocall Scammers Pretending To Be FTC
By 12.3.12
This story is like the scene in a straight-to-DVD thriller where the protagonist needs to decide which of two seemingly identical characters, both of whom claim to be her real partner, to shoot dead. Except it’s not really anything like that because it involves robocalling, no one gets shot and it probably doesn’t star Judd Nelson. [More]
Processing Plant Behind Great Peanut Butter Recall Of 2012 Won’t Reopen Just Yet
By 12.3.12
The Great Peanut Butter Recall of 2012 began with a few voluntary recall notices on the shelves of Trader Joe’s, and has now escalated to the Food and Drug Administration making an unprecedented move to shut down the plant where the offending nut products were processed. [More]
Credit-Repair Scammers Hit With $7.4 Million Penalty, Continued To Break Law
By 11.30.12
I don’t know about you, but if I’m running a scammy business and get hit with a $7.4 million penalty from the federal government, I’m at least going to think twice about running the same scam again. And yet, a Florida couple completely disregarded court orders by continuing to sell people on their illegal credit-repair system. [More]
If No One Likes The Dollar Coin, Why Is The U.S. Government Trying To Push It So Hard?
By 11.30.12
Despite the fact that the American public seems to be pretty anti-dollar coin in the coin vs. bill debate, Congress is still fighting to push the $1 coin on the country, almost a year after the debate first began. We say fight, because as history has shown, the general population doesn’t mind chucking dollar coins in a jar but is definitely against waving goodbye to paper $1 bills forever. [More]
CFPB Warns Specialty Credit Reporting Agencies: You’ve Gotta Issue Free Annual Reports, Too
By 11.29.12
Oh, hey, specialty credit reporting companies. Whatcha doing? Just hanging out? That’s great. Listen, just an FYI, you need to be issuing free credit reports to your customers, too. Nope, it’s not just the three largest credit reporting companies, you’re all in the same boat. Our pals at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are here to remind you, in case you’d conveniently forgotten. [More]
FTC Warns Hotels That Hiding Resort Fees May Violate The Law
By 11.28.12
Have you ever booked a hotel room and then arrived to find that in addition to the room rate, you must also pay a “resort fee,” even if you have no intention of using the amenities the fee is intended to cover? The Federal Trade Commission thinks some hotel operators may be illegally hiding these fees in order to mislead consumers about their room rates. [More]
But Seriously, Folks: Joking That You Have Dynamite At An Airport Won’t Get A Laugh
By 11.27.12
Listen, we’re not trying to nag you or insult your intelligence. But somehow, even despite all our efforts and the fact that the average person has at least a modicum of common sense, people are still making jokes about having explosives at airports. To wit: A man visiting from Guatemala thought it’d be hilarious to tell Transportation Security Administration workers that he had dynamite in his luggage. Face, meet palm. [More]
CPSC Issues Safety Alert On Detergent Pods
By 11.20.12
A month after the Centers for Disease Control issued a report showing that nearly 500 kids had been exposed to the lovely cleansing chemicals by playing with or chewing on colorful, shiny detergent pods, the folks at the Consumer Product Safety Commission have issued a safety alert declaring them harmful to children. [More]
Flaming Lips Frontman Shuts Down Oklahoma City Airport With Inactive Grenade In His Luggage
By 11.20.12
All it takes is one eccentric band frontman with an inactive grenade to shut down an entire airport and you’ve got a headline. In this case it’s Flaming Lips wackadoodle (and I mean that in the most affectionate way) frontman Wayne Coyne, who caused a bit of a kerfuffle last week when Transportation Security Agents found a bit of tossable weaponry in his luggage. [More]
Regulators Ask Mortgage Marketers To Please Cut Down On The Lying In Their Ads
By 11.19.12
The 2011 Mortgage Acts and Practices Advertising Rule prohibit mortgage lenders and brokers from making misleading claims about government affiliation, interest rates, fees, costs, associated payments, and the amount of cash or credit available to the consumer. Shockingly, some folks just didn’t listen. [More]
Lawyer Who Took Out Annuities On The Dying Pleads Guilty 1 Week Into Trial
By 11.19.12 — Updated: 3.4.13
Depending on your point of view, Joseph Caramadre of Cranston, R.I. is either an opportunist who scammed the terminally ill, or a great philanthropist who found a win-win loophole and made last few months of the dying easier and more comfortable. The federal prosecutors who charged him with wire and mail fraud leaned toward the former. [More]
