Late last year it was revealed that the Dept. of Transportation was looking into possible problems with the batteries in electric vehicles after a Chevy Volt caught fire following a crash test. Now it looks like General Motors will spend the next few months upgrading the battery containment and coolant systems in every Volt currently on the road. [More]
Government Policy
New CFPB Chief: Consumers Need To Fully Understand Costs & Risks Of Borrowing
By 1.5.12
Only a day after being appointed — in the face of stalwart Senate Republicans — as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray took to YouTube to share his vision of the CFPB’s mission. [More]
Apple Doesn't Want You To Own An Eerily Lifelike Steve Jobs Action Figure
By 1.5.12
As much as you might be yearning to snuggle up at night with an action figure version of Steve Jobs that is creepily akin to the real person, Apple doesn’t want Jobs fans to get their hands on any such dolls. They’re reportedly planning to sue the makers of a new extremely lifelike figure of the late CEO. [More]
You Get Two Extra Days To File Your Taxes This Year
By 1.5.12
When April 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, as it does this year and did last year, the IRS cuts you a break and gives you until the next business day to file your taxes. That means tax procrastinators won’t have to file until April 17, giving them two extra, frantic days to delay the inevitable. [More]
FDA Bans "Extra-Label" Uses Of Popular Class Of Antibiotics On Farm Animals
By 1.4.12
For those of you who are concerned about the amount of antibiotics being given to the cows, chickens, pigs and turkeys that provide (or end up as) the food on your plate, here’s some good news. The Food and Drug Administration has announced a new regulation that prohibits “extra-label” uses of a popular class of antibiotics. [More]
Hospital CEO Thinks It's Perfectly OK To Show Patient's Records To Newspaper
By 1.4.12
Last January, a woman in California says she was billed by a hospital for a treatment she never received. She took her complaint to the folks at California Watch, who published a story about her predicament. But when a local newspaper went to verify the information, the hospital’s CEO had absolutely no problem showing up at the reporter’s door to rifle through that patient’s file without her permission. [More]
President To Just Go Ahead And Appoint Cordray As Financial Protection Chief
By 1.4.12
It’s been nearly six months since President Obama picked former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as his nominee to head the recently created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But with Senate Republicans continuing to block a vote on Cordray’s appointment, the President has decided to go ahead and use his authority to fill the position by making a recess appointment. [More]
Government Cracks Down On Swiss Bankers It Says Helped Hide $1.2 Billion
By 1.4.12
The government is sick of ultra-rich people hiding funds in Swiss bank accounts to lessen their tax burdens, so it’s gone after three bankers it accuses of responsibility for $1.2 billion worth of such shenanigans. Appropriately keeping with the anonymity of such accounts, the prosecutors didn’t name the bank at which the accused worked. [More]
TiVo Twists AT&T's Arm, Gets It To Cough Up $215 Million Patent Settlement
By 1.4.12
If TiVo is in the news in these days of its irrelevance, it’s usually because it’s won another massive settlement dispute with a company it accused of ripping off its tech. After getting $500 million from Dish Network last year, TiVo has now shaken down AT&T for $215 million. [More]
TSA Agent Confiscates Cupcake On Grounds That Its Delicious Frosting Could Be Explosive
By 1.3.12
We’ve known desserts to be so tasty they’re downright dangerous, but one TSA agent in Las Vegas took that idea very literally, confiscating a cupcake for the possibility that its icing could be explosive. [More]
Tests Show No Connection Between Enfamil Baby Formula & Child Deaths
By 1.3.12
Late last month, Walmart and a handful of other other retailers decided to pull certain lots of Enfamil powdered baby food formula from shelves following the death of an infant in Missouri who had recently consumed the product. But tests by authorities at the Enfamil plant now show no link between the formula and this child’s death. [More]
Should Smokers Have To Pay The Full Tax If They Roll Their Own Cigarettes?
By 1.3.12
Since state and local governments began slapping heavy taxes on cigarettes, a number of smokers have managed to pay less by buying loose tobacco and rolling their own. But as a growing number of stores have begun offering free-to-use roll-your-own machines that take the loose material and spit out a pile of smokes that look like they came straight out of the carton, some lawmakers are crying foul. [More]
Pepsi: Mountain Dew Can Dissolve A Mouse
By 1.3.12
Back in 2009, a man sued PepsiCo, saying he found a dead mouse in a can of Mountain Dew. Pepsi wanted to prove its innocence by suggesting its high-caffeine drink is so extreme that it would have dissolved the mouse carcass, rendering it a “jelly-like substance.” [More]
Venezuela Owes Exxon Almost $1 Billion For Nationalizing Oil Assets
By 1.2.12
In 2007, Venezuela nationalized its oil assets, violating contracts with oil giants such as Exxon. A Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce arbitration panel awarded $908 million to Exxon, and the outcome is being viewed as more of a victory for the country’s state oil company than the company. [More]
FCC Voices Concern Over Verizon Wireless Fee
By 12.30.11
Someone at the FCC must be a Verizon Wireless customer. The agency has just announced that it will look into the nation’s largest cell phone service provider’s plan to charge a $2/month fee to customers who don’t enroll in auto-pay or pay directly from their bank accounts. [More]
Court Says It's Fine That Telecommunications Companies Collaborated With Federal Wiretaps
By 12.30.11
A U.S. appeals court says it’s just fine that certain telecommunications companies cooperated with the National Security Agency by monitoring customers’ email and phones, upholding a 2008 law. This means they’ve got immunity, rendering 33 lawsuits against them ineffective. [More]
FDA Warns Doctors & Pharmacists Not To Mix Up Similarly Named Eye Drops & Wart Remover
By 12.29.11
It’s been almost a year since we brought you the story of the man who sued Walgreens for giving him Durasal wart remover instead of the Durezol eye drops his doctor had prescribed. Now the Food & Drug Administration has issued an alert to pharmacists and doctors to not make the same mistake. [More]
Chile's Supreme Court Orders Newspaper To Pay Up For Victims Of Exploding Churro Recipe
By 12.29.11
Seven years ago Chilean newspaper La Tercera made the mistake of printing a recipe for churros that ended up resulting in explosions of hot oil, injuring 13 readers. The case has finally been resolved by the country’s supreme court, which ruled that the paper must compensate the victims. [More]
