Drug giant Pfizer will have to squirt out $60 million in order to settle allegations from the feds that it bribed foreign companies, violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids companies from making deals by paying off foreign officials. [More]
Government Policy
Anti-TSA Complaints At All-Time Low
By 11.18.11
Even as there has been growing concern about full-body scanners and grope-y pat downs at airport security checkpoints, the actual number of complaints against the Transportation Security Administration hit an all-time low last month. [More]
Name Change On A Car Loan Completely Confuses Chase
By 11.18.11
Every day, people in America get married. Some of them change their last names. Evidently, though, no one in the history of Chase Bank has ever done this while they were in the middle of paying off their car loan. See, until the loan is paid, the bank has a lien on your car’s title. If you want to change the name on your car title and the loan hasn’t been paid off yet, Chase won’t let that happen. This isn’t a problem unless you have to move and register your car in a different state after your name change but before the car is paid off. That’s what happened to Michael’s wife, and how she ended up in a loop of bureaucracy sending them back and forth from Chase to the Maryland Vehicle Administration. [More]
California City Threatens Legal Action Against Residents With Fake Grass Lawns
By 11.17.11
Three months ago, the city of Glendale, CA, approved a ban on the use of artificial grass on residents’ front yards — and now authorities plan to go after folks who haven’t ripped up their faux greenery and replaced it with the real thing. [More]
White House Wants Your Car To Get 54.5 MPG By 2025
By 11.16.11
Earlier today, the White House — along with the EPA and DOT — formally announced their proposal to improve fuel economy over the next decade and a half, with the goal of achieving fuel efficiencies equivalent to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. [More]
Judge Rips Into U.S. Bank For Taking Bailout Money But Denying Mortgage Modifications
By 11.16.11
A judge in Georgia is quickly becoming an internet folk hero after he publicly slammed U.S. Bank for taking billions in government bailout money and all the while refusing mortgage modifications for homeowners in need of help. [More]
The Stop Online Piracy Act Goes Too Far & Could Hurt Consumers
By 11.15.11
In advance of Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act, a coalition of national consumer groups has reached out to the committee to urge them to stop this legislation, which they believe is too far-reaching and could end up hurting the consumers it intends to protect. [More]
UK City Forcing Taxi Drivers To Record All Passengers
By 11.15.11
You’re probably familiar with the long-running HBO special “Taxicab Confessions,” in which cab passengers –often under the influence of some sort of intoxicant — open their hearts, minds, and sometimes their blouses to drivers of taxis rigged with multiple hidden cameras. Now the UK city of Oxford is turning its entire fleet of cabs into rolling recording devices. [More]
Skechers Prepping For Possible FTC Settlement Over Shape-Up Ads
By 11.15.11
In September, when we figured out that the Federal Trade Commission was about to announce a mammoth settlement with a major shoe company over deceptive “toning shoe” ads, we guessed it was either Reebok or Skechers. Well, we were right about Reebok and it looks like Skechers is preparing for the possibility that it could end up paying out millions to the FTC. [More]
TSA Warns Passengers: Wrapped Gifts May Need To Be Unwrapped
By 11.14.11
If you have to fly this holiday season and you were planning on wrapping any presents before you get on the plane, the folks at the TSA have issued their annual word of caution on the matter: They may need to unwrap those carefully packed gifts. [More]
Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Health Care Reform Case
By 11.14.11
We all knew this was going to happen; it was just a matter of when. Today, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the appeals in the case to strike down — at least in part — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [More]
Layaway Can End Up Costing More Than A Credit Card, Senator Schumer Warns
By 11.14.11
Retailers are trying to push layaway this holiday season as a way to buy stuff you don’t immediately have the money for. For people without available credit, this can be a way to eventually get what they can’t afford now. But NY Sen. Chuck Schumer is warning that layaway fees can add up to be a much higher interest rate than any credit card would be allowed to charge. [More]
Apple Will Replace First-Gen iPod Nanos For Overheating Risks
By 11.14.11
If you have an iPod nano sold between Sep ’05 and Dec ’06, you could be eligible for a replacement under a new worldwide recall issued by Apple to deal with battery heating issues. [More]
Report: Insider Trading Is Illegal Unless You're A Congressman
By 11.14.11
Thanks to a loophole in federal law, those elected to Congress are allowed to use inside information to buy and sell stock. Some allegedly take advantage of the information for personal gain. [More]
100,000 "Atlas Shrugged" DVDs Recalled
By 11.11.11
100,000 “Atlas Shrugged” DVDs have been recalled for an important danger they posed to unwary consumers: the title sheet suggested that viewers help someone out besides themselves. [More]
NHTSA Investigating Electric Vehicle Batteries Following Chevy Volt Fire
By 11.11.11
As mass-produced plug-in electric vehicles continue to roll off assembly lines, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is taking a closer look at the batteries that power these cars following an incident in which a Chevy Volt caught fire three weeks after undergoing a NHTSA side-impact crash test. [More]
Do Not Call 911 Five Times About Your Broken iPhone
By 11.11.11
911 emergency services are a very helpful community resource, but they have their limits. They cannot, for example, deliver you a pizza. Or transfer you to AppleCare when your iPhone doesn’t work. That didn’t stop a man in Illinois from doing the latter…and then getting arrested for it. [More]
FDA Threatens Stores That Sell Tobacco To Kids
By 11.11.11
The Food and Drug Administration is going after businesses suspected of selling cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to minors, sending out letters to 1,200 stores and threatening eventual fines if they fail to comply with the law. The FDA says it has conducted 27,500 inspections to make sure retailers aren’t violating restrictions on such activities as setting up cigarette vending machines, selling cigarettes and failing to check IDs. [More]
