With Starbucks finding itself in the crosshairs of a debate between gun control and firearms rights advocates, one would think that the CEO of the company would understand whether or not customers were allowed to carry loaded guns into his stores. One would be wrong. [More]
Government Policy
Californians To Vote On Marijuana Legalization
By 3.25.10
Forget New York’s proposal to raise the tax on cigarettes by $1 — California lawmakers have a much cloudier political situation on their hands. Election officials confirmed yesterday that voters will get the chance to say yea or nay to legalizing and taxing marijuana in their state. [More]
Kmart Settles Age Discrimination Suit For $120K
By 3.25.10
Kmart has agreed to a $120,000 settlement in an age discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee at one of their stores in Hawaii. [More]
POLL: Do You Really Need To Get Mail On Saturday?
By 3.24.10
The USPS got one step closer to their goal of eliminating Saturday delivery with the Postmaster General earning approval to take their proposal to the Postal Regulatory Committee next week. If they ultimately get the PRC and Congress to sign off, that would be the end to 6-day service. But will it matter to you if you don’t get your mail on Saturdays? [More]
1 Million Infantino Slings Recalled After 3 Babies Suffocate
By 3.24.10
The CPSC announced today that the The Infantino “SlingRider,”– a soft fabric baby carrier with a padded shoulder strap — has been recalled after three reports of deaths that occurred in these slings in 2009; a 7-week-old infant in Philadelphia, Pa.; a 6-day-old infant in Salem, Ore.; and a 3-month-old infant in Cincinnati, Ohio. [More]
Two Women Sue Groceries After Slipping On Runaway Grapes
By 3.24.10
In one of the odder coincidences in food-related lawsuit history, two separate Chicago-area women each filed suits against two separate grocery stores this week… for slipping and falling on runaway grapes. [More]
Fed Makes Sure Gift Cards Are Still A Bad Deal
By 3.24.10
When the CARD Act went into effect in February, it also included new rules designed to limit some of the more egregious practices of gift-card issuers, like early expiration dates and “dormancy” fees. However, Congress put the Federal Reserve in charge of interpreting the new law, and yesterday the agency unwrapped its new collection of rules. Is it too late to return this one? [More]
Health Care Reform Is Also Tax Reform: Here Are Some Changes
By 3.24.10
Kiplinger tracked down the tax implications of the health care reform bill Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday. [More]
NY State Considering $1/Pack Increase To Cigarette Tax
By 3.24.10
After the failure to pass a tax on high-calorie beverages in NY state, the state assembly has once again turned to the idea of taxing cigarettes for increased revenue. [More]
Pay Czar Cuts Exec Pay 15% At AIG, GM And Others
By 3.24.10
Kenneth Feinberg, better known as the Obama administration’s pay czar, announced yesterday that he’d cut salaries on top executives at 5 companies that are still using bailout cash. [More]
TJX Hacker May Have Also Been Working For The Secret Service For $75,000 A Year
By 3.23.10
Albert Gonzalez, the mastermind behind most of the multi-million dollar credit card breaches in the past few years, is being sentenced this week. (Feds are asking for 25 years.) Now his former accomplice, Stephen Watt, has told Wired that while Gonzalez was busy stealing and selling credit card data he was also being paid under the table by the U.S. Secret Service to inform on others, earning as much as $75,000 in cash annually. [More]
Document Shows Toyota Knew Of Camry Acceleration Issues In 2002
By 3.23.10
A newly uncovered document shows that Toyota alerted dealers to complaints from some drivers of 2002 Camrys about “surging during light throttle input at speeds between 38-42 mph” and that the resolution to the issue is an electronic, not mechanical issue. [More]
Grok Health Care Reform With This Comic
By 3.23.10
This graphic by Heather at Image Think does a pretty good job of explaining the major features and changes of the health care bill that Obama is set to sign on Tuesday.
For Consumers, Clarity on Health Care Changes [Image Think via Jodi Beggs]
62 DFAS Employees To Be Terminated For Bad Credit
By 3.22.10
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), a military payroll facility in Ohio, has told at least 62 of its employees that they will be terminated for having bad credit, reports WKYC. Troy Marshall, a 17-year veteran at the DFAS and one of the people being fired (incidentally, he’s also the president of a union that expanded jobs at the DFAS five years ago), told WKYC that he handles Social Security numbers and maiden names, but nothing else. “We are people. We are not just numbers. We are not just credit reports… Look at the whole person.” [More]
Don't Believe The Phone Call That Says Your Card Has Been Deactivated
By 3.22.10
Nick received an automated call from some scammy outfit this morning that told him his debit card had been deactivated. The scam looks simple enough, but it’s probably worth looking at as a reminder to others. [More]
House Passes Senate Health Care Bill
By 3.22.10
In a narrow vote, the US House of Representatives signed off on the Senate’s national health care plan. The bill will now move onto the White House to, presumably, be signed by President Obama. [More]
Tampa's Stripper Mobile Is Back In Business
By 3.20.10
The Stripper Mobile is a rolling billboard for Tampa’s Déjà Vu gentlemen’s club. It’s a truck that rolls around the city with a glassed-in box in the back where bikini-clad strippers pole dance, gyrate, and distract every driver on the road. The city took the Stripper Mobile off the road because of…problems with the truck’s registration. The city, however, was concerned with the Stripper Mobile’s trips through residential neighborhoods, skimpy bikinis, and vigorous booty-shaking. Now the truck is back, in a much tamer form that will probably still piss people off. [More]
Zocor Can Increase Chance Of Muscle Injury & Kidney Damage: FDA
By 3.19.10
While myopathy (muscle injury) is a known side effect for all cholesterol-lowering statin medications, the FDA has just issued a warning that, when prescribed and used at higher doses, Zocor (generic name: simvastatin) carries with it a greater risk of developing muscle injury, including the most serious form of myopathy, rhabdomyolysis, which can lead to kidney damage, kidney failure, and possibly death. [More]
