In a desert, there’s not very much water to go around. In a food desert, the problem is groceries: reliable, affordable supermarkets with fresh, healthy, decent-quality offerings get farther apart and harder to find as you head into some regions. One Texas city has been trying to solve the problem for thousands of its residents by ooffering large amounts of cash to supermarket retailers, but even the lure of free millions has resulted in no takers. [More]
Government Policy
Feds Say New York’s “I Love NY” Highway Signs Violate The Law
By 11.30.16
Whether or not you actually feel affection toward New York, drivers cruising the state’s highways and byways are no doubt familiar with the proliferation of blue “I Love NY” signs that dot the roadside promoting tourism. But there’s one party that definitely doesn’t love the state for using those signs — the federal government. [More]
Student Loan Repayment Programs Will Eventually Forgive $108B In Debt
By 11.30.16 — Updated: 12.2.16
While several recent reports have suggested that many student loan borrowers face needless hurdles when trying to reduce their monthly payments through the Department of Education’s income-driven repayment plans, a new study has found the programs are working and will eventually forgive $108 billion in outstanding student debt. [More]
Senators Make Last-Ditch Attempt To Block Expanded Government Hacking Authority
By 11.30.16
There’s a change coming that could arguably make it a lot easier for feds to snoop through your digital stuff, even if you’ve done nothing but been the victim of some malware. If Congress doesn’t act to stop it, that change to Rule 41 becomes effective basically at midnight tonight. So a handful of Senators who want to block it are all but begging their colleagues to act now. [More]
China Wants To Assign Every Citizen A Credit Score For Their Lives
By 11.30.16
Imagine if the authorities compiled a score based on your everyday actions, which followed you around and affected your ability to do everything from get your kid into college to booking a stay in a fancy hotel. While this sounds like a particular plot line from the most recent season of the Netflix series Black Mirror, it’s actually a new way that the Chinese government has devised to exert control over its citizens. [More]
Consumer Advocates Sue Government Over Long Wait For New Automobile Safety Features
By 11.30.16
Earlier this year, federal vehicle safety regulators reached a voluntary agreement with nearly two dozen car manufacturers to make forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking features standard in their cars starting in 2022. But some consumer safety advocates believe this is too long a wake and have gone to court in the hope of pressing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into taking more immediate action. [More]
21 Lawmakers Come Out To Defend The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
By 11.29.16
While most federal agencies will soon see a change in leadership and direction after President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is supposed to be shielded from such sudden changes. A recent court decision put that protection — and the future of the CFPB itself — in question, but today a group of 21 federal lawmakers, along with a coalition of consumer advocates and civil rights groups, asked the court to keep the CFPB’s structure intact. [More]
Fast Food, Airport, And Health Care Workers Stage Nationwide Walkout
By 11.29.16
The threatened strike of low-paid workers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport didn’t happen at Thanksgiving time as originally proposed, but did occur today as part of a nationwide series of strikes. In some cities, protesters blocking public streets were arrested, but the predicted disruption of air travel at the country’s busiest airports didn’t happen. [More]
Giddy Investors Already ‘shipping Comcast, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile Mergers Under Trump Administration
By 11.29.16 — Updated: 5.23.17
This is shocking, we know, but: big businesses really like to make money. And when you’re already as huge as, say Comcast, one of the best ways to make oodles more money is to snap up another company and start raking in its revenues, too. Could Comcast snap up Verizon? Charter grab Sprint? At least one tech stock analyst thinks that deals like this, which might sound outlandish today, could be on the table soon. [More]
New York Bars Scalpers From Using Bots To Snap Up Tickets Before Everyone Else
By 11.29.16
Perhaps you’ve been here before: you’re waiting patiently, albeit a bit anxiously, for the moment when you can buy tickets to a concert or sporting event online. But despite your best efforts and quick action, you find that someone has swooped in and snapped up all the tickets, leaving you to the mercies of online resellers that may jack up the cost of tickets. [More]
Bill Outlawing “Gag Clauses” That Punish Customers For Writing Negative Reviews Goes To President
By 11.29.16
After more than a year of waiting, Congress has finally okayed a piece of legislation that, if signed by the president, will stop companies from using so-called “non-disparagement” or “gag” clauses to prevent or discourage customers from writing honest reviews. [More]
Pressure Mounts For Tesla To Stop Using The Term “Autopilot”
By 11.29.16
What does the term “autopilot” mean to you? For many people, it applies to a machine that can steer itself with minimal human intervention, but for electric carmaker Tesla it’s a marketing term to describe a feature that is decidedly not hands-off — and which consumer safety advocates believe can cause potentially dangerous confusion.
[More]
Feds Warn Banks: High-Pressure Incentives Can Lead To Another Wells Fargo Fiasco
By 11.29.16
As Wells Fargo continues to dig itself out of a years-long — if not decade-long — fake account fiasco perpetrated by employees under strain from high-pressure sales goals, federal regulators are warning other financial institutions that these sorts of programs could harm consumers and possibly lead to stiff penalties. [More]
States That Expanded Medicaid Hope To Keep It Under Trump Administration
By 11.28.16
There’s no way to tap-dance around this one: healthcare access is an incredibly politicized and partisan issue in this country. And yet even while our two major political parties disagree vehemently, at every level, about whether existing healthcare laws are effective or worthwhile, at least one part now proving popular in a surprisingly bipartisan way. [More]
Reminder: If A Retailer Sends You Something You Didn’t Order, You Can Keep It
By 11.28.16 — Updated: 5.15.17
In the madness of the holiday shipping season, mistakes are not uncommon. Sometimes, lucky shoppers find themselves on the winning end of those mistakes, like when you get 99 extra knives or when a retailer sends four iPods instead of one. So what’s an honest consumer to do? [More]
In Time For Black Friday, Judge Issues Restraining Order Against Striking Pilots At Amazon-Backed Cargo Line
By 11.23.16
About 40 hours after pilots at Amazon-backed cargo airline ABX went on strike, threatening to throw a wrench in the holiday shipping plans of the country’s largest online retailer (and others), a federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order against the striking pilots. [More]
Court Overturns Federal Ban On Potentially Dangerous, High-Power Magnet Toys, Gadgets
By 11.23.16
Not that long ago, lots of us were going out on Black Friday weekend and buying Buckyballs or some other stocking stuffer that used tiny high-powered magnetic spheres. Then we learned that these doodads can do an awful lot of damage if swallowed. Since 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been recalling these products and filing lawsuits against the companies that continue to make these potentially dangerous items. The CPSC even created a new safety standard that effectively bans the remaining magnetic products, but this week a federal appeals court overturned that rule. [More]
Net Neutrality, FCC Itself Likely To Face Big Challenges Under Trump Administration
By 11.23.16
In the two weeks since being named president-elect, Donald Trump has already named a handful of nominees to key positions and expanded his transition team to help determine who should fill in those other spots, and what policies will guide them. Based on the backgrounds of the two men heading up the FCC transition efforts, some of the Commission’s recent efforts will likely be rolled back, and the FCC’s entire role may be reconsidered. [More]
