Hours after reports began swirling that federal regulators were poised to more than double the already massive Takata airbag inflator recall at some point this week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it had amended a previous order and directed the Japanese parts maker to add 35 to 40 million additional airbags to the recall list that already includes 28 million shrapnel-shooting airbags. [More]
Government Policy
TSA Adding More Security Screeners To Help Combat Long Lines At The Airport
By 5.4.16
After getting called out by airlines, airport officials, and lawmakers for super long lines at the nation’s airports, the Transportation Security Administration says it’s increasing staff at checkpoints as part of its effort to cut down on those excessive wait times. [More]
Deadly Airbag Recall Expected To Grow By Up To 35 Million This Week
By 5.4.16
Takata’s massive airbag inflator recall could more than double this week, as U.S. safety regulators are reportedly poised to announced the addition of 35 million safety devices to the recall list that already includes 28 million shrapnel-shooting airbags. [More]
CRF Frozen Foods Recalls Everything Processed At WA Plant Since May 2014 Due To Possible Listeria
By 5.3.16
Last week, we learned that vegetables produced by CRF Frozen foods and sold under national and store brands had been recalled due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, a dangerous foodborne pathogen. The company expanded the recall to include all frozen fruits and vegetables processed at its plant in Pasco, WA since May of 2014. That includes 358 different varieties of frozen fruits and veggies sold under 42 brand names sold in all 50 states. It’s a lot of food. [More]
Find A Newspaper Subscription Renewal Notice In The Mail? It Might Be Fake
By 5.3.16
Two years ago, newspapers began warning consumers that subscription renewal notices, which ask for your credit card and personal information, may look legitimate, but are more than likely a ploy by unscrupulous companies to get their hands on your money. Today, the Federal Trade Commission took a step to rein in this scheme by suing the operators of dozens of interrelated companies that send out such notices. [More]
5 Alternatives To Get Through Airport Security Without A License
By 5.3.16
Imagine getting to the airport only to find that your driver’s license is not in your wallet. Maybe you left it at home or dropped it along the way, but looking for the misplaced license will cause you to miss your flight. Not to worry. While it might take a little longer, the Transportation Security Administration does provide a handful of options to get you through security without government issued ID. [More]
BlueHippo Must Pay $14M For Continuing To Rip Off Customers
By 5.2.16
Seven years after federal regulators charged shady “no credit check” computer seller BlueHippo with contempt for allegedly violating a 2008 order by continuing to take money from customers without providing promised computers, the company has been ordered to pay $13.4 million. [More]
Travelers Have Left $4.32M Behind In Airport Security Bins Since 2008
By 5.2.16
When you’re fumbling through airport security — putting your shoes and belt back on, finding your glasses again, stowing your laptop back in its bag — do you make every effort to make sure you’re not leaving anything behind in the plastic bins? Maybe you’re not doing as thorough a job as you think, because someone is leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars in loose change behind every year. [More]
Dole Found Listeria In Salad Processing Plant As Far Back As 2014, Kept Shipping Veggies
By 5.2.16
Is it a crime for a company or its representatives to keep on shipping food products that may be dangerous to the public if they know that the items may be contaminated? Dole’s Springfield, OH processing plant has started shipping salad again, but new evidence shows that the company kept shipping lettuce even as it was aware of Listeria contamination in the building as far back as 2014. [More]
Supreme Court Refuses To Hear POM Wonderful’s Appeal In False Advertising Case
By 5.2.16
After nearly six years of legal wrangling over allegations of false advertising, the makers of POM Wonderful pomegranate beverages ran into a dead end this morning when the nation’s highest court refused to hear the company’s appeal. [More]
Nissan Recalls 3.7M Vehicles Over Airbag issues
By 5.2.16
Two years after recalling 1 million vehicles because of faulty airbags, and a year after federal regulators questioned whether that fix had worked, Nissan is giving the whole airbag recall thing another shot: recalling 3.7 million vehicles that contain airbags that might not deploy properly in the event of a crash. [More]
Secretive U.S. Spy Court Approved All 1,457 Surveillance Requests In 2015
By 5.2.16
The federal court set up to review government requests for surveillance involving issues of national security is either rubber-stamping everything that it sees, or the FBI and the National Security Agency are incredibly good at filing these requests. A new report claims that the court approved every single one of the 1,457 requests it received last year. [More]
PayPal’s Venmo Peer-To-Peer Payment Service Under Federal Investigation
By 4.29.16
Venmo is a PayPal-owned money-transfer service that allows users to send payments to each other over the internet. Yesterday, PayPal revealed that Venmo is currently under investigation by federal regulators. [More]
Regulators Widen Investigation Into Google’s Pre-Loaded Android Apps
By 4.27.16
A week after European regulators announced an investigation into Google’s requirements that Android-based devices come pre-loaded with Google apps, a similar stateside probe is finally getting off the ground. [More]
Pilgrim’s Pride Recall: 4.5M Pounds Of Chicken Products May Contain Plastic, Wood, Rubber, Metal
By 4.27.16
In yet another example of unexpectedly crunchy, contaminated food, Pilgrim’s Pride is busy getting the news out about a recall of more than four million pounds of pre-cooked poultry products that could contain unwanted additions like plastic, wood, rubber, or metal bits. [More]
Amazon Found Liable For Unfairly Billing Parents For Kids’ In-App Purchases
By 4.27.16
There’s a time-tested rule that if someone gives a child an easy way to unwittingly spend your money, you will soon be looking at a thick bill containing a large number of tiny purchases. Today, a federal court ruled that Amazon failed to do enough to alert Kindle Fire owners — and users of Amazon’s Android appstore — that “Free” apps could still allow kids to make costly in-app transactions. [More]
From “Yay” To “Boo” To “Shrug,” Here’s What Everyone Had To Say About FCC’s Set-Top Box Proposal
By 4.26.16
When the FCC voted in February to consider new rules for your cable box, that kicked off a multi-month cycle of public comments, where anyone and everyone can have their say. The deadline for the first round struck at midnight Friday, which means most of the comments are just rolling onto the internet for all and sundry to have a look at. [More]
NY DMV Issues Teen Learner’s Permit That Says He’s 116 Years Old
By 4.26.16
If you want to feel old, ponder this: the teens now taking the roads as learners and as licensed drivers were born in the year 2000. Maybe the real surprise is that it took this long for populous New York state to accidentally issue a permit with an extra century tacked on to the driver’s age. [More]
