If you’re a current or former Verizon Wireless customer in New York state, you may get a check in the mail soon from Verizon. It’s a refund of taxes paid on your wireless bill in the past, as far back as 2008. [More]
Government Policy
Trump Manufacturing Council Disbanded After Additional CEOs Resign
By 8.16.17
The private sector fallout continues for President Trump’s widely excoriated remarks about the tragic events at a recent white nationalist rally in Virginia. Two presidential advisory groups have been disbanded following the exit of additional CEOs and labor leaders. [More]
Naloxone Is No Match For Strong Synthetic Opioids
By 8.16.17
As medicine and law enforcement fight different parts of a nationwide battle against the abuse of prescription opioids and the popularity of heroin, they’ve discovered a terrifying effect of new synthetic drugs used to make heroin cheaper and more powerful. People who have taken fentanyl or carfentanil sometimes need multiple doses of the life-saving drug naloxone to be revived, and the drug is expensive. [More]
Walmart CEO Criticizes Trump Over Charlottesville Response; Does Not Plan To Resign From White House Advisory Board
By 8.15.17
Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, has become the latest — and most high-profile — executive to distance himself from the White House following President Trump’s heavily criticized response to the recent tragic events surrounding a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA. However, unlike the other CEOs who have called out the President, McMillon is not planning to give up his seat on a White House advisory council. [More]
Why You Should Care About This Lawsuit Against A Data Company You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
By 8.15.17
The legal system has long taken a “no harm, no foul” approach to certain legal disputes: If you haven’t actually been injured by the other party’s actions, you’ll have a hard time convincing the court that your lawsuit shouldn’t be thrown out. But the internet, where incorrect information can be disseminated globally within seconds (and may never truly be erased), is causing courts to reconsider the question: When can you sue a company for an intangible harm? [More]
Senators Ask FTC To Finalize The Contact Lens Rule Already
By 8.15.17
Readers who wear glasses or contact lenses may be surprised to learn that their doctor is supposed to give them a copy of their prescription without being asked, but it’s true. This is especially important for contact lens wearers, whose right to shop around and buy their lenses from any authorized vendor they like is protected by the Federal Trade Commission. Proposed rules would hold doctors even more accountable, requiring them to report to the FTC that they gave patients copies of their prescriptions. [More]
Subway Owner Says Police Ruined Her Business By Falsely Claiming Officer’s Drink Was Spiked With Meth
By 8.14.17
The owner of a Subway franchisee is accusing her local police department of destroying her business and reputation by knowingly making false accusations through the local news that an employee of the restaurant spiked and officer’s drink with methamphetamine. [More]
FCC Extends Net Neutrality Comment Period Until End Of August
By 8.14.17
While Ajit Pai, the new pro-industry chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has pledged to “take a weed-whacker” to the FCC’s net neutrality rules that restrict internet service providers’ ability to interfere with your web use, he’ll have to wait a bit longer to do that regulatory gardening. The FCC has grudgingly decided to extend the current comment period a little longer. [More]
USDA Says Chicago Soda Tax Puts $87M In Federal Food Stamp Funding At Risk
By 8.11.17
A controversial tax on sweetened beverages in Chicago is putting the entire state of Illinois at risk for losing millions in federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly referred to as food stamps), according to a warning sent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to state regulators. [More]
FCC Not Worried About Lack Of Broadband Because We Really Just Need Our Phones
By 8.10.17
Since it became obvious that internet access was going to be an essential for everyday living, the Federal Communications Commission has wrestled with how to encourage providers to build expensive wired networks to reach rural and remote communities, but not with much luck. Now the FCC is considering a new tactic for solving this problem: Suggesting that maybe there isn’t a problem so long as you can get online with your phone. [More]
Health Insurers Looking To Charge Higher Individual Premiums In 2018. Which Americans Will Be Hit Hardest?
By 8.10.17
Health insurance companies that sell individual coverage plans through state exchanges are currently in the process of setting the rates they will charge customers for 2018. And the uncertainty over the state of America’s health care laws and President Trump’s repeated threats to summarily cut off billions of dollars in federal subsidies to insurers has many of these companies asking for significant increases. But not everyone would have to pay those higher prices, and some could actually end up with slightly lower premiums than they pay now. [More]
New Hampshire Accuses OxyContin Maker Of Stoking Opioid Epidemic Through Deceptive Marketing
By 8.9.17
As much of the nation deals with the effects of opioid addiction and overuse, some states are attempting to hold the makers of these drugs accountable. Once again, Purdue Pharma, the company behind OxyContin and other opioid painkillers, finds itself in the crosshairs of allegations that it has continued to contribute to this epidemic by deceiving patients and physicians about the safety and efficacy of these drugs. [More]
Comcast Fails To Shut Down Customer Lawsuit Over ‘Broadcast TV’ & ‘Regional Sports’ Fees
By 8.8.17
Score one for sanity: A federal court judge recently denied Comcast’s request to throw out a lawsuit alleging that the cable company’s “Broadcast TV” and “Regional Sports” fees are just misleading ways to raise customers’ bills without having to increase the advertised price. [More]
Sorry: You Have Not Won A Grant From The National Institutes Of Health
By 8.8.17
No matter what the person on the phone says, we’re sorry to tell you that you have probably not won a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Neither has anyone else who isn’t performing actual health research. [More]
FDA Warns Fertility Doc: Stop Advertising Service That Creates ‘3-Parent’ Baby
By 8.7.17
Last year, you may have heard of an impressive medical accomplishment, where the gametes of three people were combined to make one healthy baby. The doctor behind that procedure has now been warned by the Food and Drug Administration for advertising the still-unapproved procedure. [More]
Federal Court Confirms: Patent Troll Doesn’t Control The Entire Idea Of “Podcasting”
By 8.7.17
The idea of recording audio and video shows and then posting them online seems rather common-sense, and thousands of people were doing it around the world long before anyone ever coined the term “podcast.” Yet that didn’t stop one company from demanding payment from broadcasters, claiming it holds the patent on the very concept of podcasting. Hopefully this particular piece of trolling has come to an end, with a federal appeals court affirming a previous decision that this patent was trying to protect an invention that already existed. [More]
Hotel Group Attack Ad Falsely Links Airbnb To Terrorism
By 8.7.17
There are a lot of justifiable reasons to take issue with home-rental platforms like airbnb: “Mega hosts” who are renting out dozens — maybe hundreds — of listings without being subject to hotel taxes or regulations; hosts who will turn just about any vaguely inhabitable space into a rental property; and allegations that airbnb fails to properly vet hosts. But one anti-airbnb hotel group has gone a step further, using incidents of real human tragedy to try to create a false link between airbnb and terrorism. [More]
31 Senators Ask Trump Administration To Not Strip Nursing Home Residents, Families Of Their Legal Rights
By 8.7.17
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the U.S. have faced increasing criticism for shoddy care and bad business practices. At the same time, many of these facilities have begun using contractual language that explicitly prohibits residents or their loved ones from filing lawsuits when things go wrong. Now dozens of senators are calling on the Trump administration to rethink its decision to let this practice continue. [More]
