The list of clever end runs around California’s recent ban on the sale of foie gras continues to grow. First it was the restaurant that claimed exemption from the law because it’s in a national park. Now comes an eatery that says the ban doesn’t stop a business from giving foie gras away to customers. [More]
california
San Francisco Restaurant Flips The Bird To California Foie Gras Ban
By 7.10.12
Earlier this month, California’s ban on foie gras kicked in, leaving fans of duck/goose liver wondering where they would get their next fix. Now one restaurant in San Francisco says it will sell foie gras because it isn’t beholden to California state laws. [More]
DMV Errors Force Drivers To Hit Road Without Registrations
By 6.29.12
Someone needs to have a chat with the IT person for the California Dept. of Motor Vehicles. Since February, the DMV has had to issue at least 16 public apologies regarding technical difficulties. And for the last week, many drivers have been unable to renew their registrations on the DMV website, forcing people to either go without using their cars or to hit the road illegally in unregistered vehicles. [More]
California Lawmakers Move Forward With Homeowner Bill of Rights
By 6.28.12
California is one of the many states hit in the gut by the collapse of the housing market, with at least a million homes already lost to foreclosure and about half as many struggling homeowners simultaneously trying to stave off foreclosure while jumping through hoop after hoop in the hopes of getting a mortgage modification. Yesterday, pending legislation that could help these homeowners came one step closer to being a reality. [More]
Why Am I Being Charged Sales Tax On A XBOX Live Subscription?
By 6.27.12
Victor found a great deal on an XBOX Live 12-month subscription card from Buy.com, but was surprised to see that the company charged him sales tax. No other online vendors that he tried charge sales tax on the cards––which are, after all, more of an intangible item, akin to a gift card. [More]
Gay Lowe’s Customer Accuses Employees Of Making Slurs, Threats Of Violence
By 6.26.12
A man in California says that what should have been the simple exchange of a leaf blower at his local Lowe’s store instead blew up into an incident that involved a Lowe’s staffer allegedly using anti-gay slurs and threatening the customer and his partner with physical violence. [More]
Would-Be Soda Thief Gets Arm Stuck In Machine, Freed By Firefighters
By 6.26.12
Maybe the high school student in California thought it was only an urban legend that trying to steal from a vending machine by reaching up through the slot can trap your arm inside the machine. Maybe he was just really thirsty. Either way, the would-be thief became trapped in a trolley station in the wee hours of the morning, requiring a team of paramedics, firefighters, police, and trolley security staff to open up the vending machine with power tools in order to free him. [More]
City At Vanguard Of Housing Crash Could File Bankruptcy This Week
By 6.25.12
Back in August 2007, when many of us were still taking out adjustable-rate loans to pay for the water slide on our new champagne-filled jacuzzis, reports of impending doom were coming Stockton, Calif., a city that had suddenly jumped to the head of the foreclosure pack, with 1-in-27 homes being taken back by the bank. Now, five years on, it looks like Stockton could be due for another ignominious honor, as it stands to become the largest U.S. city to declare bankruptcy. [More]
Del Taco Worker Out On Bail After Allegedly Stabbing Customer Over Food Dispute
By 6.25.12
Arguments between customers and fast food restaurant employees do occasionally result in fisticuffs, but it’s the rare dispute that ends with the customer being stabbed in the gut. Well, not only did that happen at a Del Taco eatery in California, but the accused stabber is now out on bail. [More]
Why You Can’t Just Pay Your Rent At The Bank With Your EBT Card
By 6.13.12
In many states, various forms of public aid are placed on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards that are then used by recipients to buy food and other necessary purchases. However, EBT users can’t always just walk into a bank to transfer funds from a card to another person’s checking account. [More]
Alleged Shoplifter Dies After Being Detained At Walmart
By 6.5.12
A man in California died last Friday shortly after Walmart loss-prevention staff detained him on suspicion of shoplifting. [More]
Californians Get Ready To Vote On Proposed $1-Per-Pack Cigarette Tax Increase
By 6.4.12
Despite that general air of clean living Californians exude, an initiative before voters tomorrow that would add an additional $1 tax to each pack of cigarettes is facing an uncertain future. That’s partly due to the $50 million Big Tobacco has rustled up to oppose the tax. [More]
Customer: Fry's Wouldn't Replace My Laptop Until I Dropped Complaint
By 5.10.12
If you file a complaint against a company with your state’s attorney general, and then that problem gets resolved, you might understand it if that company asked you to update the AG’s office. But a woman in California says Fry’s Electronics would not replace her broken laptop until after she dropped her complaint to the AG. [More]
Does Your Windshield Installer Actually Know What They're Doing?
By 5.8.12
If you’ve ever had to get your car’s windshield replaced, you might be familiar with rain water dripping down onto your dashboard and lap. Even worse, maybe you’ve had the window pop out or crack because it wasn’t properly installed. Unfortunately, these problems may be all too common. [More]
Lawsuit: HOA Guards Threatened Tenants With Tasers, Stole Naked Pictures Over Foreclosure Miscommunication
By 5.2.12
Renters of a California condo say they got a rude awakening when a group of guards hired by their homeowners association allegedly used Taser guns to evict them from a house they didn’t know had been foreclosed on. [More]
Dentist Accused Of Offering Cash To UPS Employees To Let Him Perform Unnecessary Procedures
By 4.27.12
Authorities in California say that a Sacramento dentist not only performed unnecessary procedures on patients in order to rack up huge payments from insurance companies, but that he also enticed UPS employees into undergoing unneeded work because the company’s dental plan had no co-pay and no maximum dollar limit. [More]
USDA: "No Cause For Alarm" In California Mad Cow Case
By 4.24.12
You may have heard that officials have confirmed one case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known by its headline-friendly nickname “mad cow disease,” in California; the first such incident since 2006. And even though BSE can be fatal to humans that eat tainted meat, the USDA says they have found no cause for mass concern. [More]
California GameStops To Warn Used-Game Buyers That "Free DLC" Isn't Necessarily Free
By 4.10.12
While some experienced buyers of used video games may know that the “free additional content” burst on game’s packaging probably only applied to the original purchase of the game. But as part of a class-action settlement announced earlier today, GameStop stores in California will now alert buyers that any additional downloadable content (aka DLC) will likely have to be purchased separately. [More]
