Yesterday, we wrote about the new Starbucks drinks made from a base of unroasted coffee beans that are being tested right now in the San Diego area. Consumerist reader Josh popped by his local ‘Bucks and was able to snap a pic so those of us outside Ron Burgundy-Land could see what “coffee that doesn’t taste like coffee” looks like. [More]
california
Don't Stiff Your Cab Driver Or He Might Crash Into Your House
By 8.5.10
A couple months back, we wrote about the New Orleans cab driver charged with holding a passenger hostage because she refused to tip as much as he wanted her to. Now here’s another tale of a cab driver gone rogue over a fare dispute that landed a cabbie in jail after ramming his taxi into the house at which he’d just dropped his passengers off. [More]
Starbucks Testing Unroasted Coffee 'Refreshers'
By 8.5.10
For everyone who says Starbucks coffee “tastes burnt,” the java giant has heeded your complaints — and perhaps gone too far. The ‘bucks announced yesterday that it has begun testing a beverage made from green, unroasted coffee beans. [More]
Oops, You Didn't Buy A House, You Bought Its Worthless 2nd Mortgage, And Now It's In Foreclosure
By 8.2.10
A couple thought they were snagging a $97,606 foreclosure fixer upper at a courthouse sale, only to find out months later they had actually bought its worthless second mortgage. The original was in arrears, and now the house would be sold at another courthouse auction. [More]
Woman Watches As Dell Tech Support Swipes Nude Pics From Her PC
By 7.30.10
So it looks like it’s not only Geek Squad staffers that scour customers’ computers for free porn. A woman in California has recently gone public with claims that she not only watched as a Dell tech support worker downloaded nude pics of her remotely, but that he also set up a website featuring the photos. Oh, and he used her Dell credit card to buy stuff for another woman.
San Francisco Considers Ban On Almost All Pet Sales
By 7.26.10
A few months ago, in an effort to not contribute to the puppy mills and kitty factories of the world, San Francisco began mulling over the possibility of forbidden canine and feline sales within city limits. But, as happens when the discussion turns to the critters of the world, that ban has now grown to include just about everything you would ever want to even consider having as a pet. [More]
Industrious Homeless Man Breaks Into Shuttered Bar To Start Selling Booze
By 7.22.10
It’s like something out of a whacky comedy movie — Homeless man breaks into bar that recently shut down, decides to pretend he’s the new owner and starts selling drinks. But this wasn’t some laugher starring the hilarious Steve Guttenberg; it’s exactly what authorities in a small Northern California town have arrested a man for doing. [More]
Oakland Gives Thumbs-Up To Large-Scale Marijuana Factories, Asks "Are You Gonna Eat That?"
By 7.21.10
While L.A. has been cracking down in a harsh way on medical marijuana dispensaries, its much cooler cousin up north, Oakland, is opening its arms to embrace the demon weed. Yesterday, the Oakland City Council approved an ordinance that could take pot-growing out of your basement and into legitimate commercial factories. [More]
Prepaid Funeral Trust Money Used For Conventions And Lobbying, Say Auditors
By 7.12.10
We’ve said repeatedly that prepaid funeral plans are bunk–the industry is too unregulated to be trustworthy, and it’s far too easy to lose money when you could just as easily set up a savings plan for a funeral on your own. Now there’s news from California that the state’s second-largest prepaid funeral trust was spending money “improperly” on everything from political lobbying to conventions, blowing $12.6 million from the $70 million paid in advance by customers. [More]
WellPoint/Anthem BCBS Decides Not To Be Completely Evil To California Policyholders
By 7.1.10
Nearly five months ago, Anthem Blue Cross of California and parent company WellPoint put their names in the running for Biggest Dickheads of 2010 by trying to raise rates upward of 39% for individual policyholders, a move that put the entire insurance industry under the legal and legislative microscope. In a move to seem like only a huge dickface, the insurance giant announced yesterday that it’s now proposing less grandiose rate increases. [More]
California Is A Hotbed Of Rogue Nurses
By 6.29.10
Where can nurses go after they’ve been sanctioned elsewhere for misconduct? To California, it seems. The state’s Board of Registered Nursing launched a review, spurred on by a Los Angeles Times/Pro-Publica investigation last year, and discovered 3,500 nurses who have licenses in California even though they’ve lost their licenses in other states; 1,700 of these nurses currently have active licenses. In more than half of all cases, the sanctions were for serious violations such as “sexual abuse, neglect, rampant drug use and criminality.” [More]
Convicts Don't Like People Who Try To Sell Babies At Walmart
By 6.27.10
It looks like the man who attempted to sell his baby daughter outside a California Walmart for $25 last week hasn’t exactly found a forgiving audience behind bars. [More]
San Jose Area: Catch Ben On KGO Newstalk Radio 810 AM At 6:25 Tonight
By 6.26.10
If you live in the San Jose, CA, Silicon Valley area, you can catch me live on the Michael Finney show on KGO Newstalk Radio, 810 AM, at 6:25 PT tonight. l’ll be talking about some of the crazy ideas and cool stories you shared in response to our “What Sickest Thing You’ve Ever Done To Save Money?” post. Fun! [More]
USPS Sends Your Package 5,586 Miles To Travel 120
By 6.25.10
Jonathan is trying to figure out why the box of records he sent from Bell to Bakersfield, CA somehow took a 5,000 mile detour across the country and back first. [More]
To Catch A Ponzi Schemer
By 6.25.10
There’s a cool article over at Bay Citizen that gives a play-by-play account of a private investigator’s efforts to tail a suspected Bay Area ponzi scheme master. What makes it all the more interesting is that the target, an ex-con and fugitive, had developed an arsenal of tactics he used used to try to evade anyone who might be tracking him. [More]
California Welfare Recipients Spending Millions At Casinos
By 6.25.10
Following an L.A. Times report that revealed the California welfare debit card program allows benefits recipients to withdraw cash at ATMs at casinos, state officials disclosed that over $1.8 million in taxpayer cash had been withdrawn on the gaming floors of casinos in just the last eight months. [More]
Do Not Try To Sell Your Baby For $25 In Front Of Walmart
By 6.25.10
Aspiring entrepreneurs, keep in mind: Walmart doesn’t want you selling anything in front of their stores. And they really, really don’t want you to sell your own children out front at cut-rate prices. Police in Salinas, Calif. say a couple were trying to do just that: sell their 6-month-old infant to a stranger for less than the price of a case of diapers. [More]
Are Electronic License Plate Ads The Next Rage On The Road?
By 6.21.10
Because we all know that the two things the world lacks these days are (1) advertisements and (2) car accidents, a California State Assemblyman has put forth a bill we kill both birds with the same 23-car pileup on the freeway by replacing our boring, non-revenue-generating license plates with fancy electronic ones complete with advertising. [More]
