Maine Gov. John Baldacci last week signed into law a measure requiring developers of retail stores exceeding 75,000 square feet to conduct studies gauging the project’s impact on municipal services, the environment and local businesses. The proposed store can’t be approved if the studies find it is likely to cause a quantifiable, “undue adverse impact” on more than one of those fronts and is expected to have a harmful effect on the community overall.
government
States Target Big Box Retail
By 6.29.07
Mayor of Philadelphia Camps Out For An iPhone
By 6.29.07
NBC 10 in Philadelphia had some people camped out for an iPhone when what did they see? Wait, is that… the Mayor? It was:
Donning a white baseball hat and warmup suit — complete with an iPod strapped to his arm — a casual Philadelphia Mayor John Street patiently sat on a lawn chair on a South Philadelphia sidewalk, hoping to get his hands on the new Apple iPhone Friday morning.
House Financial Services Committee Holds Hearing On Credit Report Inaccuracies
By 6.19.07
The House Financial Services Committee wants to know why it is so difficult to dispute inaccurate information on your credit report. You can watch the hearing live thanks to a webcam connected to the tubes.
The hearing will examine factors that continue to contribute to inaccurate consumer credit reports and evaluate the adequacy of the consumer dispute process under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In addition, the Committee will hear recommendations for improving the process and efforts that furnishers, credit bureaus and the regulators are taking to improve the accuracy of credit report information and will review the status of key rule makings and studies mandated by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) related to the accuracy of information furnished to consumer reporting agencies and the adequacy of the dispute resolution process.
Hot! The Committee will hear testimony from the FTC, the Federal Reserve, consumer advocates, and industry representatives. Not invited to testify: The Consumerist. Don’t worry Chairman Franks, you can invite us to the next hearing. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
TSA Uploads Video Of "Sippy Cup" Incident On Special "MythBusting" Website
By 6.16.07
The TSA has uploaded the incident report and surveillance video that they claim shows the “sippy cup terrorist” Mom intentionally dumping her child’s water on the floor of the airport after having claimed “she was an officer and flashed her Secret Service badge and credentials and said that she should be exempt from all this and this was a stupid policy and this whole thing was [redacted].” We’re guessing that last word was bullshit, but like we said, that’s just an educated guess.
Laptop Containing Personal Data Of All 64,000 Ohio State Employees Stolen
By 6.16.07
A laptop containing the personal information of all 64,000 Ohio state employees and their dependents has been stolen from an employee’s car. Ironically, the laptop was taken home by the employee “as part of a security procedure.” Governor Ted Strickland is not taking the matter lightly. He has already issued Executive Order 013S, giving Ohio’s Chief Privacy Officer 75 days to develop an impressive-sounding “privacy impact assessment protocol.”
“As we are continuing an ongoing review of the data contained in the stolen device, we have determined that information pertaining to participants in the state’s pharmacy benefits management program, including information such as names, social security numbers, addresses and phone numbers of the employees and the names and social security numbers of their dependents, may be contained in the device,” Strickland said.
Strickland’s office has set up a site for Ohioans concerned about their data. The state will provide affected employees free credit monitoring for one year. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
What's The Matter With American Air Travel?
By 6.15.07
The Economist has a special report that considers the various problems with the American airline industry. Of particular interest is a survey of 519 airline passengers that posed the question, “What, if anything, do you dislike about taking a trip by plane?” The answer, overwhelmingly, was “Security measures.”
Crappy Spyware Bill To Give More Power To Spyware Companies?
By 6.13.07
The EFF is encouraging consumers to write their Senators about a new “spyware” bill that has been, in their words, “massaged by by lobbyists for the software and adware industries.” Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing says the bill
“makes it impossible for consumer rights groups to sue DRM companies for putting spyware in their DRM (like Sony did last year, with its rootkit DRM). The irony is that spyware is already illegal, so all that this act does is immunize big media companies that sneak spyware onto your computer.”
Spyware is spyware, we think, even if it comes with a Sony/BMG logo.
The State Of The Passenger's Bill Of Rights
By 6.11.07
Time magazine has an article about the state of the passenger’s bill of rights that is currently attached to the FAA authorization bill and is making its way through the Senate.
US Poor Punished For Saving Money
By 6.8.07
As if the American poor don’t suffer enough, now it turns out trying to get a leg up may only backfire. Yesterday, the National Center For Policy Analysis warned of catastrophic financial problems for poor people who save money. The Los Angeles Times story on the study explained that “each $1 saved by a single mother earning $15,000 a year would cost her $2.60 in higher taxes and lost government benefits.”
Walmart Subsidy Watch: Why Do Public Officials Give Your Tax Money To Walmart?
By 6.5.07
Here’s something we don’t really understand. Why do public officials feel they need to give government subsidies to the nation’s largest employer? It’s sort of baffling.
Contact Information For 50 Politicians Who Take Campaign Money From The RIAA
By 5.31.07
When you voted the RIAA the worst company in America you gave us an assignment. But how can we improve the customer service of a recording industry trade group? It’s not an easy task. Couldn’t you have voted for Home Depot? U-Haul? Anyway…
Air Traveler With Drug Resistant TB Quarantined By CDC
By 5.30.07
Drug-resistant TB is both extremely contagious and potentially fatal, and the CDC would like to speak with anyone who sat near a passenger who has since been quarantined with the illness. The passenger was on a May 13, Atlanta to Paris, Air France 385 flight and another Czech Air 0104 from Prague to Canada on May 23.
Flying? Avoid New York And Its Huge Delays
By 5.29.07
“You sit on the runway all hours; the weather is fine, and there isn’t an unusual increase in the number of flights. Yet you sit and sit and sit,” he said.” An FAA spokesperson thinks Schumer is smoking some fine dope,
FAA spokesman Laura Brown acknowledged there have been more delays nationwide and in New York, but said increased flights, not a lack of flight controllers, were to blame.
House Approves Gas Price Gouging Legislation
By 5.24.07
The House of Representatives has passed what could become the first federal law against energy price gouging. Currently, several states have laws against said gouging, but the rigor of the enforcement is inconsistent at best.
Passenger's Bill Of Rights Moving Right Along In The Senate
By 5.18.07
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee included a “bi-partisan airline passengers’ bill of rights in the comprehensive FAA Reauthorization.” Our little bill is on its way! Oh how we hope and pray…—MEGHANN MARCO
Baroody To Receive $150,000 Pay Off From National Association of Manufacturers
By 5.16.07
This is re-goddamn-diculous. From the New York Times (emphasis ours):
A senior lobbyist at the National Association of Manufacturers nominated by President Bush to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission will receive a $150,000 departing payment from the association when he takes his new government job, which involves enforcing consumer laws against members of the association.
This guy has no business being the head of the CPSC. The reason there is a Consumer Products Safety Commission in the first place is so that there is something to keep tabs on people like Michael Baroody and the companies he represents.
Mr. Baroody said in the letter that the payment would not prevent him from considering matters involving individual companies that are members of the manufacturers’ association, many of whom are defendants in agency proceedings over defective products or have other business before the commission. Nor would it preclude him from involvement with smaller trade groups like those representing makers of home appliances and children’s products that have alliances with the association.
Oh no, $150k won’t influence his opinion. It doesn’t need to, his opinions are already known. He’s a lobbyist, for pete’s sake.
Meet The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2007
By 5.16.07
Remember all of that government debate about the credit card industry? Well, a piece of legislation that addresses the debate has been introduced in the House of Representatives and is currently before the Financial Services Committee. The bill requires several changes, including things like advance notice of interest rate changes.
Should "Attempted Copyright Infringement" Be A Criminal Offense?
By 5.15.07
Our good friends Howard Berman and Lamar Smith, (you’ll remember them as the ones who took lots and lots of money from the RIAA as well as the friends and families of various record company and entertainment executives) are all for it, according to CNET:
We are reviewing (the attorney general’s) proposal. Any plan to stop IP theft will benefit the economy and the American worker,” said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who’s the top Republican on the House Judiciary committee. “I applaud the attorney general for recognizing the need to protect intellectual property.”
Berman’s office said they couldn’t comment because they were busy drafting their own version of the legislation.
