Student dropouts, loans default rates and recruiting tactics have been the cornerstone of many federal and state investigations into for-profit colleges. It appears to be much of the same for four such schools facing probes by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. [More]
NEW YORK
GNC Agrees To DNA, Allergen Testing Of Herbal Supplements
By 3.30.15
Earlier this year, New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent cease-and-desist letters to several major retailers, including Target, Walgreens, and GNC, after genetic testing of store-brand herbal supplements found that many of these products did not contain the herbal ingredients they purported to include, and that some contained potentially dangerous allergens. Today, GNC and Schneiderman announced an agreement that will apply stricter testing standards — more rigorous than those required by the federal government — to the company’s supplements. [More]
Man Arrested After TSA Finds 200 Credit Cards Hidden In Duffel Bag
By 3.11.15
The Transportation Security Administration keeps a long list of items travelers aren’t permitted to fly with including guns, knives, daggers, and box cutters. While the agency doesn’t explicitly tell consumers they can’t bring along stolen merchandise, like say 200 credit cards, if agents find the pilfered items you’ll likely be arrested. Just ask a New York man who suffered that very fate earlier this week. [More]
Montel Williams-Endorsed MoneyMutual To Pay $2.1M Penalty
By 3.10.15
For years, TV personality Montel Williams has been the daytime TV face of payday loan lead generation service MoneyMutual, even as it faced investigations from federal and state agencies. Just a few days ago, Montel got into a Twitter spat with a woman who questioned why he was acting as a spokesperson the company, and showed that maybe he needed a refresher course on annual percentage rates. But as part of a deal with regulators in New York state, Montel will no longer market payday loans in the state and MoneyMutual will pay a $2.1 million penalty to settle allegations that it illegally marketed payday loans to New York residents. [More]
McDonald’s Sued For $10M After Man Dies Of Heart Attack In Locked Bathroom
By 3.5.15
The family of a New York man who died of a heart attack in a McDonald’s bathroom locked from the inside filed a lawsuit against the fast food company claiming workers failed to get the man help that might have saved his life. [More]
Feds & NY Attorney General Team Up To Sue Abusive Debt Collectors
By 2.26.15
Just like one of those action movies where a federal agent gets paired up with a small-town sheriff who knows all the bad guys in the area, the Federal Trade Commission has brought its crackdown on abusive debt collectors to New York and partnered with the Empire State’s attorney general to shut down a pair of unsavory operators. [More]
Visitors Bureau For Ice-Cold Ithaca Tells People To Just Go Get Warm In Key West
By 2.17.15
While the central New York city of Ithaca might be home to lovely Cornell University and the fictional University of Ithaca from the classic Breckin Meyer comedy Road Trip, it — like many places north of 35th parallel this week — is unpleasantly, bone-chillingly cold. But at least the folks at the Ithaca Visitors Bureau have a good sense of humor about the weather. [More]
When Pizza Hut Loses Your Order, Don’t Drive Your Car Into The Building
By 2.16.15
Here’s the latest from the To-Go Food Overreaction File: Police in New York arrested a woman yesterday for smashing her car into a Pizza Hut after the eatery reportedly lost her order. [More]
Former Home Depot Worker Gets 30 Years For Planting Pipe Bomb In Store
By 2.9.15
If you want more money from your employer, we don’t recommend threatening to blow up multiple stores, let alone actually planting a bomb to show that you mean business. Not only are your odds of success small, it could also result in a 30-year jail sentence. [More]
NY Asks Stores To Halt Herbal Supplements After Tests Show Advertised Herbs Not Present
By 2.3.15
When you buy an herbal supplement that says “echinacea” or “ginko boloba” on the label, you may expect that it contains some additional ingredients beyond the advertised herbs, but you should be confident that those herbs are present. However, DNA tests commissioned by the New York state Attorney General found evidence that many herbal products may not contain what they advertise. [More]
Lawsuit Alleges Costco Managers, Employees Taunted Greeter With Tourette’s
By 1.30.15
A new federal lawsuit filed today claims that Costco and the managers of a Long Island store violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York State Human Rights laws by allegedly allowing managers and staff to taunt a fellow employee about his Tourette’s Syndrome, to the point where the man had to be hospitalized. [More]
Uber Caps Surge Pricing During Juno Snowmageddon (Because It Sort Of Has To)
By 1.26.15
As those of us in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast prepare to slaughter a tauntaun and seek shelter from the snow in the warmth of its belly, the folks at Uber say they will put a maximum on surge pricing so as to avoid the backlash it has experienced in the past during emergencies, and because it promised it wouldn’t do this anymore. [More]
Proposed Program Would Pay First Two Years Of Recent New York Graduates’ Student Loans
By 1.20.15
With the average graduate now leaving college with more than $28,000 in student loans, it can be difficult to envision just how one might manage to land on their feet. If you happen to be a resident of New York and attended an instite of higher education within the state’s borders, repaying those debts could be a bit easier under a recently proposed student loan repayment program.
Town Might Change Fines To Reflect Typo On Dog Poo Signs
By 12.1.14
A typographical error might have unfortunate real-world consequences for the dog-walkers of North Hempstead, Long Island, NY. The town posted signs warning that people who don’t pick up their dogs’ leavings are subject to a $250 fine. The problem is that the real fine is $25. Sure, they could change the signs, but it might be easier to just change the real fine to match what the signs say instead. [More]
NYC Mayor Raises Concerns About Comcast/TWC Merger
By 11.4.14
While 52 other mayors from around the country were recently reminded that Comcast is an important contributor to election campaigns, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City has been busy warning the FCC that the pending merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable is fraught with potential problems. [More]
Tribes Suing New York For Restricting Payday Lending Businesses Drop Federal Suit
By 11.3.14
Despite having some of the toughest regulations prohibiting high-interest, short-term loans, New York has continued to face issues in the form of illegal online payday lenders who claim to have affiliation with Native American tribes. But those issues came a step closer to being resolved late last week when two American Indian tribes with online lending operations abandoned an effort to block the sate from restricting their businesses. [More]
Amazon Fresh Reaches East Coast But Only For Select Group Of Brooklynites
By 10.17.14
Residents of New York City jealous of their West Coast counterparts for receiving sometimes-fresh grocery deliveries from Amazon should pine no more. The e-tailer began deliveries of Amazon Fresh in a very concentrated area of the Big Apple today. [More]
NY Attorney General: 72% Of Airbnb Rentals Violate State, City Laws
By 10.16.14
New York state’s crackdown on the burgeoning short-term home rental industry continues this morning, with a new report from the state’s Attorney General claiming that nearly 3-in-4 of the short-term New York rentals listed over the last few years were in violation of state and/or city law. [More]
