You Probably Just Shouldn’t Eat Anything With Sunflower Seeds In It For A While

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Sunflower seeds are a satisfying snack, and especially good to eat during a long drive. They’re also a common ingredient in cereals, granola, granola bars, protein bars, cookies, and you can even buy sunflower seed butter. We didn’t realize quite how popular they are until a company called SunOpta found Listeria monocytogenes contamination after routine testing of their bulk sunflower seeds. Since then, companies from supermarkets to sporting goods stores have been recalling their products that contain sunflower seeds, and those little seeds are everywhere.

With that, maybe it’s a good idea to just…skip eating anything with sunflower seeds in it for a while. The recall includes hundreds of items under dozens of brands. Food Safety News notes that some of the recall notices aren’t even being sent the Food and Drug Administration, so consider checking the labels on any snacks that you eat for sunflower seeds, then checking the company website or even calling them to find out if the product has been recalled.

Avoiding Listeria illness is especially important for children, elderly people, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems, since they’re more likely to develop serious complications, which include septicemia, meningitis, stillbirth, and miscarriage.

Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and diarrhea or other gastrointestinal problems. Other symptoms can include fatigue, headache, stiff neck, confusion, or seizures if the illness worsens. People who are healthy may not have any symptoms at all.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Report: The FTC Is Probably Cool With The Walgreens-Rite Aid Merger

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A few months ago, the shareholders of #3 U.S. drugstore chain Rite Aid approved the company’s proposed acquisition by the parent company of the #1 chain, Walgreens Boots Alliance. Now reports indicate that the Federal Trade Commission may give the merger its blessing, as long as certain conditions are met.
The New York Post reported today that signs point to approval so far, and it could be announced sometime next week. Like with many retail mergers, in areas where both chains are common and they compete heavily, the company would either close some stores or divest them, selling them to a competitor –– probably an existing regional chain, not #2 drugstore CVS.

In some areas where the two chains compete, they may end up closing a large number of stores. One estimate is that up to 3,000 stores would either be sold or closed if the merger goes through.

While consumer choice is one factor in this proposed merger, another factor is the pharmacies’ ability to negotiate with pharmacy benefit managers, the companies that negotiate which drugs your insurance company will pay for, and how much it will pay. A larger and stronger Walgreens would weaken the ability of PBMs to negotiate with pharmacies.

Walgreens doesn’t own a chain of shoe stores, by the way: Boots is the U.K. pharmacy chain that the company acquired in 2014. Walgreens and Duane Reade customers might be familiar with that name from the company’s Boots No7 in-house cosmetics brand.

Signs point toward FTC approving Walgreens-Rite Aid merger [New York Post]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Are You A Brown Mackie College Student Or Staffer? We Want To Hear From You

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This morning, for-profit educator Brown Mackie College announced it was gradually closing all but a few of its more than 25 campuses in 15 states. While we’ve seen what the school is telling students and employees about the situation, we want to hear directly from those who are most affected by this news.

If you’re a Brown Mackie student or staffer (or recently attended/worked for the school), shoot us an email at tips@consumerist.com and let us know so we can ask you some questions about your experience with the college.

We won’t reveal any personally identifying information, so hopefully you’ll be open to speaking freely about the good and the bad.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Ryanair Getting Into The Hotel Business?

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Could Ryanair be the Amazon of air travel? If the company’s executives have their say, the answer is a resounding “yes.” The cheapo European airline is taking steps to reach that goal with plans to launch an accommodation service for the destinations it flies in and out of. 

The airline revealed plans on Friday to launch the service, dubbed “Ryanair Rooms,” which will include a variety of accommodations, on Oct. 1, the Telegraph reports.

Travelers looking for low-cost lodging will be able to book through Ryanair.com, which already offers the option to reserve cars, airport transfers, and travel insurance.

“We’re going to transform booking accommodation,” Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s Chief Marketing Officer tells the Telegraph. “More and more customers are looking to Ryanair for products other than flights, and we see this as a natural progression towards Ryanair.com becoming the Amazon of air travel.”

The company will also reportedly create special “Ryanair Holidays” packages, an all-inclusive low-cost bundle that will include lodging, vehicle rental, and tours and other things customers can do at their destinations.

Joining the lodging fray isn’t exactly new to Ryanair, as the company already offers some options through Booking.com. However, the Telegraph reports that the partnership will end on Sept. 30.

Would you stay in a ‘Ryanair Room’? [The Telegraph]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

DOT Gives U.S. Airlines The Go-Ahead To Start Scheduled Service To 9 Cuban Cities (But Not Havana Yet)

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After waiting for more than 50 years to carry passengers from the U.S. to Cuba, airlines stateside have gotten the final go-ahead from the Department of Transportation to begin scheduled service to nine cities on the island nation — not including Havana.

Last fall, the U.S. and Cuba decided to kiss and make up, a thawing of relations that led to the loosening up of travel between the two nations. Airlines were chomping at the bit back then to start flying, but had to wait until regulators could hash out exactly how things would work.

In the meantime, the airlines filed applications for one of the 20 new scheduled routes to Havana, as well as 90 routes to nine other Cuban destinations.

The U.S. DOT has now approved [PDF] six domestic airlines to begin scheduled flights between Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, and nine Cuban cities as early as this fall: American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines, and Sun Country Airlines.

The arrangement allows for 10 daily roundtrip flights, for a total of 90 daily roundtrips, between the U.S. and each of the following cities: Camagüey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara, and Santiago de Cuba. That doesn’t mean per airline, that means the carriers are dividing the 90 daily roundtrips between them.

“A decision on the Havana routes will be announced later this summer,” the DOT says.

“Last year, President Obama announced that it was time to ‘begin a new journey’ with the Cuban people,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Today, we are delivering on his promise by re-launching scheduled air service to Cuba after more than half a century.”

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Former Uber And Lyft Drivers In Austin Sue Over Abrupt Pullout

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In Austin, TX last month, city voters approved a ballot measure that would require drivers for ride-hailing apps to pass city background checks and be fingerprinted. Both companies immediately pulled out of the city, suddenly leaving thousands of workers, many of whom were driving for their full-time jobs, out of work. Now drivers are suing the companies, alleging that they were owed notice under the WARN Act.

The WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act is a federal law that requires employers to notify employees and the state government at least 60 days in advance of a plant closing or mass layoff. Workers at Ovation Brands buffet restaurants, for example, are suing their former employer under WARN, saying that the abrupt closings of restaurants violated the law.

Both Uber and Lyft were unwilling to go along with a new city ordinance that would also require cars for hire to be marked and limit where they could pick up passengers. The ordinance was put up for a vote, and city voters chose to keep it in place.

The problem is that WARN does not cover independent contractors and self-employed workers [PDF], which leads straight back to the debate over whether drivers for app-based services are employees or not.

Another ride-hailing startup, Get Me, stepped in and offered to hire drivers who were working for Uber and Lyft –– as long as they pass that new background check with fingerprints that will be required by 2017, of course.

Classes Sue Uber & Lyft for Mass Layoffs [Courthouse News]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Emails Show How Brown Mackie College Is Giving Students & Employees Bad News About School Phase-Outs

Report: Amazon’s Strides In Apparel Could Be Serious Threat To Brick-And-Mortar Stores

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As if retail chains aren’t already having a rough time of it lately, a new report says Amazon’s clothing business could prove to make things even worse in the future.

A Goldman Sachs report says brick-and-mortar apparel stores may lose some ground to Amazon, noting that the e-commerce giant has grown by leaps and bounds recently and will likely continue to grow, Yahoo Finance reports.

The report estimates that apparel and accessories represent $10 billion in sales for Amazon, accounting for 20% of the online apparel and accessories market. Macy’s is behind it with just $5.2 billion in sales.

Amazon’s success is due to a few things: many brands sell on its site, or to Amazon’s buyers. More will in the future as well, as companies like Gap have said they’d consider working with the online retail behemoth. Others should follow suit, “because they need to migrate to where consumer traffic is,” Goldman said.

“Many wholesale brands still do not sell directly to amazon.com, but access to more brands – which we believe is coming – supports further growth ahead,” the report read.

Online apparel in general has been a growing business, increasing at a rate of 20% per year over the past few years, the report notes, while at the same time, brick-and-mortar sales have flatlined.

In addition to selling other brands’ clothes, Amazon also launched its own private label apparel brands, in an effort to capitalize on its growing success in clothing sales.

Goldman: You’ll be buying more of your clothes on Amazon soon [Yahoo Finance]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Test Your Memory Of The Week That Was With The Consumerist Quiz

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A lot happens in a week; not all of it sticks in your brain the way it should. How much can you recall from what you’ve read in the last few days? It’s time to test your memory once again with the Consumerist Quiz.

All questions relate to at least one story posted on the site. Be warned that unless you’ve been reading everything on the site, scoring a 100% will not be easy. Last week’s quiz had a median score of around 45%, so if you answer half of these correctly, you probably did better than most.

Of course, the fun is in the taking of the quiz, the challenging of your mind (or your ability to simply search the site for the correct answers), so who cares if you don’t ace it? Unlike tests you take at school or work, no money, grades, or lives are at stake here; and the only reward is a sense of pride for those who’ve really paid attention.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

SodaStream Offering Free Sparkling Water Machines In Exchange For Customer Selfies With Discontinued Keurig Kold

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Just in case Keurig wasn’t having a bad enough week after announcing it would be discontinuing its Kold soda-making machine and offering anyone who bought one a full refund, SodaStream has chimed in to rub a bit of salt directly into that carbonated wound.

The Keurig competitor says it will give Kold customers a free SodaStream Fountain Jet sparkling water maker — and all they have to do to get one is snap a photo of themselves with the soon-to-be obsolete machines.

“As the world’s largest home carbonation brand with more than 25 million users, we at SodaStream invite disappointed Kold users to enjoy fresh sparkling water at home every day,” said Doug Pritchard, president of SodaStream, North America in a press release. “SodaStream offers an environmentally friendly and economical solution that we’re certain these people will enjoy for many years to come.”

How to do it: Owners of Kold machines can email their photo with the machine, their name, address, phone number, and the Kold machine’s serial number to info@sodastreamsupport.com. SodaStream will then send them a promotional code that can be redeemed at http://ift.tt/rSlmAM for a free SodaStream Fountain Jet machine.

The fine print: the deal is only open to adult residents of the contiguous USA, with a limit of one promo code per Kold machine, and it’s limited to the first 2,000 eligible applicants whose emails are received on or before June 17, 2016. It’s still unclear how many of the $370 machines Keurig sold.

Applicants can use the promo code against the purchase of one black SodaStream Fountain Jet sparkling water maker from http://ift.tt/22YFeQu, and will only be responsible for paying shipping and handling.

Once you get the promo code, you’ll have to use it within 10 days of issue or it will expire and will not be replaced, SodaStream warns.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Twitter Resets Passwords Related To Possible Breach

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Following reports that the passwords for nearly 33 million Twitter accounts were breached and put up for sale on the dark Web, the social media network has notified potentially affected users and reset their passwords. 

Twitter announced the move in a blog post on Friday, noting that it was working to ensure users’ accounts were safe from ne’er-do-wells.

Michael Coates, Trust & Information Security Office for Twitter, says the company has cross-checked the leaked data from each purported hack with its own records.

“As a result, a number of Twitter accounts were identified for extra protection,” he writes. “Accounts with direct password exposure were locked and require a password reset by the account owner.” The company did not specify how many account passwords were reset.

Coates reiterated that the leaked passwords, which were found by LeakedSource earlier this week, did not come from a breach of Twitter’s own systems.

“The purported Twitter [user]names and passwords may have been amassed from combining information from other recent breaches, malware on victim machines that are stealing passwords for all sites, or a combination of both,” Coates says. “Regardless of origin, we’re acting swiftly to protect your Twitter account.”

While the site has taken steps to protect users, it also recommends they take extra precautions such as enabling two-factor authentication login verification, use strong passwords, and consider using a password manager.

“The recent prevalence of data breaches from other websites is challenging for all websites — not just those breached,” Coates wrote. “If a person used the same username and password on multiple sites then attackers could, in some situations, automatically take over their account.”

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Gawker Media Files For Bankruptcy; Ziff Davis Is Likely Buyer

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Gawker Media — former home to Consumerist and former employer of two current Consumerist staffers — is filing for bankruptcy after being on the receiving end of a $140 million legal pile driver by wrester/reality star Hulk Hogan.

Bloomberg reports that Gawker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning in a federal bankruptcy court in New York, unable to pay the huge jury award to Hogan and still remain operational.

Yet the Gawker brand and website will likely not go away, as publisher Ziff Davis — which already operates sites like IGN, PC Magazine, and Geek.com — has already expressed an interest in swooping in to buy up the remains of Gawker at a bargain.

In a letter to ZD staff, CEO Vivek Shah announced today that his company has agreed to purchase the Gawker flagship site, along with Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Kotaku, Jalopnik, Deadspin, and Jezebel — and that it will be making the purchase without absorbing any of the liability that Gawker currently faces for publishing a snippet of a private sex tape featuring Hogan and the then-wife of his friend Todd “Bubba the Love Sponge” Clem.

However, in order for ZD to acquire these sites, the court must first schedule and hold an auction, which Shah says will likely occur toward the end of July.

“In the event we become the acquirer, the additions of Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Kotaku would fortify our position in consumer tech and gaming,” he writes. “With the addition of Jalopnik, Deadspin and Jezebel, we would broaden our position as a lifestyle publisher.”

Earlier this year, but before losing the Hogan lawsuit, Gawker had taken on its first outside investor, Columbus Nova Technology Partners, which paid $100 million for a minority stake in the company.

At the time, Gawker’s founder and owner Nick Denton had reportedly put a value of around $250 million on the company, but following the outcome of the trial, during which a much lower $83 million figure was put on Gawker, that value has dropped.

Before Memorial Day, the company confirmed it had brought in an outside banker to help consider its options, including a sale. At the time, there were reportedly already informal offers for Gawker in the range of $50 million to $70 million.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

FDA And International Enforcement Superfriends Take Down Online Peddlers Of Unapproved Drugs

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Hundreds of millions of years ago, the seven continents that we know today were one big land glob called Pangaea. When choosing a name for an international operation to nab sellers of unapproved drugs, regulators and law enforcement agencies took this idea of one united world and called their project “Pangea,” or the International Internet Week of Action. Led by Interpol, agencies took action to look for unapproved drugs passing in the mail.

The week of intense inspections at international post office sites ran from May 31 to June 7, and what inspectors found resulted in the shutdown of thousands of sites selling unapproved drugs and sending them through the mail. The government worked with domain name registrars to wipe out the Internet addresses for these sites, at least on the public World Wide Web.

110 of the sites taken down were dedicated to the sale of 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP), a substance with some industrial uses that was sold as a diet aid in the 1930s, but hasn’t been sold here legally since. It remains a dangerous and illegal weight loss drug.

Inspectors also retailed 797 more packages that are subject to more testing: they’ll be destroyed and even more websites taken down if they’re shown to be illegal in this country or dispensed illicityly.

The FDA didn’t name other drugs captured in the mail raid, but said that they included treatments for depression, narcolepsy, high cholesterol, glaucoma, and asthma.

FDA targets unlawful internet sales of illegal prescription medicines during International Operation Pangea IX [FDA]
BeSafeRx: Know Your Online Pharmacy [FDA]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

People Stranded On Multiple Rides After Amusement Park Suffers Power Outages

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It’s bad enough when one rollercoaster or ride malfunctions and strands a bunch of passengers, but the situation at an amusement park went beyond a single incident, with visitors stuck on multiple attractions after a series of power outages.

People were stuck on several rides last night Carowinds amusement park, in Charlotte, N.C. reports WYFF-4, after sporadic power outages. Reports of stranded visitors started around 8, with a park spokesperson confirming the power outages, but not confirming anyone was stuck until 9:45 p.m.

“Around 8 pm this evening, there was a power failure at Carowinds. As a result, there was a partial power outage in the park,” a statement read from the park at that time. “Several rides were stopped and safely evacuated. We are currently lowering WindSeeker to the ground. As always, the safety of our guests and associates is our highest priority.”

One visitor said he was stuck on the ride with his girlfriend and her family when the power went out — and it wasn’t fun.

“We have been stuck on the Windseeker ride at Carowinds for over two hours now. We finally slowly making our way down at what it feels like a couple inches every 4-5 minutes,” he wrote to WYFF. “It is making us mad that they’re taking this long and had a power outage to begin with. I won’t be coming back to Carowinds for a long time and recommend others shouldn’t either.”

A park representative told the station shortly before 11 last night that all the passengers had been safely unloaded from the rides, and utility crews were investigating a blown transformer.

Riders stuck on multiple rides at Carowinds after power outages [WYFF4.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Source: For-Profit Brown Mackie College Ceasing Enrollment, Phasing Out All Locations

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The nation’s second largest for-profit educator, Education Management Corporation – the operator of chains like Brown Mackie College, Argosy University and the Art Institutes – will stop enrolling students at all of its Brown Mackie locations while “teaching out” the students that remain.

A person close to the matter tells Consumerist that while the locations will no longer enroll new students, they won’t immediately be closing.

There are currently 25 Brown Mackie College locations in 15 states. As of 2013, the school enrolled approximately 17,000 students. We’ve reached out to EDMC for comment on the matter and will update this post when we hear back.

According to the source, four of the Brown Mackie campuses are seeking different ownership, but it’s unclear what companies have been approached.

Additionally, it was unclear exactly how EDMC planned to handle the teach-out program for students currently enrolled at the schools.

A teach-out option typically puts in place arrangements to ensure that all currently enrolled students can either complete the course of study or transition to a mutually agreed course at no disadvantage to the student.

In addition to stopping enrollment at the Brown Mackie College locations and beginning teach-outs, the source tells Consumerist that at least two executives with the schools have left the company, including a regional vice president of human resources and president of Brown Mackie College.

This isn’t the first time EDMC has moved to end enrollment at some of its campuses.

Last month, the Pittsburgh Tribune reported that EDMC has laid off more than 200 employees, mainly in its online division.

Prior to that, in January, the Tribune reported EDMC would stop enrollment at three Art Institutes in Tucson, St. Louis and Los Angeles. The schools were expected to be closed within the next several years once students have transferred to other schools or complete their educations.

Last May, EDMC announced it would shut down 15 of its 52 Art Institute campuses across the country.

The closures mainly involved off-site learning or branch locations in cities where the company has more than one Art Institute location.

In all, the closures affected nearly 5,400 students at campuses in Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Missouri, Michigan, New York, Utah, California, Washington D.C., Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Campuses on the chopping block were to undergo a teach-out program, which allowed currently enrolled students to complete their course of study. The process is expected to take two to three years to complete.

“Our primary concern is ensuring that currently enrolled students receive a high-quality education that will equip them with the skills and expertise they need to earn a meaningful return on their educational investment,” a spokesman for the company said at the time.

EDMC – which is partially owned by Goldman Sachs – has faced its share of issues in recent years, from agreeing to pay $95.5 million to settle fraud and recruitment violations to falling enrollments and financial difficulties and increased scrutiny from state and federal regulators.

In November, the Department of Justice announced a settlement with EDMC, which involves 39 states and the District of Columbia, putting an end to a long-running lawsuit accusing the second largest for-profit education company of defrauding the federal government.

In all, the settlement resolves four separate lawsuits filed in federal court in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

The primary allegation in the suit revolved around EDMC’s unlawful recruitment of students by offering employees bonuses or incentives based on the number of students they enrolled.

Additionally, the deal settles a consumer fraud investigation by a consortium of 40 state Attorneys General into EDMC’s deceptive and misleading recruiting practices.

The consumer fraud settlement requires EDMC to undertake various compliance obligations, including detailed disclosure obligations to students; prohibitions on deceptive or misleading recruiting practices and oversight by an administrator to ensure compliance.

EDMC was revealed to be on the lowest tier of the Dept. of Education’s Heightened Cash Monitoring list last year.

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Yelp Ordered To Remove Allegedly Defamatory Reviews Of Law Firm

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Two years after a California lawyer won a default judgment against a former client accused of posting defamatory reviews of the law firm on Yelp, those reviews remained online. However, this week a California appeals court ruled that Yelp must finally remove these reviews. 

This case goes back to 2012, when a woman hired the law firm to represent her in a personal injury claim. That relationship only lasted a handful of weeks before the client and lawyer parted ways.

Shortly after the lawyer ceased representing the woman, she allegedly published a review on Yelp, giving the firm one out of five stars, and stating that her lawyer deserved an even lower rating than that. The review accused the lawyer of “making a bad situation worse,” and failing to speak with both the client and insurance company because “her mom had a broken leg.”

The law firm first asked the woman to remove the review, which they contend contained defamatory and false statements. In response, the woman refused to remove the Jan. 2013 review, and allegedly threatened to post an updated review, and to have another review posted by someone else.

The law firm alleged that the woman — or possibly someone she knew — subsequently posted a second review in Feb. 2013, which the firm also said was defamatory and false.

The lawyers then sued the woman, accusing her of defamation, trade libel, false light invasion of privacy, and emotional distress. In Jan. 20134, after the defendant failed to respond to the complaint or show up at court, the court awarded the law firm nearly $558,000 in damages and ordered that Yelp remove the reviews in question.

Yelp, which was not a party to the original defamation lawsuit, objected to the order, saying that the law firm had failed to actually prove that the reviews are defamatory. The site filed a motion to vacate the judgment, arguing that Yelp had standing to bring the motion as an “aggrieved party,” even though it was a nonparty in the lawsuit.

The court denied the motion in Sept. 2014, and Yelp appealed. This week, a state appeals court once again came down in favor of removing the reviews.

“Throughout proceedings in the trial court and on appeal, Yelp has endeavored to blur the distinction between the judgment entered against [the woman] which awarded Hassell damages and injunctive relief, and the removal order in the judgment which directs Yelp to effectuate the injunction against [the woman],” reads the order [PDF].

The judge disagreed with Yelp’s contention that removing the defamatory statements would “injuriously affect” the review website.

“Yelp’s claimed interest in maintaining [its] Web site as it deems appropriate does not include the right to second-guess a final court judgment which establishes that statements by a third party are defamatory and thus unprotected by the First Amendment,” the court ruled.

And, while the removal order may aggrieve Yelp, it did not impose liability on the company, as Yelp has never been accused of wrongdoing in this case.

A Yelp spokesperson tells Courthouse News that the ruling “undermines the free speech and due process rights of consumer reviewers and the online platforms that host their content.”

“It gives those who dislike certain speech — here, a lawyer who was upset at reviews from her clients — the ability to require their removal while denying the website hosting that speech the ability to defend its editorial rights to publish the speech or rebut the claims,” the spokesperson said.

Yelp Must Take Down Defamatory Reviews [Courthouse News]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Park City Residents Don’t Want Ski Resort To Trademark The Name “Park City”

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When you have a business that’s in a popular tourist location, naming your establishment after the city is an obvious way to align yourself with that hotspot, thus, attracting said out-of-towners. That’s why one ski resort’s trademark application for the name “Park City” has the city’s other residents worried for the future of their businesses.

There are more than 40 businesses that use Park City in their name, and many of them started getting worried when Vail Resorts applied to trademark those words. So far, more than 100 locals have filed official complaints with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, reports FOX-13.

Vail Resorts and Park City Mountain Resort CEO Bill Rock said his company only wants to block other resorts from using the Park City name, and not keep other kinds of businesses from using it.

“Our intent is to give assurances that we’re not trying to impact anyone else’s business, just protect our resort as a ski area,” Rock said.

But despite various assurances to the city and businesses that the company won’t go back on its word, many are worried that someday Vail Resorts will try to force businesses to remove Park City from their name.

“Things quite often can sound good in the beginning and go a bit sideways, and I think that’s of course where the natural fear is for most people,” one local business owner told FOX-13.

Last night, residents voiced their concerns at a city council meeting, showing up in large numbers, KSL.com reports, and were vocal about why the company shouldn’t be allowed to trademark the name.

“Governments change, everything changes, but that trademark stays,” one said.

Rock again assured people that a memorandum of understanding to work with individual businesses and the city would mean Park City can remain on storefronts.

“We understand the passion that surrounds this issue,” Rock said. “What we’re trying to do is protect the ski area, protect Park City as it relates to the ski area.”

Residents remain skeptical, and want the city council to file a formal opposition against Vail Resorts. The patent and trademark office has given Park City until July 9 to decide whether it wants to do so.

“Once you’ve got a capital ’T’ and a capital ‘M’ in a little circle, you own that,” said one resident.

Residents oppose company’s application to trademark the words Park City [FOX-13]
Residents sound off about possible trademark of ‘Park City’ name [KSL.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Moe’s Takes Over From Chipotle As Most-Loved Tex-Mex Chain

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It’s easy to figure out why fast-casual chain Chipotle has fallen in the opinion of American consumers: there was that series of foodborne illness outbreaks in their restaurants in from the fall of 2015 through early 2016. Since last year, the chain fell from the top position in the Harris Poll restaurant rankings for its category, behind Taco Bell, Qdoba, and Baja Fresh. The top position was taken by Moe’s, a smaller chain.

This isn’t based on sales, of course: if that were the case, Taco Bell would win the “fast-casual Mexican” category handily every year. The data comes from a poll of around 100,000 Americans over age 15 to determine the “brand equity” and popularity of brands with the public.

National chains dominate list not because they’re the best, but because they’re ubiquitous. Subway, for example, took the top sandwich shop title for the sixth year running.

“Moe’s Southwest Grill and Subway are examples of restaurants that have listened to their customers and responded to their needs,” Lisa Recoussine, VP of client solutions at Harris Poll owner Nielsen, said in a statement.

Moe’s and Qdoba are in the same price range and freshness-pushing mindset as Chipotle, yet have not experienced any food safety crises this year, so their move up the ranks of the Harris fast casual Mexican rankings makes sense.

The Harris Poll Names Restaurant Brands of the Year [Harris Poll]
2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Rankings [Harris Poll]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Citi Is Suing AT&T Over The Word “Thanks”

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Last week, AT&T launched a new loyalty program dubbed AT&T Thanks, offering rewards to customers, especially those who bundle together wireless and pay-TV services from the company. This morning, Citi fired back at the Death Star, alleging that AT&T is stomping all over Citi’s “ThankYou” trademark.

For several years, Citi has had trademarks protecting its “ThankYou from Citi” credit card rewards program, while AT&T more recently filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its “AT&T Thanks” mark.

That AT&T mark was published for opposition this week, and it looks like Citi has a problem with it. Reuters reports that Citi sued the telecom titan this morning in federal court seeking to block continued infringement of its trademark, along with damages.

While Citi has registered multiple variations of its “ThankYou” mark, we couldn’t find anything indicating that the bank has registered anything that that says “Thanks.”

Both the Thanks and ThankYou programs do involve loyalty rewards, though the ThankYou mark is more explicitly designated to cover credit and debit card rewards while the AT&T Thanks doesn’t make any mention of specific types of products or commerce; just “incentive rewards programs for customers for the purpose of promoting and rewarding loyalty.”

We’ve reached out to AT&T for comment, but have not yet heard back from the company.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Elizabeth Warren Says Accreditor Of For-Profit Colleges Has “Dismal Record Of Failure”

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Only days after a report found that an organization responsible for accrediting a number of for-profit colleges  had engaged in a “pattern” of providing approval to schools with bad track records, resulting in these colleges receiving nearly $6 billion in federal funds, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is joining the chorus of voices calling on the Department of Education to take action.

Sen. Warren of Massachusetts is urging the Dept. of Education to take “strong, aggressive” action against Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), one of the nation’s largest college accreditors.

In a report [PDF] released by Warren, she points to ACICS’s “dismal record of failure, including its repeated accreditation of schools operated by the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges Inc., in spite of evidence of obvious shortcomings and problems at these colleges.

 

According to the report, Dept. of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) continued to approve ACICS despite information that the company give approval to schools when there was clear evidence of wrongdoing.

“College employees who witnessed ACICS’s accreditation processes have questioned the rigor of the accreditor’s reviews,” the report states, noting that one employee called it a “dog and pony show.”

In the case of Northwestern Polytechnic University, which was eventually found to be a visa mill, the report states ACICS was contacted by a whistleblower about the school’s misdeeds.

When ACICS contacted the college it allegedly took the explanation at face value, issuing no sanctions.

“In its supervision over ACICS, NACIQI has an exceptionally egregious record of failed oversight,” the report states, noting that some of ACICS’s worst failures have occurred in the time since a 2011 review found the accreditor to be in compliance.

In fact, the report found that NACIQI rarely makes use of its serious sanctions, such as preventing an accrediting agency from accrediting any new schools while its compliance issues are outstanding.

“The Committee has made this recommendation only four times during the past six years. Two of those accreditors are no longer in operation; one has returned to compliance, and the fourth remains under sanction – that is, not allowed to accredit any new institutions – while it prepares a compliance report,” according to the report.

The report comes weeks before the Department of Education advisory board — known as the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity — is set to meet and could terminate the recognition of ACICS.

“If NACIQI members and Department of Education officials want to restore public confidence in their own review process, they must demonstrate that they understand the devastating consequences of ACICS’s long record of failure,” Warren states in the report.

Warren’s letter and report come days after The Center for American Progress released its own report [PDF] highlighting ACISC’s failure to take action by revoking accreditation to the schools even after federal regulators opened investigations into the schools’ practices and it became evident that students were unable to repay their debt obligations after enrollment.

In all, ACICS has accredited 725 institutions — including now defunct Corinthian Colleges and Fast Train schools — where more than 400,000 students have enrolled.

When compared to campuses receiving accreditation from the top five national companies, ACICS’s institutions have the worst graduation rates, the lowest rate of students repaying their student loans, and the second-worst student loan default rates.

According to the report, 21% of students attended an institution approved by ACICS had defaulted on their federal loans within three years of leaving school.

For its part ACICS on Monday announced [PDF] it would take steps to improve its processes and restore “trust and confidence.”

“Every aspect of the agency must be re-evaluated, fortified and enhanced,” ACICS’ top executive Anthony Bieda said in a statement.

Last week, California Attorney General Kamala Harris sent a letter to the Department of Education urging it to revoke federal approval from ACICS.

With the letter, Harris expressed support for 13 other state Attorneys General who previously voiced their concerns over the renewal of ACICS as an accreditation agency.

Following the collapse of CCI last year, lawmakers opened an inquiry into how to improve the oversight of agencies that one might assume provide an indicator as to whether or not a particular school has met high standards for education and financial security. It’s unclear how that inquiry has progressed.

The committee’s inquiry came just weeks after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requested documents from ACICS related to its accreditation of for-profit colleges.

The Bureau’s request was part of its investigating into possible “unlawful acts and practices in connection with accrediting for-profit colleges,” according to Inside Higher Ed.”

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Sony Confirms It Will Sell A More Powerful PlayStation 4, Codenamed “Neo”

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If you’ve been waiting breathlessly for a new, more powerful version of the PlayStation 4, take a breath, already: it’s coming, but it won’t be arriving quite as soon as some rumors predicted.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo will be kicking off soon, but the new PS4, codenamed “Neo,” won’t be ready to display at the show, Sony president and CEO Andrew House told the Financial Times (via Ars Technica).

“We want to ensure we have a full range of the best experiences on the new system that we can showcase in their entirety,” House explained to the FT.

Neo won’t be a replacement for the standard PS4, House added, but will instead be sold alongside it as an upgraded experience.

“It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4,” he said. “We will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle… All games will support the standard PS4 and we anticipate all or a very large majority of games will also support the high-end PS4.”

Ars notes that it’s likely that normal PS4 games would “simply see a graphical upgrade when running on the Neo, perhaps utilizing higher resolution textures and 3D modeling detail.”

As for the price, Sony isn’t putting an exact number on Neo, but House said it will be more expensive than the current PS4’s $350 price tag.

Sony PS4 upgrade to include UltraHD and richer graphics [Financial Times]
Sony confirms “high-end” PS4 Neo, but it wont be at E3 [Ars Technica]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Police: Thief Dressed Like Apple Employee Walks Out Of NYC Store With 19 iPhones

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In the movies, thieves are always donning clever, complicated disguises to skulk about and commit foul deeds. But it turns out, you don’t even need a fake mustache and a fedora to go undetected if you have the right shirt on.

Police in New York say a gutsy thief waltzed into a Soho Apple Store in a blue shirt, “dressed similarly” to Genius Bar employees on June 1, reports DNA Info.

He apparently knew where he was going, as police said he walked straight back to an electronics repair room, where he grabbed 19 iPhones, totaling $16,130, from a drawer, and handed them to an accomplice.

His fellow thief hid the phones under his shirt, and the twosome walked out. Police are still investigating, and Apple has yet to issue a comment on the incident.

Man Dressed as Apple Store Worker Steals 19 iPhones From SoHo Shop: NYPD [DNAInfo]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Tesla Denies Report Of Possible Safety Defect In Model S & “Troubling” Nondisclosure Agreements

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Yesterday, regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had begun looking into possible issues with the suspension on Tesla’s Model S sedans, but the high-end electric vehicle maker is currently denying that there are any safety issues with the Model S suspensions, or that there is a formal investigation into the matter.

The issue came to light after an article on DailyKanban.com noted reports of Tesla owners who are allegedly experiencing problems with their suspensions, including one owner of a 2013 Model S who says the “left front hub assembly separated from the upper control arm” after only putting 70,000 miles on the car.

The article also contains claims from some owners that they are being asked to sign nondisclosure agreements that they believe would prevent them from taking their issue to NHTSA.

The agency confirmed in statements that it was examining a “potential suspension issue on the Tesla Model S” and that it is “seeking more information from vehicle owners and the company.”

Additionally, NHTSA says it learned of Tesla’s “troublesome nondisclosure agreement” a month ago, and that the agency informed the car maker that “any language implying that consumers should not contact the agency regarding safety concerns is unacceptable.”

Tesla’s response, according to the NHTSA statement, was that it had no intention of dissuading owners from taking their concerns to regulators.

This morning, Tesla posted a lengthy statement on its blog, denying any issues with the Model S or its nondisclosure agreement.

“First, there is no safety defect with the suspensions in either the Model S or Model X,” writes the company, which contends that it knows about all service-related issues on its cars because all Tesla service centers are owned and operated by Tesla, as opposed to franchised dealerships. “Whenever there is even a potential issue with one of those parts, we investigate fully. This, combined with extensive durability testing, gives us high confidence in our suspensions.”

The company claims that the car whose suspension failed after only 70,000 had a ball joint that “experienced very abnormal rust,” and that Tesla has not seen this happen on any other cars.

“The car had over 70,000 miles on it and its owner lives down such a long dirt road that it required two tow trucks to retrieve the car,” explains Tesla, saying that it took one tow truck to get the car to the highway and one to get it from the highway to the service center. “When we got the car, it was caked in dirt.”

The company is also downplaying the request for information from NHTSA, claiming that it doesn’t even rise to the level of a “preliminary evaluation.”

Regarding the alleged nondisclosure agreements, even though NHTSA labeled them as “troubling,” Tesla contends that it “has never and would never ask a customer to sign a document to prevent them from talking to NHTSA or any other government agency.”

The company paints a rosier portrait of what these nondisclosure clauses — what Tesla refers to as “Goodwill Agreements” — are intended to prevent.

“When our customers tell us something went wrong with their car, we often cover it even if we find that the problem was not caused by the car and that we therefore have no obligations under the warranty,” reads the blog post. “In these situations, we discount or conduct the repair for free, because we believe in putting our customers’ happiness ahead of our own bottom line. When this happens, we sometimes ask our customers to sign a ‘Goodwill Agreement.’ The basic point is to ensure that Tesla doesn’t do a good deed, only to have that used against us in court for further gain.”

Tesla maintains that it rarely asks the customer to sign such an agreement, but says it “will take a look at this situation and will work with NHTSA to see if we can handle it differently.”

The carmaker maybe goes a bit too far by trying to rub the point in:

“It is deeply ironic that the only customer who apparently believes that this document prevents him from talking to NHTSA is also the same one who talked to NHTSA,” writes the company. “If our agreement was meant to prevent that, it obviously wasn’t very good.”

Or maybe the customer thought this issue was important enough to disregard the nondisclosure agreement?

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Pepsi Cancels Its Meeting With Bottlers To Discuss Diet Pepsi Plans

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In recent years, customers told Pepsi that they weren’t interested in drinking diet colas because of their concerns about the sweetener aspartame. Pepsi took the logical next step and changed out the sweetener in Diet Pepsi to a blend of sucralose and acesulfame potassium to prop up diet cola sales, and in response to the change, sales….fell even faster. Now Pepsi has canceled a planned meeting with bottlers to discuss solutions to the crisis.

The Wall Street Journal speculated that this meeting would involve changes to the formula of Diet Pepsi, perhaps a switch back to the previous formula or to yet another sweetener blend. What about stevia? People like stevia, right?

After the news about the presentation, which was to take place online, became public, Pepsi canceled it without explanation, also not commenting on the matter to the Wall Street Journal.

Store data showed that sales of Diet Pepsi have fallen almost twice as quickly as sales of all other diet sodas this winter and spring, indicating the need to try something else.

“I think they have to keep trying different formulas,” one bottler in the Northeastern U.S. told the Wall Street Journal. That means the company will risk alienating more customers every time it switches sweeteners out.

PepsiCo Cancels Meeting to Discuss Plan to Revive Diet Pepsi Sales [Wall Street Journal]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Uber Now Allows Riders To Schedule Trips In Advance

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Less than two weeks after Lyft rolled out a new service that allows riders to book trips in advance — despite the fact that that action essentially defeats the purpose of an on-demand ride-hailing app — the company’s biggest rival is joining club: Uber will now let users schedule trips between 30 minutes and 30 days in advance. 

Uber announced the new offering — dubbed Scheduled Rides — in a blog post on Thursday, noting that the feature, which is only available to UberX riders, will first launch in Seattle.

The company said the scheduled ride feature came about after hearing from riders who wanted to arrange their trips in advance “so they can rest assured that an Uber will be available when they need it.”

The feature works much like hailing a traditional Uber ride: select UberX, tap “Schedule a Ride,” set a date and time for pickup, and confirm details.

Uber will send riders two reminders of their upcoming trip 24 hours and 30 minutes prior to the pickup time and inform them if surge pricing applies.

That seems to mean that if your scheduled trip happens to coincide with a peak ridership time, you’ll be subject to the same surge pricing as if you hailed the ride on-demand.

Riders can cancel their scheduled trip anytime before the vehicle is dispatched, or up to five minutes after its been dispatched without a cancellation fee.

Because Uber says that scheduling a ride was the most requested feature from business travelers using the app, it has given priority access to users with Business Profiles or who has an account linked to their company’s Business Account.

The company plans to roll out Scheduled Rides in other major business cities in the coming months.

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Facebook Now Lets Users Comment On Posts With A Video

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There are some moments when a Facebook post cannot be answered in words, or even a photo. For those times, users can now respond to posts through the art of the moving image. In other words, video comments are coming.

You’ll now be able to upload videos into comments and replies on your friends’ posts — because your friends need to be able to see you rolling your eyes instead of just imagining it — to create “more engaging and immersive conversations,” as Facebook puts it.

The feature is available now, and could give Facebook a leg up on its main video competition over at Snapchat. According to Mary Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends report (h/t TechCrunch), Snapchat had about 10 billion user-shared daily video views, while Facebook sat at about eight billion.

Videos are the future of internet consumption, TechCrunch notes, citing Cisco Visual Networking Index’s forecast that by 2020, internet video traffic will represent 82% of all consumer internet traffic.

Facebook says the video commenting idea grew out of the company’s 50th Hackathon earlier this year, with the company’s team working to “refine and stabilize it” since then.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Attorney General’s Report: Time Warner Cable Service “Abysmal,” Has Earned “Miserable Reputation”

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Last fall, the office of New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began investigating whether broadband providers in the state were providing the connection speeds they promised. And while New York City’s biggest broadband provider, Time Warner Cable, promises “blazing fast” speeds in its ads, the preliminary results of the AG’s investigation are more snail-like.

As part of the investigation — headed up by Tim Wu, the person who coined the phrase “net neutrality” — New Yorkers were asked to use an online tool that measures the speed of users’ actual upstream and downstream connections.

“The results we received from Time Warner Cable customers were abysmal,” writes Wu in a letter [PDF] sent this week to Tom Rutledge, CEO of Charter Communications, which recently acquired TWC. “Not only did Time Warner Cable fail to achieve the speeds its customers were promised and paid for (which Time Warner Cable blamed on the testing method), it generally performed worse in this regard than other New York broadband providers.”

Wu describes the results of these tests as “troubling,” noting that “it appears that the company has been failing to take adequate or necessary steps to keep pace with the demand of Time Warner Cable customers — at times letting connections with key Internet content providers become so congested that large volumes of Internet data were regularly lost or discarded.”

As a result of this poorly maintained connections, customers seem to have experienced service — especially during the busy prime-time evening hours — that does not provide the quality promised in Time Warner Cable’s advertising.

“Customers have been frustrated, as movies freeze, websites load endlessly, and games become non-responsive,” reads the letter. “In addition, it appears that Time Warner Cable has been advertising its WiFi in ways that defy the technology’s technical capabilities and has been provisioning some of its customers with equipment that simply cannot achieve the higher bandwidths the company has sold to them.”

Wu concludes that Time Warner Cable — which will change its name to Spectrum when the Charter merger is complete — “has earned the miserable reputation it enjoys among consumers,” and that it will require more than a name change” to alter consumers’ perceptions of the product.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Charter — which has similarly low customer satisfaction scores to TWC — will bring “greater value and more consumer friendly policies” to its acquired customers. The company says subscribers will see improvements like minimum broadband speeds of 60 Mbps, along with no data caps (though that is part of the company’s agreement with the FCC to win approval of the mega-merger).

[via DSLreports]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds

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Here are six of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

Want to see your pictures on our site? Our Flickr pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Number Of Wendy’s Restaurants Hit In Malware Attack Now ‘Considerably Higher’ Than 300

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Wendy’s, a fast food chain that serves burgers, fries, and salad experiences, has had some recent issues with malware. Specifically, they announced last month that about 300 franchisees had been hit with malware that breached customers’ card data. The investigation continued, though, and so did fraudulent charges. It turns out that there was another piece of malware lurking in payment systems. The number of stores hit is “considerably higher” than the company originally thought.

The company insists that the breached point-of-sale system was only still in use in franchised restaurants, and none of the restaurants that the company itself operates were affected. The company isn’t prepared to announce how many stores were affected yet, but security reporter Brian Krebs notes that his sources were certain that more than 300 restaurants had been affected because of the number of cards that had been breached.

The original breach may have happened due to the actions of a service provider: the company reports that its experts believe that the breach “resulted from certain service providers’ remote access credentials being compromised.”

Wendy’s is fairly sure that they’ve eradicated the malware, but warns that it’s sophisticated and difficult to detect. Maybe bring cash for your next salad experience, just in case.

There’s the Beef: Wendy’s Breach Numbers About to Get Much Meatier

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Tesla Shipping Model X Owners Sunshades To Fix Windshield Glare

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Just weeks after Tesla began shipping its long-anticipated Model X SUV, the new owners began expressing concerns over several quality issues including a windshield that distorted oncoming headlights and street lamps and allowed too much heat to enter the vehicle. Today, the electric carmaker is trying to fix one of those issues by shipping sunshades to owners.

Tesla is providing owners of the Model X with a removable sunshade that aims to reduce the amount of sunlight and heat that comes through the vehicle’s larger-than-normal windshield.

The Model X windshield is about a foot and a half wider than a typical vehicle windshield, extending to the back of the front seats.

While the window provides for expanded views of scenery, owners have complained that the small amount of shade gradient on the glass fails to protect them from the bright lights of the sun — and the heat that goes along with it.

The new sunshades will cover up the portion of the windshield where visors cannot reach, blocking about two-thirds of the light and heat coming from above the driver’s head.

An installation guide [PDF] for the shade shows that it is constructed of mesh fabric in a collapsible rigid frame and is to be placed on the inside of the upper windshield.

Tesla’s step to fix one of the Model X issues comes two months after our colleagues at Consumer Reports highlighted other problems drivers encountered with the new vehicle.

Consumers who received their Model X SUVs after the initial rollout was delayed shared their disappointment with the quality of the electric vehicle, citing issues that also included malfunctioning second-row seats, sheet-metal panel gaps, distorted views from the windshield, climate control issues, and doors that fail to close properly.

At the time Tesla told Consumer Reports that it was aware of some of the issues.

“We are committed to making the world’s most reliable cars. While we have seen some issues with early Model X builds, the issues are not widespread, and we are working closely with each owner to respond quickly and proactively to address any problems. We will continue to do so until each customer is fully satisfied. This commitment is one of the reasons why 98 percent of our customers say they will buy another Tesla as their next car.”

[via The Verge]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

In Most States, No Regulator Cares If A Merger Closes Your Local Hospitals

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The consolidation of, well, everything in healthcare is kind of par for the course these days, really. Insurance companies, provider networks, and hospitals are constantly merging or buying each other out, all around the nation. Small, independent hospitals in every state are regularly bought by larger chains, and go from being “Smallville General Hospital” to being “HealthCoName Patient Care Center Of Smallville” all the time.

And all that is business as usual, really. Except when it happens… who’s watching out for all those folks in “Smallville” whose hospital is closing? Who’s making sure health care stays accessible to the Americans who need it? As ProPublica reports today, in 80% of states, the answer is: nobody in particular, actually.

When mergers or buyouts happen, the new, parent company is going to look for economies of scale and places to save costs. So if you now own two facilities in the same region that do the same thing and each operate at about 50% capacity, well, why not jam them together into one facility operating at 100% capacity and keep the extra cash you were spending, right?

But when that happens, actual would-be patients — anyone who needs to seek healthcare — is losing options. And what’s left for them may not be nearby anymore or, even if it is, may no longer provide the services they need.

That’s particularly true when the chain that swoops in to do the buying is faith-based instead of secular: women’s health care services and end-of-life care may no longer be offered at a hospital that once provided them, and if all the hospitals left in the region are of that chain, well, patients are out of luck for care.

But business rules even more than ideology, ProPublica reports: services like pediatrics, neo-natal care, obstetrics, and emergency rooms are also all really expensive, and may be offered in fewer locations when the expediency of a merger demands it.

That’s where merger review comes in: if a transaction is going to run against the public interest, or actively harm consumers, you would think some kind of review board would step in to prevent the merger, or set conditions. That’s what the FTC does for a wide array of transactions… but the way the U.S. operates, state-level review is even more important for mitigating local impact. And most states just aren’t doing that kind of review of hospital transactions.

The MergerWatch report finds that only 10 states require some kind of government review before hospital facilities or services can be shut down. That means 40 don’t. And when it comes to partnerships rather than actual mergers, only eight states and D.C. have any regulatory review in place before hospitals can shutter departments. Only six states require any kind of public hearing for the mergers pending review.

As ProPublica explains, this is in large part a legacy of the 1960s and 70s: for those states that have oversight, the programs are largely 50 years old and stem from a time when the issue was too many hospitals opening, not closing. When hospitals are spreading everywhere like wildfire, and crowding every block, who wants to spend time enacting regulations for how to make sure service stays available?

But decades after that proliferation, we’re going the other way. The MergerWatch report says that the number of hospitals providing short-term acute care has dropped by 240 since 2000. And in 2015 alone, 112 hospital merger, partnership, or buyout transactions took place — a 70% increase just since 2010.

ProPublica points out that when the transaction is large enough, it does trigger federal-level review, to make sure one hospital chain won’t hold an anticompetitive monopoly over a certain region. Likewise, transactions involving non-profit hospitals often trigger a review by the state’s attorney general because of the organization’s charitable or tax status.

You can check what the report says about your state’s grade on the MergerWatch website.

Who Makes Sure Hospital Mergers Do No Harm? Almost Nobody. [ProPublica]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

New Legislation Targets Deadly Furniture Tip-Overs

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Each year, some 25,000 Americans — mostly children — are injured or killed from furniture and other household appliances that tip over or fall because they are not properly secured. A new piece of legislation aims to reduce these potentially deadly incidents by establishing sturdier minimum standards.

The STURDY Act (short for the Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth Act) was introduced in the Senate today by PA Senator Bob Casey.

If passed, it would direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to adopt a stronger, mandatory stability standard for clothing storage units (chests, bureaus, dressers, etc). Many of these products are tall with narrow bases, and while they may stand still when undisturbed, they can sometimes be pulled or knocked over with minimal force.

For example, IKEA’s Malm line of furniture has been tied to three tip-over deaths in recent years. The company has instituted and expanded a “repair program” that involves attaching the Malm units to the wall with anchors.

The STURDY Act would ask private industry standards group ASTM to publish a stronger stability standard for clothing storage units. If the CPSC finds that this new standard will help protect children against injury and death from furniture tip-overs, it can then adopt this new standard as the mandatory minimum. If the ASTM does not provide an adequate new standard within six months of the bill’s passing, the CPSC would would be required to issue its own final, mandatory safety standard.

“The STURDY Act requires the CPSC to adopt a stronger, mandatory stability standard that will help protect kids from being injured or killed by tip-overs of chests, dressers and bureaus,” said Sen. Casey in a statement. “I hope that furniture manufacturers, safety advocates and government stakeholders can work together to stop hundreds of preventable deaths and help make American homes safer for our children.”

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky from Illinois is introducing a companion version of the STURDY Act in the House.

“The voluntary safety standards for furniture today are insufficient,” she explains. “Unstable dressers and wardrobes are still on the market, putting children at risk. We’ve heard the heartbreaking stories of three toddlers killed by a single model of dresser sold by IKEA. We need stronger rules to prevent tragic accidents from furniture tip-overs.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Sense Smart Home Hub Project Canceled, Company Issues Refunds To Kickstarter Backers

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A crowdfunded project has died a premature but dignified death. Is such a thing even possible? The company behind a successful Kickstarter campaign for a smart home hub decided not to make hardware, after learning that other device makers were interested in their software. The company, Silk Labs, announced that it would refund users’ pledges and not make the device.

The hub was sold as a device that would use facial recognition to identify people and pets in your house, serving as both a security feed and a hub for smart devices. If you’re home alone and like the temperature a few degrees warmer than the rest of the household, the device would know both of those things and tell your Nest thermostat. It could also communicate with app-controlled lighting and speaker systems.

The software behind the Sense apparently sounded so great to other companies that Silk Labs isn’t going to bother to make its own hub and camera device at all. In an update on the Kickstarter page, CEO and co-founder Andreas Gal shared the bad news, which could also be good news for the company, which now doesn’t have to produce any actual hardware when they only raised $164,885.

“Our original plan was to launch a Kickstarter product first (Sense), and then work with commercial-scale hardware manufacturers on integrating Silk into their future products,” Gal wrote. “We are now seeing so much commercial interest in the Silk platform that we have realized we can bring our vision to more people more quickly if we switch gears and focus on the commercial opportunities ahead, instead of completing our Kickstarter device first.”

That means the cool features will still be commercially available, just using other companies’ devices. At least the project came to a dignified end.

Ex-Mozilla team behind smart home hub Sense refunds Kickstarter backers, focuses on software (via Fast Company)
Sense: The intelligent camera and hub for your modern home[Kickstarter]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Here’s What’s Going On With The Rio Olympics & The Zika Virus

Telemarketer Tricked People Into Believing They Were Buying Cleaning Products To Help Disabled

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Research has shown that shoppers may be more likely to purchase a particular product if they know that some of their money is going to a worthy cause, and some folks will take advantage of this tendency to trick people into purchasing thousands of dollars in household cleaning products under the guise of helping the disabled.

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday announced that it had reached a settlement agreement with Adli Dasuqi and his companies, American Handicapped Inc. and American Handicapped and Disadvantaged Workers Inc. to resolve charges that the operation tricked people into buying products under the pretext they would help others.

According to the complaint [PDF], telemarketers working for the company cold-called individuals to sell them light bulbs, trash bags, and cleaning products.

The callers, who allegedly claimed to represent a charitable organization that employed disabled persons, would also tell potential customers that if they made a charitable donation they would receive a free gift in exchange.

“Defendants’ telemarketers appeal to consumers’ sense of charity by misrepresenting that consumers’ purchases will help handicapped or disabled people, including by misrepresenting directly or by implication that most wages paid by the [company] go to handicapped or disabled employees or that the person soliciting is handicapped or disabled,” the complaint states.

In reality, the FTC claims the company only paid a small portion of the total wages to handicapped or disabled employees, and the person making the call is usually not handicapped or disabled.

After making purchases, customers said the invoices they received were substantially higher than similar products at retail stores. For example, the company charged $30 for two light bulbs and $100 for 60 15-gallon trash bags.

In some cases, consumers tell the FTC that they received merchandise and invoices without their consent. Once this happened, they were contacted by the company, which claimed that the shopper owed a payment for the unordered merchandise.

Despite receiving notice of complaints filed by consumers, Dasuqi failed to stop the scheme, according to the FTC.

Under the company’s settlement, American Handicapped Inc., American Handicapped and Disadvantaged Workers Inc., and Dasuqi are banned from selling anything for the purported benefit of disabled persons, are prohibited from mischaracterizing their employees and their charity involvement, making untrue claims that anyone has ordered and agreed to pay for products, and barred from misrepresenting material facts about any good or service.

The order also imposes a $4 million judgment against the companies, but it was suspended due to inability to pay. Should the defendants fail to adhere to the settlement, the full judgment will be due.

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Inspector General: FDA Still Takes Too Long To Recall Tainted Food Products

Yeah, Diet Pepsi Is Probably Changing Its Sweetener Again

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In response to falling sales of diet soda, last year PepsiCo changed the sweetener in its main calorie-free beverage, Diet Pepsi. Noting the health concerns that some customers have about the original sweetener in Diet Pepsi, aspartame, the company switched to a different sweetener last year to try to reverse a sales decline. Now sales are declining even faster.

Customers had time to adjust to the idea of Diet Pepsi without aspartame, since rumors about sweetener tests have appeared in these very pages since 2012.

The version of the beverage sweetened with a blend of sucralose (Splenda) and acesulfame potassium (branded as “Ace K”) started to appear on shelves last summer, just in time for peak cold-beverage season, and the company admitted that some fans of the beverage were not happy with the new formula. Specifically, they received about 3,000 complaints from customers, and only about 300 compliments for the new formula.

The Wall Street Journal reports that some local Pepsi bottlers have received notice that changes will be coming to the brand’s diet sodas soon. Pepsi declined to comment on the matter.

The problem seems to be that the brand’s existing fans don’t like the new formula, and the company didn’t pick up any new fans or health halo benefits by switching to the new sweetener blend.

While diet soda sales in general fell about 6.7% from February to May, according to Nielsen data cited by the Wall Street Journal, sales of Diet Pepsi are down 12%. One beverage industry consultant suggested that maybe Pepsi should change the brand name as well as the sweetener. Maybe the whole idea of “diet” sodas has run its course.

PepsiCo Weighs Another Fix to Diet Pepsi [Wall Street Journal]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Death Of Yellowstone Tourist Prompts Renewed Warning To Stay On Park Paths

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The death of a tourist at Yellowstone National Park has officials issuing renewed warnings to visitors to stay on pathways, no matter how enticing a temptation is waiting outside prescribed borders.

A Portland, OR man strayed from a designated boardwalk, slipped on some gravel and fell into the water in a geyser basin with boiling, acidic springs, authorities said.

He and his sister had walked 225 yards or so off the pathway to get closer to some thermal features in the Norris Geyser Basin, the Associated Press reports.

After the sister reported her brother’s fall, rangers attempted to recover his body, but halted the effort “due to the extreme nature and futility of it all,” a park spokeswoman said. No significant human remains were recovered.

Visitors have to stay on designated boardwalks when walking around the hot springs and geysers shooting steaming water, Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said, saying the tragedy is a reminder to follow those rules.

Since 1890, at least 22 people are known to have died from coming into contact with hot springs in and around Yellowstone, Park officials said. The ground in parts of Yellowstone can be “thin as a skiff of ice,” a park spokeswoman said, though it might not look particularly dangerous.

Attendance is up at the nation’s first national park, but along with that influx of visitors come increased chances of someone getting hurt. Wandering from pathways to get closer to wildlife is another dangerous tourist habit National Park Service officials have been trying to break, after several human run-ins with animals.

Death in boiling hot spring shows importance of park rules [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Can A McDonald’s Be The Center Of A Community?

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When thinking about a place that serves as the center of a community, you might think of a church, a community center, or even a park. You probably don’t think about a fast food restaurant. But for thousands of people in hundreds of cities around the country McDonald’s has become a gathering place of choice. 

While we’re keenly aware that a McDonald’s can be a great meeting place for groups of people to meet — you may recall the beef between a group of Korean and a New York McDonald’s that thought the group was lingering too long — but The Guardian shines a bit of light on just how integral the Golden Arches can be for communities.

With its ample seating, free WiFi, and inexpensive menu, the restaurants have become a safe and welcoming place for individuals to gather in low- and middle-income neighborhoods.

From the retired men — calling themselves the “Old Folks’ Home” who gather in corner of a New Mexico McDonald’s to the homeless woman who walks into a Louisiana location at 9 a.m. each day for hours of coffee and reading, the fast food eatery is now much more than a place to grab a quick bite; it’s become a place of common ground and acceptance.

“I love McDonald’s. People are so nice. My friends come here. I see everybody. Coffee is good, and cheap,” a man who meets at a the Louisiana location tells The Guardian.

Guests at a Texas McDonald’s say meeting at the fast food joint has helped them in ways they didn’t expect.

For example, retirees have become the regulators at a Sulfur Springs location, discussing their lives and their pasts.

Two of the last to leave are a man and a woman, one a widower, the other a widow. They tell the Guardian that meeting at the location has helped them support each other through the deaths and other hardships.

“I look composed on the outside,” the woman says. “Many of us do. But I struggle a lot on the inside. This community here gives me the support to get by.”

The homeless woman who visits the Louisiana McDonald’s every day says she’s drawn by the kind staff and camaraderie she often finds in other guests.

“I have had a very rough life. Been through a lot. My present situation leaves me without a home between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., and McDonald’s is kind enough to allow me to sit here.” she says.

McDonald’s has also become a community meeting space for groups to discuss their cities or their religious beliefs.

In Kansas City, MO, a group gathers every Friday morning to discuss their city and the political environment. When The Guardian visited, the group was expressing its frustrations around the Black Lives Matter movement, all while the restaurant went about business as usual.

Across the country in New Mexico, a McDonald’s also serves as home to a bingo game on Tuesday nights and a Bible group that offers free Bibles and prayers to anyone who wants one on the weekends.

“We come here every Saturday, and set up in this corner,” the leader of that group tells The Guardian. “The McDonald’s offers us room for whoever shows up. We have the space to gather and pray.”

McDonald’s: you can sneer, but it’s the glue that holds communities together [The Guardian]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

There’s More Money Loaded On Starbucks Cards Than Customer Deposits At Several Banks

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While we’re used to the idea of people keeping money in places other than bank accounts — preloaded debit cards, sock drawers, comic book collections — there’s one way consumers are storing their cash that’s more popular than several financial institutions: Starbucks cards.

The Wall Street Journal recently looked at data from S&P Global Market Intelligence to see where people are putting their money, including banks, services like PayPal, and nonbanks, like Starbucks.

With $1.2 billion loaded onto its cards by customers, Starbucks beat out several banks’ total customer deposits, MarketWatch points out: California Republic Bancorp ($1.01 billion), Mercantile Bank Corp. ($680 million), and Discover Financial Services ($470 million). It also topped Green Dot ($56 million), one of the largest pre-paid card providers.

It’s not surprising, when you take into account the fact that Starbucks sold millions of gift cards on Christmas Eve alone. And they’re using them: customers whipped out a Starbucks card to buy stuff 41% of the time in the U.S. and Canada as of the second quarter of fiscal 2016, MarketWatch points out.

PayPal, however, is even more popular than Starbucks, with $13.02 billion in global customer account balances as of the first quarter of this year. That puts it just behind TD Bank, and Capital One Financial Corp.

PayPal Isn’t a Bank, But It May Be the New Face of Banking [The Wall Street Journal]
Starbucks has more customer money on cards than many banks have in deposits [MarketWatch]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Law Enforcement Agencies Using New Card Reader To Seize Prepaid Card Funds

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Millions of unbanked consumers unable to open a traditional bank account have turned to prepaid debit cards in recent years. But now these reloadable, and often untraceable, cards have also become a method of choice for criminals to transport a large amount of cash from one place to another. A new device aims to make it easier for police to seize these ill-gotten funds, but some advocates worry the card scanner could be putting legitimate prepaid card users’ civil rights at risk. 

Oklahoma Watch reports that the new portable card scanners are being used by police departments in Oklahoma with the aim of disrupting drug trafficking operation in the state.

The devices, made and sold by the ERAD Group Inc. (Electronic Recovery and Access to Data), are a new tool for police officials who, under state and federal laws, are allowed to seize property and cash believed to be involved in the drug trade.

The vehicle-mounted devices work when a police officer takes a prepaid card and runs it though the machine. At that point the information and cash on the card — which can be just about anything with a magnetic strip, not just prepaid cards — can be frozen, preventing withdrawal or use of the money in the account, or it can be seized and transferred to a law enforcement financial account, Oklahoma Watch reports.

Officers also have the ability to seize the funds from a financial institution holding the money loaded onto a prepaid debit card.

The device, while it doesn’t allow non-prepaid card funds to be frozen or seized, does provide officers with information such as the card number, name of the account holder, expiration date, and card issuer for traditional credit and debit cards.

All of this data is then stored in a case management database for future use.

So far the Oklahoma Highway Patrol says it hasn’t used the devices for seizures, but have been able to use the readers to uncover cases of identity theft. Should the departments seize funds, ERAD is entitled to a 7.7% cut.

While law enforcement officials say the readers are a welcome tool, advocates say the devices put law-abiding individuals’ rights at risk.

“I think this is likely to expand pretty radically the scope of civil asset forfeiture procedures,” Brady Henderson, legal director for ACLU Oklahoma, tells Oklahoma Watch of the possibility that the devices would violate the Fourth Amendment. “This is a capability that law enforcement has never had before and one that is very likely to land [them] in litigation.”

The departments using the devices contend that they will not be used to randomly swipe cards of every motorist stopped. Instead, they will only be used in cases in which the officer suspects criminal activity is taking place.

“If we have reasonable suspicion to believe there’s a crime being committed, we’re going to investigate that. If someone has 300 cards taped up and hidden inside the dash of a vehicle, we’re going to check that,” Lt. John Vincent, public information officer for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said. “But if the person has proof that it belongs to him for legitimate reasons, there’s nothing going to happen. We won’t seize it.”

Still, Henderson says the new technology, which was actually created in 2012 for the science and technology arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is something he and other advocates have never seen before.

Typically, when the freezing or seizing of money is needed, officers have “all kinds of steps where courts get involved so that there’s a check and balance” system. With the new readers, that’s not the case.

Lawmakers in Oklahoma have also expressed concern over the devices, citing constitutional and due process implications.

“Until this, we didn’t even know these things were in existence,” Sen. Kyle Loveless, of Oklahoma City, tells Oklahoma Watch. “It’s scary to know that technology even exists and that government agencies are using it without an arrest without a warrant.”

New Front In Civil Forfeiture: Devices To Seize Funds On Prepaid Cards [Oklahoma Watch]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

In France, Uber And Executives Convicted Of Deceptive Commercial Practices

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Ride-hailing app Uber’s service that lets any safe driver with access to a new-ish car become a driver for hire is generally popular with the frugal public all over the world, but is less popular with regulators and with professional taxi drivers. That’s been the case in France, where the company was convicted today of deceptive commercial practices and illegal business activity, and with its executives fined a collective €850,000 ($962,689).

According to the Associated Press, that broke down to €800,000 for the company itself, which is based in San Francisco, with the regional executive fined €30,000, and the general manager for France fined €20,000. The court suspended half of each fine.

Taxi drivers were staging sometimes-violent protests during the period when the legality of the UberPop service (called UberX here in the United States) in France was in question, and sought 100 million euros in damages from the company in court. That makes the total of €1 million in fines seem modest in comparison.

Uber’s argument during the trial as that the two executives weren’t the legal representatives of Uber in the country, and are just salaried employees. The fines indicate that the court didn’t buy that argument.

You can use your Uber app in France, but it’s a licensed chauffeur who will show up at your doorstep and not an amateur driver looking to pick up a few extra bucks.

Uber convicted, fined in French trial over taxi practices [AP]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist