For-profit colleges masquerade as “non-profit” or “public” institutions
AB 70 (Berman) would stop for-profit Grand Canyon University and Purdue Universal Global from misleading students. A coalition of fifteen consumer and student advocacy groups is urging the California State Assembly to stop a new trend among for-profit college corporations. AB 70 (Berman) would stop for-profit Grand … Read More ›
Boeing employee said 737 Max ‘is designed by clowns’ and ‘supervised by monkeys’
Mike Murphy, Marketwatch. January 11, 2020. Newly released internal emails from Boeing Co. paint a disturbing picture of its 737 Max program, with employees bragging about fooling FAA regulators and ridiculing its safety. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeing-emails-show-workers-mocking-faa-ridiculing-737-maxs-safety-2020-01-09
Electric scooter injuries rising, one-third involve the head
Linda Carroll, Reuters January 10, 2020. Injuries and hospital admissions involving sharable two-wheeled electric scooters are on the rise in the U.S., a new study finds. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-scooters-injuries/electric-scooter-injuries-rising-one-third-involve-the-head-idUSKBN1Z92EA
Takata airbag recall rears its ugly head again, this time for 10M cars
By Kyle Hyatt/cnet.com January 8, 2020 – The Takata airbag recall has been going on for seven years, and just when we thought it was pretty much taken care of, there’s a new round of recalls for 10 million vehicles — and here’s the kicker: they had … Read More ›
UCSF Study: Juul Delivers More Nicotine To Blood Than Cigarettes, Other E-Cigs
CBS – SF January 6, 2020. As Bay Area-based Juul Labs faces increased scrutiny, a new study finds the company’s products delivers significantly more nicotine to the blood per puff than other e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/01/06/ucsf-juul-nicotine-vs-cigarettes-e-cigs-study/
Workplace Age Discrimination Still Flourishes in America
AARP December 30, 2019. About 35 percent of the U.S. population is now age 50 or older. Yet, in 2018, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — the nation’s workforce watchdog — issued a damning special report on age discrimination against older Americans. https://www.aarp.org/work/working-at-50-plus/info-2019/age-discrimination-in-america.html
Volkswagen intends to plead guilty to environment charges, but case put over
By MSN News/The Canadian Press Volkswagen’s attempts to plead guilty to all 60 Canadian charges it faces in an international emissions scandal were put on hold Friday as an environmental lawyer argued the court should hear victim impact statements. The federal government charged the behemoth this week with … Read More ›
2.7 billion email addresses & plain-text passwords exposed online
by Waqas, Hackread.com December 11th, 2019 Comparitech along with IT security researcher Bob Diachenko, have discovered a massive trove of login credentials that were exposed to public access without any authentication or security. In 2017, HackRead exclusively reported about DoubleFlag, a hacker who was selling one billion … Read More ›
California will mandate health coverage next year. Here’s what that means
By Catherine Ho San Francisco Chronicle Dec. 13, 2019 In a significant new change, California will require people to buy health insurance next year or pay a tax penalty. State-level mandates for health coverage already exist in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., which have sought to … Read More ›
Are extended warranties worth it? Not so much, experts say
By David Lazarus, LA Times December 13, 2019 “They are cash cows for retailers,” said Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Consumer Action. “Salespeople get commissions, which is why they push them so hard.” But that doesn’t mean you want to dismiss the idea of … Read More ›
Former CFC President James (Jim) Gordon Passes Away
Jim served as President of the Consumer Federation of California from 2000 to 2018, where he oversaw the restructuring and growth of the organization. Jim was a labor leader who started as a rank and file member of the Communications Workers of America while employed at Pacific … Read More ›
Stopping Phone Spoofing
Assembly Bill 1132 (Gabriel) Becomes Law! Prohibits impersonating a government agency phone number December 2019 update A new CFC-sponsored law, AB 1132 (Gabriel) makes it unlawful in California to use caller ID information to impersonate a state, federal or local government agency phone. Your caller ID shows … Read More ›
Elizabeth Warren wants jail time for CEOs in Equifax-style breaches
by Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica
Massachusetts US Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to make sure that CEOs who preside over massive data breaches don’t get off as easily as Equifax CEO Richard Smith, who retired with a multi-million dollar pay package weeks after the breach. On April 3, she announced the Corporate Executive Accountability Act. Read More ›