uTraveler Accused Of Smuggling 11 Pounds Of Liquid Cocaine In Olive Oil, Vinegar Bottlesr

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  Perhaps you have a secret ingredient for adding a little kick to your salad dressing, but if it’s cocaine, law enforcement officials aren’t going to let you keep it: U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport say a passenger arrived with 11 pounds of liquid cocaine packed inside oil and vinegar bottles in his luggage.

  News outlets are only now reporting the Oct. 5 incident, when officials say agents discovered the illicit drugs upon going through his checked baggage.

  See, something wasn’t quite right about the bottles of liquid (anyone who cooks now and then would likely realize that olive oil and vinegar aren’t identical in appearance), an observation that held up when agents opened the bottles and detected an unusual chemical odor.

  Customs officials tested the liquid in the six bottles and said the results indicated it was cocaine, with a total weight of 11 pounds and a street value of $194,000. The Department of Homeland Security is now investigating.

  Customs agents: Traveler hid cocaine in oil, vinegar bottles [Associated Press]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uKIA Recalls 370,000 SUVs Because Cars Aren’t Supposed To Drive Away Themselvesr

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  It’s possible that Kia is working on a self-driving car, but there’s a difference between a truly autonomous vehicle and one that can unexpectedly shift into “drive” and roll away.

  Kia is recalling 377,000 Sorento SUVs (model years 2011 through 2013) after determining that the transmission can shift out of the “park” position without the help of the vehicle’s driver.

  According to a notice [PDF] from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the issue with the cars occurs when excessive force is applied to the gear shift lever and the brake-shift interlock mechanism chips or cracks.

  As a result, the transmission is able to be shifted out of “park” without the brakes being depressed, allowing the car to roll away, increasing the risk of a crash.

  NHTSA reports that the issue constitutes a violation of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard.

  Kia will notify owners of affected vehicles, and dealers will replace the brake-shift mechanism.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uL.A. City Council Wants To Know How Resident Uses 11.8M Gallons Of Water In Middle Of Droughtr

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  Someone in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel Air has been using about a million gallons of water a month — enough for 90 houses in the area. That’s a lot of water in any part of the world, let alone in a state and city in the middle of a drought. Yesterday, the L.A. City Council voted to crack down on this “Wet Prince of Bel Air” and other hydration hogs.

  Earlier this month, the Center for Investigative Reporting attempted to identify the Bel Air resident who’d used 11.9 million gallons of water between May 2014 and April 2015, at a cost of approximately $1.1 million. But city officials refused to publicly this particular resident.

  According to the CIR’s investigation, there are 100 similar “mega-users” in L.A., averaging 4.26 million gallons of water per year.

  In fact, all ten of California’s biggest mega-users either live in Bel Air or in other swanky parts of L.A. like Brentwood or Beverly Hills. All of these houses used more than six million gallons in a year.

  At yesterday’s vote, the councilman representing Bel Air declared, “I’m taking responsibility for the extravagant and embarrassing water use in my district.”

  His motion [PDF] gives the city’s Department of Water and Power 30 days to file a report on “measures that can be taken in the short and long-term to address excessive water use… including imposing severe financial penalties and, as a last resort, shutting-off water for water abusers.”

  “In such a horrific drought, it is irresponsible to be using water at such a rate,” reads the motion, “and a slap in the face to neighbors who have heroically complied with austere water use measures.”

  Officials for DWP seemed baffled by the numbers.

  “It is very difficult to explain how they can possibly be using that much water,” one told the City Council. “We want to get inside the walls and check that out.”

  LA City Council to Wet Prince of Bel Air: We’re coming for you [Reveal]

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uDel Monte Recalls Granny Smith Apples Sold At 7-Eleven And Coremarkr

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  Fruit in convenience stores is a healthy snack option, but maybe not such a healthy option when potentially contaminated with bacteria that could make you sick. Del Monte Granny Smith (green) apples distributed to convenience stores in the central and mountain regions of the country may have Listeria bacteria, and have been recalled.

  It’s pretty unlikely that you still have the fruit around or could identify it if you do, though: the affected fruit was sold between the 1st and 12th of October, and was in open displays in 7-Eleven and Coremark stores.

  In what we’re sure is a very interesting backstory, a customer happened to test an apple purchased at a convenience store and discovered the bacterial contamination. There have been no reported illnesses, but illness from Listeria isn’t necessarily serious: some people, especially if they’re healthy adults, might only have a bit of gastrointestinal distress.

  People who are old, young, or immunocompromised can become critically ill or die from complications of listeriosis, and it is known to cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women.

  If you have any questions, or discover that you have any of the affected fruit, call Del Monte at 1-800-659-6500 (a 24-hour hotline) or e-mail Contact-US-Executive-Office@freshdelmonte.com.

  Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc., Recalls Limited Quantity of Fresh Apples Due to Possible Health Risk [FDA]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uTesla’s Autopilot Mode Means You Can Take Your Hands Off The Wheel… Brieflyr

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• While the word “autopilot” might conjure up images of sitting back with your feet up on the dashboard, hands behind your head as your car drives itself along, we’re still far from that reality. But Tesla says that a new software update for the Model S will allow drivers to let the car do some of the driving, though you’ll still need to put your hands on the wheel now and then.

  As of last night, Tesla began pushing its Version 7.0 software release out to car owners, which will continue through the week. And though it’s far from a fully autonomous driving experience, Autopilot mode does allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel — briefly.

  After a few seconds without your touch on the steering wheel, the car will alert the driver and ask you to touch the wheel again.

  “We tell drivers to keep their hands on the wheel just in case, to exercise caution in the beginning,” Elon Musk said yesterday at a press event, as reported by Wire.com. “Over time, long term, you won’t have to keep your hands on the wheel — we explicitly describe this as beta.”

  So what can you do with Autopilot, if you can’t sit in back and take a nap? Tesla says the software — in conjunction with radar, ultrasonic sensors and other hardware already installed in vehicles — allows Model S to “steer within a lane, change lanes with the simple tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by using active, traffic-aware cruise control.”

  Vehicles must be going at least 18mph to enable Autopilot, making the function ideal for freeways or highways where traffic is pretty predictable.

  It’s not truly driverless, Tesla notes, but instead, Autopilot “functions like the systems that airplane pilots use when conditions are clear.”

  To be clear — drivers are liable for anything that happens when they’re behind the wheel, whether they’re touching it or not.

  “The [human] pilot still makes the decision,” Ricardo Reyes, Tesla’s head of communications told Wired.com. “The car can say ‘something is happening, please pay attention,’ if something happens. We call it ‘Autopilot’ for a reason—you’re still in control here. It’s like a plane: It goes into autopilot, but the pilot still does things like takeoff and landing.”

  So what if you don’t take control of the car when it starts beeping at you to hold the wheel? There’s a backup procedure — the car will eventually slow to a stop and put your hazard lights on.

  Your Autopilot has arrived [Tesla Motors]
  Tesla’s Cars Now Drive Themselves, Kinda [Wired.com]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAmazon Agrees To Include Closed Captions On All Streaming Videosr

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• Hard of hearing Amazon Prime subscribers already know that all the videos on that subscription service include closed captions, but not every video offered online by Amazon comes with captions. That is going to change after the e-tailer reached a deal with the National Association of the Deaf to expand its captioning efforts to encompass the site’s full catalog.

  Part of the problem with running a large library of videos is that a streaming service sometimes has to take whatever the producers are willing to provide. Thus, not every video arrives at Amazon with captions attached.

  As part of Amazon’s agreement with the NAD, it will add captions to titles where they were not provided by the content companies. In all, the NAD says this means that 190,000 videos will be more accessible for those who need or prefer closed captions.

  In terms of timing, Amazon has pledged that by the end of 2015 it will have captions on at least 90% of regularly viewed videos (i.e., those that have been viewed at least 10 times in the previous 90 days). By the end of 2016, Amazon promises to have 100% of that content captioned.

  “This is an enormous step in making online entertainment accessible to the 48 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States alone,” said NAD CEO Howard Rosenblum said in a statement. “Amazon is a one-stop shop for everything from household items and clothing to books and video entertainment. The NAD is thus thrilled by Amazon’s decision to make its online entertainment experience more accessible to deaf and hard of hearing customers who also look to Amazon to fulfill their needs for comprehensive goods and services.”

  The NAD previously reached a similar arrangement with Netflix, but only after the organization sued the streaming video giant in federal court.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uNew Test Program Lets You Use Federal Loans To Pay For Intensive Career & Coding Trainingr

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  If you want to boost your resume by taking one of those intensive “bootcamp” training programs but don’t have the funds to pay for it, a new experimental offering from the Department of Education would allow you to use federal student loans to cover the cost.

  The Dept. of Education announced on Wednesday that it had created the Educational Quality Through Innovative Partnerships (EQUIP) experiment to give consumers who find the four-year college experience out of reach the financial means to obtain training from intensive weeks-long training and bootcamp programs.

  Under EQUIP, accredited colleges and universities would partner with non-traditional providers of education, such as intensive “bootcamps” that aim to build skills in particular fields or specific programs that award certificates aligned to employer needs.

  “Eligible programs will lead to a degree or certificate, build students’ transferable academic credits, and provide students with the ever-changing skills they need for today’s economy,” Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell wrote in a blog post announcing the program.

  By requiring programs participating in EQUIP to partner with accredited colleges, the Department hopes to mitigate issues of abuse that have cropped up in the for-profit college arena. For instance, a program’s continued eligibility to participate in the pilot would be based on the ability to show students benefited from the courses.

  The Washington Post reports that education reform advocates were quick to champion the pilot program, saying it opened the door for lower-income consumers to obtain needed training to make them job ready.

  “It can’t become a viable alternative to college as we know it today until they’re on a level playing field financially,” Ryan Craig, an investor who works with colleges and universities to develop new educational programs, tells the Post. “We think honestly that [the program] would solve a lot of what ails higher education.”

  Still, some education advocates worry that the pilot could be another for-profit college disaster waiting to happen.

  “There’s a ton of scamming going on,” Anthony Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, said. “All you’ve got to do is get an ad on the subway, and you’re in business.”

  In fact, the Post points out that some for-profit college companies have already added bootcamp and intensive training program to their education rosters. Earlier this year, Apollo Education Group – the company behind under-investigation chain University of Phoenix – made an investment in computer coding school Iron Yard.

  To quell some of those worries, Mitchell tells the Post that the Dept. is working to develop additional quality assurance approaches that would “identify ways to protect students and taxpayers from risks in an emerging area of post-secondary education.”

  [via The Washington Post]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist