uWalmart Employee Drags Unconscious Woman From Her Burning Carr

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• When employees of a Pennsylvania Walmart learned that there was a car on fire in the parking lot early in the morning on New Year’s Day, they didn’t sit around, stare into space, and wait for the fire department to show up. An overnight employee ran outside with a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze… and that’s when he noticed an unconscious woman inside the locked vehicle.

  “We all responded as quickly as we could,” he told TV station KDKA (warning: auto-play video), “I got out there first. I believe I was the first one from the store.”

  She was sitting in the driver’s seat, passed out or napping, with her head against the window. This was around 7 AM on New Year’s Day. While the car was locked, its windows were open, and the employee was able to reach in, unlock the car, and pull the woman out of the vehicle.

  It was mostly the front of the car that was on fire, and he was unable to put the fire out before rescuing the driver. The brave employee then woke up the still-unconscious driver and walked her into the store. Police said that the woman smelled of alcohol and was charged with drunk driving, but wasn’t injured. They didn’t share the cause of the fire.

  Don’t call the Walmart employee a hero, though. He rejected that label, saying, “I work with a lot of amazing associates. If it hadn’t been me out here, somebody else would have done what needed to be done.”

  Walmart Employee Saves Woman From Burning Car In Parking Lot [KDKA] (warning: video may start automatically)
  Wal-Mart employee pulls unconscious woman from burning car [Sharon Herald]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uCDC: Americans Are Eating Too Much Sodium And Food Companies Are Partly To Blamer

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  Even if you’re not pouring mountains of salt over everything you eat, you still might be consuming more sodium than the recommended 2,300 milligrams per day. It’s easy to see why, the Centers for Disease Control says, when food companies and restaurants are pouring salt into their products.

  An analysis in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report from the CDC says that 89% of U.S. adults were consuming more salt than recommended between 2009-2012, citing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.

  Men between the ages of 19-51 ate about 4,400 mg a day, while women consumed around 3,100 mg a day, the CDC says. Adults 51 and over had slightly lower numbers. About 90% of children of all ages exceeded their daily amounts of salt intake as well, with boys and girls 9-13 getting about 3,300 mg and 3,000 mg respectively, which is a big increase from the recommended 2,200 mg for that age group.

  Again, it’s not like we’re all whipping out the salt shaker every time we face a piece of broccoli. The CDC says most of the sodium we consume is coming from processed foods and meals served in restaurants. You might not be aware of that fact, or have any way to find out how much sodium you’re getting.

  “It’s very difficult for individuals to lower consumption on their own, because there’s so much sodium in everything they eat,” Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, told NPR’s aptly named blog, The Salt.

  Though many food companies have made an effort in the past few years to reduce sodium in their products, it’s not enough, Frieden says.

  “Some companies have made significant progress, but across the whole industry we need to see steady reduction,” he says. “The bottom line is we want to put choice into consumers’ hands about putting it in, since you can’t take it out once it’s in there.”

  Some of the saltiest products out there: Bread, deli meats, pizza, poultry, soups, cheese, pasta dishes, meat mixed dishes and savory snacks like popcorn.

  If you’re worried about your sodium intake, read the label when you can. If it’s a deli meat, well, just assume it’s chock-full of sodium. And for those living in or visiting New York City, you’ll soon be able to spot foods with high levels of sodium just by looking for the salt shaker warning labels that became a requirement for chain restaurants in the city in December.

  We Eat Too Much Sodium Because Companies Keep Dumping It In Our Food [The Salt]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uU.S. Marshals Raid CES Booth To Seize Alleged Knockoff Scootersr

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  We’ve seen lots of odd things at CES International over the years — live kangaroos, stormtroopers, boxing matches, Seth Rogen — but one thing we’ve never seen before is U.S. marshals seizing knockoff products for alleged patent infringement.

  According to Ars Technica, that’s what happened yesterday to a Chinese manufacturer accused by a California-based startup of ripping off their design for a one-wheel scooter.

  Future Motion, the U.S. company, filed a patent infringement complaint [PDF] in federal court on Tuesday against Changzhou First International Trade Co.

  Future Motion’s Onewheel scooter, whose development was bolstered by a successful $630,000 Kickstarter campaign, is a self-balancing, one-wheeled (as the name implies) device that currently sells for $1,499. Future Motion has patents related to the device’s design and tech that don’t expire for at least another 14 to 20 years.

  The company’s lawsuit alleges that Changzhou blatantly violated those patents, selling a knockoff product on Alibaba — and even bringing it to CES — for significantly less money.

  “Defendant Changzhou is making, using, offering for sale, selling, and/or importing a self-balancing electric vehicle under the name ‘Surfing Electric Scooter’ that appears to copy the ONEWHEEL® design,” reads the complaint.

  According to Ars, after filing the lawsuit, Future Motion was granted a telephone hearing with a U.S. District Court judge who then granted an emergency motion authorizing the marshals to shut down the booth, halt any sales, and seize relevant Changzhou products. In the end, the marshals grabbed about a half-dozen of the alleged knockoffs from the booth.

  A lawyer for Future Motion tells Ars that, following an in-person hearing before the court, the judge could decide that Changzhou is not obviously infringing on the patents and return the seized products, but, adds the lawyer, “I feel confident that would not happen.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uVW Reportedly Considering Buying Back More Than 50,000 Emissions-Cheating Cars In The U.S.r

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• Volkswagen may buy back tens of thousands of vehicles in the United States if the company can’t find an easy way to remove “defeat devices” that allow the cars to evade emissions standards. 

  The potential buyback is just one of several options being weighed by the carmaker in order to satisfy federal regulators who uncovered the emissions cheating scandal in September, Bloomberg reports.

  VW, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Air Resources Board are currently in discussions on ways to resolve the emissions issues plaguing more than 500,000 vehicles in the U.S. and 11 million worldwide.

  According to sources who were briefed on the matter, VW has concluded that it would be easier after to repurchase some of the more than 500,000 vehicles equipped with defeat devices in the U.S. than it would be to fix them.

  For now, the figure being linked to a potential buyback is about 50,000 vehicles, but that number could increase.

  “We’ve been having a large amount of technical discussion back and forth with Volkswagen,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told Bloomberg on Thursday. “We haven’t made any decisions on that.”

  So far, McCarthy says proposals brought forth by VW have been “inadequate.”

  “We haven’t identified a satisfactory way forward,” McCarthy said, noting that the EPA is “anxious to find a way forward so that the company can get into compliance.”

  A spokesperson for VW tells Bloomberg that the company is working with regulators to reach a solution, but declined to provide details on the discussions.

  The company is also working to create its own remedies for the three generation of VW and Audi vehicles found to be non-compliant with emissions standards.

  Sources tell Bloomberg that the oldest cars in the mix are currently being equipped with SCR catalytic converters, which includes the installation of a tank of urea-based solution that reduces emissions.

  VW Weighs Buyback of Thousands of Cars in Talks With U.S. [Bloomberg]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uReport: American Apparel Receives $200M Takeover Bid From Investor Backing Former CEO Dov Charneyr

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  Last month, we heard rumblings that American Apparel’s founder and former CEO Dov Charney was working with an investment firm to figure out a plan to buy the company out of bankruptcy. The chain said at the time that Charney hadn’t made any kind of formal offer. Today, a new report says an investor working with Charney has offered up a takeover bid of more than $200 million for American Apparel.

  Bloomberg cites people familiar with the situation, who say that if American Apparel accepts the offer and deal goes through, Charney would be back in the saddle again in some capacity. He was ousted more than a year ago amid allegations of misconduct.

  It might not be so easy for Charney, however, as American Apparel’s bankruptcy case is wrapping up. The retailer filed for bankruptcy protection in October of this year, after earlier admitting it’d run out of financing to keep things going. The proposed bankruptcy plan would give ownership of the company to bondholders in exchange for a reduction in debt, and was supported by 95% of secured lenders. They’ll get all their money back under the proposal.

  If the plan goes through as expected, a judge would make a final decision on Jan. 20. That means Charney doesn’t have much time to get the company and its creditors to accept his offer. If he fails to woo them, he and his financial ally would have to convince a judge to put the kibosh on American Apparel’s reorganization plan. He’s moving in that direction already, filing an objection on Thursday to the current reorganization plan and saying he has advanced an alternative restructuring proposal by well-funded investors, Bloomberg says.

  American Apparel declined to answer Bloomberg’s specific questions about the offer, instead saying that it “evaluates all bids consistently, and in the ordinary course. The company remains focused on pursuing the completion of its financial restructuring following its planned bankruptcy court hearing at the end of this month.”

  American Apparel Said to Get Takeover Bid From Charney Ally [Bloomberg]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uUnited Airlines Fined $2.75M For Tarmac Delays, Treatment Of Disabled Passengersr

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• 

  In October, United Airlines apologized to a disabled passenger who ended up crawling off the plane after he was told he’d have to wait up to 50 minutes for a wheelchair. This is just one of several complaints related to United’s treatment of disabled passengers. When combined with penalties for stranding passengers on the tarmac for more than three hours, the airline now faces federal fines of $2. 75 million.

  The Department of Transportation announced on Thursday that it had fined United $2 million for violating rules protecting air travelers with disabilities and $750,000 for violating rules prohibiting long tarmac delays.

  An investigation into United was initiated after the Dept. received a “significant increase in the number of disability-related complaints” in 2014.

  “A review of these disability-related complaints revealed that United failed to provide passengers with disabilities prompt and adequate assistance with [boarding] and deplaning aircraft and with moving through the terminal,” the Dept. said in a statement.

  Additionally, the investigation found numerous instances in which United failed to return passengers’ wheelchairs, other mobility aids, or other assistive devices in a timely manner or in the condition in which the airline received them.

  These issues were found to have occurred at Houston International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Denver International Airport, Newark International Airport, and Dulles International Airport.

  A separate investigation by the Dept. found that United violated federal laws related to the length of time passengers can be stuck on the tarmac on a delayed flight.

  Under federal rules, airlines operating aircraft with 30 seats are prohibited from allowing domestic flights to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours and international flights to remain on the tarmac for more than four hours at U.S. airports without giving passengers an opportunity to leave the plane.

  Specifically, United will pay $750,000 for five lengthy tarmac delays that took place at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Dec. 8, 2013 and one lengthy tarmac delay of a flight that was diverted to Houston Hobby Airport on May 20, 2015.

  Although the delays were a result a multiple factors at O’Hare, including severe weather, the DOT’s Enforcement Office found that mismanagement at United’s gate caused five flights to exceed the Department’s three hour limit on the tarmac for domestic flights.

  In Houston, the DOT found that the airline failed to attempt to deplane passengers after their flight was diverted to the airport because of severe weather and the need to refuel.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uCampbell Soup To Label Products Containing GMOs, Supports Mandatory Labelingr

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  While some large food producers contend that mandatory labeling of products containing genetically modified or genetically engineered ingredients would be a burdensome and unnecessary requirement, the folks at Campbell Soup Company have decided to not only voluntarily label their GMO-containing products but to publicly support mandatory GMO labeling.

  About 75% of Campbell’s products — in addition to its namesake soups, Campbell also makes brands like Pepperidge Farm, Bolthouse Farms, Arnott’s, V8, Swanson, Pace, Prego, among others — use ingredients made from corn, canola, sugar beets, or soybeans. Almost all of the farmers producing those crops in the U.S. use GMO seed.

  So for a company like Campbell, there’s no way it can simply stop using GMO ingredients and still produce the quantity of product that its customers demand. In fact, the company has no intention to make such a change because it maintains that GMOs have been repeatedly proven safe and that they may be needed to meet the increased demand for food around the globe.

  “I want to stress that we’re in no way disputing the science behind GMOs or their safety,” explains Campbell CEO Denise Morrison. “The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence indicates that GMOs are safe and that foods derived from crops using genetically modified seeds are not nutritionally different from other foods.”

  So if Campbell contends that GMOs are safe and necessary, why does it support nationwide mandatory labeling? Because 9-in-10 consumers want to at least know whether the foods they eat contain these ingredients.

  Campbell cites that figure — from a survey conducted by our colleagues at Consumer Reports — as evidence that American consumers have a desire for more transparency from the companies that produce their food.

  “We are operating with a ‘Consumer First’ mindset,” says Morrison. “We put the consumer at the center of everything we do. That’s how we’ve built trust for nearly 150 years. We have always believed that consumers have the right to know what’s in their food.”

  Campbell has fought state-level GMO labeling requirements in California and Oregon, arguing that labeling regulations that vary from state to state create a patchwork that is too complex and costly for large food producers to deal with. Instead, it believes that a national GMO labeling standard would be best for everyone.

  “We now believe that proposing a mandatory national solution is necessary,” says Morrison. “Printing a clear and simple statement on the label is the best solution for consumers and for Campbell.”

  Campbell currently labels its products sold in Vermont like the soup can shown above. Below the ingredients list, it includes a disclosure stating something like “Partially Produced With Genetic Engineering,” directing consumers to its whatsinmyfood.com site for more information, including a list of the various GMO ingredients it uses across its range of products.

  The company tells the NY Times that it will be working with the FDA and other regulators to craft the language for standard, nationwide GMO label for its products.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist