u‘Tis The Season For High Energy Bills: Tips To Keep Warm And Lower Costsr

4 4 4 9

• 

  Unless you enjoy living in a dark icebox, the winter months can be a real drain on your wallet, especially if you’re still reeling from holiday shopping. But keeping warm doesn’t mean you might as well throw money on a bonfire (seriously, don’t do that). Our colleagues at Consumer Reports, along with the Department of Energy, have the following energy-saving tips that could save you money while keeping the heat and lights on.

  • Replace Your Most-Used Lightbulbs: Consumers who replace just five of their most frequently used lightbulbs with energy-saving ones can save up to $75.

  According to CR, LED bulbs save the most money and prices are coming down now that the technology is more widely used.

  • Use A Smart Thermostat: Households that use a programmable thermostat to raise or lower the temperature depending on occupancy can save at least 10% a year on heating and cooling costs.

  To recoup those savings, owners should turn the heat down when they aren’t home or in parts of their homes that are less frequently used.

  • Let The Sun In: Just because it might be a frozen tundra outside, doesn’t mean the sun isn’t still providing warmth. CR suggest opening your curtains during the day to let the sunshine in.

  Of course, the amount of sunlight that makes it inside a home depends on your windows. Those that are dirty or may have air leakage can deplete that extra warmth.

  Still, CR found that energy star-qualified windows can lower your energy bill by 7% to 15%.

  • Keep Air Moving: Always keep your heating and cooling systems in running order by checking your furnace filter monthly and replacing it every few months.

  • Replace Old Appliances With Energy Star Models: While replacing an appliance just to save a few dollars on your energy bill isn’t exactly productive, if your appliances are outdated or simply stop working, CR suggests you look into energy efficient options.

  Appliances account for nearly 20% of electric bills, so taking advantage of energy-saving machines – which can use 10% to 15% less energy and water than standards devices.

  Keep Energy Costs Down When Temperatures Drop [Consumer Reports]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uPolice: Shoplifter Bit Off Finger Of Walmart Worker Who Confronted Her For Stealingr

4 4 4 9

• 
  While it’s surely upsetting to be caught shoplifting, one Walmart shopper accused of trying to steal condoms, lubricant, and underwear took things to an extreme when she allegedly bit off the finger of a store employee who attempted to stop her.

  According to police in Myrtle Beach, SC, a 23-year-old woman </awas confronted by two loss prevention officers as she was leaving the store on Sunday afternoon. The workers had approached her “after they observed her conceal merchandise,” the Smoking Gun reports.

  She allegedly fought with the two staffers, punching one woman in the head and causing her to bleed. That’s when, police say, she bit down on one of the worker’s fingers, “causing a portion of [the employee’s] finger to be bitten off.”

  Police say she also fought with a shopper who had dropped her phone while dialing 9-1-1, pulling her hair. The shopper allegedly responded by punching the shoplifting suspect in the face.

  When law enforcement arrived on the scene, they noticed that a a piece of a finger belonging to the worker was ah, present, and though it was rushed to EMS workers, it “was not able to be reattached.”

  The suspect was arrested after police retrieved her from a minivan parked in the parking lot. She’s been charged with aggravated assault, a felony, simple assault, and larceny, and is being held without bond in advance of a court hearing next week.

  Cops: Shoplifter Bit Off Walmart Worker’s Finger [The Smoking Gun]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uIt’s Official: Former American Apparel CEO Dov Charney & His Pals Offer $300M For The Companyr

4 4 4 9

• 
  A report last week that said Dov Charney had teamed up with a financial backer to make a bid for his former company, American Apparel, has been confirmed. Though instead of offering up $200 million for the retailer, as orinaally reported, Charney and his ally have sweetened the deal, throwing $300 million on the table.

  Investors Hagan Capital Group and Silver Creek Capital Partners announced the news today, calling the offer superior to a bankruptcy plan that would see the company going to bondholders.

  This is a big move for Charney, who was kicked out of the company in December 2014 following allegations of misconduct. American Apparel has seen worsening sales since at least 2010, and things didn’t get much better after Charney’s departure. The retailer filed for bankruptcy protection in October of this year, after earlier admitting it’d run out of financing to keep things going.

  “Dov’s creativity, entrepreneurialism and dedication are the cornerstone of American Apparel,” Chad Hagan, managing partner of Hagan Capital, said in the statement. “Removing him from the company’s board and leadership was a shortsighted mistake, and we are seeing the results of this error unfold in the declining performance of the company today.”

  In the meantime, American Apparel’s management is going forward with its bankruptcy plan, saying on Monday that it has unanimous approval of all voting classes to accept that transaction.

  It also signed a new deal with senior lenders and lower-ranking creditors to throw a little more money at the plan, adding another $0 million for the retailer once it exits bankruptcy.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uTrial Starts In First GM Ignition Switch Defect Civil Lawsuitr

4 4 4 9

• 

  The first of six planned civil trials involving General Motors’ faulty ignition switches that resulted in at least 124 deaths is slated to start today in a federal court in New York City.

  Reuters reports that the trial, which centers on a May 2014 Tulsa, OK, crash that left the driver injured, will provide the first glimpse of GM’s defense and the severity of cases against the carmaker.

  According to the lawsuit, the 2014 crash occurred when the man’s 2003 Saturn Ion ran off the highway, became airborne, and then struck the ground and trees.

  The man, who suffers continuing neck and back pain as a result of the crash, contends that the airbag did not deploy as a result of GM’s ignition switch defect in which ignitions have been found to inadvertently turn off while the car was in operation, thus disabling power steering, braking, and airbags.

  The car’s owner, who seeks punitive damages based on GM’s “intentional post-bankruptcy conduct,” says that GM put him at risk by delaying the recall and did too little for customers

  As previously reported, some at GM knew about the defect as early as 2001, before the affected vehicles even went into production. The design flaw was quietly fixed several years later but without issuing a recall to fix vehicles on the road. Additionally, the part number was not changed, meaning there was no easy way to differentiate between the defective switches and the improved parts.

  The company claims that upper management at GM did not learn of the problem until shortly before issuing a recall in 2014, a decade after people began dying in accidents related to the ignition issue. Even though documents turned up during a federal investigation showed that at least one current GM VP was made aware of the defect in 2005, the carmaker has denied any sort of cover-up and instead blames a “culture of incompetence.”

  GM denies the man’s claims, arguing there is no proof that he switch caused the man’s injuries.

  “Each bellwether case will be tried on its own merits,” GM spokesman Jim Cain told Reuters.

  The beginning of trials related to the ignition switch defect comes just a month after the carmaker announced it had wrapped up its victim compensation claim process that found 124 deaths and 275 injuries were a result of the ignition switch defect. In all, the company paid out $594.5 million in compensation.

  In addition to the six cases set to be heard in New York, GM still faces more than 200 wrongful death and injury lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada, as well as more than 100 suits related to reduced value of affected vehicles.

  GM agreed in September to pay $900 million to the Justice Department to settle criminal charges tied to the long-delayed ignition recall.

   

  General Motors to face trial over recalled ignition switch [Reuters]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uUniversity Ripped For Pushing Chocolate Milk As Concussion Treatmentr

4 4 4 9

• 
  A University of Maryland program that “promotes the development and commercialization of products and processes through industry/university research partnerships,” is being criticized for not just declaring that a particular brand of chocolate milk can improve cognitive skills of athletes who suffered a concussion, but for making that declaration without releasing any data to back it up.

  Right before Christmas, the Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program, which teams up state school researchers with local companies, sent out a press release claiming that some new brand of chocolate milk “helped high school football players improve their cognitive and motor function over the course of a season, even after experiencing concussions.”

  But a panel at HealthNewsReview.org, a site that evaluates news stories and press releases on health-related issues, recently shredded the chocolate milk announcement, saying that facts are “are almost absent from this boastful release touting vague neurological benefits of a specific chocolate milk.”

  The panel criticizes the release for not providing specifics on the extent of the measured improvement. Additionally, researchers used a test with 36 different measurements, but did not specify which of these metrics showed improvement.

  MIPS also throws out terms like “protein,” “calcium,” and “electrolytes,” which are “likely to be critical for the recovery process after brain injuries,” but glosses over the fact that a single serving of this chocolate milk contains the equivalent of eight teaspoons of sugar.

  Obviously, press releases can’t be expected to contain all of the information in a piece of scientific research, which is why scientists publish their work — so it can be reviewed and reproduced.

  However, in this case, the press release is all anyone has to go on, as MIPS has not yet published this study, nor does it appear to have been peer-reviewed by an outside source.

  But even though the study is not being made available for public vetting, the MIPS release includes a statement from a school superintendent who says “Now that we understand the findings of this study, we are determined to provide [the chocolate milk] to all of our athletes.”

  Health-issues writer Casey Hinds contends that this statement runs counter to “peer-reviewed and published research which show high-sugar diets increase the risk of chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cancer.”

  We reached out to MIPS and the University of Maryland to see if they had any response to the criticism.

  “The findings from the study conducted by the University of Maryland and funded by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships program are preliminary,” reads a statement from a university spokesperson. “While the study results are promising, university researchers advise that more in-depth studies are required to be conclusive.”

  That is true. The press release does include this caution about the need for more research, though it’s worth noting that it comes in the eleventh paragraph of the announcement, and after a headline that make a much more definitive statement: “Concussion-Related Measures Improved in High School Football Players Who Drank New Chocolate Milk, UMD Study Shows.”

  We also asked the school it it would be willing to make a copy of the study available, but received no reply on that question.

  Criticism of MIPS comes in the immediate wake of the collapse of the Global Energy Balance Network, a Coca-Cola-funded anti-obesity program based at the University of Colorado.

  After it was revealed that Coke had provided the funding for GEBN, which downplayed the role of sugary drinks and food in obesity, the organization denied that the soda giant was directly influencing its agenda.

  However, subsequently unearthed emails show that Coca-Cola’s active participation in GEBN was “non-negotiable” and that the company viewed the organization as the equivalent of a “political campaign” to “develop, deploy and evolve a powerful and multi-faceted strategy to counter radical organizations and their proponents.”

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uMan Orders Kindle, Receives Someone’s Tumor Insteadr

4 4 4 9

• 
  Two important packages traveled the United Kingdom via FedEx recently, but one was arguably more replaceable and less important than the other. One package contained a Kindle headed for a residential address in Bristol, and the other contained part of a tumor bound for a hospital in London, about 120 miles away. The Amazon customer who found a tumor instead of an e-reader was understandably rather confused.

  How does that kind of thing happen? Amazon hasn’t started selling tumors that we know of; the mixup happened somehow though FedEx, which shipped both packages.

  The customer observed that the tracking numbers on the tumor package and on his Kindle package had some digits in common at the beginning and end, but that shouldn’t have been enough to cause a mixup.

  “I haven’t opened the sealed box, which says exempt patient tissue, as it doesn’t belong to me,” the aspiring Kindle owner told the BBC. Since then, FedEx has stopped by to pick up the mystery tumor, but the Kindle hasn’t showed up yet. That’s okay: electronic devices are interchangeable and replaceable; medical samples aren’t necessarily.

  Man orders Kindle and receives ‘tumour sample’ in courier mix-up [BBC]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uUber Cuts Prices In 100 Cities — But Don’t Expect The Discounts To Last Foreverr

4 4 4 9

• 
  It’s that time of year again, when the cold has seeped into your bones, and winter’s relentlessly gray sky has you huddled under a pile of blankets inside where it’s safe and warm. But if you’re holed up at home, how is Uber going to make money? By trying to draw customers out of their winter dens with steep discounts in a slew of cities.

  Don’t get your hopes up for a cheaper Uber era, however, as discounts that will likely disappear before the snow melts. Uber has pulled this same move in the past, and it wasn’t a permanent cut.

  For some cities, this will be the third year in a row that the company has offered a January discount.

  “Seasonality affects every business, and Uber is no exception because when people hunker down at home, demand for rides drops,” the company said in a post on its site. “Fewer trips are tough on drivers, many of whom want to save money and pay off their holiday credit card bills now that January is here.”

  It’s unclear which cities will have discounted prices, with Uber’s statement just saying more than 100 U.S. and Canadian cities will benefit. Pricing will depend on your city, as well.

  “While pricing is a science, every city is different: different economic circumstances; different regulations; different competition,” Uber’s post reads. “We’ve learned over the years that we do best when we test new things. With each new test—small or large—we learn more about the choices riders make, and how those choices impact earnings for drivers.”

  We’ve reached out to Uber to ask which cities will be seeing lower prices, as well as how long customers can expect discounts, and will update this post if we hear back.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist