uDoritos Shows Support For LGBT Teens With Limited-Run Rainbow Tortilla Chipsr

4 4 4 9

• 

  The Doritos, in partnership with the It Gets Better Project, launched Doritos Rainbows chips, a new, limited-edition product to celebrate the LGBT community.

  Some of America’s biggest companies have publicly shown support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts. Today, one snack company took its commitment to another level: creating a limited-edition bag of rainbow-colored Doritos.

  Frito-Lay, which produces Doritos, said the new ‘Doritos Rainbows’ chips are the company’s way of celebrating and showing support for the LGBT community as part of its partnership with the It Gets Better Project, an organization started to encourage gay and lesbian teenagers who’ve been bullied.

  “Time and again, our consumers have shown us, there really is nothing bolder than being true to yourself and living life to the fullest,” Ram Krishnan, chief marketing officer, Frito-Lay, said in a statement. “With Doritos Rainbows chips, we’re bringing an entirely new product experience to our consumers to show our commitment toward equal rights for the LGBT community and celebrate humanity without exception.”

  Doritos Rainbows chips, inspired by the Pride flag, are available exclusively to consumers who donate $10 or more to the It Gets Better Project. Bags of the chips will be mailed to donors while supplies last, the company says.

  Doritos Rainbows are here. To get a bag go to http://t.co/v9ATSCVaqL donate & show your support. #BOLDANDBETTER http://pic.twitter.com/zMnIhoVNlR

  — Doritos (@Doritos) September 17, 2015

  The It Gets Better Project began in September 2010, when activist Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for young people facing harassment.

  To date, the project, which has more than 60,000 user-created videos, has received submissions from celebrities, organizations, activists, politicians and media personalities.

  “We’re honored to partner with the Doritos brand to celebrate the momentous progress that has been made toward equal rights for the LGBT community in this country,” Brett Peters, communications director, It Gets Better Project, said in a statement. “By utilizing the incredible reach that the Doritos brand has throughout the world, we can give hope to the LGBT young people who need it the most.”

  Doritos Rainbows chips will also be featured at Saturday’s Dallas Pride event, where attendees can pledge support for the campaign and receive a bag of chips.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uMan Wins $10M Florida Lottery Jackpot With Numbers He Got From A Fortune Cookier

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Fujoshi)

  Usually, the most you can expect from a fortune cookies is a good chuckle over an odd saying or a statement of facts –“Your shoes will make you happy today” or “People are naturally attracted to you” — but once in a while, those little messages are literally worth a fortune. In yet another instance of someone getting lucky from a Chinese restaurant treat, a Florida man scored a $10 million lottery jackpot by playing the numbers on a fortune cookie message.

  The 66-year-old man was the lone jackpot winner in a recent drawing, and is now $7 million richer after going for the one-time, lump-sum payment option, reports the Orlando Sun Sentinel.

  He didn’t decide to pick fortune cookie numbers on a whim, however, as he says he regularly plays five sets of numbers from fortune cookies he picked up from a restaurant in North Carolina.

  And though it might seem like the odds of this happening even once are slim to none, just last year we heard of not one, but two lucky lottery players cashing in big with numbers played from fortune cookies.

  Boca man’s fortune cookie good for $10M Lotto prize [Orlando Sun Sentinel]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uHome-Builders Glad People Have Jobs Again, Can’t Find Enough Workers To Build Housesr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (L. Bird)

  For most of the last decade, people haven’t been all that interested in building new houses: they were worried about their jobs, didn’t have jobs, or were underwater on the mortgage on their current home. While the economy has improved enough that people feel confident building houses, it’s also improved enough that it’s hard to find construction workers.

  Experts who spoke to Bloomberg Businessweek speculate that the shortage is because qualified people left the industry while there hasn’t been any work for them in recent years. They might have decided to pursue other careers while business was slow, or retired, or returned to their native countries, but the slowdown in new construction meant that no new workers were learning the trade to replace them.

  The National Association of Home Builders has asked Congress to approve a guest visa program to borrow builders from other countries while there’s reportedly a shortage of qualified workers: usually more than a fifth of people working in the construction trades nationwide are born outside of this country.

  Instead, people who want to build new houses are in for a wait of a year or so. The good news for construction workers is that a shortage means that their skills are in demand, and they’ll be paid more.

  Labor Shortage Sparks Production Delays for Homebuilders [Bloomberg News]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uRecent Salmonella Outbreak In Minnesota Linked To Tomatoes Served At 22 Chipotle Locationsr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Kerry Lannert)

  A recent salmonella outbreak in Minnesota that’s sickened 64 people and hospitalized nine has now been traced back to tomatoes that were served at 22 Chipotle restaurants in the state, prompting the chain to switch tomato suppliers.

  Investigators from the Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are now working to trace the tomatoes back to the farm of origin, the MDH said in a press release.

  Customers eating at the chain going forward aren’t at risk, as Chipotle has now switched tomato suppliers and none of the product remains in stores, but MDH says more illnesses could still be reported.

  “We expected to see additional cases because it can take up to 10 days for symptoms of Salmonella to appear, another few days to a week before people go to their doctors and the cases get reported to us,” said MDH Epidemiologist Dana Eikmeier. “However, there is no longer a risk of Salmonella from this particular product at Chipotle.”

  Those who were sickened said they’d eaten at one of 22 Chipotle restaurants in the state between Aug. 16-28, and fell ill between Aug. 19-Sept. 3.

  Click here for MDH’s list of Chipotle locations linked to the outbreak to date.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAmerican Airlines Fined $20K For Failing To Adequately Compensate Bumped Passengersr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (yooperann)

  If you get bumped from a flight because the airline overbooked the plane, you usually get some sort of compensation — money or vouchers for future flights — in exchange for having to change your travel plans. But federal regulators say American Airlines screwed up when it bumped nearly a dozen passengers from a Miami-to-London flight and failed to tell them why or offer them anything for their troubles.

  The U.S. Department of Transportation handed down the $20,000 civil penalty after an investigation found the carrier failed to adequately pay the 11 passengers who were denied boarding.

  According to the DOT’s consent order [PDF], the group of passengers were set to travel from Orlando to Miami and then on to London. They received their boarding passes for the full trip at the Orlando airport, but when they tried to board their connecting flight in Miami, American staffers pulled them aside to tell them they were being bumped and would have to rebook their travel for the following day.

  “American staff at Miami airport did not offer any meaningful explanation as to what happened to these 11 passengers’ reservations, nor did they offer them any type of compensation,” according to the order.

  The airline did not initially offer any compensation for the passenger who went on to file a complaint with the DOT.

  When American received the DOT complaint, the carrier responded to the passengers, acknowledging that the group’s tickets were indeed valid and confirmed, and therefore entitled to Denied Boarding Compensation (DBC).

  “American’s response further stated that based on the price of the tickets and the length of delay, each adult passenger in [the group] was entitled to either a check for $168 or a transportation voucher for $209, and each child passenger was entitled to a check for $125 or a transportation voucher for $156,” the order states.

  When questioned by the DOT, the airline claimed the figures were determined by the roundtrip fare minus taxes and fees and reduced by half because the denied boarding occurred on their return flight.

  Following additional questions on its equation and conversion methods, American increased the compensation amount to $848 per person.

  “We consider this violation to be egregious as it affected 11 passengers, American failed to offer any DBC at all until receiving the complaint from the Enforcement Office, and only offered the correct amount of DBC after repeated inquiries from the Enforcement Office,” the DOT says in its order.

  In addition to finding the carrier incorrectly provided compensation for denied passengers, the DOT’s investigation found the company had a “problematic internal policy” regarding how it reported passengers who couldn’t board a flight because it was oversold.

  Under the airline’s policy, which took effect in 2008, gate agents were directed to classify a passenger who was denied boarding as a volunteer even if the passenger had not been allowed to board the flight as long as the passenger initiated a conversation to receive compensation after the flight had left.

  American identified an insignificant number of instances in which this policy was used. As a result, the DOT agreed the airline would not face additional penalties if it ceased the practice.

  “The Enforcement Office believes that this compromise assessment is appropriate in view of the nature and extent of the violations in question, serves the public interest, and provides a strong incentive to American and all other airlines to comply with the Department’s oversales regulation,” the agency says.

  [via Dallas Morning News]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uAT&T Delays Launch Of WiFi Calling Feature For iPhonesr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Mike Mozart)
  

  AT&T customers who were anticipating the launch of a WiFi calling feature on iPhones will have to wait a bit longer: though the carrier had expected to roll out the option to iPhone users with the recently released iOS 9, it now says it’s going to take a little more time to deploy it, while it waits on approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

  Sprint and T-Mobile currently offer WiFi calling, a handy option if you happen to be somewhere with poor service but a steady WiFi network, but AT&T and Verizon have yet to offer that feature on their networks.

  There’s no launch date yet, Phone Scoop reports (h/t The Verge), but those who had beta tested iOS 9 before it was released and therefore were already able to use the feature will still be able to do so.

  “AT&T tested WiFi Calling through the iOS 9 beta and we are prepared to support commercial launch of the service once approved by the FCC,” the carrier said in a statement provided to Phone Scoop.

  It’s also unclear when WiFi calling will be ready for devices other than the iPhone, though it would seem that it won’t be before the FCC approval comes through.

  So what’s the hold up? AT&T needs approval for features for hearing impaired users, which involves a system called real-time text (RTT). It’s similar to the traditional TTY (which stands for Text Telephone) phone technology, but is more reliable than TTY is on WiFi networks.

  AT&T Hopes to Launch WiFi Calling On iPhone Soon [Phone Scoop]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uTV Stations & Radios Can Now Just Tell You To Go Online For Contest Rulesr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Mark Amsterdam)

  In 1976, the Federal Communications Commission adopted the so-called “Contest Rule,” which sought to increase transparency in on-air contests by requiring that TV and radio broadcasters disclose the terms of the contest over the air. And even though there have been huge technological and cultural changes in the nearly 40 years since, allowing shows to also put their rules online, broadcasters must still explain them on air. That’s about to change.

  This morning, the FCC adopted new rules that would give broadcasters the option of disclosing contest rules online without showing them on TV or explaining them over the radio — often in fine print or in words spoken so quickly they can be hard to make out.

  Rather than air the rules, shows will only be required make on-air announcements about where contest terms can be found. It does not require that the rules be placed online, but most broadcasters are already making these terms available through their websites anyway.

  That’s a big departure from the existing rule § 73.1216 [PDF], which explains a broadcaster’s obligation to disclose the contest terms “at the time the audience is first told how to enter or participate,” and states that these rules “should be disclosed periodically by announcements broadcast on the station conducting the contest, but need not be enumerated each time an announcement promoting the contest is broadcast.”

  With an increasing number of people having ready access to the Internet, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly called for the Commission to review the decades-old rule to give broadcasters the online option.

  “I agree that it is important to notify the public about the terms and conditions of the contests aired on broadcast stations,” he wrote at the time, “but are these fast-talkers and tiny, on-air print the most effective means to communicate this information in the Internet age?”

  Then last November, the FCC began process of revising the Contest Rule. The proposal [PDF] was supported by all the commissioners, who all agreed on the need to modernize the contest disclosure process.

  “The FCC began this rulemaking in response to the dramatic changes that have occurred in the way Americans obtain information since the Contest Rule was adopted almost four decades ago,” reads a statement from the Commission. “The rule changes give broadcast stations more flexibility in the way they comply with the Contest Rule, and give consumers a more convenient way to obtain contest information normally aired through television and radio advertisements.”

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist