Author: Chris Morran

The story — TV star stands accused of going nuts on a store employee — is something straight out of any one of the numerous Law & Order shows on NBC. But this time it’s real, and the actor in question is Richard Belzer, long-time co-star on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The NYPD — the real NYPD — was called to the Apple Store on Manhattan’s Upper West SIde last night in response to a call about an assault in progress.

Belzer, had gone to the store with two associates to buy a computer. And according to the store employee alleging the attack, “I approached him like he was a regular customer. I asked how can I help you. He told me what he needed, and then before I was able to speak again, he lunges in and grabs my neck. It was no gentle manner. There is no gentle manner to grab someone’s neck.”

For his part, the actor and comedian admits that he did put his hands on the employee’s shoulder, but says he did nothing more than ask her for help.

The police called to the scene reviewed the incident on taped surveillance footage and determined nothing illegal had been done on the actor’s part.

Says Belzer, “The sad part of it was that police officers were called and had to report to the scene and God knows we don’t need all that manpower wasted on a trivial accusation that was clearly done either for attention or to embarrass a famous person… I don’t want her to be fired, I just want her to seek help.”

According to reports, the employee has filed a harassment complaint with the NYPD, which is a matter for the civil court.

‘Law & Order’ cop: Choking claim is pure fiction [NY Post]

A sushi chef in California faces a year in prison and up to $100,000 in fines after being charged with serving endangered whale meat at his restaurant.

The chef at popular Santa Monica eatery The Hump, was charged with violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act by serving the meat of the Sei Whale. The restaurant was also named in the charges.

“Someone should not be able to walk into a restaurant and order a plate of an endangered species,” U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said in a statement.

Wildlife and Customs officials undertook a sting operation at the restaurant to catch them whale-handed.

Two confidential informants ordered whale meat from the chef, who then went to the parking lot and came back with a package of meat and began slicing it.

When prodded by another customer about the mystery meat, the chef “quietly said that it was ‘whale.’” and then served it to the informants.

Sushi chef, restaurant charged with serving endangered whale [Reuters]

Once again looking for anything even vaguely resembling a silver lining in these craptastic economic times, a new report shows that, while foreclosures did increase overall in February, they only increased a little bit… relatively speaking.

According to RealtyTrac, February saw the lowest year-over-year increase in filings in Jan. 2006 and filings were actually down 2% from the month before.

But before everyone gets their hopes up, RealtyTrac cautions, “This leveling of the foreclosure trend is not necessarily evidence that fewer homeowners are in distress and at risk for foreclosure, but rather that foreclosure prevention programs, legislation and other processing delays are, in effect, capping monthly foreclosure activity — albeit at a historically high level that will likely continue for an extended period.”

Though Nevada still ranks highest on the list of states with foreclosures, with one foreclosure for every 102 homes, it did see a decrease in foreclosures of over 30% from last February.

The national average was one foreclosure for every 438 homes. Vermont had the fewest foreclosures, with a ratio of only one foreclosure per 39,077 houses.

Meanwhile, six states – California, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona and Texas – accounted for 60 percent of all foreclosure filings in February, though only Michigan (59%) and Illinois (21%) showed major year-over-year jumps in foreclosures.

Maryland and Utah had year-over-year foreclosure increases of 80% and 90% respectively.

Feb. foreclosure filings at year-over-year low [Philadelphia Inquirer]

In a legal decision that could have a ripple effect on the digital download market, a British court has ruled that record label EMI can not sell songs from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album as individual downloads or ringtones.

The band’s attorneys had argued that the album, one of the biggest sellers in rock history, is only meant to be taken as a whole and that EMI’s selling of individual downloads violated a clause in their contract intended to “preserve the artistic integrity” of the album.

Additionally, the judge ordered EMI to reimburse Pink Floyd approximately $90,000 in court costs.

Pink Floyd wins court battle with label [EW]

Apparently unclear about the whole “drive-thru” thing, a woman in Grand Rapids, MI, decided to actually drive her entire car through the window of her local Burger King last night.

According to reports, the woman had tried to enter — on foot — a 24-hour BK around 3 a.m. last night. When she was told by employees inside that only the drive-thru window was open all night, she tried walking past the drive-thru window. And when they told her she needed to actually be in a car to place a drive-thru order, that’s when she plowed through the plate glass windows and into the building.

Hey, at least she’s not blaming it — yet — on a stuck accelerator pedal.

Woman Drives Car into Side of Burger King [Mlive.com]

For quite some time, Subway has been advertising their array of $5 footlong sandwiches. But Consumerist reader Josh stumbled across that rarest of fast food treats — Subway’s $2273.40 sub. Unfortunately for Josh, now he can’t seem to get his money back.

“I recently went into a Subway store on 3/3/2010 at 11:39am. I was charged $2105.00 for a $5.00 footlong chicken breast sandwich,” Josh tells Consumerist. With tax, Josh’s debit card was charged a total of $2273.40.

He went back to the Subway and pointed out the obvious error and had the purchase voided. However, after one week, the money still has not been returned to his account, even after showing the bank a note from the Subway branch manager confirming the mistake and the subsequent void.

Two years ago, we wrote about a similar situation, where a Burger King customer had to wait for five days before being credited for an erroneous $8648 charge.

Since Josh’s bank has taken so long to credit his account, we suggest he do the following:
• Contact the bank, not just the branch, with a formal complaint. You can do this in writing, or by email. Keep a copy of this complaint for your records.
• Figure out which agency regulates your bank by calling or using FDIC’s Bank Find.
• Write a formal complaint letter to the bank’s regulatory agency. Follow the FTC’s instructions for writing a complaint.

This document also has the correct contact information for the various regulatory agencies. Keep a copy of this complaint for your records.

According to the FDIC, “The regulatory agencies will be able to help resolve the complaint if the financial institution has violated a banking law or regulation. They may not be able to help where the consumer is not satisfied with an institution’s policy or practices, even though no law or regulation was violated. Additionally, the regulatory agencies do not resolve factual or most contractual disputes.”

By filing a complaint, the regulating agency will investigate whether the bank actually violated any banking regulations.

Another day, another report of a Toyota crash being blamed on a stuck gas pedal. This time, it’s a 76-year-old woman in Connecticut claiming her recalled Toyota Camry went nuts on her and — in spite of her best efforts to stop it — crashed into a church.

The driver says she was attempting to park her car at the church parking lot when it began to go out of control, crashing into the church steps, down the exterior stairs and across the street before finally coming to a stop on someone’s lawn.

According to the driver, the gas pedal became stuck and caused the incident. She says she attempted to use the brakes, and put the car into neutral but she was unable to slow down the vehicle. The driver also says that she received her recall notice the day before the accident occurred.

“I just want people to know this is not her fault. This is not a little old lady who stepped on the gas pedal by mistake,” a witness told reporters afterward. “This was definitely something she could not avoid.”

Neither the driver nor her 15-year-old grandson were hurt, though the car did do some damage to the church steps.
 

Woman Crashes Toyota Into Church [Hartford Courant]

The same crappy weather that has Wendy’s declaring a only-if-you-ask-for-them tomato policy has made Tropicana pull out ye olde Grocery Shrink Ray, reducing their half-gallon Pure Premium OJ jugs by 5 oz. to 59 oz.

In addition to shrinking the half gallon to a half-ish gallon, Tropicana is going to raise the price of the gallon-size Pure Premium containers by 5%-8%. We’re assuming the gallon will still be 128 oz.

The reduced size/increased prices will begin in May.

“We have now fully reviewed the extraordinary losses that the Florida citrus industry has suffered — the most devastating winter freeze and the smallest crop in 20 years,” said Tropicana in a statement earlier today.

Because of the unpleasant weather in Florida this winter, the Dept. of Agriculture estimates that this year’s orange production is down 12% from last year.

Tropicana Raising Prices on OJ [WSJ]

In these tough times, homeowners with difficulties paying their mortgage dread receiving that letter from the bank informing them that their loan is in default. Except for Consumerist reader Ryan, who recently got some certified mail from CitiMortgages telling him his home was at risk of foreclosure, unless he immediately forked over $0.00

The letter (see closeup below) begins by informing Ryan, in all caps, that his LOAN IS IN DEFAULT and that “To cure the default you must pay the the past due amount of $0.00, including $0.00 in late charges and $0.00 in delinquency related expenses.”

Asks a flustered Ryan, “I need some good advice. Should I send a check for $0? Perhaps a money order or wire transfer would be more proper??!? Please help!!”

We suggest sending them the entire amount… in pennies.

Whenever readers ask for advice on writing a good complaint letter, we always suggest that they keep the letter on-point, even-keeled and as direct and brief as possible. That is not exactly what 3-time “Survivor” contestant Jerri Manthey has done. Displeased with her experience on a recent U.S. Airways flight, the reality star might have gone a little too far in penning a 3.300-word, three chapter epistle to the airline.

For a case study on how not to write an effective complaint, here’s the letter in its entirety as it was posted on Jerri’s Facebook page. If you plan on reading the whole thing, you might want to hit the bathroom before you start.

CHAPTER ONE: CONFUSED, ANGRY, VIOLATED
The time is 2:35 AM, Eastern Standard Time on March 4th, 2010. I have been checked into a hotel near Charlotte airport in North Carolina and am still processing the overwhelming feelings of anger and confusion. I have gone over and over the horrifying scene in my head trying to figure out why the flight attendant on my flight decided to single me out, embarrass me in front of everyone and have me removed from the plane.

My parents, who I just got off the phone with, are happy I am okay, but are still trying to process the fact that I won’t be coming home tonight. They had been waiting at the airport at my final destination in Huntsville, AL when I called.

I feel violated and harassed. Plain and simple.

CHAPTER TWO: MS. [REDACTED] MAKES IT PERSONAL

It started the moment I set foot on the plane. As soon as I turned onto the aisle to make my way to my seat, Ms. [Name Redacted] stopped me and told me I couldn’t take my carry-on with me and that I would have to leave it to be put underneath the plane. Her reason had something to do with it having wheels (?). I would like to point out that my carry-on is far below regulation size and has NEVER been a problem on the many flights I have taken since I bought it over a year ago – even planes that were much smaller than this one. I explained to her that I’ve never had a problem and reassured her it would fit perfectly underneath the seat in front of me and I was more than willing to show her that it did. I also reiterated what the voice over the intercom had said to all waiting to board, “All carry on luggage must be no larger than the size of a briefcase.” She immediately became argumentative and disagreeable.

I then explained that the contents were extremely valuable and that I could not comfortably part with them. The contents were as follows: my 15” laptop computer, my digital Canon still camera, my Sony digital video recorder, DV tapes from past events and vacations, my brand new iPod and iPod speakers, jewelry I have purchased from all over the world and my personal and business checkbooks and bills. Everything was irreplaceable and priceless. I carry them with me at all times and would never dream of checking them in let alone leaving them behind on an airplane walkway.

I have checked with US Airways’ online information regarding what is allowed to be carried on with a passenger and found that regulation states each passenger can carry on a small carry-on (up to 14” X 9” X 22”) plus one personal item. My carry on measures: 13” X 7.5” X 17”. (Pictures are attached.)

Ms. [Redacted] then had me stand to the side in the “kitchen” while she helped a woman with a very large piece of artwork onto the plane, directing her to see the flight attendant at the back – [redacted] – for assistance in finding a place to put this very large piece of art (approx. 3 ft X 4ft) which she requested “lie flat somewhere”.

I stood and watched in dismay.

Then, I witnessed a man with a very large briefcase (with wheels), carry his item past her with no issue. I tried to point out that my piece of luggage was much smaller than his and she exclaimed in an irritated and confrontational voice, “I’m helping another person right now, you need to wait.”

The stream of people continued as I stood patiently off to the side in the “kitchen” area. Ms. [Redacted] continued to ignore me as I watched many more larger pieces of carry on baggage go by: a couple of very large backpacks – compartments unzipped, expanded, filled to capacity and more than three times the size of my carry on, and more briefcases – much larger than my piece (MOST with wheels)! It should be noted that all people who boarded took a moment to look over at me as if trying to figure out why I would be standing by, wondering if maybe I had done something wrong and was being punished in some way.

This was merely the BEGINNING of the embarrassment I was subjected to.

She finally decided to acknowledge me and made me talk to the pilot (Capt. [Redacted]). I explained to him the situation and pointed out that even his briefcase was much bigger than my piece. I then explained what was in it and why I couldn’t leave it to be put under the plane. He then muttered something to me about weight (which makes no sense whatsoever as my piece was well under 15 pounds – regulation states it can be up to 40!) and decided to call the manager. I pleaded with him to let me take my bag on, and “the last thing I wanted to do was cause any sort of problem.”

Ms. [Redacted] had taken my carry-on and placed it outside the plane while my back was turned, so when I turned to get it, it was gone. I had a moment of panic – someone took my bag when I wasn’t looking! Like I said, the items in it are IRREPLACEABLE. I couldn’t believe Ms. [Redacted] would just pick it up and move it without my consent – especially with the information I had shared regarding it’s contents. I was in a state of disbelief and sheer horror as I frantically asked where my bag was. She informed me it was outside the plane on the walkway – tagged and ready to go under the plane. At this point I was shaking and fighting off tears. I felt bullied.

I found the piece around the corner of the walkway, dwarfed by the group of larger roll on baggage outside the plane that had been checked with yellow tags and left unattended to be placed under the plane. I picked mine up and moved it back to where I could stand next to it outside the plane door as I waited for the manager. Two more passengers boarded – one with yet another large backpack that dwarfed my piece and another briefcase that was bulging and unzipped with paperwork and a laptop. Both men asked what was wrong. I told them that I wasn’t being let on with my carry-on. They both looked at it and shook their heads in disbelief as they compared it to theirs. “It’s so small” said the man with the bulging and over stuffed briefcase.

It didn’t make any sense.

The manager arrived. I gave him the full story, he assessed the bag, and went inside the plane to talk to Ms. [Redacted]. She was clearly angry and making quite a fuss – an unwarranted reaction to the situation. It was me who should be losing my cool. Not her!

Despite the fact that my blood was boiling, my heart was racing, I was fighting off tears and trying to make sense of all the confusion, I was still being one hundred percent cooperative. I even offered to show the flight attendant and the manager that my bag would fit perfectly under my seat. She refused to let me.

The manager seemed to get nowhere with Ms. [Redacted] and returned with a couple of plastic bags and asked if I would remove the contents of my bag into them. In a completely frustrated state, wanting nothing but to get on the plane and get home to my family, I chose to fill my purse with what I could fit in it and carry the rest by hand. At this point, my purse was even larger and more difficult to handle than my original bag and I was left with expensive electronics being carried by hand. My carry on had been left behind completely empty except for a few power cords and a magazine.

I muttered “this is ridiculous” on the way to my seat.

Everyone was staring at me. I was uncomfortable, embarrassed, and so angry I had to fight back tears. I was confused, I felt harassed and now violated.

The plane was nowhere near full, many seats were empty and I approached Ms. [Redacted] to ask if I could sit in the first row of seats which were unoccupied. She told me that “no one is allowed to sit in the front seats”. I let out a breath of disgust, waited for the man in the aisle seat to let me in and sat in my window seat, arms bulging with all my personal belongings. The man next to me – Victor – asked if was okay. I told him “I wasn’t allowed to bring on my small carry on… I’m sorry for the mess and I’ll never fly US Airways again”.

I look up and see the manager coming back to my seat. “Now what?” I say under my breath. He asked Victor to let him sit by me and in a very quiet voice told me, “I am very sorry for any inconvenience you are experiencing” and that I “should avoid any and all conversation with Ms. [Redacted]. She clearly has something personal against you and I don’t understand it myself”. I began to wonder who this woman was and how she could single handedly control and instill an almost palpable state of fear (?) in so many authority figures. I agreed to keep my true feelings to myself. “I just want to get home to my family who I haven’t seen in almost a year!” I stated. He apologized again and exited the plane.

We pulled away from the gate and I sat staring out the window, trying to fight off the tears that were forming in my eyes. I was already embarrassed and humiliated enough as it was.

After I had taken a series of deep breaths and talked myself back into a calm state of mind and my heart had returned to a normal pace, Ms. [Redacted] approached me and asked me if I was holding my laptop in my lap. Being now unprotected, I had decided to hold onto it so that it wouldn’t be jarred or damaged in any way. With all my belongings in disarray and shoved under the seat in front of me there was then the danger of everything sliding around during take off and I was trying to keep everything together and safe. She insisted I place it under the seat or stow it in the above head compartment. I somehow found room to squeeze it under the seat even though I was far from comfortable doing it. I was trying my best to comply to every ridiculous request being thrown at me.

Then she looked at my jacket and insisted I stow that as well. I had a short, waist length, bomber style cotton jacket which I was using as a blanket because it was cold and blankets were not provided. She again insisted that absolutely everything must be stowed under the seat or in the above bins. “Why is this happening to me,” was all I could think in my head. I have been flying my whole life (I’m 39 years old) and have NEVER had anyone try to take my jacket from me.

At this point, everyone around me was aware of the situation at hand. She continued to berate me about my jacket over and over until I frustratingly handed it to her and exclaimed, “Fine! Take it!” I then said under my breath, “Jesus Christ!”. She gasped in horror and threw my coat back at me. “You just took the Lord’s name in vain. Hold onto your jacket because you’re going need it when I have you removed from this plane”, she stated as she stormed through the aisle of the moving plane. I saw her approach Ms. [Redacted] with what I will describe as “shear delight” to tell her what I had just said.

Next thing I knew, we were stopped on the tarmac, and the remaining passengers on the plane were growing restless and upset. We sat for almost 15 minutes. Suddenly, the door was opened and security, police and the manager I had talked to earlier were approaching me. The entire plane was now involved. People were shifting in their seats and staring at me confusingly, trying to figure out what had happened that could warrant the onslaught of security and law enforcement. There was a sudden sense of danger and confusion onboard. Even I was wondering what had happened. It all seemed way to intense to have been caused by the combination of my carry on, my laptop, my jacket and saying Jesus’ name in vain!!

The manager was apologizing profusely as he once again sat in the seat next to me. “We’re going to escort you off the plane. I’m sorry this has happened,” he said. Suddenly, Victor, who was in the seat next to me and now standing in the aisle, was explaining to the manager that I had done nothing wrong and that he was a witness. Then a man two rows in front of me – Craig Stephens – came to my defense as well. “Can I please speak to the pilot? The flight attendant is over-reacting and I want to tell him she is way out of line. This woman has done nothing and doesn’t deserve to by removed from the plane. This is ridiculous!”, he said.

Another woman – I believe her name was Melissa was absolutely livid as she explained that her grandmother was “literally on her deathbed waiting for her to get to the hospital in Huntsville” and that if she “got there to find her already dead, the airline would never hear the end of it”. There was pandemonium, confusion and a slew of apologies directed towards me from other passengers. They all wrote down their names and numbers (included in this letter) and agreed to be my witnesses to what had happened.

According to the manager, policy states that the pilot and flight attendants have the last word and had spoken. I’d been voted off the plane.

One small detail I haven’t shared is that I am a rather well-known television personality from “Survivor.” People know who I am. Because of this and the fact that everyone recognized me, I was even MORE devastated and embarrassed than your average non-recognized person. I was HUMILIATED. And for no reason whatsoever!

I got off the plane to find a group of people waiting for me as if I were some sort of criminal or terrorist. Most of them had heard over the radio that I was from “Survivor” and I felt as though they were waiting to get a glimpse of me. Daniel Hewat – a very helpful young man – retrieved my empty carry on and my checked bag from under the plane and I was escorted back to the gate. The security and police as well as the manager apologized again and stated that they were all going to “file a complaint against the flight attendant for being way out of line”. I was given a hotel voucher, rebooked on a flight for the next morning and sent on my way.

I then had to call and explain to my extremely concerned mother why I would not be coming home that night. She said that she also had negative experiences on US Airways and swore sometime in the last year she would never travel on the airline again. I was now in one hundred percent agreeance with her.

I checked myself into the hotel and quickly found that there was no food available. I hadn’t eaten all day because I was waiting to get home to eat my mom’s home cooking. All that was available was a vending machine and I had no cash.

I called my close friend, Heidi Blessing, who works for Continental Airlines at the Las Vegas airport to get her take on my story. Ironically, her job is to remove problem people off planes. After telling her the exact story I am sharing with you now, she was dumbfounded as to why I would be removed from the plane. She told me that it is very common for people to take carry-ons that don’t fit but that she at least gives them the opportunity to show her whether they do or not. Sometimes she’s right and sometimes she’s wrong. To add insult to injury she states that she has NEVER heard of anyone insisting a jacket by stowed – especially in winter when coats provide warmth in situations where blankets are not provided.

CHAPTER THREE: EXHAUSTED, BUT FINALLY HOME

It is now Thursday, March 4, 2010. I am safely home with my family just outside Huntsville, AL.

As suspected, my flight today went without a hitch. With the SAME EXACT carry-on, I boarded my flight (FLT 3557) and arrived at Huntsville, AL airport. No one questioned my carry-on, no one stopped me or gave me any grief whatsoever. As previously stated, my carry-on fit perfectly under the seat.

At this point, I am SICK TO MY STOMACH knowing that I have to fly US Airways home back to Los Angeles on the 17th of March, but I am NEVER going to fly US Airways again.

IN CONCLUSION:

I am currently on television in the latest “Survivor” and therefore scheduled to make a large number of appearances in numerous media outlets. I have decided to make it my personal mission to share with the world this horrifying and very personal story. My plan is to post this story on the internet so that the literal thousands of people who visit my website and my Facebook Fan Page can read it and know how US Airways treats their customers. I also plan on telling this story to all of the radio stations, newspapers, magazines and television talk shows that I am scheduled to appear on in the upcoming months.

NO ONE should be treated the way I was treated. I did absolutely NOTHING wrong! I was treated like a criminal, embarrassed, harassed and unnecessarily inconvenienced.

In a time when flying has become a major inconvenience in general, airlines should be going out of their way to make people who pay hard earned money for their tickets feel comfortable, safe, and appreciated. This has been the norm for many years of travel, but as of late, customer service has clearly been compromised.

My personal recommendation would be to begin by FIRING flight attendants who become power hungry, bitter, and apparently no longer like their job. It was very clear to me that Ms. Patricia [Redacted] and Ms. [Redacted] were NOT happy with their job anymore. I believe they are far too elderly and/or weary to perform their tasks at hand in a professional, courteous, thoughtful manner. And they clearly did NOT have my safety, comfort or convenience in mind.

It is apparent that flight attendants have been given far too much power and are now abusing said power to manipulate and control those around them. I understand with the recent terrorist threats that certain choices must be made for the safety of all on board, but it is very clear that Ms. [Redacted] and Ms. [Redacted] have now begun overstepping their boundaries and punishing passengers for their own personal as well as religious issues.

I have included a list of the passengers who were seated around me who willingly and eagerly gave me their names and numbers. They are all free for comment and offered to discuss further what they witnessed.

I will also reiterate that the security, the police, as well as the manager on duty that night said they were going to file a complaint against Ms. [Redacted] for overstepping the boundaries of her job. Hopefully, they followed through and you can now add their information to my case as well.

Sincerely,

Jerri Manthey

The folks over at the Center for Science in the Public Interest recently took a look at how 128 different food and entertainment companies market food to kids. And, perhaps not surprisingly, they gave failing marks to 95 of them for having either weak policies for marketing food products to children or having none at all.

No companies in the report received an A grade, and the only company receiving a B+ was Mars, Inc., not for their sugary, delicious, yummy snacks that I could eat right now, but because “Mars’ policy excludes marketing to children under 12 and covers most of the key marketing tactics used to reach children.”

The highest rated entertainment company on the list is family-friendly channel Qubo, which received a solid B. Writes CSPI, “Qubo’s policy is comprehensive, applying reasonably good nutrition standards to its full range of programming.”

Among the huge list of companies that failed on CSPI’s report card were:
• Denny’s: “For marketing to children through its children’s menu, which includes many nutritionally poor items; games on its Web site; and a kid’s birthday club.”

• Lucasfilms: “For not having a policy. Presently, Lucasfilms is licensing Star Wars toys as a premium to go with McDonald’s Happy Meals, many of which are nutritionally poor.”

• Topps: The makers of, among other candy products, Baby Bottle Pop was failed because “Over the years Topps has retained the services of the Jonas Brothers and Clique Girlz singing groups to convince children to purchase that infantilizing product, whose 140 calories all come from sugar.”

Reports indicate that advertisers in the U.S. spend about $2 billion annually to market food to children, but the field has been largely self-regulated.

“Despite the industry’s self-regulatory system, the vast majority of food and entertainment companies have no protections in place for children,” said CSPI nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan in a statement. “If companies were marketing bananas and broccoli, we wouldn’t be concerned. But instead, most of the marketing is for sugary cereals, fast food, snack foods, and candy. And this junk food marketing is a major contributor to childhood obesity.”

While not going so far as to enact federal regulations, the Federal Trade Commission is supposed to meet soon to propose some criteria for marketing foods to children that companies will be expected to adopt voluntarily.

Do you think there’s a problem with the way food products are marketed to children? Is the issue ultimately a parental decision, as they’re the ones who should have the final say on what their children eat?

Most Food & Entertainment Companies Get Failing Grade for Policies on Marketing Food to Children [CSPI]

In a move to remove some of the taint of bankruptcy and bailout, luxury car maker Cadillac is taking steps to distance itself in the public eye from its parent company, General Motors.

Class act Cadillac will no longer promote itself as a GM brand and dealers need to take part in such middle-brow marketing as “Red Tag Events” and everyone working for the brand will have their e-mail addresses changed from @gm.com to @cadillac.com.

Of GM’s four remaining brands, Cadillac is having the most difficulty rebounding from the economic meltdown in recent years. But one dealer says that the goal is to increase U.S. sales this year by 28%.

A large part of the move to distance Cadillac from GM is a recognition by the car giant that what works for selling Chevy vehicles to a mass audience doesn’t necessarily work for moving a luxury item. That’s why Cadillac will soon launch its own marketing and ad campaign.

By the same token, the long-term goal is for Cadillac to shine some of its luxury light back on the other GM brands. “If you can raise the image of Cadillac, that will also buttress the GM brand.” explains one J.D. Power analyst.

Is this the right move by GM? Will the Cadillac brand rebound in a post-recession economy?

Cadillac distances itself from GM name [Detroit News]

Things went from bad to worse to downright awful for Toyota on Tuesday as yet another of their Prius hybrid vehicles was involved in an accident involving a stuck accelerator pedal.

According to police in Harrison, NY, the 56-year-old driver was pulling out of her driveway in her 2005 Prius when the car “shot” across the road and into a stone wall. The driver suffered some minor injuries in the accident.

Just like the car involved in Monday’s runaway Prius incident in California, the NY vehicle is among the cars included in Toyota’s massive recall for floor mats that may be causing the accelerator to stick.

However, since Toyota has yet to come up with a remedy for the specific problem with the Prius floormats, the car maker has only been telling drivers to remove the mats.

But both the driver in Monday’s incident and a police officer investigating yesterday’s accident believe that the floormats had nothing to do with the stuck pedals.

“I was reaching down, trying to pull on the gas pedal,” the California driver told reporters. “It didn’t move at all. It was stationary.”

And the police chief in Harrison told the press that the floormat in that incident was secured with plastic ties.

This only adds fuel to the fire for those who believe that there is a much larger problem at play with the electrical systems in the faulty vehicles.

As has been their stance since these reports began, Toyota continues to shrug off implications of electrical problems.

“We have yet to find any evidence of an electronic glitch. If we could find something wrong, we would fix it and be done with it,” a rep for the company said on Tuesday.

Toyota faced with 2 more cases of runaway Priuses [USA Today]

A day after a 2008 Toyota Prius went rogue at speeds over 90mph on a California interstate, Toyota has announced that is adding a few hundred thousand more vehicles to its already record-setting global recall.

According to a spokesperson for Toyota, the specifics of the newest additions to the recall list haven’t been announced yet because the car giant “hasn’t developed the remedy yet.”

The 2008 Prius was already on the recall list for floormats that were causing the accelerator to stick to the floor of the vehicle, but Toyota had merely been telling owners to remove their floormats until a fix was figured out.

After yesterday’s incident in California, the owner of the car told reporters that he had received a recall notice and had attempted to have his vehicle serviced at a dealership, only to be told that his car was not on the list.

Last night, both Toyota and NHTSA said they were taking the Prius incident seriously and were each sending inspectors out to take a look at the car. It is not yet known if the car’s floormat was the culprit in Monday’s case of the runaway hybrid.

Toyota Working on Prius Recall Fix [WSJ]

While it’s relatively pleasant to be writing a story about Domino’s that doesn’t involve a robbery, this is still not a good news post. Consumerist reader Tim recently attempted to use a coupon while ordering online from Domino’s, though apparently no one told Domino’s that their coupons should actually work.

Writes Tim:

I went to try out Domino’s online ordering system, and saw an online coupon for 3 10″ one topping pizzas for $4 each. Getting to checkout though, they show the coupon, yet they still charge $4.99 each instead of $4.

This can’t be a delivery surcharge either, as they have that broken out at the bottom..

As you can see from the screengrab below, there’s the coupon toward the bottom, but there’s no discount given for the purchase.

Instead of trying to deal with hassle of explaining the problem to Domino’s customer service, Tim saved himself a headache and went elsewhere.

“I canceled out of the order entirely when I saw that, and ordered Chinese food instead. Singapore Mei Fun is probably a bit better for me anyways.”

For several years, LifeLock has been so brash about their skills at protecting customers from ID theft that they not only drove around a truck displaying their CEO’s Social Security Number in public, they also advertised his SSN on TV ads. But that hubris has come back to bite them on the rear, as LifeLock has just agreed to a $11 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over the bulked-up claims made in their ads.

Among some of the statements the FTC took issue with in its complaint were:
• “By now you’ve heard about individuals whose identities have been stolen by identity thieves… LifeLock protects against this ever happening to you. Guaranteed.”
• “Please know that we are the first company to prevent identity theft from occurring.”
• “Do you ever worry about identity theft? If so, it’s time you got to know LifeLock. We work to stop identity theft before it happens.”
• “Only authorized employees of LifeLock will have access to the data that you provide to us, and that access is granted only on a ‘need to know’ basis.”
• “All stored personal data is electronically encrypted.”
• “LifeLock uses highly secure physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard the confidentiality and security of the data you provide to us.”

However, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz states the Commission’s feelings bluntly: “While LifeLock promised consumers complete protection against all types of identity theft, in truth, the protection it actually provided left enough holes that you could drive a truck through it.”

In their complaint, the FTC charged that the “fraud alerts that LifeLock placed on customers’ credit files protected only against certain forms of identity theft and gave them no protection against the misuse of existing accounts, the most common type of identity theft.”

The FTC also says the service provided no protection against medical identity theft or employment identity theft.

According to the complaint, contrary to the above statement, the sensitive data held by LifeLock “was not encrypted, and sensitive consumer information was not shared only on a ‘need to know’ basis.” Furthermore, the FTC claims that LifeLock’s data system was vulnerable and could have been easily exploited.

In addition to the monetary settlement, LifeLock has been barred from making any claims that its services are 100% secure. Also named in the settlement were the company’s co-founders, who are hereby barred from making any similar claims with any other businesses.

“This agreement effectively prevents LifeLock from misrepresenting that its services offer absolute prevention against identity theft because there is unfortunately no foolproof way to avoid ID theft,” Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said. “Consumers can take definitive steps to minimize the chances of having their personal information stolen, and this settlement will help them make more informed decisions about whether to enroll in ID theft protection services.”

LifeLock will pay $11 million to the FTC, which will be used to pay refunds to customers. An additional $1 million will be divided up by the Attorneys General of 35 different states who participated in the investigation.

The FTC will be sending out letters to current and former LifeLock customers about the refunds, along with instructions for applying. You can also call 202-326-3757 or go to www.ftc.gov/lifelock for the latest information.

Bank of America finds itself the target of a new lawsuit filed by a woman in Pittsburgh who alleges that the bank not only improperly seized her home and damaged her other property, but also kept her parrot hostage even after they admitted making a mistake.

According to the lawsuit, after mistakenly believing that the property was in default, BoA instructed Snyder Property Services to “enter, seize, padlock, ‘winterize’ and take possession” of the plaintiff’s home. This included turning off the water, cutting power lines, filling her drains with antifreeze… and confiscating her parrot.

As the plaintiff had been paying her mortgage on time, she was shocked to arrive home one day to a house with new locks, damaged furniture and carpets, scattered belongings and a missing parrot.

At first, says the lawsuit, Bank of America acknowledged the seizure and told the plaintiff that they knew of the parrot’s whereabouts. But when she continued to call, she says BoA reps told her to stop calling, hung up on her and said they were “tired of hearing from her.”

After about a week of banging her head against the wall (metaphorically), BoA relented and confessed that they had “made a mistake.” They told her where the bird was being held and she made the 3-hour round trip drive to get the bird back.

The suit alleges that BoA was “knowingly deceptive and lacks a policy to check the validity of its foreclosures or stop wrongful ones from happening.” A Bank of America spokeswoman declined to comment.

BoA did make an offer to repair some of the damage caused during the seizure, but only after she retained a lawyer.

Woman says Bank of America wrongly repossessed home [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

If you’re looking for any sort of sign that the economy might not be as ill-fated as it occasionally appears, here’s something for you. A new study shows that, while the job market may be flat, the number of millionaires in the U.S. is on the rise, with the number of households worth at least $1 million up 16% from last year.

According to a Spectrem Group study, there are now 7.8 million millionaire households in the U.S., a big increase from last year’s total of 6.7 million households. This is a total net worth of the household that includes the value of all assets except their primary residence.

This comes only a year after a 27% drop in the previous year, which followed a record high of 9.2 million households in 2007.

Additionally, there was an increase of 17% in families worth at least $5 million and a 12% increase in households worth $500,000 or more.

U.S. millionaire ranks up 16 percent last year: study [Reuters]

A 19-year-old was pulled over at a traffic stop in Colorado a few weeks ago and quickly found himself arrested on an outstanding warrant. The charge? Not drugs or murder or even tax fraud. No, the perp was picked up because of an overdue DVD from his local library.

The suspect had checked out the 2004 martial arts epic House of Flying Daggers from a Littleton, CO, public library and never returned it. He claims he inadvertently packed it up with his belongings during a move last year.

The library valued the DVD at $31.45, just over its $30 threshold for charging offenders with theft. They claim to have sent multiple notices and two court summonses to the teen, and it was only after he was a no-show at court for a second time that they put in for an arrest warrant.

No shock here, the teen and his family deny ever getting any of the notices or the summonses and call the whole thing a “clear violation of his right to due process.” They say the notices were sent to the wrong address, and point to the “return to sender” stamp on some of them as proof.

The city of Littleton claims that they lost $7,000 worth of items from that particular library last year.

“I understand the library’s need to get their property back, but it is bothersome to me that they would go to such extremes,” said the teen’s father, who also happens to be a firefighter in Littleton.

After all the brouhaha surrounding the arrest, the city has changed its cost threshold on overdue DVDs. Additionally, they have decided to reimburse the teen’s family for all the costs pertaining to his arrest, which is being expunged from his record.

So was the library in the right pressing charges against the delinquent DVD borrower? Is there a difference between not returning a library DVD and stealing one from a video store?

Got An Overdue Book Or Movie? Go To Jail [The Denver Channel]

This is probably not how Toyota wanted their week to start. Yesterday afternoon in Southern California, a man called 911 because he was unable to unstick the accelerator pedal of his 2008 Toyota Prius and continued to drive at speeds of over 90 mph until finally coming to a stop.

The driver was about 60 miles east of San Diego on I-8 when he says he “pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny… it jumped and it just stuck there. As it was going, I was trying the brakes… it wasn’t stopping.”

That’s when the driver called 911.

“He was reaching speeds over 90 miles per hour,” CHP Officer Larry Landeros confirmed. It took the police about 20 minutes to reach the runaway Prius. And according to Landeros, a CHP patrol officer used a loudspeaker to instruct the driver to apply his emergency brake while depressing the brake pedal simultaneously.

This was able to get the car down to around 50 mph, at which point the driver killed the ignition and coasted to a stop. It’s not known yet if he had attempted earlier to turn off the engine, though Landeros believed the driver kept the car on so as to not lose power steering.

No one was hurt in the incident and no external damage was done to either the Prius or the CHP vehicle in pursuit.

As expected, Toyota is taking this seriously.

“We’re sending a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the car and find out what happened,” a Toyota spokesman said about the incident. “We won’t be able to comment on what any possible problems with the car were until we take a look at the car.”

The 2008 Prius was one of the millions of Toyota vehicles recalled for issues of sudden unintended acceleration. The driver told reporters that he went to the dealership about two weeks ago with his recall notice and was told that his car was not on the list.

“I’ll be back there tomorrow,” he said after the incident.

There have been several complaints from Toyota owners claiming that their cars were still malfunctioning, even after being serviced.

Runaway Prius hits 90 mph before stopping with aid of CHP [L.A. Times]