Current Events in March 2014

Syndication has always been a big deal in the TV business. Once aired on their primary network, shows go on to live forever in syndication, and the advent of streaming video is doing nothing to change that.

The difference this time around is that "House of Cards" is going from Netflix streaming video to Comcast's Xfinity Store, skipping the over-the-air TV route entirely.

Netflix is retaining exclusive streaming rights to the series but Comcast will be selling episodes from the first season, as Amazon and Walmart’s Vudu are already doing. Individual episodes are priced at $1.99, which could be a tough gtsell, considering you can subscribe to all of Netflix for $7.99 a month.

Comcast is adding other titles to its Xfinity Store, including ”American Hustle,” to be available for rent or purchase starting tomorrow (Tuesday). 

In May, anther popular Netflix drama original, “Orange Is the New Black,” will be hitting the Comcast Xfinity Store on May 13.

The Xfinity Store titles come out before traditional video-on-demand and don't require the use of a laptop or smartphone to order. They can be called up right from the TV set-top box. 

It's similar to Verizon’s FiOS Flex View, which has offered movies for purchase and viewable on multiple devices since late 2010.

Discount shoppers in Florida might see reduced offerings in their favorite stores, due to an 11^th circuit court ruling in a lawsuit brought by southeastern supermarket chain Winn-Dixie.

Courthouse News Service  reports that when Winn-Dixie rents space in a shopping center, “The supermarket's lease at many of its locations contains a restrictive covenant prohibiting or sharply limiting the sales of 'staple or fancy groceries' by other tenants in the same shopping center. A majority of these leases contain an exception allowing the 'incidental' sale of grocery items not to exceed 10 percent of the square-foot area of the store.”

Winn-Dixie claims that stores such as Big Lots, Dollar Tree and Dollar General repeatedly violate such covenants by either selling grocery items or selling too many, and that, since 2005, the competition from such stores has cost Winn-Dixie $90 million in lost profits.

Not just food

But what exactly constitutes “groceries”-- are they food-only, or anything one generally finds for sale in American supermarkets? A federal judge in Miami interpreted groceries to only mean food, but the 11^th Circuit Court, based in Atlanta, later reversed that decision. Judge Stanley Marcus wrote that according to Florida law, “'groceries' broadly includes food and 'many household supplies (as soap, matches, paper napkins).”

However, due to specific differences in various state laws, the court ruled, the anti-competition provisions Winn-Dixie demands in its leases cannot be enforced in Louisiana or Mississippi, only Florida. Floridians fond of buying soap, napkins or actual foodstuffs in discount stores might soon find their options limited, if they patronize shopping centers where Winn-Dixie does business.

In most of the modern world, the air around you is filled with invisible communication signals: radio waves, television broadcasts, cell phone transmissions, CB or police radio chats, wireless Internet and more.

Depending on where exactly you live, these communications have filled the air around you for over a century now -- unless you're in a certain part of West Virginia known as the National Radio Quiet Zone.

The federal government established the Quiet Zone in the 1950s, in a radius surrounding the gigantic radio telescopes at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The radio telescopes pick up the faint traces of radiation falling on Earth from outer space, traces faint enough to easily be overwhelmed by even a low-powered transmitter nearby. So Quiet Zone residents live under unusual restrictions most Americans needn't worry about: not only are commercial TV or radio stations banned within the zone, but ordinary residents are limited to dial-up Internet, and cannot have cordless telephones or other commonplace technologies whose electromagnetic pollution interferes with radio telescope readings. Smartphones and cell phones are useless in the zone, since there are no signals for them to pick up.

This ban is considered a blessing by the small number of people who have diagnosed themselves with “electromagnetic hypersensitivity,” or EHS --people who believe they're basically allergic to electrical waves, certain radio frequencies, or other electromagnetic forces which appear harmless to the majority of people.

All in their heads?

The medical community has found no evidence EHS is an actual physical illness, though it might be an actual psychosomatic one; double-blind tests have shown EHS is triggered not by the presence of electrical signals, but by the belief that electrical signals are present -- basically, if you believe the signals from wireless routers make you sick, then seeing a wireless router will make you sick provided you think it's turned on -- even when it's actually powered down.

As early as 2004 -- roughly the same time cell phones and the Internet changed from “exotic new technologies” to “commonplace everyday things”-- Wired magazine wrote a story about the Quiet Zone, focusing specifically on the radio astronomers' concerns that the growing use of cell phones and wireless Internet might destroy the Quiet Zone's status as a haven from electromagnetic pollution.

Ten years later, such fears have proven unfounded -- the Quiet Zone remains quiet except for a mini-population boom (roughly two or three dozen people) of self-diagnosed EHS sufferers who moved to the Quiet Zone seeking refuge from whichever electromagnetic frequencies they blame for their health problems.

The media check it out

In April 2013, Joseph Stromberg (writing for Slate) visited Green Bank, West Virginia, in the middle of the Quiet Zone, to chat with some EHS refugees. There is friction in town between the newcomers and the old-timers; Stromberg mentioned one EHS sufferer who complained of “intense discrimination” from the townspeople after she asked them to turn off the fluorescent lights in the town community center. Another says she was banned from the radio observatory for “bringing up radiation issues” there.

News of the EHS community in the Quiet Zone has proven especially popular on the other side of the Atlantic; if you read non-American news sources you're likely familiar with that subgenre of foreign news with the theme “America: a crazy country filled with crazy people, amirite?”

For example: the Daily Mail (in the UK) wrote about Green Bank just after Slate did in April 2013, discussed it again that August, reprinted an AP story about it in December, then revisited it again this week, helpfully noting that “Dozens of Americans who claim to be allergic to electromagnetic signals settle in small West Virginia town where WiFi is banned.”

There are many things that can weigh against job-seekers, include stammering, according to a new study conducted in England and Wales.

Researchers studied 36 men aged 21 to 65 with a stammering condition and found that every one of them had been rejected by potential employers, sometimes in the very first interview.

Some of the men said the only jobs they could find were ones for which they were clearly over-qualified. 

"Many participants were told not only of their mismatch for the specifics of the job or the likelihood of a detrimental impact on customers, but also of the possible negative impact on team dynamics if they were appointed," said Dr. Clare Butler of Newcastle University Business School.

"Something more suitable"

One man in his 20s who applied for an administrative post described to her how his interviewer told him "to go and look for something more suitable. He said that office work was definitely not for me because I wouldn't be able to get on with people in the office because they work hard but they also have a laugh and I wouldn't be able to join in.

"He said I could do the job mostly. He said he'd have to warn the customers about me and that most would probably understand – but he said I should look for something more suitable. When I asked 'like what?' he said outside work like gardening or something where I was on my own. I mean, can you imagine how I felt?"

Even men who managed to find work said they still faced discrimination o the job. A civil servant in his mid-40s reported that his manager asked him to stay away from key partnership meetings because his speech "upset the flow of the meeting."

The study was published in Work, Employment and Society, published by the British Sociological Association and SAGE.

Toyota is recalling 7,067 model year 2014 Highlander vehicles manufactured November 20, 2013, through January 18, 2014.

The third row middle seat belt assembly might not have been properly secured to the vehicle floor anchorage during vehicle assembly, which could increase the risk of injury to an occupant in the event of a crash.

Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the third row middle seat belt anchor, and, if necessary, properly secure it to the vehicle floor anchorage, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in March 2014.

Owners may contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.

George’s Inc., of Springdale, Ark., is recalling approximately 29,200 pounds of seasoned raw, chicken breast strips.

The products are formulated with soy protein, a known allergen, and monosodium glutamate (MSG), but released with a label that does list them among the ingredients.

There have been no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products

The products subject to recall bear the label:

• 40 lb. bulk cartons of “GEORGE’S BONELESS SKINLESS BREAST PIECES W/RIB MEAT” with case code 4790.

They bear the establishment number “P-13584” below the USDA Mark of Inspection and “Packed on” date in the format of “mm/dd/yy” on the carton label.

The products were produced and packaged from Dec. 21 through Dec. 23, 2013, and were sold to distributors in Tennessee and Iowa for further distribution.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Ali Perry at (479) 927-7256.  

When winter finally ends and the spring thaw begins, a growing number of consumers will take hoe and rake in hand and head for the back yard. In communities large and small, more people have begun to grow at least some of their own food.

Gardening has always been a pleasurable, relaxing pasttime for some. In recent years doomsday preppers – people anticipating the collapse of civilization – have taken up the practice. For economic reasons, others have embraced small-scale gardening as a way to save money and eat fresher, healthier food.

First Garden

One of the most famous backyard gardens is at the White House, where First Lady Michelle Obama broke ground not long after moving in. Heidi Godman, Executive Editor of the Harvard Health Letter, says Obama inspired her to give gardening a try, even though she admits to being all thumbs, none of them green.

Godman says students at Harvard have also created a campus garden as a large collaborative project, donating the crop to Boston-area food pantries.

Theresa Martz, author of the book “Organic Gardening: Cutting Through the Hype to the 3 Keys to Successful Gardening” and the popular organic gardening blog, TendingMyGarden.com, has been gardening organically in Virginia for more than 35 years. She says growing food in your back yard isn't overly complicated.

Keeping it simple

“There are three things you need to do, and there are only three,” Martz told ConsumerAffairs. “Number one is you have to prepare your soil deeply. Number two is you have to add organic materials. Number three is cover your ground. That's it, you'll be successful if you do those things.”

Martz recommends loosening soil in your garden plot to a depth of 18 to 24 inches. That will be difficult or easy, depending on soil conditions where you live. Remove the topsoil and set it aside. Work in organic materials, such as leaves, straw or small, ground-up twigs. Next, recover the garden area with the removed top soil and cover with more organic material.

“If you do that correctly you never, ever have to do it again,” she promised.

Site selection

Site selection is also important. Choose an area away from trees, both to avoid the shade and the trees' roots. The best location will offer morning sun exposure. The garden plot doesn't have to be that large, especially if you follow Martz's advice about soil preparation.

“After you improve your soil like that you can grow a lot more things in the same space than conventional gardeners can grow and you can grow it closer together,” she said.

And it may surprise some would-be gardeners that Martz says that once planted, watering the garden isn't really necessary.

Save the water

“It (not watering) is not promoted now because irrigation systems are big business,” she said. “That's why you hear that everybody has to water. But I never have and I do fine in drought. No one likes a drought but when things are done like nature does things, you can make it through the drought and still have something.”

Martz grows all her food from seeds and lately has become disturbed by a consolidation in the seed business, especially what she views as the growing presence of chemical companies. Martz produces her own seeds but suggests that consumers who purchase seeds try to buy them from a small, “mom and pop” company – and not just stick with the most popular breeds.

“Every year there are thousands of wonderful seeds that have been developed over thousands of years, that are for certain areas, to grow in every condition you can think of,” Martz said. “Many are being dropped and if someone doesn't grow them, you can't have viable seeds.”

For consumers who not only want to eat healthier but also save money, Martz's brand of backyard gardening seems to have a lot to offer; it costs nothing to prepare the ground, you don't need a lot of space, you don't run up your water bill, and once you start producing seeds, your crop costs nothing.

“People think organic gardening is hard, but it's a lot easier than people make it out to be,” she said.

The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recent announcement that it is making changes to the required Nutrition Facts label on food products has focused a lot of new attention on food labels and how they communicate information.

The FDA said the changes would make it easier for consumers to understand how many calories they are consuming and what kind of nutrients the product is delivering. For one thing, the label updates serving size requirements to reflect how much people really eat.

“Our guiding principle here is very simple: that you as a parent and a consumer should be able to walk into your local grocery store, pick up an item off the shelf, and be able to tell whether it’s good for your family,” said First Lady Michelle Obama, who has also crusaded for revised marketing guidelines for processed foods. “So this is a big deal, and it’s going to make a big difference for families all across this country.”

Voluntary label

While generally supportive of the FDA update, the food industry nonetheless is promoting its own nutrition label. A week after the FDA announcement, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) announced a promotional campaign to build awareness of its voluntary label on the front of food products. The Facts Up Front label shows what the manufacturer believes to be the key nutrient information, which is also found on the back.

In addition, manufacturers usually put information on their packaging as part of their marketing. If a product is “fat-free,” for example, it will say so on the label. Is this information overload or do consumers find this to be helpful when they select food items? A recent poll of consumers suggests some information is helpful and some not so much.

A mid-February survey conducted by the Harris Poll found that the nutrition claims that must meet the highest levels of regulatory scrutiny seem to be the ones valued most by consumers. One or two of those claims, however, may be resulting in some confusion, the survey found.

Fresh

Consumers appear to find the word “fresh” on a food package particularly helpful when shopping. Seventy-three percent mentioned that as an important factor and “fresh,” as it turns out, is a pretty reliable claim. Only products that have never been frozen or warmed and which contain no preservatives can qualify as “fresh.”

A majority of consumers in the survey also put stock in products claiming to be “low” in something – like sodium or cholesterol. The word “free,” when attached to words like “fat” and “cholesterol,” also resonates.

Respondents in the poll were more skeptical of the “healthy” claim, with 47% saying it wasn't helpful. In fact, to use “healthy” on a label the food inside has to meet strict nutritional standards. Also, products displaying this claim need to have at least 10% of the recommended daily value for a range of nutrients.

Misleading

A large majority – 76% – find the description “made with,” such as whole grains or real fruit, to be a helpful selection guide, but here the majority of consumers are also mistaken. Under current regulations that description can go on products that contain only small amounts of the advertised substance. 

Similarly, consumers in the survey said they found the description “natural” to be helpful. But “natural” doesn't tell you a lot about the product either, because the FDA has never established an official definition of what that is, exactly.

The question remains, however, about how much influence any of these labels or descriptions have on what consumers put in their shopping carts. When the survey gets to the bottom line, it's all about the bottom line.

What does it cost?

When asked to select the overriding consideration when deciding between food products at the grocery store, roughly half of those questioned – 49% – said the price of the product is the ultimate deciding factor.

Nutrition shows up as the second consideration, with 29% saying they reach for a low-fat or fat-free item. The percentages of those most concerned about calories, sodium and sugar are in the single digits.

Scarcely a week goes by without various news media publishing stories on the theme “Hackers break into corporate database, steal account info from scads of customers.” Same story every time, differing only in the details: which particular company got hacked, what exact number of customers were affected, and which specific white-hat hacker or security blogger first exposed the breach.

Also, these stories usually end by saying “If you, American Consumer, bought anything from the hacked company recently, you need to call your bank and cancel your account and re-organize any automatic payment plans attached to it, and if you do everything right this shouldn't cost any actual money from your pocket, but 'doing everything right' will still be a hugely time-consuming pain in the butt for you. No, of course you won't be compensated for any of your lost time.”

American consumers are more likely to suffer from such hacking incidents than credit or debit-card holders almost anywhere else — not because American computers are easier to hack into than their counterparts in other countries, not even because American credit or debit-card account numbers are easier to steal, but because American account numbers, once stolen, are much easier for thieves to use. However, credit-card heavyweights MasterCard and Visa might finally be taking steps to change that.

EMV chip

MasterCard and Visa announced today that they had formed a “new cross-industry group focused on enhancing payment system security.” The initial phase of this enhancement will be adopting what's known as “EMV chip technology,” which is already ubiquitous in most of the world but absent in the United States (hence the relative ease with which thieves can make use of stolen American account numbers).

EMV stands for “Europay, MasterCard and Visa,” the three companies that first developed the technology. It's been around since the early 1990s and has been in common use throughout the world (except the U.S.) for roughly a decade now.

At first glance, an EMV credit card looks like any other. The difference is that an EMV stores information on an encrypted microchip, rather than a non-encrypted (and relatively easy to counterfeit) magnetic strip.

EMV cards also tend to require a personal identification number (PIN) at point of sale.

These features do not make it impossible for hackers to steal money from accounts, but they definitely make theives' lives vastly more difficult.

Why so slow?

So why haven't EMV cards already become commonplace in America? Answer: the short-term cost of implementation; Reuters mentioned unnamed experts who estimate conversion costs of up to $10 billion.

But the increasing frequency of data breaches in America (and the increasing costs to the credit-card issuers, who usually have to eat the cost of whatever an identity thief buys with his stolen account numbers) has finally persuaded the major card companies that maybe they ought to upgrade their anti-theft systems.

Unsurprisingly, the National Retail Federation supports the proposed security upgrades, and promptly issued a press release saying so. NRF's senior vice president, Mallory Duncan, said of the current American security status quo: “Easy-to-forge signatures are a virtually worthless form of authentication. Insisting on chip-and-signature cards is like installing an alarm on the front door of a home while leaving the back door wide open.  It doesn't make sense when the technology exists to secure the entire house.”

Acting on a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a federal court has ordered marketers of bogus diabetes remedies to pay nearly $2.2 million. The FTC will use the funds it recovers to reimburse consumers.

The court has prohibited the company – Wellness Support Network Inc. – and its two principals, Robert Held and his daughter Robyn Held, from claiming without rigorous scientific proof that their supplements would treat and prevent diabetes, and from making other deceptive claims.

“Giving false hope to those who struggle with a serious illness is disgraceful, and the FTC is determined to ensure that deceptive marketers face the consequences,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The FTC’s October 2010 case challenged claims for the defendants’ Diabetic Pack and Insulin Resistance Pack – which contained identical blends of vitamins, minerals, and plant extracts. The defendants touted the Diabetic Pack as a treatment for diabetes, and the Insulin Resistance Pack as a means of purportedly reducing insulin resistance and preventing diabetes.

The defendants advertised primarily online, relying heavily on consumer testimonials and running ads that claimed a “Diabetes Breakthrough” and a “clinically proven natural solution to diabetes with a 90% success rate.” The defendants sold the products for $76.70 for a 30-supply supply.

The court ruled in favor of the FTC’s motion for summary judgment and found that the claims made by the marketers were false and unsupported by scientific evidence.

The wicked winter weather has been blamed for a lot of things, but it apparently did not have a negative effect on the employment situation in February.

Government figures show the economy created 175,000 jobs last month, topping the consensus estimate of 163,000 of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. At the sale time, the Labor Department (DOL) revised the job creation totals higher for both December and January.

The change in employment for December was revised from +75,000 to +84,000, while January was revised from +113,000 to +129,000. With these revisions, employment gains in both months were 25,000 higher than previously reported.

Nonetheless, the unemployment rate for February rose 0.1% -- to 6.7%. While there's been little movement in the jobless rate since December, over the year the number of unemployed people and the unemployment rate were down by 1.6 million and 1.0%, respectively.

Who's hiring and firing

Job gains last month occurred in professional and business services (+79,000), wholesale trade (+15,000), food services and drinking places (+21,000), construction (+15,000) and health care (+10,000).

Losses were registered in retail trade (-4,000) and information (-16,000). Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, financial activities and government, changed little over the month.

Who's working and who's not

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (6.4%), adult women (5.9%), teenagers (21.4%), whites (5.8%), blacks (12.0%), Hispanics (8.1%) and Asians (6.0%) showed little

or no change in February.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 203,000 in February to 3.8 million, and accounted for 37.0% of the unemployed. The number of long-term unemployed was down by 901,000 over the year.

Both the civilian labor force participation rate (63.0%) and the employment-population ratio (58.8%) were unchanged in February. The labor force participation rate was down 0.5% from a year ago, while the employment-population ratio was little changed over the year.

The complete report is available on the DOL website.

A glass of wine with dinner sounds harmless enough, and it certainly won't produce an alcohol blood level anywhere near the legal intoxication limit. But it could very well make older drivers a danger to themselves and others, a new study finds.

Sara Jo Nixon, Ph.D., a professor in the departments of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Florida and doctoral candidate Alfredo Sklar tested how drinking legally non-intoxicating levels of alcohol affect the driving skills of two age groups: 36 people ages 25 to 35 and 36 people ages 55 to 70.

They found that although neither age group imbibed enough alcohol to put them over the legal driving limit, a blood alcohol level of 0.08, just one drink can affect the driving abilities of older drivers. Based on the study findings published in the journal Psychopharmacology in February, the researchers say it could be time to reassess legal blood alcohol levels for all drivers.

“These simulations have been used a lot in looking at older adults, and they have been used at looking how alcohol affects the driving of younger adults, but no one’s ever looked at the combination of aging drivers and alcohol,” Sklar said Alfredo Sklar.

The study is the latest in a body of work by Nixon and her team that looks at how even moderate doses of alcohol affect aging adults.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has signed off on a new federal mandatory standard intended to improve the safety of infant’s and children’s carriages and strollers.

In case you didn't know, there are official differences between strollers and carriages:

• A stroller is a wheeled vehicle used to transport children, usually from infancy to 36 months old. Children are transported generally sitting up or in a semi-reclined position by a person pushing on a handle attached to the stroller.
• Carriages are wheeled vehicles made to transport an infant, usually in a position lying down.

Carriages and strollers within the scope of the new standard include full-size 2D strollers that fold in front-to-back (or back-to-front) and 3D strollers that fold in front-to-back (or back-to-front), as well as side-to-side directions, travel systems (including car seats), tandem, side-by-side, multi-occupant and jogging strollers.

What's covered

The new standard incorporates by reference the most recent voluntary standard developed by ASTM International (ASTM F833-13b), Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Carriages and Strollers, with a modification to address head entrapment hazards associated with multi-positional/adjustable grab bars.

In addition, the new safety standard addresses hazards associated with strollers reported to the agency, including:

• Hinge issues that have resulted in pinched, cut, or amputated fingers or arms;
• Broken and detached wheels;
• Parking brake failures;
• Locking mechanism problems;
• Restraint issues, such as a child unbuckling the restraint and restraint breakage or detachment;
• Structural integrity; and
• Stability.

Consumer complaints

CPSC has received about 1,300 incident reports related to strollers reported from January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2013. Four of those incidents involved a fatality.

ConsumerAffairs has also heard from consumers unhappy with the strollers they purchased.

"I purchased an Evenflo Discovery Travel System for my daughter for ease of use taking her from the car and placing it on the stroller," writes Linda of Waco, Texas. "The wheels are constantly falling off whether I am putting the stroller away, or taking it out. The wheels also fall off if I am lifting the stroller up to put on the curb."

Kasey of Rutland, Vt., says she was pushing her 10-month-old daughter in a Cosco stroller and "out of nowhere the stroller broke. When this happened," she continues in a ConsumerAffairs post, "my daughter was sitting in it and her hand got caught in it, her hand got cut and it was twice its size so I took pictures of it and brought her to the doctor. Luckily its not broken and no serious damage."

The effective date for the mandatory carriage and stroller standard is 18 months after the final rule is published in the Federal Register.

Even though its cold, snowy, and just plain nasty in some parts of the U.S., there are signs all around that spring is on the way.

For one thing, it's staying light later, robins are starting to show up on snow-covered decks and lawns and -- this weekend -- we go to Daylight Saving Time. Don't forget: spring ahead. In other words, set your clock one hour ahead before you crawl into the sack Saturday night.

Something else you don't want to forget is to take a few minutes to replace batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Make it a semi-annual habit (do it when we “fall back” to standard time. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says it's a habit that could save your life.

Make sure they work

Working smoke and CO alarms, which means having fresh batteries, adds an important layer of safety to your home. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), two-thirds of fire deaths occur in homes without working smoke alarms. There are more than 362,000 home fires every year and, according to CPSC’s latest Residential Fire Loss Estimates report, more than 2,200 people die in them.

Batteries in battery-powered alarms need to be replaced regularly. In addition, CPSC recommends that consumers test their alarms every month to make sure they are working. Smoke alarms should be placed on every level of the home, inside each bedroom, and outside sleeping areas.

Don't forget the CO alarm

Although more than 90% of U.S. homes report having at least one working smoke alarm, only 42% report having a working CO alarm, based on 2011 U.S. Census Bureau data. CO alarms can alert you and your family to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide inside your home.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 400 people die in the U.S. each year from CO poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is called the invisible killer, because you cannot see or smell it. This poisonous gas can come from many sources, including cars, furnaces and portable generators, and can quickly incapacitate and kill its victims.

Put CO alarms on every level of the home and outside sleeping areas. Like smoke alarms, CO alarms need fresh batteries regularly. CO alarms also should be tested once a month to make sure they are working.

So do yourself a favor: change those batteries. Now that you've made it through the winter, it would be nice to be around to enjoy the nice weather -- when it finally arrives.

If you own Asian elephants and have been struggling with the issues of urging them to breed in captivity (and who can't relate to that problem, nowadays?), you'll want to take note of this interesting little study out of the University of Sheffield in the UK: researchers investigating birth and longevity data for elephants dating back to the 1940s have discovered that among elephants, teenage mothers are likely to have bigger families, but also die younger, compared to elephants who postpone motherhood into their 20s or beyond.

Although elephants can live into their 70s, the same as humans, they have a much smaller fertility window — for an Asian elephant, pregnancy is possible as early as age five, yet fertility peaks around age 19 and declines thereafter. Older elephants can still have offspring, of course, but the older the mother is, the greater the chance her offspring will be unhealthy.

The researchers determined that: “elephants that gave birth twice in their teenage years had calves three times more likely to survive to independence than those born to mothers who had their first young after the age of 19. Therefore, although having calves as a teenager reduced a mother's lifespan, early reproduction was favoured by natural selection because those mothers raised the largest families in their lifetime.”

(In strictly evolutionary terms, it doesn't matter how long you live or how much enjoyment you derive out of life; all that matters is “How many healthy surviving offspring do you leave behind when you do finally die?”)

In all seriousness, the study of elephant reproductive strategies is important because, like all megafauna, elephants find it ever-harder to live in the wild, as human developments encroach on their former territories. So if we want to prevent the species from going extinct, we need to increase the healthy birthrate among captive elephants, since their cousins in the wild probably can't maintain their population by themselves.

Design Ideas Ltd., of Springfield, Ill., is recalling about 21,000 Design Ideas and Neatlife Rubber Ducky Magnets, 3,200 Design Ideas Blowfish, and 2,000 Splat Magnets.

The small magnets can easily detach from the product. If swallowed, magnets can link together inside a child's intestines and clamp onto body tissues, causing intestinal obstructions, perforations, sepsis and death. Internal injury from magnets can pose serious lifelong health effects.

No incidents or injuries have been reported.

This recall involves miniature office and refrigerator magnets sold in the shape of a duck, blowfish and a splat. A small magnet is affixed to the underside of the brightly colored plastic objects which were sold in sets of four or six. Model number 3205121 (duck), 993205114 (duck), 3205122 (blowfish) or 3205078 (splat) is printed on the bottom of the packaging. “Magnets” and the Design Ideas’ logo are printed on the front of the package.

All the magnets were manufactured in China. Rubber ducky magnets were sold at Nordstrom’s Rack stores, novelty and gift stores, book stores and art stores nationwide from March 2007, through September 2013, for about $10. Blowfish magnets were sold at novelty and gift stores, book stores and art stores nationwide from March 2007, through March 2011, for about $10. Splat magnets were sold at CB2 stores, novelty and gift stores, office supply stores and art stores nationwide from November 2012, to February 2014, for about $10.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled magnets place them out of reach of children and contact Design Ideas for a refund.

Consumers may contact Design Ideas at (800) 426-6394 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.

Tektro USA/TRP of Ogden, Utah, are recalling about 2,000 Spyre and Spyre SLC dual-piston mechanical disc brake calipers.

The brake cable actuator arm can over-rotate, dislocating parts, causing the brake calipers to fail. Lack of brakes results in loss of control and a crash hazard, posing a risk of injury to the rider and others.

The company has received one report of a brake caliper failing in this manner. There have been no reports of injuries or property damage.

This recall includes Spyre and Spyre SLC dual-piston mechanical disc brake calipers sold as original and aftermarket equipment in 2013. Spyre calipers have a black anodized caliper body and a silver actuator arm with “Spyre” on it. Spyre SLC calipers have a polished aluminum caliper body and a black composite actuator arm with “Spyre SLC” on it.

Recalled calipers have a fastening screw with a hollow six-pointed star-shaped head with no markings on it and a 3 millimeter pad adjust screw on the outward side. The recalled calipers were also sold as original equipment on bicycles manufactured or distributed by BTI, Diamond Back Bicycles, Giant Bicycles, Hans Johnson Co (HJC), Kona, Marin Bikes, Quality Bicycle Products, Raleigh America

The calipers, manufactured in Taiwan, were sold at retail bicycle shops nationwide and online at universalcycles.com, tektro-usa.com and trpbrakes.com from April 2013, to December 2013, for about $90 for the Spyre caliper and about $110 for the Spyre SLC caliper.

Consumers should immediately stop riding bikes equipped with the recalled brake calipers and return the calipers to the original place of purchase or Tektro USA/TRP for a free replacement with an improved version.

Consumers may contact Tektro USA or TRP customer service toll free at (877) 807-4162 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. MT Monday through Friday, or by e-mail at info@trpbrakes.com.

In the last two years the housing market has begun to recover from the wave of foreclosures that kicked off the financial crisis. With prices up, there are fewer bargains left, except for distress sales that continue to sell below market values.

But for the first-time buyer hoping to find a place to live, purchasing a foreclosed property isn't that easy. Large investment entities, including hedge funds, are buying up properties in bulk in many markets, leaving would-be owner-occupants on the sidelines.

A recent report by the Center for American Progress says that since the housing crash institutional investors have purchased more than 200,000 foreclosed single-family homes and converted them to rental properties or sold them for an immediate profit.

“There are very sophisticated entities that are deciding where they want to invest, what strategy they want to employ, whether they want to hold onto the property for the long-haul or flip it,” Maeve Elise Brown, Executive Director of Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA), a California consumer group, told ConsumerAffairs.

Appeal to regulators

HERA and 77 other wide-ranging groups have signed a letter to federal regulators, asking them to address the issue of first-time homebuyers being outbid, tenants being displaced, and neighborhoods undergoing dramatic changes as private equity and investor cash continues pouring into local housing markets, buying up homes.

While a foreclosure is a traumatic, disruptive event in a housing market, a new owner purchasing the property and moving in can be a healing action. But all too often, Brown says, the property sits vacant for years.

"One problem has been the withholding of properties from the market," Brown said. “After the properties have been foreclosed upon, the banks, servicers and investors are not promptly turning those properties around. This has been going on for years. And what they've done is artificially shrunk the market.”

That, she says, is one of the reasons home values have risen rapidly over the last couple of years. Declining inventories of homes for sale has given buyers fewer homes to choose from and sellers more leverage to get a higher price.

The upside

Economists will tell you there is a definite upside to a rise in home values since so many homeowners are still “under water,” owing more than the home is worth. But Brown and her colleagues are concerned that this artificial shortage is hurting people trying to become homeowners and that the business model of mega-investors buying properties and securitizing those assets is fraught with economic danger. One portfolio of single-family rental homes was securitized last fall, though both Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poors refused to grant AAA ratings to the product, citing numerous uncertainties with this new business model.

“With the securitization of rental streams we're concerned that there will be some unintended consequences,” Brown said. “The return on this investment is dependent upon your tenants paying a certain amount of rent. One of our concerns is there will be pressure to push rents higher and higher in order to increase the return on the investment.”

And when one landlord owns a large percentage of the rental property in a given market, it gives that operator enormous power to set the prevailing rent, which could have huge repercussions for the market as a whole.

Regulatory intervention

In the letter to regulators, Brown and her colleagues are calling for a number of steps to provide stability to the market and to assist individual buyers. In a challenge to Wall Street the groups say government housing entities like FHFA and HUD should suspend their bulk sales of homes and mortgages until they can carefully analyze potential fair housing issued created by bulk sales.

The groups say FHA should consider preferences for selling distressed loans to nonprofits who will prioritize homeownership; Banks should be incentivized to sell distressed loan pools and REOs to nonprofit organizations, thus prioritizing homeownership and stability.

Government agencies, the groups contend, are contributing to the problem by conducting bulk sales of properties and mortgages, a practice that favors large investors to the detriment of homeownership, long-term tenancy, and stabilized communities. Brown concedes the answer isn't a simple one.

“Our market is divided into different components,” she said. “Our regulators cover different sectors. And yet I think it's going to take a concerted effort to come up with some intelligent solutions.”

Here's the latest chapter in the continuing debate over whether e-cigarettes are a cure or an affliction: a study from the University of California San Francisco that finds e-cigs may in fact be a new route to conventional smoking and nicotine addiction.

In what is said to be the first analysis of the relationship between e-cigarette use and smoking among adolescents in the United States, UCSF researchers found that adolescents who used the devices were more likely to smoke cigarettes and less likely to quit smoking. The study of nearly 40,000 youth around the country also found that e-cigarette use among middle and high school students doubled between 2011 and 2012, from 3.1 percent to 6.5 percent.

“Despite claims that e-cigarettes are helping people quit smoking, we found that e-cigarettes were associated with more, not less, cigarette smoking among adolescents,” said lead author Lauren Dutra, a postdoctoral fellow at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

“E-cigarettes are likely to be gateway devices for nicotine addiction among youth, opening up a whole new market for tobacco,” she said. The study was published online on March 6 in JAMA Pediatrics.

A trade group took issue with the study, saying it "is implying conclusions that simply aren't borne out by the data."

In a prepared statement, Cynthia Cabrera, Executive Director, Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA), said: "As the survey summary itself states, it wasn't designed to derive any insight about motivation or a possible causal relationship between use of e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes. What the survey data does show is that cigarette smoking among teens has decreased." 

FDA action expected

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been considering regulations that could restrict advertising and sales of the popular battery-powered devices, which look like cigarettes and deliver an aerosol of nicotine and other chemicals.

Several states and cities, including New York and Los Angeles, have banned the use of e-cigs, generally treating them as though they were tobacco products. 

In Congress, five U.S. Senators introduced the "Protecting Children from Electronic Cigarette Advertising Act" last month. It would  prohibit the marketing of e-cigs to children and teens.

“We cannot risk undoing decades of progress in reducing youth smoking by allowing e-cigarette makers to target our kids,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said. “This bill will help protect our children from an industry that profits from addiction.”

Manufacturers promote the devices as safer alternatives to cigarettes and as smoking cessation aids. They are sold in flavors such as chocolate and strawberry that are banned in conventional cigarettes because of their appeal to youth.

Cabrera denied that the e-cig industry is targeting children.

"Our industry does not sell or market to minors, and it is our view that no one under 18 should use electronic cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes and vaping products are intended strictly for adults who smoke cigarettes. We fully support limitations on the sale of these products to youth at retail to further reduce access to anyone under 18," she said.

Students studied

In the new UCSF study, the researchers examined survey data from middle and high school students who completed the National Youth Tobacco Survey in 2011 and 2012.

The authors found that the devices were associated with higher odds of progression from experimenting with cigarettes to becoming established cigarette smokers. Additionally, adolescents who smoked both conventional cigarettes and e-cigarettes smoked more cigarettes per day than non-e-cigarette users.

“It looks to me like the wild west marketing of e-cigarettes is not only encouraging youth to smoke them, but also it is promoting regular cigarette smoking among youth,” said senior author Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, UCSF professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

Contrary to advertiser claims that e-cigarettes can help consumers stop smoking conventional cigarettes, teenagers who used e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes were much less likely to have abstained from cigarettes in the past 30 days, 6 months, or year. At the same time, they were more likely to be planning to quit smoking in the next year than smokers who did not use e-cigarettes.

The new results are consistent with a similar study of 75,000 Korean adolescents published last year by UCSF researchers, which also found that adolescents who used e-cigarettes were less likely to have stopped smoking conventional cigarettes.

In combination, the two studies suggest that “e-cigarettes may contribute to nicotine addiction and are unlikely to discourage conventional cigarette smoking among youths,” said the scientists.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last year that the majority of adolescents who have ever smoked e-cigarettes also have smoked regular cigarettes. An estimated 1.78 million U.S. students have used the devices as of 2012, the CDC reported.