Current Events in March 2014

Federal safety regulators have a few questions -- 107 to be exact -- for General Motors about its ignition switch recalls. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has sent GM a 27-page letter saying it would like to know, among other things, why it took GM nearly 10 years to recall cars with ignition switches that can turn off while the car is in motion.

GM has acknowledged that it first learned of issues with the ignitions back in 2004. It finally launched a recall of 1.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and several other models last month.

The problem, of course, is that if the ignition switch turns off suddenly, it cuts power to the airbags and other essential safety systems, like power brakes and steering. At least 13 deaths have been attributed to the defect.

"We are a data-driven organization, and we will take whatever action is appropriate based on where our findings lead us," NHTSA said in a statement posted on its website. 

GM said it is cooperating. "We want our customers to know that today's GM is committed to fixing this problem in a manner that earns their trust," the company said in a statement.

Internal investigation

The Wall Street Journal reported that GM has hired an outside law firm to conduct an internal investigation into who in the company knew about the problem and when they knew it.

GM has said that the problem manifests itself when the ignition key is on a ring with too many other objects, placing excess weight on the ignition switch. But it's not the only problem with the ignition in many GM models. Consumers have complained for years that they key gets "stuck" in the ignition, leaving them unable to remove it and, in some cases, unable to turn off the engine.

Until the recall gets underway and the troublesome switches can be replaced, GM recommends that drivers keep their ignition key on a ring separate from all other objects to reduce weight.

To fight obesity health advocates and government policymakers have stressed the importance of not only eating less, but eating more of the right foods.

Fast food restaurants in recent years have begun adding more salads and fruit, alongside their high-calorie burgers and fries. Critics haven't been all that impressed, believing the average consumer will pass up the healthy fare for the triple bacon cheeseburger if given the choice.

But maybe they've been selling the consumer short. Anecdotal evidence is beginning to suggest that, when offered a healthy choice, many consumers will take it.

Pilot program

Nearly four years ago Pitt County, N.C., started the Healthy Corner Stores Initiative in the Greenville area. It appealed to convenience stores to begin selling healthy items like fruits and vegetables, along with the traditional fare of candy, chips and cigarettes. To encourage the addition to stores' inventory, the program provided grants to purchase a refrigeration unit.

With that incentive, Mark's Food Market, owned by David Rozek, decided to give it a try, and added bananas, grapes, oranges, apples, strawberries, potatoes and even onions to his inventory. Since then, these healthy products have outsold candy and chips and he has purchased three more refrigerated display cases.

Just last week he says a first-time customer ordered a hot dog off the grill. While Rozek was getting ready to serve it up, the man canceled his order.

"He changed his mind when he saw the oranges," Rozek said. "It happens a lot, especially with new customers who don't know we have it."

Not an uncommon trend

Mark's Food Market is hardly the only convenience store appealing to consumers' healthier nature. Customers of Sheetz and WaWa, two convenience store chains operating primarily in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, have been serving up fresh fruit, yogurt and freshly-made deli-wraps for years.

A recent report by RetailNet Group singled out WaWa, located in five states, with making “healthy and fresh” a key component of its store design and marketing. It notes that the fresh fruit and vegetables are prominently displayed in the stores, with upscale lighting and wide open aisles used to guide consumers to them.

QSR, a trade magazine covering quick service restaurants and convenience stores, included “more fresh fruit & veggies” on its list of the top 10 food trends of 2013. The report highlighted lettuce as an example; instead of just iceberg, the magazine predicted more romaine, field greens, spinach, and even Kale would be offered at quick-serve locations.

“Vegetables at the center of the plate are welcomed by diners — who continue to seek fresh, local, healthful fare — as well as operators squeezed by rising costs for proteins," the authors wrote.

Lower income consumers

The pilot program that brought healthy food to Mark's Food Market chose that location because of its proximity to a trailer park and the absence of nearby supermarkets. It was hoped that lower income consumers who shopped there regularly would avail themselves of the healthier fare.

According to Rozek, they have and it's been good for his bottom line. He says the profit margin on fresh food is higher than on cigarettes, and almost everything else in the store.

Has the “eat healthy” message finally gotten through to the average consumer? Perhaps, but it is also possible we're seeing a demographic effect.

A late 2013 survey by Subway and MTV found members of the Millennial generation have a greater than usual awareness of the need to eat more healthy food. It shows 80% of those questioned believe their eating habits needed improvement. One-third said they have either pressured a friend, or been pressured by a peer, to eat healthier.

A recent study by researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Oregon State University indicates that girls who play with Barbie dolls are more likely to take a limited view of their own future career options, compared to girls who played with non-sexualized toys such as Mrs. Potato Head. The study indicated no difference between Barbies clad in fashion clothes and Barbies dressed as doctors and similar role models.

The study, titled “Boys Can Be Anything”: Effect of Barbie Play on Girls' Career Cognitions is published in the March issue of the journal Sex Roles.

In light of this study (in addition to the countless others demonstrating that Barbies give girls unrealistic self-images), the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is urging the Girl Scouts to end its “troubling Barbie partnership.” In a prepared statement, CCFC's director, Dr. Susan Linn, said:

“Holding Barbie, the quintessential fashion doll, up as a role model for Girl Scouts simultaneously sexualizes young girls, idealizes an impossible body type, and undermines the Girl Scouts’ vital mission to 'build girls of courage, confidence, and character … It is particularly troubling that the youngest scouts are encouraged to wear a Barbie patch on their uniforms, transforming them into walking advertisements. While Mattel and the Barbie brand benefit enormously from the Girl Scouts’ endorsement, the partnership harms girls.”

No organs

Linn wasn't exaggerating when she dubbed Barbie's body “impossible.” In 2013, Rehabs.com, hoping to call attention to the problem of eating disorders, released a chart comparing Barbie's proportions both to those of an average healthy woman and a typical anorexia sufferer.

The conclusion? Forget about things like “normal levels of body fat”; Barbie's body doesn't even have room for “normal levels of internal organs.”

Turns out a real-life woman (or any human) with Barbie's proportions literally could not survive: if your neck were as thin (relative to everything else) as Barbie's, you would be incapable of holding up your own head. A waist as small as Barbie's could hold no internal organs except for a few inches of intestine and approximately half of an ordinary-sized liver.

Barbie-sized ankles and calves are too weak to allow standing, let along walking; Barbie would have to crawl around on all fours.

So even if you hope to inspire your daughter's intellectual growth by giving her a Doctor Astronaut Physicist Barbie rather than a Fashionista Talking Bimbo Barbie who utters such pre-recorded phrases as “math class is tough!” and “party dresses are fun!”, there's also a good chance of inspiring body-image issues in a developing girl whose beautiful doctor-astronaut-physicist role model still teaches her to believe: “If my waist is thick enough to hold all the organs evolution requires for basic biological survival, that means I'm too fat.”

Here's potentially great news for streaming video fans (or anyone who'd rather watch Internet content on their big-screen TV than their small-screen computer monitor): Roku is now accepting orders for its next-generation streaming stick, to be shipped next month. Unlike current Roku sticks, the new one will be compatible with any television HDMI port, rather than be limited to “Roku-ready” TV sets.

The Roku Streaming Stick will retail for $50 (compared to $35 for Google's Chromecast streaming device); however, Roku says the higher price is justified by the much larger number of Internet channels it receives: 1,200 in all, plus the ability to “cast” your own personal videos as well.

In addition, the Roku Streaming Stick has its own remote control with actual buttons, for those who prefer tactile controls to swiping a smartphone screen.

So that's the presumed benefit of the Roku Streaming Stick over Chromecast, but what's the benefit of Roku stick over Roku box? Size, primarily: the Roku stick is about the size of a pack of gum, compared to the bulky, space-consuming Roku box.

Indeed, when CNN's Tech blog reported the news, it treated Roku Streaming Stick as one more aspect of a developing trend: “As game consoles, cable boxes and other bulky accessories pile up in living rooms, the smaller, more discreet stick approach is becoming an appealing choice for consumers who want to watch Internet content on their TV screens without adding to the clutter.”

February turned out to be a better month than January when it comes to job cuts.

According to outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, employers announced plans to cut payrolls by 41,835 last month -- down 7.3% from the 45,107 job cuts employers announced in January.

The February total was also 24% lower than a year ago and -- in fact -- was the lowest February total since 2000. Through the first two months of the new year, employers have announced 86,942 planned job cuts, down 9.2% from January and February of 2013. At this pace, the first quarter could see the fewest announced layoffs since 1995.

Tough times in the financial sector

The financial sector experienced the heaviest job-cut activity last month with the sacking of 9,791 workers. That is about double what was announced in January and the largest monthly toll in the sector since last February.

“While some of the cuts in the financial sector were related to cutbacks in mortgage lending operations, a large portion of the banking workforce reductions in February were due to the ongoing shift away from branch banking toward increased mobile banking,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “This is trend that is gaining momentum and undoubtedly will have a profound impact on banking employment levels in the coming years. The number of bank tellers and traditional banks will continue to shrink as more people manage their bank accounts over their phones, on their laptops, and at ATMs and kiosks.”

"These are the kinds of cuts we don’t see in a recession. These are successful companies taking proactive steps to adjust to new realities."

Telecommunications came in second, with 5,147 cuts, while retail had the third highest job-cut total in February, with 3,848 announced firings, giving it the ranking as the top job-cutting industry for the year, with 15,242 cuts over the first two months. The two-month total is up 70% from a year ago.

Initial jobless claims

A huge decline last week in the filings of first-time applications for state unemployment benefits.

Government figures show initial claims plunged by 26,000 in the week ending March 1 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 323,000. That's well below the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Briefing.com of 338,000.

The Labor Department (DOL) says the decline coincided with the strong winter storms that ravaged much of the U.S., suggesting that a lot of workers weren't able to file claims. But some analysts think it's more likely the result of DOL's continuing problems with seasonal adjustments.

The 4-week moving average, which is not as volatile as the weekly computation was down 2,000 -- to 336,500.

The government is scheduled to release its February employment report on Friday.

The full report can be found on the DOL website.

Not long ago, small businesses relied on stores like Staples and Office Depot for dull essentials like printer paper, cheap chairs and, well, staples. These days, all that and more is easily obtainable online or at Walmart and Costco.

It's sort of the Borders Books problem. People still need the merchandise but they don't much need the stores.

So Staples says it will close up to 225 stores by the end of next year, hoping to trim its costs without whiting out too many customers. The company claims that about half its business is already online, so shredding as many big box stores as possible should do wonders for the bottom line.

Of course, that's what Borders used to say as it slowly winnowed itself down to nothing.

Office Depot and OfficeMax have also seen the graffiti. Their response was to merge, thereby closing a bunch of stores and, they hope, hanging onto most of their customers.

Could it be that all these machinations are just rearranging the cubicle while Amazon swoops in and vacuums up the business?

It's not like Staples is dealing from strength.  Sales were down sharply in the last quarter and this quarter's not likely to be so great either. Would you wade through the sleet and snow to buy a printer cartridge?

If your child has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you may be able to blame your parents' smoking habits.

A new study by Florida State University College of Medicine researchers finds that prenatal exposure to nicotine could manifest as ADHD in children born a generation later.

Professors Pradeep G. Bhide and Jinmin Zhu have found evidence that ADHD associated with nicotine can be passed across generations. In other words, your child's ADHD might be an environmentally induced health condition inherited from your grandmother, who may have smoked cigarettes during pregnancy a long time ago. And the fact that you never smoked may be irrelevant for your child's ADHD.

The researchers' findings are published in the current issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

"What our research and other people's research is showing is that some of the changes in your genome — whether induced by drugs or by experience — may be permanent and you will transmit that to your offspring," said Bhide.

Transgenerational transmission

Bhide and Zhu, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, used a mouse model to test the hypothesis that hyperactivity induced by prenatal nicotine exposure is transmitted from one generation to the next. Their data demonstrated that there is a transgenerational transmission via the maternal, but not the paternal, line of descent.

"Genes are constantly changing. Some are silenced and others are expressed, and that happens not only by hereditary mechanisms, but because of something in the environment or because of what we eat or what we see or what we hear," Bhide said. "So the genetic information that is transmitted to your offspring is qualitatively different than the information you got from your parents. This is how things change over time in the population."

ADHD is a neurobehavioral disorder affecting about 10 percent of children and 5 percent of adults in the United States. Researchers have struggled to produce a definitive scientific explanation for a spike in ADHD diagnoses in the last few decades.

"Some reports show up to a 40 percent increase in cases of ADHD — in one generation, basically," Bhide said. "It cannot be because a mutation occurred; it takes several generations for that to happen."

One possible contributing factor, though unproven, is that the current spike in ADHD cases correlates in some manner to an increase in the number of women who smoked during pregnancy as cigarettes became fashionable in the United States around the time of World War II and in the decades that followed.

"Other research has shown a very high correlation between heavy smoking during pregnancy and the incidence of kids with ADHD," Bhide said.

"What's important about our study is that we are seeing that changes occurring in my grandparents' genome because of smoking during pregnancy are being passed to my child. So if my child had ADHD it might not matter that I did not have a disposition or that I never smoked."

Consumers may now file claims to recover money in a $310 million multi-state settlement with major manufacturers of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) computer chips over price fixing allegations.

“These companies betrayed the trust of consumers by artificially inflating prices to drive up profits,” California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said. “I encourage California consumers who purchased one of these products to file a claim immediately.”

Consumers who purchased computers, printers, video game consoles or other electronic devices with DRAM memory between 1998 and 2002 are eligible to make a claim before August 1, 2014 and could receive money from the settlement.

To file a claim, visit www.DRAMclaims.com or call 1-800-589-1425.

After completing an investigation in 2006, California and other states, filed antitrust suits alleging that consumers over-paid for electronic devices containing DRAM chips for purchases made from 1998 to 2002. DRAM is a common form of memory chip found in computers and other devices.

The settlement, reached in conjunction with class actions, pays individuals and businesses that purchased these chips or devices containing these chips in the United States between 1998 and 2002 from someone other than a DRAM manufacturer, such as retailers like Best Buy or Staples. 

Twin-Star International of Delray Beach, Fla., is recalling about 31,000 Duraflame electric space heaters.

The heater can overheat and cause the units to melt, catch fire and ignite nearby items, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.

The company has received 32 reports of heaters burning or melting, including 8 reports of the units catching fire, one of which resulted in minor property damage. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves Duraflame-branded electric space heaters, model DSF-220, sold in three colors, black, red and white. The heaters' flame effect resembles a fireplace and works with or without heat. The heaters measure about 14.5-inches high, 13-inches wide and 8-inches deep. The on-off switch and the high/low heat settings are located on the upper left back side of the unit. The Duraflame logo appears on the front of the unit. The model number can be found on a white label located on the heater's back panel.

The space heaters, manufactured in China, were sold by Farmer's Furniture, Meijer, QVC, R.C. Willey, Ross and other retailers nationwide and online at Maxtool.com between August 2013, through January 2014, for about $60.

Customers should immediately turn off and unplug the electric space heater and contact Twin-Star for a full refund.

Consumers may contact Twin-Star toll-free at (855) 884-9651 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

House of Flavors Ice Cream Company of Ludington, Mich., is recalling its Belmont Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

The recall was initiated in response to two complaints of chocolate covered nuts being found in the product and included associated allergic reaction from consumers.

Only Belmont Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream packed in 1.5 quart containers stamped with UPC code 4149816310 and date code 13340 and 13341 and marked "Best by Date: Dec. 7, 2014" are affected by the recall.

The recalled product was distributed in Aldi stores in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

Consumers who have purchased the recalled products should return them to the store where they were purchased for a full refund.

Consumers may contact House of Flavors at 1-800-930-7740, extension 2229, Monday through Friday 7 am- 5 pm. (EST).

The 2008 financial crisis was a near cataclysmic economic event. Coming in the midst of a recession, it set in motion structural changes in the economy still impacting millions of Americans.

The recession officially ended in June 2009 but the recovery for individuals has been painfully slow. Unemployment has remained stubbornly high and many of those with jobs are under-employed, working part-time when they want and need a full-time job.

How are you doing?

While the stock market has surged and the housing market has begun to recover, many consumers simply don't feel that well off. A group of economic researchers at Ohio State University has studied household wealth in America and concludes that many of us haven't recovered. In fact, it's not even close.

The economists focused on the mean net worth of American households – what households are worth when you subtract debts from assets. They found the average household net worth is about 14% less than it was before the pre-recession peak in 2006. If you are middle-aged and middle income, the economists say, you suffered the biggest hit.

These findings may come as a shock to the Federal Reserve, which issued a report last summer finding that the net worth of Americans had recovered since the recession. In fact, the Fed said we've never had it so good, with overall wealth the highest it has been in nominal terms since records began in 1945.

Disconnect

Why would there be such a disconnect? The Ohio State economists point to four reasons; the Fed didn't adjust for inflation nor for population growth; it included accounts held by foreigners living outside of the United States; and it included wealth held by nonprofits and not just households.

“All four of these issues with the Fed report pointed in the same direction, leading toward a conclusion that was far rosier than what exists in the real world,” said Randy Olsen, co-author of the study and a professor of economics at Ohio State.

Remember that in 2006 the U.S. was at the height of the housing bubble. Home prices were racing higher, creating equity for people who had purchased their homes just a few years – in some cases a few months – earlier.

Counties still suffering

The collapse in housing also affected the wealth of municipalities, that depend in large part on property tax revenue. Another study – this one by the National Association of Counties, also suggests the recovery has been uneven. It shows that about half the counties in the U.S. had yet to recover to pre-recession levels by 2013. The association characterizes the economic recovery as “fragile.”

According to the OhioState study real net worth peaked at $398,620. At the bottom of the recession in 2009, it fell to $217,687, largely due to a collapse in home prices. By 2012 it had recovered to $333,859 but was still 16% below its pre-recession high. The stock market rally of 2013 and continued recovery in the housing market brought household wealth to 14% below the 2006 high.

Uneven

The study also shows that the recovery of wealth has been uneven, perhaps contributing to the emerging political issue of “income inequality.” In terms of net worth, some have definitely gotten back on their feet faster than others.

In something of a surprise, the study shows people in the bottom quarter of wealth had recovered most of their lost wealth by 2012. But maybe that's not so much of a surprise when you consider they had little to lose and recover.

“Many may have already lost their homes and had their credit cards taken away,” Olsen said. “If they can’t borrow, they can’t go into debt. Some may have paid off their old car loans, which gives them a small asset.”

The not-quite rich

The upper middle class, meanwhile, is still playing catch-up. Their net worth is still 19% to 23% below their 2006 wealth levels. As you might expect the top 1% has done exceedingly well, since much of the driver of net worth in the last five year has been the equity markets.

But those who have taken the biggest economic hit since the recession are those now in their middle years, between the ages of 35 and 54. In 2012 they were a staggering 27% below their 2006 wealth peak, at a time in their lives when that loss weighs heaviest.

'Disheartening'

“What we’re seeing in these middle-aged people is very disheartening, because they are in what should be their peak earning years, when they should be accumulating assets before retirement,” Olsen said.

Instead, many in this age group have lost jobs. Many have been forced to liquidate assets because they can't find work.

“As much as the Federal Reserve might want people to believe we have recovered from the recession, the bottom line is that we haven’t.”

Those cable companies are sneaky, all right. They're always trying to put one over on us. Take Comcast. It's not content just to buy NBC and Time Warner, now it's setting up little neighborhood wi-fi networks in places you'd never imagine.

Like your back yard.

Yep, big bad Comcast has been quietly bringing wireless broadband to neighborhoods all over America. Besides providing a private, password-protected network inside your home, the company's newest Xfinity routers automatically set up a second wi-fi network -- wide open and available for anyone within range.

The company emphasizes that these are two separate networks. What goes on on the second public network won't affect your download speeds or impinge on your privacy in any way. 

"They'll look like two separate networks and they'll act like two separate networks," said Tom Nagel, who heads the Xfinity Wi-Fi initiative for Comcast, according to The Chicago Tribune. "Any use on the public side doesn't impact the private side."

Tipping point

The program has been conducted quietly so far in test markets around the country but Comcast has gone public in Chicago, which local boosters say could be the tipping point for making Comcast the biggest national operator of neighborhood wi-fi networks.

Demand for wi-fi has been steadily growing as smartphone and tablet users look for a cheaper alternative to costly cellphone broadband networks. Deploying cheap or even free wi-fi is a way for the cable companies to put a dent in Verizon, AT&T and Sprint and building the basis for customer loyalty programs. 

The neighborhood networks are free to Xfinity subscribers. Nonsubscribers will get two free hours a month; beyond that, they can access Xfinity Wi-Fi on a per-use basis. Rates run from $2.95 per hour to $19.95 per week, according to Comcast.

Travel freely

Xfinity subscribers will be able to travel freely without having to log in and out as they move from one hot spot to another, so that in time the network may grow to rival the cellular telephone networks, which are much more expensive to build and maintain.

Comcast has said it is closing in on having 1 million hot spots nationwide. Best of all, from Comcast's standpoint, is that the build-out is virtually free. The consumer provides the electricity for the router and the circuit already exists, so the only capital expense is the router. 

Slick, no?

Primitive peoples who relied on magic rather than science to explain how the world works often believed in what is known as “sympathetic magic”—the idea that if item A looks like item B, that means A either shares B's traits or gives you actual power over B.

In modern American pop culture, the best-known example of sympathetic magic is found in voodoo-doll horror movies: “This doll looks just like you, so anything affecting the doll affects you too.” Western-literature majors or Old Testament scholars might also be familiar with the alleged healing or fertility powers of mandrake root — the roots of a mandrake plant often branch out to look somewhat like a four-limbed human figure, ergo the believers in sympathetic magic thought: “Since it looks like people, it must have power over people!”

And belief in sympathetic magic appears to be enjoying a renaissance among those who oppose “e-cigarettes” or “e-cigs,” basically on the grounds that a battery-operated metal tube emitting water vapor looks like a burning tobacco cigarette emitting cancerous smoke, ergo it must have the same disease-inducing power as said tobacco cigarette, right?

Or at least deserves the same stigma. Consider this week, when the Los Angeles City Council voted to treat e-cigs exactly as regular cigarettes by banning the use of e-cig water vapor wherever tobacco smoke has already been banned.

Lack of stigma

The Los Angeles Times, discussing the ban on March 4, mentioned at least one current health official who hates the current lack of stigma attached to e-cig users:

“Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public of Health, said the growing acceptance of "vaping"— as e-cigarette use is known — threatens to undermine decades of public education efforts aimed at stigmatizing smoking.”

Interesting choice of words. There's no denying that smoking tobacco – specifically, inhaling pure tobacco smoke (not water vapor) directly into your lungs – leaves you open to all sorts of health problems: smokers are not guaranteed to suffer lung cancer, emphysema or other ailments, but (all else being equal) their chances of developing these problems are several orders of magnitude higher than a non-smoker's.

And those health risks were the original inspiration behind the first anti-smoking stigmatization campaigns. Yet these is zero evidence to suggest that inhaling water vapor is in any way analogous to inhaling cigarette smoke (if it were, every resident of the humid American southeast would already be dead of lung cancer, along with all regular users of household hot-mist humidifiers and bedside vaporizers).

The Times article about the e-cig ban also quoted Councilwoman Nuny Martinez as saying “We have a right to … choose to breathe clean air.”

This might be a difficult choice to exercise in Los Angeles County, California, which (as of 2012) had approximately 7.1 million registered cars, trucks and motorcycles, the vast majority of which are powered by internal combustion engines belching highly toxic exhaust fumes into the atmosphere. This number does not include the cars owned by and registered to non-Angelenos who nonetheless drive through the city on a given day. The fumes emitted by those 7.1 million registered vehicles in LA are so toxic that being in an enclosed area where one is running is fatal — not in the sense of “It increases your chance of getting cancer 40 years down the road” but “It can kill you in less than five minutes.”

Neither Martinez nor Jonathan Fielding nor anyone else mentioned in that LA Times article explained how or why e-cig water vapor, rather than gasoline exhaust from millions of cars, is the main barrier standing between Nuny Martinez and her right to choose to breathe “clean air.”

Chances are the reason is purely pragmatic: stigmatizing car owners is neither politically nor economically feasible in Los Angeles, whereas stigmatizing tobacco smokers has already been done. And now, thanks to the power of sympathetic magic (backed by the power of City Council decisions), anyone who so much as looks like a tobacco smoker can be stigmatized the same way.

Besides being really hard to spell, phthalates may make it hard for men to successfully reproduce. A new study finds that women whose male partners have high concentrations of three common forms of phthalates take longer to become pregnant than women in couples in which the male does not have high concentrations of the chemicals.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health assessed the concentrations of phthalates and Bisphenol A (BPA) in couples trying to achieve pregnancy. Phthalates, sometimes known as plasticizers, are used in the manufacture of plastics, to make them more flexible, as is BPA. Both chemicals are widely used in cosmetics and food packaging. 

The study authors measured urine concentrations of BPA and 14 phthalate compounds in couples trying to achieve pregnancy. The study authors explained that many phthalates are often broken down and chemically changed before they are excreted from the body.

Pregnancy took the most time to achieve in couples in which the males had high concentrations of three phthalates. BPA exposure was not linked to delays in pregnancy rates.

“Our study shows that exposure to certain phthalates can reduce the chance of conception for otherwise healthy couples,” said the study’s first author, Germaine M. Buck Louis, Ph.D.. “Many people have been exposed to these compounds, so it’s important to continue to investigate whether they have any health effects.

The study was published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Previous studies

In their article, the authors cited previous studies by other researchers who found high concentrations of BPA and other phthalates among couples seeking treatment for infertility.

One study found that men with a high BPA level had decreased testosterone levels. Another found that men with a high BPA concentration had a reversal in the ratio of testosterone to estradiol, an estrogen-related hormone.

Numerous studies found that, compared to infertility patients without high BPA levels, women seeking treatment for infertility had lower estradiol levels, fewer egg cells, lower rates for the implantation of the fertilized egg, and lower pregnancy rates. Similarly, the authors wrote, studies in lab animals suggest that BPA and other phthalates can hinder the maturation of egg cells, impair the production of reproductive hormones, and alter the development of reproductive organs.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has its hands full this year. The recent report by the Taxpayer Advocate Service shows the tax collection agency has increasing responsibilities to meet with fewer resources.

The report expressed concern that taxpayers who call the IRS for help, or walk in to IRS offices, are faced with long wait times.

“The requirement to pay taxes is generally the most significant burden a government imposes on its citizens,” the report said. “The National Taxpayer Advocate believes the government has a practical and moral obligation to make compliance as simple and painless as possible.”

Money is part of the problem. Added responsibilities is another. Because government subsidies under the Affordable Care Act are awarded in the form of tax credits, the IRS is deeply involved in the implementation of this very complex law.

Taxpayer identity theft

What hasn't gotten as much attention, however, is the amount of time and effort the tax agency has to devote to dealing with fraud – in particular, identity theft. Last month, when the IRS issued its “Dirty Dozen” tax scams for 2014, identity theft was at the top of the list.

While identity theft is nothing new, criminals are increasingly targeting the IRS because it is so easy. All they have to do is steal someone's name and Social Security number. They file a bogus tax return, showing a large refund. By the time the real taxpayer gets around to filing, the IRS has already sent out a check to the impostor.

Explosive growth

In Fiscal Year 2010 the IRS reported just 147 identity theft prosecutions. By Fiscal Year 2012 the number had grown to 544. In the first half of Fiscal Year 2013 there were 441.

The IRS says its work on identity theft and related refund fraud now touches nearly every part of the agency. To combat the problem the IRS has had to devote more of its resources to identity potential fraud and try to stop it before it occurs.

In some cases this may slow down your direct deposit refund. Banks have also been enlisted to help prevent fraudulent refunds from being sent out. Stephanie, of Queens, N.Y., encountered a delay when she tried to have her tax refund direct deposited to her RushCard.

“I got a message from RushCard asking for my 1040 form and without the form they cannot release my tax refund that is due to me,” she wrote in a ConsumerAffairs post.

Slowing refunds

Banks are sometimes freezing refunds like Stephanie's if the return is even suspected of being bogus. Since pre-paid cards are a favorite tool of tax identity thieves, the verification burden can be even greater. It results in placing a burden on the taxpayer, who understandably wants to get their hands on their refund as soon as possible.

Things are worse, of course, for taxpayers who actually have had their identity stolen. The IRS has had to devote resources to trying to help these people, as well as trying to prevent future identity theft.

All of this not only slows the bureaucracy but costs money. As Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson noted in her January report, last year's sequestration substantially cut the IRS’s funding. Calling IRS funding “inadequate,” she says cuts designed to reduce the budget deficit can have the opposite effect when applied to the revenue collection agency.

Under pressure from gun safety advocates and New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, Facebook and Instagram are announcing new policies intended to curb illegal online sales of firearms.

Facebook and Instagram have agreed to remove user posts that seek to circumvent gun laws, take action to prevent minors from viewing posts that aim to sell firearms, and provide education to better inform law-abiding private sellers of guns.

“I applaud Facebook and Instagram for taking the lead in helping avoid illegal gun sales on these increasingly ubiquitous platforms,” said Schneiderman. “Responsible social media sites know that it is in no one’s interest for their sites to become a 21st century black market in dangerous and illegal goods that place our families and communities at risk.”

While neither Facebook nor Instagram is an e-commerce site, users can use these sites to promote the sale of firearms and often negotiate terms of sale in the comments section.

“By taking these unprecedented educational and enforcement steps, we’ve been able to strike an important balance in helping people express themselves, while promoting a safe and responsible community," said Monika Bickert, Facebook’s Head of Global Policy Management. "We are grateful to Attorney General Schneiderman and all the groups who worked with us on this approach.”

No background checks

During its review of the platforms, the Attorney General’s Office collected evidence that some users were advertising that they would not perform background checks or would be willing to sell to users in states with strict gun laws — like New York — that prohibit certain weapons and accessories. In addition, it appeared likely that minors would be able to acquire firearms through Facebook.

Under the policies announced today, Facebook and Instagram will not permit users to post offers to sell or buy firearms that indicate intent to evade or help others evade the law. This includes, for example, posts that advertise “no background check required.”

Facebook will block users under 18 years of age from viewing reported Page and Timeline posts involving private gun sales, and it will implement in-product education “checkpoints” that inform users that private gun sales might be regulated or prohibited in their location, and that background checks may be required.

The checkpoints will occur for all users reported for posting a gun for sale, for all Facebook pages reported for promoting private gun sales, and for all Instagram-based searches for hashtags identified as promoting gun sales.

Facebook said it will work with advocacy groups to create a targeted ad campaign on the site that will educate users about their responsibilities under the law and to ensure safe firearms transactions, including conducting background checks.

It shouldn't be surprising that the information security chief at Target is looking for another job. But in today's business world, accountability doesn't always seem to apply when it's only consumers who are affected by a misstep.

Of course, in this case, Target lost untold millions of dollars in sales and alienated a large part of its customer base by letting thieves steal the credit and debit card information of as many as 70 million of its customers.

Beth Jacob, who had been Target's chief information officer since 2008, has paid the price, according to press reports today. The company confirms that it has an opening for someone who can manage its far-flung IT system and lock it down so that evildoers can't gain admission.

Target says it spent $61 million responding to the data breach last quarter, including costs to investigate the incident and offer identity-theft services to customers. 

In her resignation letter, Ms. Jacob said she was resigning because "it is a time of significant transformation for the retail industry and for Target," the Wall Street Journal reported.