Current Events in September 2015

With Labor Day now in the rearview mirror and the summer driving season officially over, gasoline prices continue their free fall.

According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Survey, the national average price of self-serve regular is $2.39 a gallon, more than six cents less than a week ago and down more than 20 cents in the last month.

But the national average takes into account states like California where gas prices remain relatively high. For example, the statewide average in California is $3.26 a gallon. Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii also have average prices above $3 a gallon.

$1.97 a gallon in South Carolina

The real story may be in states where prices are much lower – so low that some stations are selling gasoline at the almost-forgotten price of less than $2 a gallon. In fact, according to AAA, the statewide average price in South Carolina is $1.97 a gallon, the only state with an average price below the $2 mark.

But South Carolina may not enjoy that distinction for long. The average gasoline price in Mississippi is $2.02 a gallon and $2.09 in Tennessee. And in those states it's easy to find plenty of gas stations in certain markets selling fuel at less than $2 a gallon.

In Virginia, where the statewide average is $2.13 a gallon, stations in Tappahannock, Va., are selling gas as low as $1.89 a gallon. In a Tweet over the weekend, GasBuddy's Patrick DeHaan noted that 20 states had at least one station selling few below the $2 a gallon mark. The unmistakable conclusion is that fuel prices are headed lower.

Lowest in more than a decade

“It is unbelievable that drivers are ending their summer vacations with the lowest gas prices for this time of year in more than a decade,” said AAA spokesman Avery Ash.

That said, prices could be – and perhaps should be – even lower. AAA notes pump prices remain relatively high compared to the cost of crude oil. Average gasoline prices are about 41 cents a gallon higher than the lowest daily average in January, when the price of crude oil was about where it is now.

Why aren't prices lower? AAA says higher demand and refineries problems have caused price spikes in certain parts of the country. When the market is running smoothly, AAA says gas prices generally drop about 2.4 cents per gallon for every $1 per barrel change in the cost of crude oil.

A team of international researchers set out to study how genes reveal a person's biological age and how it might differ from his or her chronological age.

They ended up developing a blood test that just might reveal the risk of cognitive decline, including the development of Alzheimer's disease.

The seven-year collaborative study at King’s College London, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Duke University, used a process called RNA-profiling to measure and compare gene expression in thousands of human tissue samples.

The researchers found that the activation of 150 genes in the blood, brain and muscle tissue signaled good health when someone reached age 65. They were then able to develop a healthy aging formula that can be used to show how well a person is aging.

Range of aging scores

The formula contains a extensive range of scores of people born the same year, but with very distinct aging characteristics. A high score correlated to a lower chronological age while a low score suggested a person is aging faster than someone their age should.

Perhaps more important, people with low scores were more likely to suffer from cognitive decline. The takeaway, say researchers, is it should be possible for a molecular test to translate into a simple blood test to predict those most at risk of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia.

Whether someone scored high or low on the aging chart seemed to have little to do with lifestyle factors. For example, if someone were overweight of suffered from heart disease seemed to have little bearing on how fast aging was occurring.

First practical aging test

The researchers say the real significance of their findings may be the possibility of the first practical and accurate test for the rate at which individual bodies are aging. If this is the case, they say it could lead to new insights in research because age is a critical factor in almost every area of medicine.

The work follows previous research that has shown not everyone ages at the same rate.

“Given the biological complexity of the aging process, until now there has been no reliable way to measure how well a person is aging compared with their peers,” said James Timmons, of King’s College London and lead author of the study. “Physical capacity such as strength or onset of disease is often used to assess ‘healthy aging’ in the elderly but in contrast, we can now measure aging before symptoms of decline or illness occur.”

Doctors have long known that some people seem to show the signs of aging earlier than others of the same chronological age, but haven't known exactly why.

Reducing age-related disease

“We now need to find out more about why these vast differences in aging occur, with the hope that the test could be used to reduce the risk of developing diseases associated with age,” Timmons said.

Timmons and his colleagues say their findings, published in the journal Genome Biology, could help improve management of age-related disease by identifying people most at risk of diseases affected by age, as well as improve the way anti-aging treatments are evaluated.

Last Thursday, the Department of Justice announced the immediate implementation of what it called an “enhanced policy” regarding the use of “cell-site simulators,” also known as “Stingrays.”

The enhanced policy essentially confirms that federal agents under DoJ jurisdiction – including those from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and others, must get warrants before using Stingray technology to collect information about people.

However, this policy only covers organizations under direct DoJ jurisdiction, which does not include agents of the Department of Homeland Security, nor state- or local-level police.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in December 1791 along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, sets limits on the government's behavior by guaranteeing “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,” unless the government obtains a warrant based on probable cause to suspect that the person being searched is actually guilty of a crime.

New technology argument

And ever since 1791, whenever new technology has been introduced, various members of the government have tried arguing that the constitutional restrictions on their behavior shouldn't apply to this new technology, too. Such debates have become especially contentious ever since cell phones, the Internet, computers and related items made it technologically possible for governments to spy on their populations more thoroughly than ever before.

What exactly is a cell-site simulator, and why is its use so controversial? As the name suggests, cell-site simulators are devices that simulate cell phone towers in a way that forces cell phones in the area to broadcast information which can be used to locate and identify them. And of course, if you know the location and movement of a given cell phone, you probably know the same information about the cell phone's owner.

In February, the American Civil Liberties Union released records it had obtained via Freedom of Information requests from police agencies across the state of Florida, detailing widespread law enforcement use of Stingray surveillance. This surveillance was kept secret not only from ordinary American citizens, but from judges and the court system, too.

That secrecy was allegedly justified in the name of “national security” even though, as the ACLU noted at the time, a detailed list of over 250 investigations from just one city's police department showed that not a single case was actually related to national security. Since 2008, Florida alone spent more than $3 million on Stingrays and related equipment, according to the ACLU.

Not the locals

But the Department of Justice's new policy doesn't apply to local police departments. Indeed, right now it's impossible to say for certain how many Stingray towers there are, or how many government departments (at all levels) use them. The ACLU has produced a map illustrating “Stingray tracking devices: who's got them?” However, as the ACLU said in an explanation of the maps' limitations:

The ACLU has identified 54 agencies in 21 states and the District of Columbia that own stingrays, but because many agencies continue to shroud their purchase and use of stingrays in secrecy, this map dramatically underrepresents the actual use of stingrays by law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Stingrays, also known as "cell site simulators" or "IMSI catchers," are invasive cell phone surveillance devices that mimic cell phone towers and send out signals to trick cell phones in the area into transmitting their locations and identifying information. When used to track a suspect's cell phone, they also gather information about the phones of countless bystanders who happen to be nearby.

Which is why Linda Lye, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, told Ars Technica that the DoJ policy mandating federal agents get warrants before using Stingray is “a welcome and overdue first step, but it is just a first step. It doesn’t cover non-DOJ entities and it doesn’t cover the locals.”

Amazon's Fire tablet didn't exactly set the world on fire and some of its other gadgets haven't done so well either. So this time around, instead of relying on tech wizardry the giant retailer is hoping a low price will move the merchandise.

The company is planning to release a $50 tablet with a 6-inch screen in time for this year's holiday shopping season, the Wall Street Journal reports today. That would be half the price of Amazon's current Fire HD and a lot less than the price of comparable products from Apple, Samsung, et al.

The device won't have all the bells and whistles of more expensive tablets and will be intended mostly for such simple tasks as streaming video and, of course, shopping on Amazon. For $50, it's basically disposable, which should make it a good gift for children and others who aren't always too careful with delicate tech toys.

Competing with Apple is an exercise that's fraught with peril, however. Later this week, Apple is expected to release new iPad and iPhone versions, possibly including some lower-priced models that could once again douse Amazon's flames. 

In addition, there are already plenty of low-end tablets selling for around $50, making it difficult for Amazon to find a niche a can dominate, many tech watchers speculate.

Both the number of completed foreclosures and the foreclosure inventory moved lower during July.

According to the CoreLogic National Foreclosure Report, completed foreclosures have declined by 24.4% since July 2014 and the foreclosure inventory was down by 27.9%.

Additionally, the property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider reports number of foreclosures nationwide decreased year-over-year from 50,000 in July 2014 to 38,000 in July 2015, representing a plunge of 67.9% from the peak of 117,225 completed foreclosures in September 2010.

Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes lost to foreclosure. Since the financial meltdown began in September 2008, there have been approximately 5.8 million completed foreclosures across the country, and since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 7.8 million homes lost to foreclosure.

“Job market gains and home-price appreciation help to push serious delinquency and foreclosure rates lower. The CoreLogic national Home Price Index (HPI) showed home prices in July rose 6.9% from a year earlier, building equity for homeowners,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Further, 2.4 million jobs were created, pushing the unemployment rate down from 6.2% in July 2014 to 5.3% this July and supporting family income growth for most owners.”

As of this past July, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 469,000, or 1.2%, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 650,000 homes, or 1.7% a year earlier. The July 2015 foreclosure rate is the lowest since December 2007.

The number of mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due, including those loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 23 percent from July 2014 to July 2015 with 1.3 million mortgages, or 3.4 percent, falling into this category. This is the lowest serious delinquency rate since December 2007.

“As we enter the final months of 2015, the housing market continues to gather steam buoyed by improving economic conditions and the release of pent up demand for homeownership,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The recovery in the housing market is also reflected in declining delinquency and foreclosure rates which, to some degree, reflects the progressive clearing of crisis-era loans and the benefits of tighter underwriting standards over the past six years.”

Report highlights

• On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures declined by 6.2% from the 40,000 reported in June 2015. As a basis of comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.
• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in July were Florida (98,000), Michigan (47,000), Texas (33,000), California (27,000) and Georgia (27,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
• Four states and the District of Columbia had the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in July 2015: South Dakota (33), the District of Columbia (124), North Dakota (316), Wyoming (483) and West Virginia (553).
• Four states and the District of Columbia had the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes: New Jersey (4.8%), New York (3.7%), Florida (2.7%), Hawaii (2.5%) and the District of Columbia (2.4 percent).
• The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate: Alaska (0.3%), Minnesota (0.4%), North Dakota (0.4%), Utah (0.4%) and Nebraska (0.4%).

Chrysler (FCA US LLC) is recalling 7,810 model year 2015 Jeep Renegades manufactured September 18, 2014, to June 25, 2015.

The vehicles are equipped with radios that have software vulnerabilities that can allow third-party access to certain networked vehicle control systems. This could result in unauthorized remote modification and control of certain vehicle systems, increasing the risk of a crash.

Chrysler will notify and mail affected owners a USB drive that includes a software update that eliminates the vulnerability, free of charge. Optionally, owners may download the update to their own USB drive from http://www.driveuconnect.com/software-update/ or take their vehicle to a Chrysler dealer for immediate installation.

In an effort to mitigate the effects of this security vulnerability, Chrysler has had the wireless service provider close the open cellular connection to the vehicle that provided unauthorized access to the vehicle network. This measure may not have been implemented on all vehicles and does not address access by other means that will be remedied by the software update.

Chrysler has not yet provide an owner notification schedule.

Owners may contact Chrysler customer service at 1-800-853-1403. Chrysler's number for this recall is R45.

Southeast Toyota Distributors (SET) is recalling 2,530 model year 2010-2015 Toyota 4Runners manufactured March 29, 2010, to July 30, 2015.

The vehicles may be equipped with accessory exhaust tips installed by SET or SET dealers that may contact people and possibly burn them while they are standing behind the vehicle.

SET will notify owners, and dealers will install a re-designed exhaust tip that is smaller in diameter and is more recessed behind the bumper, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin September 21, 2015.

Owners may contact SET customer service at 1-866-405-4226. SET's number for the recall is SET15D.

Nissan North America is recalling 1,554 model year 2015 Nissan Armadas manufactured April 30, 2015, to June 5, 2015.

The vehicles may have been built with driver or front passenger seat belt assemblies that may not latch properly or may not unlatch when the release button is pressed. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection" and number 209, " Seat Belt Assemblies."

A seat belt that does not latch properly would not restrain a user, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a crash. A seat belt that does not unlatch when the release button is pressed may prevent the occupant from quickly exiting the vehicle in a emergency, such as after a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect both front seat belt buckle assemblies, replacing them as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin by early October 2015.

Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.

Chipotle has been a dramatic restaurant success story, serving up Mexican delicacies and specializing in Mission burritos and tacos in what has come to be known as a “fast casual” dining environment.

Founded in 1993, the chain is hugely popular with Millennials, who not only like the food but identify with the company's mission statement ,“food with integrity,” espousing popular food values like “organic,” “fresh,” “locally sourced” and most recently “GMO-free.”

But the trendy restaurant chain has become the target of a self-described Libertarian consumer group that has launched a high profile campaign, branding Chipotle's fare as unhealthy. A group called the Center for Consumer Freedom operates a website, ChubbyChipote.com, bearing the unflattering image of an overweight man and the Chipotle mission statement, with the word “integrity” crossed out and replaced with “hypocrisy.”

Deliberate smear?

Company officials dismiss the claims as a “deliberate smear attempt.”

The ChubbyChipotle site roasts Chipotle for its marketing pledge to not use meat from livestock treated with antibiotics, a move the group says harms animals.

“Chipotle also has had a policy forbidding its meat producers from using antibiotics—even though these medicines are used to treat sick animals,” the group says. “This can lead to animal deaths. Chipotle admitted as much in its annual report, saying, 'Herd losses can also be greater when animals are not treated with antibiotics…'”

High calorie content

The group suggests Chipotle's values-oriented marketing disguises the food's high calorie content. It claims someone eating two “all natural” burritos a week would have put on 40 extra pounds after a year.

Fortune quotes a Chipotle spokesman as saying the attack is purely “agenda driven” and suggested some other interested party is funding the attack. The New York Post reports it isn't clear where the money came from that paid for a full page ad in the newspaper late last week, promoting the disparaging website.

“There is no single company or industry paying for the campaign,” a spokesman for the Center for Consumer Freedom told the Post.

According to the newspaper, the Center is run by longtime Washington, DC, lobbyist Richard Berman, who also operates the public relations firm Berman & Co. It says the Center was started in 1996 and has since targeted activists, including the Humane Society of the United States, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initiative to ban large soft drinks.

The Center for Consumer Freedom is, itself, the subject of a critical website, ConsumerDeception.com. The site argues the libertarian group is a front for major food and tobacco corporations.

When you shop for a new car, not only do you have to choose the make and model, but also decide what options you are willing to pay for. And options don't come cheap.

According to Black Book, which provides vehicle valuation data to thousands of dealers and auto wholesalers, just the navigation package will bump up the sticker price of a luxury sedan more than $3,000.

Manufacturers, of course, push fully-loaded vehicles on their dealers because of their high profit margin. Dealers, in turn, push them on buyers.

“One of the reasons why new car transaction prices have gone up in the last few years by 3% to 5%, when the inflation rate is less than 2%, is because of the high options content in those vehicles,” Anil Goyal, Vice President of Automotive Valuation and Analytics at Black Book, told ConsumerAffairs.

Quickly lose value

But while option packages are a big part of the initial expense of a new car, Goyal says they quickly lose value. Options and add-ons that raised the cost of that new car by $5,000 may only be valued at $800 three years later when it's time to trade it in.

“It's a much steeper discount, where the car may have lost about 60% of its value but the options package lost up to 85% of its value,” Goyal said.

But this fact cuts two ways. Yes, it's not so good for consumers who buy new fully loaded vehicles. However, used car buyers usually can get these expensive options for a song.

Adding no value

Goyal says some options add no value on the used market – things like premium audio, power windows, custom paint, and remote keyless entry. Those are now so common they're almost expected.

“On the other hand you have features like power sunroof, leather, DVD system, and those are the options that are still bringing value, because they're very visible, they still provide a premium feel to a used buyer,” Goyal said.

Different types of buyers

Goyal says the difference comes down to preferences that new and used car buyers have. The new buyer may desire a particular option, or option package, as part of the new car experience. The used buyer, however, is a little different. 

“When it comes to the used market, the used buyer is not really looking for customization, or even options, they're looking for value.”

In other words, the used car buyer is guided in his or her choice mostly by price. If a car happens to have a nifty package of features, that's great – but it isn't going to make or break the sale.

The lesson for new car buyers?

“The more you customize, the less the car is going to be in demand in the used market,” Goyal said.

The nation's unemployment rate edged down 0.2% in August to 5.1% -- the lowest level since April of 2008.

The decline came as the economy created 173,000 non-farm payroll positions, thanks in large measure to gains in health care and social assistance and in financial activities.

At the same time it released its August report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised it's figures for job creation in June from +231,000 to +245,000, and in July from +215,000 to +245,000. With these revisions, job gains over the last three months have averaged 221,000 per month.

With the decline in the jobless rate, the number of unemployed persons edged down to 8.0 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.0 percentage point and 1.5 million, respectively.

Who's working and who's not

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for whites fell to 4.4% in August. The rates for adult men (4.7%), adult women (4.7%), teenagers (16.9%), blacks (9.5%), Asians (3.5%), and Hispanics (6.6%) showed little change in August.

The number of people out of work for less than five weeks decreased by 393,000 to 2.1 million in August. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) held at 2.2 million in August and accounted for 27.7 % of the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed workers is down by 779,000.

The civilian labor force participation rate in August was 62.6% for the third straight month. The employment-population ratio, at 59.4%, was roughly unchanged in August and has shown little movement so far this year.

Hiring and firing

Health care and social assistance added 56,000 jobs in August, with health care employment up by 41,000 over the month. Employment rose by 16,000 in social assistance, which includes child day care services and services for the elderly and disabled. Financial activities employment increased by 19,000, employment in professional and business services rose by 33,000.

Manufacturing employment fell by 17,000 in August, with job losses occurring in fabricated metal products and food manufacturing (-7,000 each). Employment in mining was down by 9,000, with losses concentrated in support activities for mining (-7,000). Since reaching a peak in December 2014, mining employment has plunged by 90,000.

Employment in other major industries, including construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and government showed little change over the month.

Employee earnings

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls rose by eight cents in August -- to $25.09, following a six-cent gain in July. So far this year, hourly earnings are up 2.2%.

Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and non-supervisory employees increased by a nickel, to $21.07.

The complete August employment report is available on the Labor Department website.

The non-manufacturing, or services, sector of the economy continued to grow in August, although not as robustly as it did the month before.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM), which represents the nation’s purchasing and supply executives say the sector registered 59% last month after coming in at 60.3% in July. Still, this marked the 67th consecutive month of growth.

A reading above 50% indicates expansion; below that -- contraction.

The report also shows the Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index dipped from 64.9% to 63.9% percent, the New Orders Index slipped to 63.4% from 63.8%, the Employment Index was dropped from 59.6% to 56%, and the Prices Index fell 2.9% from the July reading of 53.7% to 50.8%, indicating prices rose in August for the sixth consecutive month.

Overall, business execs continue to be optimistic about business conditions and the economy.

The 15 non-manufacturing industries reporting growth in August -- listed in order -- are:

1. Transportation & Warehousing;
2. Real Estate, Rental & Leasing;
3. Construction;
4. Accommodation & Food Services;
5. Retail Trade;
6. Finance & Insurance;
7. Public Administration;
8. Health Care & Social Assistance;
9. Educational Services;
10. Utilities;
11. Management of Companies & Support Services;
12. Wholesale Trade;
13. Arts, Entertainment & Recreation;
14. Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; and
15. Information

The only industry reporting contraction in August was Mining.

Urban areas are encroaching on wildlife across the world, and it has become a problem. Animals used to walk through the woods, climb mountains, and run through fields, but now they have dangerous freeways to cross and large urban areas to steer clear of while looking for food and shelter.

Despite its large freeway system and urban areas, the state of California has decided that it should step in to help protect some of their wild animals. They are doing this by making P22, a local mountain lion, the "poster child" for a new campaign that seeks to build the largest animal bridge in the United States. 

This particular big cat lives in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park, which is in the hills behind the iconic “HOLLYWOOD” sign. P22 has become famous for his ability to navigate the local freeways without coming to harm, but not every mountain lion has been so lucky. Another mountain lion, P32, was recently killed while trying to cross the 101 freeway; he was the 12th mountain lion to come to such an end in that area.

Originally, there were 15 mountain lions that were tagged at a young age that California authorities were keeping track of. They have found that the freeway system is a huge danger to these animals in more than one way. Besides the obvious risk of an accident, the freeway system pens in these mountain lions that used to travel all over the mountain ranges of California. One animal could travel as far as 250 miles from where they were born to mate and live out their lives. Now, they are confined to a much smaller area; this has forced inbreeding, which has damaged the gene pool of all mountain lions in the area.

Constructing an animal bridge

After being made aware of these facts, the state’s Department of Transportation decided it was time to step up and help these animals live safer and more natural lives. They have made plans to build a bridge that would cross over the 101 freeway, effectively allowing the mountain lions to spread back into the Santa Monica mountain region.

This structure would become the largest animal bridge in the United States. Other wild animals would be able to utilize it as well, which would increase the diversity of many of ecosystems in that part of the state.

The plan has been a hit with both public and private interests. “There has been an outpouring of support for this campaign that, in my 25 years in conservation, I’ve never seen,” said Beth Pratt, regional director of the National Wildlife Federation. 

Nissan North America is recalling 298,747 model year 2012-2015 Nissan Versa sedans manufactured June 9, 2011, to March 11, 2015, and 2014-2015 Nissan Versa Notes manufactured April 23, 2013, to March 11, 2015.

The vehicles have a center console trim panel that may catch the driver's shoe and delay the transition from the accelerator pedal to the brake pedal. A delay in the application of the brake pedal would lengthen the distance needed to stop the vehicle and increase the risk of a crash.

Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will modify the console trim panel, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin by mid-October 2015.

Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.

Chrysler (FCA US LLC) is recalling 158,671 model year 2014 Jeep Cherokees manufactured January 4, 2013, to July 11, 2014.

Use of the front windshield wipers on dry glass may cause damage to the body control module (BCM).

This damage may result in the failure of the windshield wipers, impairing the driver's vision and increasing the risk of a vehicle crash.

Chrysler will notify owners, and dealers will install a ground strap to protect the BCM from damage, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule.

Owners may contact Chrysler customer service at 1-800-853-1403. Chrysler's number for this recall is R39.

Cycling Sports Group of Wilton, Conn., is recalling about 23,800 Cannondale mountain bicycles with OPI stem/steering tubes in the U.S. and Canada

The OPI stem/steering tube assemblies can fail, posing a risk of injury from a fall.

No incidents or injures have been reported.

This recall involves all model year 2011 through 2015 Flash, FSi , F-4, F-5, F-29, Lexi, RZ, Scalpel and Trigger Cannondale mountain bicycles, with OPI stem/steering tube assemblies. “OPI” is printed diagonally across the stem/steering tube in black letters.

The bicycles, manufactured in Taiwan, were sold at authorized Cannondale dealers nationwide from July 2010, to July 2015, for between $2,000 and $10,000.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled bicycle and take it to the nearest authorized Cannondale dealer for a free repair. Cannondale dealers will fit a locking reinforcement wedge assembly inside the OPI stem/steering tube and replace the clamp bolts.

Consumers may contact Cycling Sports Group at 800-BIKE-USA (800-245-3872) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday, by email at custserve@cyclingsportsgroup.com or online at www.cannondale.com and click on “Recalls” under the “Recall Information” link at the bottom of the page.

Kenosha Beef International of Kenosha, Wis., is recalling approximately 89,235 pounds of pork sausage patty products.

Consumer s have complained that small pieces of metal were in the products. The source of the extraneous material is unknown at this time.

There are no reports of oral injury, adverse reactions or illness due to consumption of these products.

The following frozen, pork sausage patties, produced on May 13, 2015, are being recalled:

• 24-oz. cartons of “Johnsonville Grillers CHEDDAR CHEESE & BACON FLAVOR.”
• 13.5-lb. cases of “Johnsonville Grillers CHEDDAR CHEESE & BACON FLAVOR” containing nine, 24-oz. cartons of the product.

The recalled products bear the establishment number “EST. 425B” and a “BEST FLAVOR BY” date of “12/29/15” on the end flap of the package. Cases of the recalled product bear the establishment number “EST. 425B” inside the USDA mark of inspection on the generic label.

They were shipped to retail locations in Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Texas and Wisconsin.

Customers who purchased these products should not to consume them, but throw them away or return them to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall may call consumer relations toll-free at 1-888-556-2728.