Current Events in March 2017

No more than a day ago, we reported that former Trump University students may be seeing big payouts on their class-action suit. More than 3,700 of the 6,000 plaintiffs had filed a claim on the $25 million settlement, with each person standing to make as much 90 cents on the dollar of their original investments, according to class attorney Rachel Jensen.

However, a claim by one woman and her Florida attorney may end up throwing a wrench into things and may derail the whole settlement, according to Courthouse News.

Claimant Sherri Simpson, represented by Gary Friedman, filed an objection to the settlement on March 6 saying that she was not afforded a second opt-out opportunity after the settlement was reached, a promise that was made in the 2015 class notices mailed to each plaintiff.

Friedman said that not allowing Simpson to opt out of the settlement forfeited her right to file an objection to the settlement as a pre-condition for her to seek cash payment on any potential settlement agreement. Simpson is looking to file her own fraud lawsuit against Trump that could secure her triple damages if she wins the case.

Derailing the settlement

Class attorney Jason Forge has called Simpson’s and Friedman’s actions “outrageous,” and said that the move jeopardizes the case for all other claimants simply because Simpson wants an apology from Trump.

“You can’t do better than getting money back,” he said. “If you get back 90 cents on the dollar, isn’t that better than someone saying, ‘Hey I’m sorry?’”

Others have called the ethical implications of the action into question. Simpson apparently did not know about the exact clause in the class notice that guaranteed a second opt-out opportunity, but Friedman allegedly contacted her to offer his legal services after learning of the matter.

Class attorney Patrick Coughlin points to an “admission” by Friedman in court stating that fact, saying that “we just had an admission she didn’t have this parenthetical but had a vague understanding she would be able to opt out.”

Friedman said that contacting Simpson and essentially soliciting her as a client was “not relevant,” stating that “[Simpson] was unhappy with the settlement and had expected she would be able to opt out. In terms of me calling her representing an ethical breach – I believe that’s false.”

Elderly class members at risk

So, what does all of this mean for the other members of the class? For right now, nothing. U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel still needs to issue a written ruling and approve the settlement before it goes forward. However, if he doesn’t give approval based on Simpson’s objection, attorneys say that many older members of the class may suffer.

Jensen points out that lead plaintiff John Brown is turning 66 and that he planned to use the settlement money to pay off credit card debt and retire debt-free. Other members undoubtedly would use the money to “replenish retirement funds, send kids to college and put a down payment on a house,” she said.

Unfortunately, derailing the settlement could mean that many elderly members never see the money they’re allegedly owed. “If this selfishness persists there is no question some people would die before getting their money back,” said Forge. 

Bathing one’s four-legged family member in a bathtub can be a messy experience. After all, a dirt-covered dog and a clean, white tub don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.

But Bissell is hoping to change the way pet parents give their dog a bath with BarkBath -- a new portable bath unit. The BarkBath features nozzles that get beneath a dog’s hair to remove dirt and odor from the skin up while a soft suction mechanism pulls away grime and water.

Bissell says it took two years and “plenty of paws-on research” to develop the BarkBath system, which comes with a main base, flexible hose, and cleaning head.

Uses less water

"Bath time can be a huge pain point for both the pet and the pet parent. BarkBath helps make pet bath time faster, easier, and less messy than ever before,” said Chuck Martin, General Manager of Innovation at Bissell.

Consumers can clean their canine using the BarkBath simply by moving the cleaning head over their dog’s fur. The head sprays warm water and a no-rinse shampoo onto the coat, the nozzle gets under the hair to remove dirt and odor, and the suction mechanism deposits dirt and grime in a separate tank.

The canister-type vacuum, which can be used anywhere in the home, also promises to use less water than if you were to bathe your pup in the tub. Washing an 80-lb dog with the BarkBath uses just 48 ounces, whereas the traditional bathtub method can use up to 19 gallons.

Bissell does note that the system emits a sound similar to a vacuum -- the sworn enemy of many a mutt. “For best results, your dog should not be afraid of the sound of a vacuum," the company says.

The BarkBath is currently an Indiegogo project, with preorders available starting at $109. Shipping is scheduled for June 2017.

Editor's note: The author of this story has no financial interest in the companies, products or services discussed and has accepted no gratuities, payments or free merchandise. Any samples provided for research purposes were returned immediately upon conclusion of the research.

Atlanta's extremely heavy traffic congestion just got worse.

A massive fire along I-85 in the city caused a portion of a bridge to collapse Thursday night, walling off a major transportation artery in and out of the city.

Initially, the collapse affected the northbound lanes of the heavily-traveled thoroughfare. On Friday, Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry announced the southbound sections received enough damage from the intense fire that that section will have to be replaced as well.

“The extent of the fire-related damage necessitates extensive reconstruction activities to ensure the safety of motorists,” McMurry said in a statement. “We began design of the known damaged sections last night and continue designs as information is received. At this time, we do not have an anticipated duration for the repairs as we have not been able to fully access the site due to hotspots, but we do know that it is expected to be a time consuming event.”

Mystery origin

McMurry said the fire started in an area that is part of the state's right-of-way, where construction equipment and supplies were stored. How it all happened remains a mystery at this point.

“We are as eager to learn the cause of this fire as anyone, which is why we will continue to work closely and in full cooperation with fire investigators to determine exactly how the fire was started,” McMurry said.

For the foreseeable future, Georgia officials says I-85 will be closed from the I-75/Brookwood split to the North Druid Hills Exit. Motorists are urged to avoid that area.

Motorists traveling northbound on I-85 from south of Atlanta will take a detour to northbound I-75 at Brookwood near 17th Street. Those going south on I-85 north of Atlanta will be diverted to northbound on SR400.

Those going south of SR400 from north of Atlanta will be diverted at the Sidney Marcus exit.

The bridge collapse comes just as Washington is preparing to address new infrastructure spending. Though it is too early to tell whether the bridge collapse was related to anything other than an intense fire, President Trump and some Congressional Democrats have argued the government should allocate more federal spending to address the country's aging roads and bridges.

In Bakersfield, California, the district attorney is going after a business that he says is preying on illegal aliens seeking to enter the United States, even though they have a criminal record.

Bakersfield is only about 53 miles from the Mexican border, so there should be plenty of potential victims, right? Maybe, but in this case the "illegal aliens" are from Canada, roughly 1100 miles away. 

Southern California is actually quite popular with Canadians, at least in the winter, so there was plenty of business for something called Trusted Pardon Services, operated by Scotia Pardon and a few others.

The company promised Canadians with criminal records that it could get the Department of Homeland Security to admit them to the United States, for a fee of $1,000 in most cases.

"Waiver of inadmissibility"

But the complaint filed by the Kern County District Attorney says Pardon did next to nothing for most customers, refused to give refunds, and sometimes tried to charge a $200 cancellation fee. The complaint seeks $4.7 million in fines and penalties.

This all has to do with a law that bans Canadian citizens convicted of certain crimes from entering the U.S. without a "waiver of inadmissibility" issued by DHS. 

The complaint says Pardon ran ads from 2009 through at least April 2016 on Facebook, Yelp, and other online sites. Prospective customers who filled out a form were promised that the entire application process would be complete within three months.

“Many customers thus signed contracts without knowing what the contract said, and the process was so rushed and obfuscated by the sales staff that some customers did not even realize they had electronically signed a contract,” the complaint states, according to Courthouse News Service.

McDonald’s has been attempting to go back to the basics to rework its fast food image. Earlier this month, the company announced that it would be catering to existing customers by focusing on hamburger sales, instead of selling wraps and other healthier products to draw in new customers.

Now the chain is doubling down on its burger approach. In an announcement made Thursday, the company said that it would be transitioning from using frozen patties to fresh beef in the majority of its restaurants by mid-2018. The change will augment other modernization efforts, such as using ordering kiosks and providing mobile payment options.

“Today’s announcement is part of a continuing food journey for McDonald’s,” said McDonald’s U.S. President Chris Kempczinski.

Fresh beef

This isn’t the first time that McDonald’s has talked about using fresh beef to make its burgers. About a year ago, the company started testing the idea in 14 restaurants in the Dallas area, saying that if consumers liked it then they would consider rolling it out nationally.

That program eventually expanded to hundreds of restaurants in the Dallas area, and consumers were happy to see that the change did not overly affect prices, according to the New York Times. While McDonald’s spokeswoman Becca Hary pointed out that prices will ultimately be set by franchise owners, she stated that the company did not expect consumers to feel much burden.

“We do not anticipate there will be any significant impact on price when this sandwich rolls out nationally,” she said.

Catering to customers

While they may be responsible for setting future prices, some franchise owners have expressed concerns about switching from frozen patties. They point out that freezing their product is a good way of killing pathogens like E. coli, and that using fresh beef increases the risk of possible contamination.

Despite that risk, McDonald’s seems to be running with its new identity of giving the customers what they want. Hary said that if the fresh beef change goes well, then changes to other items could be just around the corner.

“[McDonald’s will] continue to look at the rest of the menu based on what the customers are asking for,” she said. 

During the housing bubble, millions of homebuyers with iffy credit got stuck with subprime mortgages that, in many cases, turned out to be unaffordable.

In the end, it nearly brought down the financial system.

Subprime mortgages are less common now, but subprime loans have not disappeared. They're increasingly common in auto lending.

In Massachusetts, one subprime auto lender, Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc., will pay $22 million to settle charges from an investigation into its lending in the state.

Unfair and unaffordable

“After years of combating abuses from subprime mortgage lenders, these practices are unfortunately familiar,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy. “We found that Santander, a leading player in the business of packaging and reselling subprime auto loans, funded unfair and unaffordable auto loans for more than 2,000 Massachusetts residents.”

Healy says Massachusetts is the first state to reach a settlement relating to subprime auto loans. She said the settlement will provide relief to affected consumers and make future abuses less likely.

Much like the subprime mortgage fiasco, Healy said her investigation found that loans were being made to consumers without a reasonable basis for belief they could be repaid.

Healy alleges that Santander actually predicted that many of the loans would default, and also realized that financial information submitted by applicants was fictional, or at best inflated.

How it worked

Here's how it worked: a consumer found a car at a dealer they wanted to buy. The dealer offered financing, even though the buyer's credit was bad. Regardless, non-dealer institutions like Santander bought the loan and repackaged it, selling a bundle of these loans as securities to investors.

In 2008, when thousands of subprime mortgages went into default, it destroyed the value of those securities and nearly brought down investment banks, while drastically reducing the value of real estate.

Could subprime auto loans be as big of a systemic risk? Economists say it's unlikely, since repossessed vehicles are more easily resold than houses. But it certainly is a financial catastrophe for the consumers who lose their cars.

Healy faulted Santander for what she termed a lack of oversight. She said the bank's own internal audit raised warning flags, concluding that its oversight of the dealers making these subprime loans was inadequate.

The price of gasoline has been relatively low for nearly two and a half years. The drop, which began in late 2014, followed 11 years of near record high prices at the pump.

But while consumers are far better off than they were in 2012, Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, says right now is when consumers are in greatest danger of overpaying for fuel. He says GasBuddy conducted a study that demonstrates just how much we're overpaying.

Think of it this way. When prices are sky-high, you probably search out the cheapest gas station in your area before filling up. Now, when prices are relatively low, just about any station will do.

But DeHaan says stations tend to charge closer to the same amount for gas when prices are high. When they're low, there can be a wide variation in the same city.

Tranquility and affordability

“We're in a relative period of tranquility and affordability at the pump, and so the data suggests Americans are at particular risk right now of overspending on gasoline,” DeHaan said. “And we expect that to continue for some time.”

To prove the point, DeHaan says GasBuddy looked at the last seven years of gas price data. In 2012, the national average was $3.61 a gallon. However, the price spread between the 5% of stations with the highest price and the 5% with the lowest price was only 95 cents a gallon.

But last year, when the national average was a much more affordable $2.13 a gallon, the spread increased to $1.13 a gallon.

Price complacency

Prices are not only still low, but they are also lower than expected for this time of year, due to the unexpected drop in oil prices. DeHaan says it could mean motorists have gotten a little complacent about the price they pay.

In Washington, DC, he notes, the spread between highest and lowest stations is $1.21 a gallon. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, the spread is around $1.

In some large metros, DeHaan says consumers can pocket $60 a month just by being selective about where they fill up.

Both personal incomes and spending rose in February -- the former more than the latter.

The Commerce Department reports incomes climbed $57.7 billion, or 0.4%, last month following a $63 billion gain in January. Disposable personal income (DPI) -- what's left after taxes are extracted -- was up 0.3%, or $44.6 billion.

The incomes increase was due largely to advances in wages and salaries and rental income of persons.

Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) -- consumer spending -- inched up 0.1%, or $7.4 billion. When adjusted for inflation, it was actually down 0.1%.

The PCE price index rose just 0.1% and was up 0.2% when the volatile food and energy categories were stripped out; the PCE price index increased 0.2%.

The decrease in inflation-adjusted spending reflected cutbacks in spending that were partially offset by an increase in spending for nondurable goods.

Personal saving in February totaled $808.0 billion – up $4.3 billion from January, for a rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- of 5.6%.

The complete report is available on the Commerce Department website.

After a long winter spent cooped up indoors, you might find yourself champing at the bit to get outside. The last thing you may want to do on a sunny spring day is spend all day inside dusting, decluttering, and deep cleaning.

So, why not take the concept of spring cleaning outdoors?

Early spring is an ideal time to take care of many lawn and garden chores. Now is the time to assess your lawn, provide basic lawn maintenance, and prepare your garden beds for new plants.

By addressing outdoor gardening chores now, you’ll save yourself a lot of work later in the season. Here are a few outdoor gardening tasks to consider doing now, while the weather is still mild.

Revive your lawn

A healthy, green lawn looks great and boosts a home’s curb appeal -- but your lawn may not be so green after having been steeped in snow, decaying leaves, and winter debris all season.

To wake up a winter-weary lawn, rake it anywhere that it has yellowed to remove the dead area and prepare for reseeding. Then, aerate your lawn to allow its root system to receive sufficient air, water, and nutrients from the fertilizer.

Even out tall, gangly grass by giving it a mow. Make sure to fill your lawn mower with gas and oil, check the carburetor, and sharpen the blade using a metal file if necessary.

Prune trees and shrubs

Spring flowering shrubs -- such as lilacs, forsythia, and rhododendrons -- should be pruned in late spring, right after they finish blooming. Decorative grasses should also be cut back this time of year.

Prune roses before leaf buds appear and trees before their buds begin to open. Additionally, remove all burlap or tree guards you might have put in place to protect your trees in the winter months. In warmer weather, tree guards stop air flow to the trunk and promote bark rot.

Prep your soil

Tilling allows nutrients to make their way to new plants. But make sure conditions are right before tilling or working flower beds -- digging in wet conditions can damage the structure of the soil.

To see if your soil is ready for tilling, ball up a small handful of soil and drop it on the pavement. If it retains its shape, it’s too wet.

Once your garden is tilled, you can begin replanting perennials and enhancing your flower beds. Be sure to lay out where your plants will go first in order to see if they will have enough space and get enough sunlight.

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) is recalling 65 model year 2017 E300s and E300 4Matics.

The front passenger airbag may not deploy properly if a passenger is sitting on the edge of the seat or is lying in the seat with the seat reclined.

As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."

Failure of the airbag to deploy as intended could increase the risk of occupant injury.

What to do

MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will update the air bag control module software, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in April 2017.

Owners can contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372.

For a brief period several years ago, Danish people faced a bleak prospect: life without home popcorn. Denmark’s largest grocery retailer, a company called Coop Denmark, in 2015 decided to pull all microwave popcorn from its shelves because of the anti-grease chemicals that coat the inside of the bag. 

Fluorinated chemicals such as PFOAs are an important component of products that are stain-resistant, grease-resistant, or waterproof, making this class of chemicals especially popular in the use of non-stick pans, the wrappers surrounding fast foods, and the paper bags that help turn kernels into oily popcorn, to name just a few.

But the major problem with these fluoride-based chemicals, as researchers have documented for decades, is that they are so strong they never break down in nature. And that persistence could have dangerous implications for human health. “Chemicals that don’t break down should not be used unless they’re actually necessary,” Dr. Arlene Blum, director of the California-based Green Science Policy Institute, tells ConsumerAffairs. 

While plenty of food products can be packaged without fluorinated chemicals, that initially seemed an impossible feat for microwaveble popcorn. “There was just no solution in the world in popcorn,” the chemistry manager at Coop Denmark told Environmental Health News several years ago.  

But then, a Spanish company called Liven created the impossible; a microwave popcorn bag made with no fluorinated chemicals at all. Liven developed its bags instead with stronger paper and cellulose. Once again, microwave popcorn could be sold on many of Denmark's grocery shelves.

Replacing older fluorinated chemicals with new ones

But other companies have for the most part phased out certain fluorinated chemicals only to replace them with different fluorinated chemicals that are bonded with shorter chains, on the premise that the shorter-chain chemicals are safer. New research indicates that this idea is sending consumers down the same wrong path. "Our idea is that we need to take these fluorinated chemicals as an entire class of chemicals that should be avoided,” Tom Bruton, a fellow at the Green Science Policy Institue, tells ConsumerAffairs. 

Several studies examining short-chain fluorinated chemicals found that they also accumulate in organs and in tissue, with the latest paper on the topic published this month in Environmental Science and Technology. Researchers from the University of Alabama and Notre Dame injected mice with three commonly-used short chain fluorinated chemicals and found traces of the chemicals in all of the animals’ organs, “with the highest uptake being exhibited in the liver for both [18F]PFOA and [18F]PFHxA, and the stomach for [18F]PFBA,” the researchers wrote.

Regulators such as the EPA have previously been receptive to the idea of moving to shorter chain fluorochemicals. “The producers of the short-chains have stated that there’s not any  health problem with the short chain because they stated that they don’t accumulate in the human body,” Blum, the Green Science Policy Institute director, tells ConsumerAffairs. 

Blum was not involved with this particular study, but she co-authored a paper, published in February, showing how fluorinated chemicals are still commonly used in fast food packaging.

As is the case with chemicals from the bisphenol family being used to replace bisphenol-A, research is slowly indicating that alternative fluorinated chemicals are likely not any safer if they are from the same family. “The carbon-fluorine bond is one of the strongest bonds in the periodic table, so the chemicals don’t break down pretty much ever,” Blum explains. “So when you create these molecules, you create these molecules that will be around for thousands of years, and that’s for the long chains and the short chains.”

Living near plants that make PFOAs

The inability of fluorinated chemicals to break down over time means that they can be found nearly anywhere scientists look, from the blood samples of most Americans to the blood samples of polar bears to drinking water supplies. That’s particularly true of communities that are located near plants producing these chemicals. 

In West Virginia, over 3,000 people have filed personal injury lawsuits against DuPont for polluting the water supplies with PFOA, a particularly insidious fluorinated chemical. After researchers in 2011 released findings showing a likely link between PFOA and various cancers and diseases, DuPont two years later agreed to cease PFOA production as part of a settlement with the EPA.

DuPont and the rest of the chemicals industry now touts short-chain fluorinated chemicals as safer alternatives. ‘‘A significant body of data demonstrates that these alternative chemistries can be used safely,” one industry spokesman told New York Times magazine last year. 

But scientists across the world are building a campaign arguing the opposite. A coalition of 200 scientists several years ago signed the Madrid Statement, an open petition calling for governments, scientists and companies “to cooperate in limiting the production and use of PFASs,” or flourochemicals, “and in developing safer non-fluorinated alternatives.” 

Bank of America will face a $45 million fine for its alleged treatment of a California couple, which a bankruptcy judge called both “brazen” and “heartless.”

Though the bank has not yet appealed the decision, spokesman Rick Simon said on Tuesday that the decision is “unprecedented and unsupported,” though he does admit that “regrettably, the customers had a challenging experience,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Refusals and foreclosure

However, calling the Sundquists’ ordeal “challenging” may be a bit of an understatement. Erik and Renee Sundquist were caught up in the financial downturn of 2008. They lost their construction business and elected to move to a cheaper home in Sacramento, California, which they secured with a $590,000 loan from a lender that was later taken over by Bank of America.

In their original agreement, the Sundquists were told that they would be able to request lower monthly payments on their loan, but when the couple stopped making payments in March 2009, Bank of America officials told them that the business would not consider loan modifications for customers who were current on their payments.

Over the next few years, the Sundquists made roughly 20 loan modification requests that were “routinely either lost or declared insufficient, or incomplete or stale or in need of resubmission or denied without comprehensible explanation,” according to the ruling.

The couple eventually filed for bankruptcy in June 2010, but their troubles were far from over. The filing was supposed to stop any foreclosure sales of their home, but Bank of America improperly took it over and gave the Sundquists a three-day eviction notice.

The decision and sale of the home was later reversed, but only after Mrs. Sundquist was hospitalized with stress-related heart attack symptoms. After returning home, the couple faced another unwelcome surprise, as their home owner’s association had fined them $20,000 for dead landscaping. Excerpts from Mrs. Sundquist’s journal detail harassing visits from bank-related officials and the suicide attempt of Mr. Sundquist over frustrations related to the house.

Regulators frustrated

Judge Christopher Klein said that the mortgage modification process and mistaken foreclosure left the Sundquists in “a state of battle-fatigued demoralization,” and that it was “apparent that the engine of Bank of America’s problem in this case is one of corporate culture. . . not rogue employees betraying an upstanding employer.”

The $45 million judgment will be designated primarily for law schools and consumer advocacy organizations, though the Sundquists will receive $1.1 million. Klein said that he hoped the amount would be large enough so that it won’t “be laughed off in the boardroom as petty cash or ‘chump change,’” according to Thursday’s ruling.

Experts say that the judgment relates some of the frustration that regulators and consumer advocates have been feeling against mortgage servicers who continue to employ predatory and harmful tactics.

“It’s appaling. . . You would think after all this time and all the fines that have been paid already that [mortgage companies] might actually try to get it right,” said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

As environmentalists are learning, the Trump administration takes a very different approach to environmental matters than its predecessor.

At midweek, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a petition to ban the use of chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide in agriculture. Under the Obama administration, the EPA had planned to impose a rule that would have effectively banned its use, citing research linking it to damage to the central nervous system.

Because of a court order, the current administration said it had until the end of this week to decide whether or not to ban the chemical, as environmental groups had filed suit to force it to do. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced the agency would not ban the pesticide as he issued an EPA Order.

“In this Order, EPA denies a petition requesting that EPA revoke all tolerances for the pesticide chlorpyrifos under section 408(d) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and cancel all chlorpyrifos registrations under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act,” Pruitt wrote. “The petition was filed in September 2007 by the Pesticide Action Network North America (P ANNA) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).”

The petition was never formally acted upon during Obama's two terms, but in 2015 the administration announced its intentions to impose rules that would not allow for any trace residues of the chemical on food. In announcing his decision to deny the petition, Pruitt said it was based on science rather than “pre-determined results.”

Environmental groups react

“EPA turned a blind-eye to extensive scientific evidence and peer reviews documenting serious harm to children and their developing brains, including increased risk of learning disabilities, reductions in IQ, developmental delay, autism and ADHD,” said Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, Senior Scientist at NRDC.

Kristin Schafer, policy director at PANNA, accused the EPA of caving to corporate pressure and of failing “to follow overpowering scientific evidence of harm to children’s brains.”

According to a pesticide information network, established by Cornell and several other universities, Chlorpyrifos is known as a broad spectrum insecticide. It was introduced in 1965 and used primarily to kill mosquitoes, but it's no longer approved for that use.

It is effective at controlling a variety of insects and is currently used on both food and non-food agricultural products.

The network also notes the chemical is “moderately toxic to humans.” It says studies have show that poisoning from chlorpyrifos may affect the central nervous system, as well as the cardiovascular system, and the respiratory system.

In a move that would secure its place in the $800 billion food and packaged goods market, Amazon is trying to convince some of the world’s biggest brands to start shipping their products directly to online shoppers and bypass notable chain stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco.

The company has sent invitations to the executives of prominent packaged goods makers, asking them to come to its headquarters in Seattle in May to hear its proposal, according to a Bloomberg report.

“Times are changing. . . Amazon strongly believes that supply chains designed to serve the direct-to-consumer business have the power to bring improved customer experiences and global efficiency. To achieve this requires a major shift in thinking,” the invitations read.

Delivering straight to doorsteps

If successful, Amazon would topple the current structure that packaged goods makers have with brick-and-mortar retailers and completely change the way that many products are designed, made, packaged, and shipped.

Manufacturers would no longer have to worry about making sure the product stands out on a grocery aisle shelf, since consumers would no longer have to stroll those aisles. The Bloomberg report points out that many items could be packaged according to new shipping needs; laundry detergent could come in sturdier, leak-proof containers and food items could come in durable and simpler packaging. Supply could also be controlled by plants that produce items based on individual needs instead of just filling trucks with inventory.  

Experts have pointed out that online grocery sales have mostly floundered in recent years, but such a drastic move could represent a big change in the way that manufacturers sell their products and consumers shop for their essentials.

“Most of these people haven’t been interested in e-commerce because e-commerce has been such a small piece of their overall sales,” says Melissa Burdick, vice president of e-commerce at The Mars Agency marketing firm. “But we’ve reached a tipping point. We’re at a time when companies are ready to start figuring this stuff out.”

Fear of missing out

So, how likely is it that packaged goods companies will be onboard with the idea? While it might be understandable to think that companies might want to retain the status quo, many might be loath to dismiss Amazon and then miss out on any future success.

"There was a big perceived penalty for missing the boat, fear of missing out on growth," says Jim Hertel, senior vice president at the marketing firm Inmar Inc. "Fear, more than anything else, may compel these companies to pay attention," adds analyst Ken Cassar.

Of course, brick-and-mortar retailers aren’t likely to go down without a fight. Many chains have already elected to provide online shopping options to blunt the impact of online shopping sites like Amazon, and it’s easy to point out that the proposal hasn’t yet addressed who will ship all of items (though Amazon does have the means of fulfilling those services.)

Regardless of how the plan shakes out, it’s at least worth noting that the idea of innovation in the industry isn’t dormant. What that means for shoppers remains to be seen. 

Many class-action settlements don't return much money to the affected parties because many potential plaintiffs never claim their share of the settlement. In fact, rates are often lower than 1 percent in many cases.

But then there's the $25 million settlement awarded to former Trump University students. More than half -- 3,700 -- of more than 6,000 former students have submitted claims, according to a Bloomberg report. 

No one is quite sure whether the unusually high rate is due to all the publicity the case drew -- it was, after all, decided as preparations for Trump's inauguration moved forward -- or whether it's because the average settlement per person is much higher than most class actions return.

Claimants are likely to get about 80 cents on the dollar. With Trump tuitions ranging from $1,495 to as much as $35,000, that's a pretty healthy return for consumers covered by the settlement. 

The settlement provides a total of $25 million -- $21 million for ex-students covered in two class actions filed in San Diego and $4 million for students from New York who were covered in a suit filed by the New York Attorney General.

Huge returns promised

In the suits, students said they had been promised that the "university" courses would provide them with the knowledge they needed to make huge returns in the real estate business. But most of the classes consisted of little more than sales pitches for additional packages, the students complained.

Trump insisted for years that the accusations were groundless but agreed to settle shortly after he was elected president. 

U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel is expected to grant final approval to the settlement today. Trump had criticized Curiel, an American born in Indiana, as being unfit to hear the cases because of his ethnic background and because he was a "Trump hater."

Volkswagen will pay $157 million to 10 states that sued the company for its secret use of unlawful "defeat device" software to enable their diesel-powered cars to pass emissions inspections.

It's the first time the states have won environmental penalties against an automaker on their own. Previously, such cases were handled soley by the federal government.

“Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche tried to pull off an extraordinarily cynical corporate fraud – deceiving hundreds of thousands of consumers, pumping thousands of tons of harmful pollution into our air, and flouting New York and federal environmental laws designed to protect public health,” said New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. “This went on for nearly a decade, for no other reason than their bottom line, so the companies could avoid the expense of engineering cars that would actually meet our environmental standards."

"Adding insult to injury, they marketed these dirty vehicles as environmentally-friendly and technologically-advanced – not only deceiving consumers and harming our environment, but also undercutting the sales of their law-abiding competitors,” Schneiderman said.

States follow California

The lawsuits that led to the settlement were filed last summer by New York and Massachusetts. All of the states joining in the action have adopted California's stringent vehicle emission standards. The other states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

Schneiderman said that setting the precedent of states enforcing emission laws is important because of President Trump's vow to defund federal environmental enforcement, leaving states like New York and California as the first line of defense in environmental matters.

"New York will continue to enforce the tough auto emission and greenhouse gas standards established by California, and intends to oppose any effort by the federal government to roll back EPA emission standards currently in place," a statement from Schneiderman's office said.

Electric cars

As part of today’s settlement, Volkswagen has agreed to substantially increase its commitment to New York’s emerging electric car market. The agreement requires Volkswagen to – by 2020 – at least triple the number of electric car models its Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi brands offer to New Yorkers from one model to three, including two electric SUVs.   

“Volkswagen was caught – and today’s settlement means we’ve now held them to full account,” Schneiderman continued. “No company – however large or powerful – is above the law in New York.  As we’ve made clear, if the federal government fails to do its job, I will continue to enforce our state’s environmental laws and hold accountable anyone who violates them – to ensure New Yorkers’ public health and environment are protected.”

It's well known among law enforcement officials and scammers alike that older consumers tend to be more vulnerable to scams than their younger counterparts.

It's been attributed in part to generational differences, with older people more trusting than young people. But researchers at Cornell, working with colleagues at York University in Toronto, have come up with a different explanation.

They argue that not all older adults are vulnerable to financial exploitation. And the reason some are is their brains have aged differently.

The researchers assembled a group of older consumers, some of whom had fallen victim to a scam, either by a family member or a stranger, and some who had not. On the surface, the researchers could see very little difference. Both groups appeared engaged and mentally sharp.

Behavioral tests

They put both groups through a battery of behavioral tests. Using 45 markers, they measured memory, attention span, ability to evaluate information, financial reasoning and emotional control. The only difference between the group that had been scammed and the one that had not is the victim group was more likely to display anger and hostility in stressful situations.

Then the researchers conducted brain scans on their subjects and found noticeable differences. The victim group had atrophy in the anterior insula and fewer connections from it to a broader brain network.

That area of the brain processes signals when something out of the ordinary is going on, picking up on a negative vibe or recognizing potential hazards. As a general rule, this area loses some function during the normal aging process.

“If older adults are, say, gambling, they get the same excitement that they might win something as younger adults do, but they don’t have the same feeling of dread or disappointment for the losses,” said lead author Nathan Spreng, assistant professor of human development at Cornell. “So, they’re not as sensitive to losing money.”

Harder to see risk

Spreng and his colleagues discovered among the victims, that region of the brain was particularly atrophied, suggesting these consumers had a harder time recognizing risky situations.

The seniors in the victim group also had decreased neural connections in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that helps understand social situations. In particular, it helps people read the intentions of other people.

The researchers concluded that vulnerability to scams had less to do with behavior and personality and more to do with a physical condition.

“It’s not their fault they’ve been abused,” Spreng said. “It’s not because they made a bad decision. There are biological reasons why these abuses have occurred, and we’re trying to get a handle on that.”

Spreng says when older adults are having a hard time navigating social situations, it should be treated as a medical issue, not societal one.