Current Events in August 2018

Clean Republic SODO of Seattle, Wash., is recalling about 3,350 Hill Topper Electric Bike motor controller circuit boards

Water can enter the motor controller and cause it to accelerate on its own, posing a crash and injury hazard to the rider.

The firm has received six reports of a rider losing control of his bike when the motor accelerated without rider input, including one reported injury resulting in scrapes and bruises to the rider.

This recall involves Hill Topper Electric Bike Kits with motor controller circuit boards used to convert regular bicycles to electric bicycles.

The motor controller circuit boards, 24V/250W and 36V/350W, were sold separately as well as part of the kits.

The model numbers KT24WSH-BF08 and KT36WSH-BFZ13504 can be found on the front of the motor control units.

The kits, manufactured in China, were sold at Hill Topper’s Seattle store and online at www.electric-bike-kit.com from January 2017, through June 2018, for $50 (24V/250W units) to $60 (36V/350W units) and for between $500 and $800 when sold with the kits.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled motor controller circuit boards and kits and contact the firm for a free replacement motor controller circuit board.

Consumers may contact Hill Topper toll-free at (855) 743-3279 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (PT), by email support@ukko.io or online at www.electric-bike-kit.com and click "Important Hill Topper Service Bulletin" for more information.

West Virginia will be introducing a smartphone app designed to make voting in federal elections easier for residents serving their country overseas.

Though just announced a few days ago, election integrity and computer security experts are already expressing concerns, mainly because of the issues still going on with Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. A recent federal indictment detailed Russia’s attempts to hack voting software during the last presidential election, and intelligence agencies in the United States are warning of something similar in the upcoming midterm elections.

However, West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner and the Boston company Voatz -- which developed the app -- are confident in its security.

To register, users must take a photo of their government-issued ID and a video of their face and upload them both to the app. Voatz’s facial recognition software will ensure that the both the picture on the ID and the selfie-style video are of the same person. After getting approved, users can then cast their ballot in the Voatz app.

Ballots will be completely anonymous and recorded on blockchain -- a public ledger often associated with cryptocurrency that can be used to record any kind of data.

Voatz will be strictly limited to West Virginians serving overseas.

“There is nobody out there that deserves the right to vote any more than the guys that are out there, and the women that are out there, putting their lives on the line for us,” Warner said.

Response to mobile voting

Voatz was tested in two countries during this year’s primary elections. After four audits of the app’s tools, including its cloud and blockchain software, no issues were detected. However, according to Michael L. Queen, Warner’s deputy chief of staff, it will be up to each county individually if they want to utilize the app this November. Warner emphasized that traditional paper ballots will still be made available to all troops overseas.

However, this new trend towards mobile voting is not universally well-received.

“Mobile voting is a horrific idea,” said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology. “It’s internet voting on people’s horribly secured devices, over our horrible networks, to servers that are very difficult to secure without a physical paper record of the vote.”

When Marian K. Schneider, president of the election integrity group Verified Voting, was asked if she thought mobile voting was a good idea, she replied: “The short answer is no.”

Schneider believes the “attack area is much broader” on a mobile app, and she worries about the lack of a paper trail that mobile voting creates, warning there could be “undetectable changes that could occur in transit.”

A political science professor at MIT, Charles Stewart III, doesn’t believe mobile voting is ready for “prime time,” but deemed West Virginia “the bold ones” for testing the technology.

“There is something to be said sometimes for small scale pilots where we can learn the trade-offs,” Stewart said.

Warner remains vigilant in his security efforts for mobile voting, as he lobbied the Department of Homeland Security to share any information that might help states clear up any election meddling. Warner has also recruited the state National Guard to help with any kind of election interference.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has admitted that it lied about being the target of a DDoS attack that temporarily took down a comment section of its website, preventing consumers from voicing their opinion on the proposed rollback of net neutrality rules.

On Monday, investigators revealed that there is no evidence to support the claims of DDoS attacks in May of last year. The probe was carried out after lawmakers and journalists pushed the FCC to share evidence of the alleged cyberattacks.

In response to the results of the investigation by the Government Accountability Office, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai released a statement admitting that there was no DDoS attack. In it, Pai blamed the spread of false information on employees hired by the Obama administration.

Pai blames former CIO

Pai contended that because he "inherited... a culture" from "the prior Administration,” he isn’t to blame for the spread of inaccurate information.

“I am deeply disappointed that the FCC's former Chief Information Officer [David Bray], who was hired by the prior Administration and is no longer with the Commission, provided inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people. This is completely unacceptable,” Pai wrote.

“I'm also disappointed that some working under the former CIO apparently either disagreed with the information that he was presenting or had questions about it, yet didn't feel comfortable communicating their concerns to me or my office,” he added.

As ConsumerAffairs previously reported, the FCC has repeatedly faced accusations that it concocted this story of the DDoS attack. The agency had also tried to bolster its narrative by suggesting that this wasn’t the first attack to occur; it said a similar attack had occured in 2014 under former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.

‘This happened on his watch’

Fight for the Future, a consumer advocacy group focused on digital rights, issued the following statement on Monday in response to Pai’s statement:

“Under Ajit Pai’s leadership, the FCC sabotaged its own public comment process. From ignoring millions of fraudulent comments using stolen names and addresses to outright lies about DDoS attacks that never happened, the agency recklessly abdicated its responsibility to maintain a functional way for the public to be heard,” the group wrote.

“Pai attempts to blame his staff, but this happened on his watch, and he repeatedly obstructed attempts by lawmakers and the press to get answers. The repeal of net neutrality was not only unpopular, it was illegitimate. Congress must act now to pass the CRA resolution to reverse this decision and restore basic protections for Internet freedom.”

With Missouri’s primary elections today, perhaps one of the biggest issues on the ballot is Proposition A, in which voters will have the chance to amend the state constitution and make Missouri a “right-to-work” state. The vote will decide “whether the state should ban compulsory union fees in all private-sector workplaces” according to the New York Times.

“The timing of this is essential,” said national AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Liz Shuler. “I think everyone wants to write the labor movement’s obituary, [but] it’s going to energize and activate us and show that we fight back.”

While a bill was passed and signed into law in 2017 that made Missouri a right-to-work state, thus prohibiting unions from requiring fees as a condition of employment, opponents received over 300,000 signatures on a petition preventing the law from going into effect. The law’s adversaries were adamant that a referendum decide the issue.

Missouri would become the 28th state to adopt right-to-work, should Proposition A pass in today’s election. While advocates of the law believe it will attract more business, labor unions argue that it will weaken the collective power of workers.

“Right now Missouri is missing out on opportunities for new jobs and new investments from companies that will only locate in right-to-work states,” said Ray McCarty, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri.

Impact of the vote

Back in June, the Supreme Court dealt a heavy blow to organized labor unions when it struck down an Illinois law that required non-union workers to pay “fair share fees” that go towards collective bargaining.

“It is hard to estimate how many billions dollars have been taken from non-members and transferred to public-sector unions in violation of the First Amendment,” Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. “Those unconstitutional executions cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely.”

In dissent of the decision, Justice Elena Kagan wrote, “The First Amendment was meant for better things. It was not meant to undermine but to protect democratic governance -- including over the role of public-sector unions.”

Following that decision, labor backers and opponents have turned their attentions towards Missouri. According to Politico, the AP reports that “even though union members comprise just 8.7 percent of Missouri’s workforce last year,” $20 million has been spent on the ballot initiative.

Last month, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) projected that roughly 60,000 fewer Missouri residents would be covered by a union contract should voters approve right-to-work. Based on EPI’s research, the average worker in a right-to-work state makes 3.1 percent less on an hourly basis than in states without such a law.

The Justice Department (DOJ) has submitted its brief explaining why it thinks an appeals court should overturn a judge's decision to approve the merger of AT&T and Time Warner.

The government claims U.S. District Judge Richard Leon "ignored mainstream economics" and refused to see the "appreciable danger" to consumers when he rejected the government's attempt to block the $85 billion deal.

In its case against the union, the Justice Department had argued that AT&T and Time Warner would have enormous bargaining power in its dealings with pay-TV distributors if they were allowed to join forces.

Popular networks give it bargaining power

Because the combined entity would control popular cable networks like CNN, TBS, and TNT, the government argued it could raise the price and competitors like Comcast and Dish Network would have to pay it. Otherwise, AT&T could limit those networks to DIRECTV, an AT&T subsidiary.

The government argued that the judge "gave no consideration to the fact that these distributors had a direct and immediate stake as customers in the negotiations with Time Warner."

In a 172 page opinion, Leon dismissed those concerns and others, telling the Justice Department lawyers that they had failed to make their case. In a statement to the media after the DOJ filed its brief, AT&T General Counsel David McAtee agreed, saying the government should call it a day

"Appeals aren't 'do-overs," McAtee said. "After a long trial, Judge Leon weighed the evidence and rendered a comprehensive 172-page decision that systematically exposed each of the many holes in the government's case. There is nothing in DOJ's brief today that should disturb that decision."

Other critics of the deal

The government's argument is supported by some consumer groups and other critics of the deal, who worry AT&T can now favor content from Time Warner on its network, particularly now that it is legal to do so with the demise of net neutrality.

The Trump administration Justice Department sided with those critics, filing a suit to block the merger back in March and claiming the combination of the two companies would be harmful to competition.

The government said AT&T is not only a huge wireless provider, it now has a foot firmly planted in content production since Time Warner is one of the nation's largest content providers.

It's not clear what would happen if the appeals court sides with the government. AT&T and Time Warner completed their merger in late June, with Time Warner operating under a new division called Warner Media.

Facebook is asking large banks to share their customers’ credit card transaction data, shopping habits, and checking account balances to help it launch a new financial services initiative, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Now, Facebook is speaking up in an effort to make clear that it’s not asking banks for its users’ financial transaction data or shopping habits.

In a statement to TechCrunch, Facebook spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said the social networking platform is working with banks to increase its chatbot capabilities. However, the company denies that it’s seeking access to its users’ financial data in order to serve up targeted ads or use that information for other purposes.

Facebook says it won’t collect information

“A recent Wall Street Journal story implies incorrectly that we are actively asking financial services companies for financial transaction data – this is not true,” Diana said.

The company says it’s looking to partner with banks and credit card companies to offer customer service through a chatbot in Messenger or help users manage their accounts within the app.

“Like many online companies with commerce businesses, we partner with banks and credit card companies to offer services like customer chat or account management,” Diana continued. “Account linking enables people to receive real-time updates in Facebook Messenger where people can keep track of their transaction data like account balances, receipts, and shipping updates.”

Bank integration with Facebook

Facebook said it is considering a new initiative that would let users see their checking account balances from within Messenger.

“The idea is that messaging with a bank can be better than waiting on hold over the phone – and it’s completely opt-in,” Diana said.

“We’re not using this information beyond enabling these types of experiences – not for advertising or anything else. A critical part of these partnerships is keeping people’s information safe and secure.”

Anonymous sources told the Journal that Facebook has talked to large banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and US Bancorp about what types of banking services Facebook Messenger could provide for customers.

On the eve of the first anniversary of its $9.95 price point, MoviePass has finally found a solution it likes and is sticking to it.

The subscription service announced on Tuesday that it’s moving from the all-you-can-watch for $9.95 per month plan to a plan that allows three movies for $9.95 a month.

MoviePass spent the last two weeks putting on its own horror show — one that included shutting subscribers out of seeing the latest chapter in the Tom Cruise ‘Mission: Impossible’ series and borrowing an emergency $5 million to pay its processing partner.

“We know that at times, the frequent changes to our service have been frustrating to you,” wrote MoviePass chief Mitch Lowe in an email to subscribers.

“Over the last year, we have tried different things and we’ve discovered what our members love about our service — the low price point and the ability to go to more than 91 percent of theaters nationwide. We’ve also learned what people don’t like about the service — features including Peak Pricing and Ticket Verification.”

Lowe claims his company’s changes cater to the majority of MoviePass’ movie-going customer base. Backing up that assertion, Lowe pointed to a research study which showed that 85 percent of MoviePass members go to three movies or less per month.

The deal going forward

Under MoviePass’ new plan:

• Members will be able to see up to three standard movies per month for $9.95 and be given up to a $5.00 discount to any additional movie tickets purchased.

• Many major studio first-run films will be included; however, there will be some exceptions.

• Peak Pricing and Ticket Verification requirements for all members will be suspended.

Lowe said that MoviePass members with a monthly subscription renewing on or after August 15th will be given the option in the MoviePass app to transition to the new plan. Quarterly and annual subscribers will not be impacted until their renewal date.

Deal or no deal?

MoviePass’ decision may have quieted the moviegoers yelling “Fire!,” but its relentlessness in yanking the customer’s chain left many in its subscriber base still complaining.

“This is why I canceled #MoviePass. The constant spin & utter lack of accountability for ANYTHING. You offered an impossible deal, people took advantage of it, now it’s ‘unfair’ that they did so. I’m happy over at AMC A-List, which MoviePass mocked, now offering 4x the movies,” tweeted film critic Dan Murrell.

Still, the service has its believers. In a StrawPoll about the change, the early results show that at least half of MoviePass subscribers plan to hang on to their membership.

Are there other options?

For those who: a) live in a large market where movie ticket prices are high; or b) those who will actually go to three movies a month, MoviePass’ three-for-$9.95 can still be considered a good deal.

But for those looking for alternatives to MoviePass, the AMC Theatre conglomerate’s “Stubs A-List” offers three movies a week for $19.95 a month. The AMC chain has produced none of the same consumer fright that MoviePass did, and may be in a better position to cut deals with movie producers because it can commit to system-wide deals for its 661 U.S. theatres and 8,200 screens.

Sinemia is another MoviePass competitor. Its current promotion is three movies per month for $14.99 and requires a $19.95 initiation fee.

Cars with advanced safety technology such as driver-assist and active-lane keeping may give drivers added peace of mind, but a new report suggests some of that confidence may be misplaced.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tested five systems in four cars -- Tesla, Mercedes, BMW, and Volvo -- and found variable performance in typical driving situations.

Situations included approaching stopped vehicles and negotiating hills and curves. It found that the current generation of these systems are not completely reliable substitutes for human drivers.

The researchers said they wanted to find out if these automated systems handled driving tasks the same way a human driver would. In many cases, they didn't.

Some of the discrepancies were minor, such as too-cautious braking. In some cases, however, they were dangerous. In one case, a vehicle veered sharply toward the shoulder when its sensors couldn't detect lanes.

Remain aware of their limitations

Some features work well, as long as drivers use them within their limitations. For example, adaptive cruise control (ACC) maintains a set speed and following distance from the vehicle in front you.

Researchers found it will slow the car if the car in front is slowing down, but it may not always react to a car that is stopped in the roadway. It also doesn't react to traffic signals or other traffic controls.

Active lane-keeping will steer the car to keep the vehicle within its lane, but drivers must continue to hold the wheel.

In a number of high-profile fatal accidents involving Tesla vehicles, investigators have found that the driver-assist feature was engaged but the drivers’ hands were not on the wheel.

The IIHS study found that these advanced features can be useful in helping with steering, speed control, and following distance, but the human behind the wheel must still drive the car at all times.

Areas of concern

"The new tests are an outgrowth of our research on Level 2 autonomy," said Jessica Jermakian, IIHS senior research engineer. "We zeroed in on situations our staff have identified as areas of concern during test drives with Level 2 systems, then used that feedback to develop road and track scenarios to compare vehicles."

It should be noted that most of the issues highlighted in the IIHS tests are noted in the vehicle owners’ manuals, which remind drivers that they must remain alert and in control of the vehicle at all times.

In one of the most recent accidents involving a Tesla, a Utah woman slammed into the back of a fire department vehicle while her Model S’ semi-autonomous Autopilot feature was engaged. The driver admitted to looking at her phone before the crash, despite the company’s mandate that customers remain alert while using Autopilot and not rely on the system entirely.

The IIHS data, meanwhile, may bolster the case of some consumer and safety groups that have urged Congress to slow down in its push to put fully-autonomous vehicles on America's highways.

Amazon says it has pulled neo-Nazi and white supremacist products off its site, several weeks after a member of Congress questioned the retail giant about why the products were available in the first place.

The Action Center on Race and the Economy issued a report last month describing items on the site that appeared to be marketed to hate groups, such as a baby onesie featuring a burning cross and a noose costume that makes the wearer look as though they have been lynched.  

Confederate flag imagery also found

Amazon and other retailers announced that they would top selling Confederate flag imagery in the wake of the 2015 massacre in Charleston in which nine people were murdered at a Black church. Shooter Dylann Roof had reportedly collected confederate flag memorabilia.

But the Action Center found products featuring the confederate flag that were still available on Amazon.  

“Amazon enables the celebration of ideologies that promote hate and violence by allowing the sale of hate symbols and imagery on its site, including Confederate and anti-Black imagery, Nazi and fascist imagery,” the Action Center’s report says, “and the newly adopted imagery of the modern white nationalist movement.”

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn) followed up on the information with a letter directly to Jeff Bezos, demanding that he cease selling the products. Ellison argued that Amazon has a special responsibility to keep hateful products offline due to its wide reach; it currently has 300 million active users and recently hit record profits of $2 billion.

“Since the election of Donald Trump, hate groups have been on the rise, and racist violence has swelled in this country,” Ellison said in the letter.

Removing items

Amazon last week responded to Ellison that it had already removed the items or was in the process of removing them.

“The items referenced by Rep. Ellison were previously reviewed, and we removed those that violated our policies well before we received his letter,” an Amazon spokesman recently claimed in a statement to BuzzFeed news.

However, Amazon refused to provide the exact dates confirming when the products were taken offline, according to BuzzFeed, which reported that Nazi-themed products remained for sale on Amazon as of Thursday.

While college students are preparing to head back to campus, their younger counterparts are preparing for their last years of high school and thinking about colleges they might attend.

To help with their selection, the Princeton Review has released its 27th annual Best College Rankings, with Bentley University in Massachusetts topping the list when it comes to preparing graduates for careers.

Bentley, located in Waltham, Mass., won the title for "best career services," one of 62 categories in which students at 384 top colleges were asked to rate their schools.

Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, was voted the best school for handing out financial aid. Students at Vanderbilt last year received an average of $47,294 in financial aid.

Looking for a small college with small class sizes? Then Reed College, in Portland, Ore., should be on your list. It topped the Princeton Review's rankings when it comes to class size, with a majority of class sections containing just two to nine students.

'It's all about fit'

"We picked the 384 'best' colleges for our book primarily for their outstanding academics; we highly recommend each one," said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's Editor-in-Chief and the book's lead author. "However, we know applicants need far more than an academic rating or ranking to find the college that will be best for them."

By creating 62 categories for its rankings, Franek says it helps students narrow their search. The data goes beyond academics to drill down into what students say about their professors, administrators, school services, campus culture, and student life.

"In the end, it's all about the fit," Franek said.

Category leaders

In this year's rankings, the U.S. Military Academy was found to have the most accessible professors, while Washington University in St. Louis was judged to have the best dormitories.

If getting three good meals a day is high on your list of priorities, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst might be a good pick, since it was found to have the best food.

If you're looking for a party school, the University of Delaware might by a good choice. But if you're looking for just the opposite, you might consider Brigham Young University.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison was found to have the best healthcare facilities, Emerson College, in Boston, was voted most LGBTQ-friendly, and the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Va., has the happiest students.

And when it comes to loving the city in which the college is located, students at Tulane University, in New Orleans, rate their school the best.

Republicans and Democrats in the Senate agree that illegal robocalls are a growing nuisance, but they don't agree on how regulators should define them. In letters to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), groups of GOP and Democratic senators have urged vastly different approaches.

In late June, 15 Democrats sent a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, urging the Commission to strengthen consumer protections under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) after a court vacated some of those protections.

The Democrats say rules should be strict enough that consumers aren't bombarded with unwanted and annoying calls.

In their letter to Pai, Republican lawmakers noted that some people are allowed to use automated dialers to send messages to consumers. Your dentist, for example, is allowed to employ a robocaller to quickly remind patients on an upcoming appointment. Political organizations are also allowed to make robocalls.

The GOP Senators said the FCC's past TCPA interpretations have resulted in uncertainty by those using the technology legally that they are complying with FCC regulations.

'Chills legitimate communications'

"This chills legitimate communications and leads to class action litigation that often does little to help consumers," the Republican lawmakers wrote in a July 24 letter.

Margot Saunders, senior counsel at the National Consumer Law Center, says Democrats want tighter rules than Republicans, claiming the GOP position would ultimately result in more robocalls from parties currently barred from making them.

“Robocalls are universally disliked by voters, and stopping abusive and unwanted calls is truly a bipartisan issue,” Saunders said. “While senators from both parties acknowledge the pervasive nature of robocalls, it is disappointing to see the GOP senators’ letter urge the FCC to dial back consumer protections at a time when they are so desperately needed.”

Redefining an autodialer

Saunders says the major issue before the FCC is what constitutes an autodialer and the prohibition on autodialed robocalls to cell phones without prior consent. The FCC is currently trying to define an autodialer after the court said its current definition is too broad.

Democrats are worried that some technology now used to make robocalls will be redefined so that its automated calls will no longer be classified as robocallers, even though consumers who receive them will continue to be just as annoyed as before.

Saunders warns that lobbyists for student loan servicers and payday lenders are among those pushing for a more lenient definition, as well as removing the consent requirement to receive legal robocalls and texts.

“Lawmakers of all political stripes should be firmly opposed to rule changes that would lead to more unwanted robocalls,” Saunders said.

For Wells Fargo, the bank that has been slapped with well over $3 billion in fines since 2016, the hits just keep on coming.

In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the bank revealed its purchase of low income housing credits is now the focus of a federal investigation.

The bank also concedes that, because of a computer error, it may have foreclosed on as many as 400 homes.

Wells Fargo said its internal review found that 625 of its mortgage customers were denied mortgage modifications, even though they qualified for the program. The bank reports that 400 of those mortgage customers ultimately lost their homes.

The error occurred in the formula used to calculate attorney fees, which changed between 2010 and 2015. Because of the error, some customers were wrongly denied a chance for a modification. Wells Fargo said it has set aside $8 million to compensate those customers and settle with government agencies.

For Wells Fargo, it has been a turbulent two years, with a string of missteps and mistakes that have tarnished the bank's reputation. In its most recent advertising campaign, the company acknowledges its mistakes (see video below) and has sought a reset with the tag line, "Established 1852. Re-established 2018."

Bad news needs to end

Of course, for that to be effective, the bad news has to end.

In the last two years, Wells Fargo has:

• Paid $185 million to settle charges it opened checking and credit card accounts for millions of customers without their knowledge

• Paid $4 million to settle charges of improper trading

• Paid $1 billion for policies that harmed mortgage and auto loan customers

• Paid $2 billion to settle charges of misrepresenting the value of its mortgages

In February, the Federal Reserve warned Wells Fargo that the bank's board of directors must exercise better oversight of the company's senior management, and that the bank's performance would be closely monitored by regulators.

Lyme disease has now spread to all 50 states and the District of Columbia following a significant uptick in cases between 2016 and 2017, according to a new study by clinical laboratory Quest Diagnostics.

The study found that California and Florida had the largest spikes in positive test results for Lyme disease. In 2017, California had 483 infected individuals -- a 194 percent increase compared to 2015. Florida saw 501 infected individuals in 2017, a 77 percent increase.

“Lyme disease is a bigger risk to more people in the United States than ever before,” said Harvey W. Kaufman, M.D., senior medical director for Quest Diagnostics and head of the company’s Health Trends research program, said in a press release.

“Our data shows that positive results for Lyme are both increasing in number and occurring in geographic areas not historically associated with the disease.”

Key findings

For the new study, Quest Diagnostics analyzed the results of 6 million blood tests that doctors had ordered to diagnose Lyme disease in their patients.

The report found:

• Lyme disease remains most prevalent in the Northeastern United States. Pennsylvania and the six New England states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) accounted for 60.6 percent of the total number of positive Lyme disease test results found in the United States in 2017.

• Pennsylvania has had the most Lyme disease cases in the country. Pennsylvania had 10,001 cases of Lyme disease in 2017, more than any other state in the nation.

• Notable increases were also observed in other states between 2015 and 2017.  States with other notable increases included Georgia, Arizona, Ohio, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia.

“We hypothesize that these significant rates of increase may reinforce other research suggesting changing climate conditions that allow ticks to live longer and in more regions may factor into disease risk,” Kaufman said.

The new study comes just a few months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that cases of tick-borne diseases had more than doubled over the past 13 years. The CDC said the bacteria that causes most tick-borne diseases in the U.S. is Borrelia burgdorferi, which accounts for 82 percent of reported Lyme disease cases.

Symptoms of Lyme disease

Lyme disease is spread by bites from infected blacklegged ticks and deer ticks. It causes more than 300,000 illnesses each year in the United States, according to the CDC.

Common symptoms of the bacterial infection include joint aches, fatigue, facial palsy, and neck stiffness, as well as the tell-tale “bullseye” shaped rash where the person was bitten.

Today, Avis Budget Group announced a new multi-year deal with Lyft that will allow drivers to reserve cars from Avis directly in the Lyft app. The partnership will “add thousands of vehicles to the Lyft Express Drive program in cities across North America,” Avis said in a statement.

As young people continue to trend away from owning their own cars, Avis’ new partnership with Lyft is a way to show both investors and consumers that it has the capacity to compete in this new rideshare environment.

“Enabling Lyft drivers with ease of access furthers our vision of mobility on demand for customers who need a car for short-term and long-term travel and also those entrenched in the gig economy who need a vehicle to realize success in a shifting transportation landscape,” said Arthur Oduna, Avis’ chief innovation officer.

Executives from both companies see this partnership as a way to propel both businesses forward.

“With a global fleet of approximately 600,000 vehicles, we are well positioned to take advantage of the continued growth in the ride hailing space by providing on-demand access to a clean, safe, and well-maintained vehicle for those who want to become ride-hailing drivers,” said Avis Budget Group President Joe Ferraro in a statement. “We look forward to working with Lyft to address the growing demand for transportation in key markets, and to further leverage our assets.”

“Our partnership with Avis Budget Group allows us to provide new and existing drivers who are seeking a reliable source of income with more quality options when choosing a vehicle,” said Jon McNeill, chief operating officer at Lyft. “And as more drivers decide to give up their own cars, they can continue to earn with Lyft as we expand the Express Drive program.”

Avis delves deeper into rideshare

This isn’t the first time Avis has gotten involved in the rideshare industry.

In 2012, Avis acquired Zipcar -- the company that lets consumers rent cars on an hourly basis. Currently, Zipcar has an initiative that lets Uber drivers rent cars for short periods of time at a discounted rate.

Additionally, Avis has recently partnered with Waymo -- the self-driving car company of Google owner Alphabet. Avis provided maintenance for Waymo’s fleet of self-driving cars in Phoenix.

“We have been working hard on modernizing our business,” said Avis CEO Larry De Shon.

The move is also another example of Lyft looking to gain ground on Uber. Through Lyft’s Express Drive program, the company has garnered deals -- similar to its new deal with Avis --  with Hertz and Flexdrive (a car subscription service).

There’s seldom a day that goes by in which someone with money to invest doesn’t scratch their head over whether they should throw some money at Bitcoin.

Heaven knows, the king of crypto has been a treasure for some, like when it hit $17,900 in December, 2017. However, those who thought the sky wouldn’t fall on them had to be looking themselves in the mirror when it fell more than 60 percent a couple of months later.

That bottoming out -- which placed the asset’s value at $6,200 -- was only temporary, and the stock inched its way back close to $10,000 in early May. Then came a report that the stock’s apex was the result of artificial market manipulation and another tumble -- to below $7,000 -- ensued.

The stock struggled to regain its old form as the prettiest stock in the class, but it did manage to see the plus side of $8,000. That is, until last week, when it fell backwards over the course of five days and found itself in the sub-$7,000 zone once again.

Still crypto curious?

For those of you who are cautiously curious, the bookends of Bitcoin’s high and low ends are far less dramatic than they were six months ago.

Bitcoin got a nice shot in the arm last week, when the owners of the New York Stock Exchange announced that they had partnered with upright companies like Microsoft and Starbucks to try and make the digital money a legitimate legal tender worldwide.

Still, to investors who don’t cotton to white knuckle trading, the perils of Bitcoin -- and all cryptocurrencies for that face -- are fraught with warning signs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has uncovered scams and continues its crusade to regulate crypto coins. The hack of a South Korean exchange wiped out billions in cryptocurrency. And, on Sunday, Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon pulled no punches in his comments regarding Bitcoin, calling it a “scam” and saying he had “no interest” in it. Dimon went as far as suggesting governments take a proactive stance and shut down the currencies because of the powerlessness in controlling them.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that in an analysis of coin trader-oriented internet chatrooms, coin traders are plotting pump-and-dump scams. One such chatroom -- the 74,000-member Big Pump Signal -- chatted up 26 pump operations that resulted in $222 million in trades. The WSJ claims that other such groups exist with the ability to pump tens of millions in additional activity.

This Friday, T-Mobile will launch a plan just for customers who only use their smartphones for its basic services.

The carrier’s Essentials plan includes talk, text, and data for a lower price than its other basic plan, T-Mobile One. The Essentials plan will cost $30 per line for a family of four -- $10 less than T-Mobile One. While customers will still get unlimited data, text, and talk, the plan does not include perks like international data or hotspot capabilities.

"The Un-carrier wants to make it easy," CEO John Legere said in a press release. "Give customers the options they want, but keep it simple, stupid!"

Slowing services

The company pointed out that it has the right to slow a customer’s connection if they are in an area with “heavy network demand.” Essentials customers will be first in line to experience slower speeds in these instances.

The company said in its press release that video “typically” streams at 480p, or DVD quality. T-Mobile said that its One Plus plan includes HD streaming, twice the data speed abroad, and other perks, like in-flight texting and unlimited music streaming. The Plus plan costs $10 per line more when added to a family plan, or $15 more for a single line.

T-Mobile’s Essentials plan will be available nationwide starting Aug. 10. The plan starts at $60 for a single line, $30 for the second line, and $15 per line for lines 3-6. The plan will cost an additional $5 per line for those who don’t sign up for autopay.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), one of Apple’s main suppliers for iPhone chips, was recently hit with a computer virus outbreak. While the company has warned that revenue will likely take a hit, shipment dates will also be affected.

The virus struck TSMC on Friday, forcing the company to shut down its semiconductor fabrication plants. TSMC publicly shared the news on Saturday, noting that third quarter revenue will likely be down three percent, or $255 million, from previous estimates.

TSMC reported that the virus occurred due to “misoperation” during the software installation process for a new tool. No confidential information was released or compromised, and though there have been no indications of any kind of cyber attack, analysts are pushing TSMC for more information on what exactly happened.

“In our view, ‘misoperation’ is simply not good enough an explanation,” said Fubon Research. “Although TSMC pointed out data integrity and confidential information were not compromised, we think TSMC needs to provide more details of what happened to alleviate the security concerns of customers and long-term investors.”

TSMC reported that 80 percent of its affected tools have been repaired, and the virus should be completely gone by today. Additionally, the company informed most of its customers of the issue but didn’t specify which customers had been notified.

TSMC and Apple

As one of TSMC’s biggest customers, Apple utilizes the company to create its A11 processors in the iPhone X. TSMC will also be producing the next generation A12 processor that is expected to be released in Apple’s newest phones later this year.

As of right now, analysts are unsure of the effect this virus will have on Apple and the production of its iPhones.

Fubon Research reported today that it expects 1.5 million to 1.7 million A12 chips will be delayed because of the virus, though the company is expected to produce 83 million units for iPhones in the second half of 2018.

“Since TSMC indicated the delayed shipment from this incident will be recovered in the following quarter, we think there will be no meaningful impact on Apple’s new coming iPhone,” Fubon said in the report.

Additionally, KGI analysts reported that an impact on iPhones would be minimal because the supply chain “usually prepares for these incidents and manufactures surplus chipsets during the initial ramp-up stage.”