Current Events in February 2019

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has proposed a federal child care plan which would provide grants to states, cities, nonprofits, schools, and other local partners to “create a network of child care options that would be available to every family.”

In a blog post on Medium, Warren noted that the average cost of child care in the U.S. can range from 9 to 36 percent of a family’s income, depending on where they live. Under Warren’s proposed plan, a sliding scale would be used to determine how much families would pay for child care for young children.

Families would not be required to pay more than 7 percent of their income on child care expenses. For poorer and lower-middle-class households, child care services would be free.

"In the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, high-quality child care should be a right for all of our children and not just a privilege that only the wealthiest families can afford," said Senator Warren. "We need a government that invests in our children because they are our future and that is what the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act will do."

Improving the quality of services

In addition to easing the financial burden of child care for families, Warren’s proposed plan would aim to improve the quality of child care services.

The plan would provide federal funding for "a locally-run network of Child Care and Early Learning Centers and Family Child Care Homes so that every family, regardless of their income or employment, has high-quality, affordable child care options for their children from birth to school entry."

Child care providers would be “held to high national standards,” and an estimated 12 million children would access this high-quality option -- up from about 6.8 million children under 5 who receive formal child care today.

Warren noted that limited child care options -- in terms of both cost and quality -- are preventing parents of kids who aren’t yet old enough to attend public school from jumping back into the workforce. 

She argued that the “lack of access to high-quality, affordable care prevents parents from fully participating in the workforce, holding them back from career and educational opportunities and placing a drag on our entire economy.”

Warren’s plan, which was assessed by Moody’s economist Mark Zandi, would cost about $70 billion a year, or $700 billion over 10 years. It would be funded by "approximately a quarter of the revenue raised from Senator Warren's proposed Ultra-Millionaire Tax.”

Google has announced that it will soon no longer require its employees to sign forced arbitration agreements, which essentially waive workers’ rights to a day in court if they suffer injuries, harassment, or other negative consequences from working at a company.

Company officials said that the new policy would go into effect on March 21, and it would apply to all of its workers around the globe. However, the new policy would not apply to claims that have already been settled by arbitration, according to an Axios report. Workers will also still have the option of going to arbitration if they wish to do so.

The new standards would not only apply to full-time workers, but to temporary and contract workers that work directly for the company – though firms that hire these workers may still choose to use arbitration clauses.

Making changes following pressure

Google’s decision likely isn’t one that was made by chance. Last year, approximately 20,000 of its workers around the world staged a walkout in protest of forced arbitration. Within a week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai released a blog post saying that the company takes its workers’ rights seriously.

“At Google we try hard to build a workplace that supports our employees and empowers them to do their best work. As CEO, I take this responsibility very seriously and I’m committed to making changes we need to improve,” Pichai said.

While the executive promised at the time to “double down” on the company’s commitment towards improving workplace conditions, the action plan he detailed in the post focused primarily on improvements to how the company would deal with sexual harassment claims. The new proposal has been hailed as being more comprehensive.

AT&T will be dropping support for 3G networks at the beginning of 2022, and Verizon plans to end 3G service at the end of this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The planned phase-out of 3G comes as major carriers are gearing up to launch 5G infrastructure throughout the U.S.

Once 3G is gone, consumers who use older devices will be forced to upgrade to a newer model. AT&T said 11 percent of their customers still rely on 3G for connectivity. However, 3G is currently taking away bandwidth from 4G technology and 5G technology, which is causing cellular data users to experience slower speeds.

Preparing for 5G

On Thursday, President Trump tweeted that he wants U.S. companies to begin embracing 5G and start exploring the possibility of 6G so that the U.S. doesn’t fall behind.

“I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible,” Trump said. “It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind.”

Verizon president Ronan Dunne told investors that the company is aiming to launch 5G connectivity in 30 cities across the country, according to the Journal.

AT&T is deploying 5G service in 12 cities across the U.S. this year. The company will also carry the first 5G-capable phone in the market -- the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.

It was a little harder to sell a home last month. Sales of existing homes dipped 1.2 percent from December and were down 8.5 percent from January 2018, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

But even though there were fewer homebuyers last month, those who did buy a house paid more for it.

“Existing home sales in January were weak compared to historical norms; however, they are likely to have reached a cyclical low,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Moderating home prices combined with gains in household income will boost housing affordability, bringing more buyers to the market in the coming months.”

Home prices may be moderating, but they aren’t going down. The median price of a home sold in January rose 2.8 percent to $247,500. It was the 83rd consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.

Not good for anyone

This situation in January wasn’t that great for either buyers or sellers. If you were selling a home, it took a little longer. If you were buying one, you likely paid a little more for it.

Houses were on the market for an average of 49 days in January, up from 46 days in December and 42 days in January 2018. That said, 38 percent of homes sold in January were on the market for less than a month

Yun says mortgage rates started to fall in December but not enough to motivate buyers. But in the months ahead, he predicts lower rates will begin to make a difference.

The housing market has been out of balance for at least two years with not enough homes on the market to meet demand. That’s the main reason home prices keep rising. But the January numbers suggest a positive trend.

Positive trend

The market is still suffering from an inventory shortage, but the number of homes for sale increased in January for the sixth straight month. However, much of the increase in inventory was for more expensive properties.

“In particular, the lower end of the market is experiencing a greater shortage, and more home construction is needed,” Yun said.

Home construction is still at about half the levels of 2006, just before the housing crash. Yun says finding ways to lower construction costs would help increase the pace of building, especially of entry-level housing.

He says reforming local zoning ordinances and expediting the housing permitting process “would immediately increase homeownership opportunities and boost local economies.”

Consumers who had grown accustomed to low and stable gasoline prices over the last four months got a jolt in the last week.

The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey shows the average price of regular gas surged nine cents a gallon in the last seven days, to $2.38 a gallon. It’s 13 cents higher than a month ago but still lower when compared to last year.

The average price of premium gas is up eight cents to $2.94 a gallon, and the price of diesel fuel is up only four cents a gallon, to $2.95.

It was in states where gasoline is normally the cheapest that prices rose the most. In just seven days, the statewide average rose 14 cents a gallon in South Carolina and Texas, 13 cents a gallon in Kansas, and 11 cents a gallon in Alabama and Mississippi.

States where gasoline is usually the most expensive bucked the trend and remained mostly stable. The average price in Hawaii actually went down a penny, making California the most expensive state for fuel in the last week.

“Motorists are seeing more expensive gas prices as a result of ongoing refinery problems coupled with crude oil prices hitting their highest level so far this year as global crude inventories tighten,” said Jeanette Casselano, a AAA spokesperson. “Inventories are likely to continue to tighten and keep gas prices higher through the end of the month.”

But it remains to be seen whether the pace of last week’s price hikes can be maintained. The latest report from the Energy Information Administration shows demand for fuel dropped for a second week. But because consumers are buying less gasoline, refineries have stepped up their exports.

The states with the most expensive regular gas

These states currently have the highest prices for regular gas, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Survey:

• California ($3.27)

• Hawaii ($3.26)

• Washington ($2.86)

• Nevada ($2.84)

• Alaska ($2.81)

• Oregon ($2.74)

• Pennsylvania ($2.59)

• New York ($2.51)

• Connecticut ($2.47)

• Michigan ($2.46)

The states with the cheapest regular gas

The survey found these states currently have the lowest prices for regular gas:

• Alabama ($2.09)

• Mississippi ($2.09)

• Louisiana ($2.10)

• Arkansas ($2.10)

• Missouri ($2.11)

• Texas ($2.12)

• Colorado ($2.12)

• Oklahoma ($2.15)

• Kansas ($2.15)

• South Carolina ($2.15)

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) is recalling 288,779 of the following vehicles:

• Model year 2014 C250s, C300 4Matics, C350s, C63 AMGs, E350 4Matic Coupes, E350 Cabrios, E350 Coupes, SLS AMG Cabrios, SLS AMG Coupes, model year 2014-2015 C250 Coupes, C350 4Matic Coupes, C350 Coupes, C63 AMG Coupes, GLK 350s, GLK250 BlueTec 4Matics, GLK350 RWDs, model year 2015-2017 E400 4Matic Coupes, E400 Cabrios, E400 Coupes, 2014-2017 E550 Cabrios, and model year 2014-2016 E550 Coupes sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan) and the U.S. Virgin Islands – or "Zone A."
• Model year 2012-2014 C250s, E350 4Matic Coupes, SLS AMG Cabrios, model year 2012-2015 C250 Coupes, C350 4Matic Coupes, C350 Coupes, C63 AMG Coupes, 2011 C300s, model year 2011-2014 C300 4Matics, C350s, C63 AMGs, E350 Cabrios, E350 Coupes, SLS AMG Coupes, model year 2015-2016 E400 4Matic Coupes, E400 Cabrios, E400 Coupes, model year 2011-2016 E550 Cabrios, E550 Coupes, model year 2011-2015 GLK350 4Matics, GLK350 RWDs, and model year 2013-2015 GLK250 BlueTec 4Matics ever registered in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia – or "Zone B."
• Model year 2012-2014 C250s, E350 4Matic Coupes, SLS AMG Cabrios, model year 2012-2015 C250 Coupes, C350 4Matic Coupes, C350 Coupes, C63 AMG Coupes, model year 2010-2011 C300s, model year 2010-2014 C300 4Matics, C350s, C63 AMGs, E350 Coupes, model year 2011-2014 E350 Cabrios, SLS AMG Coupes, model year 2015-2016 E400 4Matic Coupes, E400 Cabrios, E400 Coupes, model year 2016-2017 E550 Cabrios, model year 2010-2016 E550 Coupes, model year 2010-2015 GLK350 4Matics, GLK350 RWDs, and model year 2013-2015 GLK250 BlueTec 4Matics ever registered in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming – or "Zone C."

The vehicles are equipped with air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger front airbag modules that may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the passenger or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

What to do

MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag module, free of charge.

An interim letter is being mailed from February 1, 2019, through March 8, 2019. A second letter will be sent when parts are available.

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

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing is recalling 3,424 model year 2019 Toyota Corolla hatchbacks equipped with Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT).

The pump impeller blades within the torque converter may detach, especially when driven under high load, potentially causing a vehicle stall.

A vehicle stall, especially when driving a high rate of speed, can increase the risk of a crash.

What to do

Toyota has notified owners, and dealers will replace the CVT and torque converter, free of charge.

An interim letter was mailed on January 28, 2019, to notify owners about the issue. A second letter will be sent when the remedy is available.

Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371. Toyota's number for this recall is J17/J07.

SRAM of Chicago, Ill., is recalling about 7,700 SRAM i-Motion 3 internal gear hubs (coaster brake version) for bicycles sold in the U.S. and Canada.

The brakes in the gear hubs can fail, posing crash and injury hazards to the rider.

The firm has received five reports of brake failure, resulting in one minor injury.

This recall involves SRAM i-Motion 3 three-speed internal gear hubs with a coaster brake installed on bicycles with no redundant braking system.

The recalled hubs were sold on the following Electra model bicycles: Electra Cruiser Custom 3i, Electra Coaster 3i, Electra Hawaii 3i, Electra Hawaii 3i 24 and Electra Straight 8. They were also sold as aftermarket parts for other bicycles.

The recalled hubs have “SRAM i-Motion 3” printed on the hub shell and a brake arm extending from the axle of the hub.

The hubs, manufactured in Taiwan, were sold at specialty bicycle retailers nationwide from April 2010, through December 2018, for between $400 and $800 for Electra bicycles equipped with the recalled hubs, and for about $90 for the recalled aftermarket gear hubs

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using bicycles with the recalled gear hubs and contact SRAM for instructions on how to receive a partial refund.

Consumers may contact SRAM at (800) 346-2928 from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. (ET) Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. (ET) on Friday, or online at www.sram.com or www.zipp.com and click on “Recall Information” at the top of the pages for more information.

A patient in Arizona needed help. Last year, the person had contracted tuberculosis (TB), the lung infection that people might assume just doesn’t happen anymore in United States.

To be sure, TB cases here are few and far between and are rarely serious enough to require antibiotics. But the patient in Arizona proved to be an exception. They were suffering from the drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, known as multidrug-resistant TB or MDR-TB. The diagnosis meant that even typical antibiotics didn’t work. They needed something stronger.

The local county health department in Arizona determined that their patient needed bedaquiline, a newer drug that researchers say has proven in recent years to be the best bet at helping people who have MDR-TB.

But to get that drug, the county would have to make a request to Johnson & Johnson. The pharmaceutical and personal care giant has an exclusive patent on bedaquiline with its breakthrough drug Sirturo. With its monopoly, Johnson & Johnson charges $30,000 for a course of treatment. It was a price that the county in Arizona couldn't afford.

“Prescribing and paying full price for this medication would decimate local health department budgets,” an unnamed official in Arizona recounted of the experience.

That story is detailed by John Hopkins University researchers, who published a report online two months ago describing the difficulties that public health departments face in obtaining bedaquiline from Johnson & Johnson. The report was published in partnership with the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association, a coalition of state agencies responsible for monitoring tuberculosis cases in the United States.

According to the report, people in rural health departments are worried that the cost of treating MDR-TB could devastate their budget, even though the disease is so rare.

“If we had a patient who was underinsured or for whatever reason was not eligible for Medicaid,” a Kentucky health official is quoted saying, “then most definitely the resources would fall upon that local health department and that would be very devastating.”

The burden of expensive drugs

In Arizona, meanwhile, local county health workers last year decided to try to obtain the drug for free. Johnson & Johnson runs a non-profit that gives away bedaquiline doses to uninsured patients. The patient there had private insurance, but it wouldn’t cover the bedaquiline.

But after the Arizona county applied (the specific county is not named in the report), Johnson & Johnson rejected the request, pointing to the patient's insurance coverage. Public health workers explained the problem and submitted a second application.

On the second try, Johnson & Johnson relented, agreeing to provide Sirturo in Arizona free-of-charge

“Allowing us to procure this medication for free has been lifesaving,” an Arizona state health official quoted in the report said of the ordeal.

While the cases in Arizona and Kentucky eventually worked out, with the counties getting free treatment, they reveal the strain that expensive drugs can have on public health agencies and patients.

The situation is even worse in poorer countries, where tuberculosis is more common. In the rest of the world, most people who have MDR-TB simply don’t receive Johnson & Johnson’s bedaquiline treatment. The patients ultimately die from the infection or suffer life-changing side effects from taking less effective drugs, advocates say. 

At the same time, experts say that taxpayers already poured an enormous amount of money into the research behind bedaquiline. But Johnson & Johnson now enjoys the financial rewards thanks to its monopoly on the life-saving drug.

“It has received a significant amount of public support,” Leonardo Palumbo, an advocacy adviser with Doctors Without Borders, tells ConsumerAffairs. “It’s part of a broader question. How to ensure that when taxpayers are funding drugs” that they benefit from the funding.

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson's press team says that patients in the United States and providers are unlikely to pay the full listing price of the drug. 

"When it comes to cost, in the U.S. it is important to remember that the list price for a medication is merely a starting point that is ultimately reduced by the discounts and rebates we provide to insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers, hospitals, clinics and government programs," the company's press team writes to ConsumerAffairs. 

Drug patents in U.S.

Martin Shkreli may have become the most hated man in America in 2015 when he purchased the sole rights to an AIDS medication and hiked the price from $13.50 to $750 a pill. He is now serving time in a federal prison on securities fraud charges, but that hasn’t deterred other pharmaceutical companies from trying obtain monopolies on drugs for rare diseases.

A small firm called Catalyst Pharmaceuticals recently purchased the rights to a drug for a rare disease called Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome. Patients used to access the drug for free through the FDA’s “compassionate use” program, which allows patients to obtain some off-label drugs at no charge. Under the Catalyst deal, the drug now costs up to $375,000.

Some patients are now reportedly rationing their medicine as a result of the increase. And because Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome is considered a rare disease that otherwise wouldn’t be of interest to pharmaceutical companies, the FDA has already granted Catalyst seven years of marketing exclusivity.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have questioned who benefits from such exclusive drug licensing deals. Aaron Kesselheim, a Harvard researcher who studies drug prices, told Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during a recent congressional hearing that profits from drugs that are developed with grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH) are rarely returned back to taxpayers.

“When those products are eventually handed off to a for-profit company, there aren’t licensing deals that bring money back into the coffers of the NIH,” Kesselheim testified.

Public money in TB

While TB is considered the world’s deadliest infectious disease, treating it hasn’t been a priority in the pharmaceutical industry. The industry and United States officials still regard it as relatively rare.

"A lot of it has to do with who gets TB, where they live, how they are seen or not seen by the market,” Mike Frick, a researcher with the advocacy group the Treatment Action Group, tells ConsumerAffairs. "It’s considered to be a disease closely associated with poverty.”

As a result of that perception, finding a better TB cure was often left to NGOs or government organizations. When Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, won approval from the FDA to market bedaquiline in 2012, the move was seen as a major victory. The treatment was hailed as the first new tuberculosis drug developed in nearly 40 years. Researchers were hopeful that bedaquiline would have less painful side effects than other available treatments for MDR-TB.

Johnson & Johnson subsequently earned tax breaks in exchange for its marketing of the new drug under FDA programs meant to incentivize the treatment of ignored tropical diseases. A report by Treatment Action Group estimates that Johnson & Johnson has likely recouped the cost of research and development due to the tax incentives.

Even before sales, “Johnson & Johnson has already benefited just for registering the drug, even though it was primarily developed with public dollars, and has been since its approval,” Frick says.

Yet Sirturo doesn’t come cheap for patients -- or the government health agencies and public health groups that ultimately pay. In South Africa, Johnson & Johnson charges $400 for a course of treatment. The price is $900 in other low-income countries. For middle-income countries, the company charges $3,000. In the United States and other wealthy nations, where MDR-TB is rare, the price of the drug is $30,000. Researchers have said that Johnson & Johnson could have capped the price at just $32 and still reaped profits.

While Johnson & Johnson has resisted calls to lower the price of its drug to $32, it has agreed to set aside 90,000 doses to be given away to charity. Still, those donations cover a fraction of the 558,000 people that the World Health Organization (WHO) says are diagnosed with MDR-TB.

“The price of bedaquiline is of serious concern in the post-donation era,” the Treatment Action Group says.

Foreign countries, U.S. prices

United States drugmakers are able to hold monopolies in foreign nations under international trade agreements, preventing local generic drug companies from cutting into their business. But during the height of the AIDS epidemic, poorer nations questioned why they had to pay hefty prices for life-saving drugs, leading to industry and government concessions to make the HIV and AIDS drugs more affordable. That same fight is only starting to brew when it comes to the tuberculosis medications.

"More and more countries are struggling with the same thing we're struggling with in America,” Palumbo, the advisor with Doctors Without Borders, tells ConsumerAffairs. “How can we afford to treat our patients?”

India is considered the frontline of the TB epidemic and also has a robust generic drug industry. But Johnson & Johnson’s patent on Sirturo ensures that no local competitors can enter the field until 2023. Even then, the monopoly may extend further. Johnson & Johnson currently has an application  requesting to extend its patent in India until 2027.

In response, two TB survivors recently filed a challenge against the pharmaceutical company, arguing that its monopoly on bedaquiline should end by 2023.

Doctors Without Borders says in a news release that the women “are now fighting to ensure that newer drugs like bedaquiline -- which are safer and more effective -- are made affordable and accessible to everybody with DR-TB so fewer people have to use painful and toxic alternatives.”

Johnson & Johnson responds to ConsumerAffairs that generic competitors in India are still free to develop their own formulations of drugs containing bedaquiline after 2023, even if the patent extension is approved. The company also says that they have donated 10,000 courses of medicine in India.  

"The application was first considered by the Indian Patent Office in 2012 and remains under review," the company says in an emailed statement. "If granted, a formulation patent would not prevent generic manufacturers from developing the active pharmaceutical ingredient in their own formulations after July 2023, when the API patent expires in India."

But Johnson & Johnson has given no indication that it plans to lower its price.

“Bedaquiline is cost-effective, and the price is on par with some decades-old generic drugs,” the company said online last week. “Johnson & Johnson is committed to remaining in the fight against TB for the long haul.”

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Update: 2/24/19

Johnson & Johnson disputes reports that the public funded most bedaquiline research. The company also suggests that it may make more doses for charity available in the future. An emailed statement that the company sent ConsumerAffairs after this story was published is featured below:

"Claims that bedaquiline received significant public funding are completely inaccurate. Clinical trials that supported the registration of bedaquiline were almost exclusively funded by Johnson & Johnson. We funded thirteen of the sixteen Phase I clinical trials and all three of the Phase II clinical trials used to support the registration of bedaquiline. The remaining three Phase I dosing studies were funded by a non-profit, the TB Alliance. (Two Phase I studies were executed by NIH – but were funded by Janssen.) As a responsible medical innovator, Johnson & Johnson continues to fund studies and collaborate with external partners to advance the clinical development of bedaquiline."

"More than 100 low- and middle-income countries (not just South Africa) are eligible for the $400 price that we announced in July 2018."

"Of the half a million cases of DR-TB annually, only 139,000 patients are diagnosed and put on treatment – with any treatment regimen – due to a variety of systemic challenges. Of the 139,000, only a small subset of MDR-TB patients were previously eligible for bedaquiline, up until late 2018 when WHO revised its long-course MDR-TB treatment guidelines. In 2018, we delivered approximately 40,000 courses of bedaquiline globally – which was in line with the old guidelines. We remain committed to broadening access to bedaquiline as is appropriate and justified by the evidence – while also ensuring appropriate stewardship of this novel antibiotic."

When your product is the center of attention at a high-profile televised event, it’s usually a good thing. In the case of the Nike brand, it wasn’t.

With no NBA basketball games scheduled Wednesday night, the sports world was focused on the college basketball match-up between arch rivals Duke and North Carolina. It helped that both teams are ranked in the top 10 and Duke star forward Zion Williamson is the top player in college basketball and projected to be the top pick in the 2019 NBA draft.

Televised on ESPN, ticket prices for the game rivaled those paid to see the Super Bowl. The spectators at Cameron Indoor Stadium included former President Barack Obama. ESPN announcers speculated on whether the crowd was there because of the rivalry or to see Williamson. If it was the latter, the crowd would be disappointed.

Just 30 seconds into the game

In the first 30 seconds of the game, Williamson had the ball and drove to his right at the top of the circle and planted his left foot, clad in a Nike PG 2.5 PE. As Williamson planted his foot, the shoe virtually exploded, ripping the seam between the upper shoe and the sole.

As the shoe gave way it caused Williamson’s legs to become over-extended and he twisted his right knee as he fell to the floor. The brief video clip below shows what happened.

Game-changer

Williamson left the game with what was later described as a mild knee sprain and did not return. Without its star player, top-ranked Duke lost at home to number eight North Carolina.

Meanwhile, the Nike shoe became the immediate focus of attention and speculation about why it would rip apart. Twitter erupted in a gasp of horror as thousands who witnessed it on live TV added their two cents. One tweeter summed up the problem for Nike quite succinctly.

“That the shoe blew out on National TV. That the shoe blew out for Duke-UNC. That the shoe blew out on Zion Williamson. Awful look for Nike,” he wrote.

“We are obviously concerned and want to wish Zion a speedy recovery," Nike said in a statement to the Bleacher Report. "The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance. While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue.”

The fallout was felt on Wall Street early Thursday morning as Nike stock was down 1.5 percent in pre-market trading. For Nike, there is a lot at stake. Providing athletic equipment, including sneakers, to college programs is big business. Duke and many other major universities have contracts with Nike. The competition for those contracts is fierce.

If the shoe turns out to be defective, or if Williamson decides he wants to wear a different shoe, the impact could have a lasting effect.

During a recent episode of ARK Invest’s FYI podcast, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla’s self-driving system will be available by the end of 2019. However, the feature won’t enable a driver to allow the vehicle to operate entirely once engaged; it will require some driver oversight -- at least in the beginning.

“I think we will be feature complete, full self-driving, this year – meaning the car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up and take you all the way to your destination without intervention, this year. I would say I am of certain of that. That is not a question mark,” he said.

However, just as the electric automaker’s Autopilot feature requires some level of driver assistance, so too will Tesla’s “full self-driving system.”

Musk noted in the interview that “people sometimes will extrapolate that to mean now it works with 100 percent certainty, requires no observation, perfectly. This is not the case.” The CEO said it’ll be another two years before Tesla’s self-driving system can operate without driver assistance.

But by the end of 2020, Musk said Tesla owners may even be able to fall asleep in their autonomous vehicle.

“My guess as to when we would think it is safe for somebody to essentially fall asleep and wake up at their destination? Probably towards the end of next year. That is when I think it would be safe enough for that.”

Data collection giving Tesla an edge

Tesla isn’t the only automaker participating in the race to bring fully autonomous cars to market.  In December, Waymo officially launched its self-driving taxi service in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. General Motors is also racing to launch a self-driving car service under a collaboration with Honda.

During the podcast, Musk said he believes Tesla has an advantage in the race to deliver self-driving cars due to the amount of data Tesla collects from its vehicles.

“The reason Tesla is making rapid progress is because we have vastly more data, and this is increasing exponentially,” he said.

Tesla’s long-promised self-driving feature must still obtain regulatory approval before hitting the market, Elektrek noted. But Musk believes the data it collects will come in handy when regulators request proof that the system is safer than human drivers.

“I think they will understand data, so if we show you know, billions of miles with a given safety level, then they will appreciate that. It’s not like saying, ‘Hey, we have this really fast computer and everything’s gonna work.’ It’s like, ‘Well, you know, that’s just a statement,’” the Tesla executive said.

“But if you got hard data, billions of miles, and you could show the accident rates and intervention rates, and that it’s essentially unsafe if you don’t have Autopilot on, which I think is really unequivocal at this point. No matter how you slice the data, it is unequivocal at this point that it’s safer to have Autopilot on.”

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a draft report, says the U.S. has made great strides in closing the “digital divide” and expanding broadband internet services in rural areas of America.

Rural counties have consistently lagged behind metro areas in the deployment of fast internet because consumers are spread out and it’s expensive to serve them. Increasing service to rural areas has been an FCC priority for nearly a decade but expansion of service has come at a slow pace.

“We’ve been tackling this problem by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and providing efficient, effective support for rural broadband expansion through our Connect America Fund,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement

The draft report says the number of Americans who lack access to a fixed broadband connection dropped by 25 percent in one year, from 26 million to 19.4 million between 2016 and 2017.

Minimum speed

To be considered broadband service, an internet connection must achieve a minimum speed of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps. The report says a lot of the progress has come in rural America, where 5.6 rural consumers got faster internet over the course of 12 months.

Earlier this month, the co-chair of the Congressional Rural Broadband Caucus released a letter he wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that urged her to include broadband spending in a potential infrastructure package.

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), whose district spans a wide area of rural Eastern Virginia, says President Trump’s proposal for an infrastructure bill should include funding for technology infrastructure too.

“With that in mind, I am urging you to prioritize policies in the 116th Congress that will help promote broadband investments and bridge the digital divide between urban and rural America,” Wittman wrote in the letter.

Virginia an underserved state

According to Wittman, nearly 50 percent of consumers living in rural Virginia lack access to high speed internet and 29 percent don’t have any internet service at all. He says obstacles include government red tape and regulations, cost of service, and varying geographic factors.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, one of two Democrats on the Commission, took issue with the draft report that reports significant progress.

“Millions of households -- in rural and urban communities -- have no access to high-speed service,” she wrote in a tweet. “That’s a fact.”

The five commissioners -- three Republicans and two Democrats -- will meet later to vote on whether to adopt the draft as official FCC policy.

Johnson & Johnson disclosed in its annual report on Wednesday that it received subpoenas from two federal agencies related to litigation involving its baby powder line.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice have requested that the pharmaceutical giant produce documents that shed light on the safety of its baby powder products.

The inquiries came in response to a Reuters report from December about product liability lawsuits against the company.

Internal documents obtained by Reuters revealed that Johnson & Johnson had been aware since the 1970s that its talc and powder products occasionally tested positive for traces of asbestos -- a known carcinogen and lung irritant with no safe level of exposure. However, the company didn’t tell regulators or the public.

J&J said the subpoenas “are related to news reports that included inaccurate statements and also withheld crucial information.”

The company has denied the allegations presented in the Reuters report and argued that “decades of independent tests by regulators and the world’s leading labs prove Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder is safe and asbestos-free, and does not cause cancer.”

Johnson & Johnson has been sued numerous times by consumers who claim they got cancer after using the company’s products. The company said it intends to "cooperate fully” with the latest federal inquiries about the safety of its talcum powder products and that it will "continue to defend J&J in the talc-related litigation.”

While Facebook can’t seem to get out of its own way to make sure its users’ data is protected, Google is taking extra precautions to make sure it doesn’t fall into the same bottomless pit of consumer distrust.

Google’s new security defense comes as a response to a recent survey which asked 3,000 Americans for their two cents worth on web security elements such as passwords, two-factor authentication, phishing, and password managers.

Interestingly, 69 percent of the respondents gave themselves an A or B in protecting their online accounts, yet 66 percent admitted to reusing passwords, and 40 percent couldn’t accurately define phishing.

To Google, that was a clear disconnect and sufficient reason to create two Chrome browser updates that it insists will not only keep internet surfers’ data secure but work beyond its own apps and sites.

Staying ahead of threats is key

ConsumerAffairs readers are all too familiar with monster-sized breaches like Quora’s data break-in that impacted 100 million users and home design website Houzz’s recent smash-and-grab that possibly allowed access to 40 million user IDs, postal codes, and more.

If those numbers aren’t eye-popping enough, take a look at the recently discovered "Collection #1" data breach, reported to have exposed 772,904,991 unique emails and 21,222,975 unique passwords -- possibly the largest breach ever.

To try and curb those types of breaches going forward, Google created Password Checkup, a Chrome extension that helps protect user’s accounts from such infractions.

“We help keep your Google Account safe by proactively detecting and responding to security threats,” Google’s Kurt Thomas, Security and Anti-Abuse Research Scientist, and Adam Dawes, Senior Product Manager, Developer Tools for Identity, said in the product announcement.

“For example, we already automatically reset the password on your Google Account if it may have been exposed in a third-party data breach -- a security measure that reduces the risk of your account getting hacked by a factor of ten.”

“If we detect that a username and password on a site you use is one of over 4 billion credentials that we know have been compromised, the extension will trigger an automatic warning and suggest that you change your password.”

In the isolated situation where an attacker actually makes its way into a user’s Google account, the company’s built in tools like verification and warnings of potentially harmful apps will help users get back to safety ASAP.

That’s where the second new Chrome add-on -- Cross Account Protection -- helps. “When apps and sites have implemented it, we’re able to send information about security events -- like an account hijacking, for instance -- to (the user) so they can protect (them), too,” Thomas and Dawes wrote.

What data will Google share when a security “event” happens?

Google says it designed the security events to be extremely limited to protect your privacy. The company says that:

• It will only share the fact that the security event happened;

• It will only share basic information about the event, like whether the user’s account was hijacked, or if Google forced the user to log back in because of suspicious activity; and

• It will only share information with apps where the user logged in with Google.

To widen its protective stance, Google is working with other major technology companies -- like Adobe, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the OpenID Foundation -- to make this easy for all apps to implement.

It may seem obvious, but…

In comments to ConsumerAffairs, Emily Schechter, Product Manager, Chrome Security at Google reminds us all that we can’t be too safe.

"Even though it may seem obvious, some of the best security advice is still: use unique passwords; update your software and apps; and use two-factor authentication. While these things may seem basic, they can really do a lot to improve your online security,” Schecter said.

Geting started with Google’s new Chrome security add-ons is a relatively simple process. Users can get started by simply clicking here to add Password Checkup as one of Chrome’s extensions.

The image of millennials as uninterested in homeownership or stuck renting is misplaced, according to a new survey conducted by real estate marketplace realtor.com.

The survey shows that millennials have taken on more in mortgage loans than both baby boomers or Generation X in recent months. While they typically purchase homes in more affordable markets, they are making smaller down payments and taking on larger mortgages as a result.

"Millennials are getting older, with better jobs and deeper pockets, allowing them to expand their collective purchase power, and hence, their footprint in the market," said Javier Vivas, director of economic research at realtor.com. "The stereotype that millennials primarily choose to buy homes and live in large metro areas isn't the reality.”

Cost of housing is the main factor

In fact, millennials are more likely to choose a place to live based on its affordability than the two previous generations. As a result, they have been responsible for growth in some secondary markets like Nashville and Omaha. Vivas says this group continues to seek out less traditional secondary markets where homes and jobs are now available and plentiful.

As home prices rise in those cities, millennials are seeking out other overlooked markets. The survey shows in recent months they have made Buffalo the most popular affordable market for their generation.

The reason so many millennials have to relocate to become homeowners is the need for a so-called “starter home,” a house that is usually smaller and less expensive. That’s exactly the kind of house that is in short supply since builders have not built that many new ones since the housing crash of 2009.

Leading the migration

As a result, young consumers have led a migration of sorts, moving from large urban centers to smaller communities, often in other regions of the country. And when they move they buy houses.

Beginning in early 2017, millennials became the largest segment of the population taking out mortgages, overtaking Generation X which had been the leader. At the end of last year, millennials were taking out 45 percent of all new mortgages, compared to 36 percent for Generation X and 17 percent for baby boomers.

In addition to Buffalo, millennials are moving in great numbers to Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Columbus, Ohio. The median price of a millennial-purchased home is $238,000, $26,000 less than what the typical baby boomer pays and $51,000 less than what the average Gen-Xer pays.

Fruits and vegetables provide our bodies with essential vitamins and nutrients that can affect both our physical and mental health, and now, researchers have confirmed that one fruit could be beneficial in lowering blood pressure.

A new study found that consumers can effectively lower their blood pressure and improve their blood vessel function by eating 200g of blueberries every day for one month.

“If the changes we saw in blood vessel function after eating blueberries every day could be sustained for a person’s whole life, it could reduce their risk of developing cardiovascular disease by up to 20 percent,” said lead researcher Dr. Ana Rodriguez-Mateos.

It’s all in the blue

The researchers performed two experiments to determine the effects that blueberries had on cardiovascular health.

In the first one, 40 volunteers were given a drink that either contained 200g of blueberries or a control beverage that was equal in nutrients every day for one month. The researchers evaluated participants’ urine, blood, blood pressure, and blood vessel function.

The follow-up experiment explored how anthocyanin -- the photochemical responsible for the blue color in blueberries -- affected participants’ vitals. In this step of the study, participants were given a drink with purified anthocyanins or a control drink that either matched blueberries’ levels of vitamins and minerals or fiber.

By the end of the month, the participants’ who were consuming the blueberry drinks saw a decrease in blood pressure numerically similar to people who have spent a month on blood pressure medication.

Moreover, researchers noticed an improvement in blood vessel function in participants who had the blueberry drink as quickly as two hours after consumption, and the effects lasted through the end of the study. The researchers didn’t record a large change in either blood pressure or blood vessel function for those who consumed the control beverages.

Overall, the researchers give the credit to the anthocyanin.

“Although it is best to eat the whole blueberry to get the full benefit, our study finds that the majority of the effects can be explained by anthocyanins,” Dr. Rodriguez-Mateos said.

Managing blood pressure

Over 100 million Americans struggle with high blood pressure. Recently, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) released new blood pressure guidelines that could be the key to preventing cardiovascular disease in the future.

The new guidelines lower the standards what was previously considered high blood pressure in an effort to have physicians intervene with their patients at earlier stages. While this would mark many more people as having high blood pressure, the experts also believe it will prevent over three million cardiovascular issues moving forward.

Additionally, legislators have been working to mandate smoke-free policies inside public buildings, which has also been beneficial in lowering blood pressure.

“When we looked at differences in blood pressure over time within individuals, comparing years when they lived in an area with smoke-free law to years when they didn’t, systolic blood pressure was lower on average when they lived in an area with smoke-free laws,” explained Dr. Stephanie Mayne, lead author of the study.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to help consumers lose weight faster, and now researchers are exploring how everyday activities -- like carrying groceries -- can contribute to improved physical fitness.

Known as “high intensity incidental physical activity” (HIIPA), people that struggle with incorporating exercise into their lifestyles can take a cue from HIIT and start adding in short bursts of exercise with things that they are already doing on a daily basis.

“Regular incidental activity that gets you huffing and puffing even for a few seconds has great promise for health,” said researcher Emmanuel Stamatakis. “There is a lot of research telling us that any type of HIIT, irrespective of duration and number of repetitions is one of the most effective ways to rapidly improve fitness and cardiovascular health and HIIPA works on the same idea.”

Don’t stop moving

The researchers’ ideas are based on the notion that varying body types, health conditions, and ages all contribute to how people’s bodies process exercise, which is where “incidental physical activity” comes into play.

According to the group, any activity that consumers don’t intend to be exercise -- such as walking around the mall or climbing stairs at home -- is considered incidental physical activity if it can get your heart pumping.

Because of the flexibility with activities and the low time commitment, the researchers consider this a great alternative for those who struggle with the physical act of exercise or who don’t have the time in the day to exercise for extended periods.

The team recommends dedicating roughly five to ten minutes a day for several days a week to these activities to get the most optimal benefits. The researchers suggest something as simple as parking further away from a destination to increase the distance you have to walk upon arrival can count towards HIIPA.

“The beauty of HIIPA and the idea of using activities we are already doing as part of every day life is that it is much more realistic and achievable for most people,” Stamatakis said. “The time commitment for HIIPA is close to zero minutes per day, and people could save even more time if their HIIPA involves brief walking sprints, or taking the stairs instead of waiting for the lift.”

Making the most of your time

Recently, a great deal of exercise research has focused on how consumers can make the most of little time spent in the gym. Experts have found that your metabolism can feel the effects of one workout for up to two days later, while climbing the stairs in short bursts can improve health.

“We know that sprint interval training works, but we were a bit surprised to see that stair snacking approach was also effective,” said researcher Jonathan Little. “Vigorously climbing a few flights of stairs on your coffee or bathroom break during the day seems to be enough to boost fitness in people who are otherwise sedentary.”