Current Events in April 2019

Fiat Chrysler (FCA) is apparently paying millions of dollars to Tesla for the privilege of selling its cars in Europe under Tesla’s marketing umbrella.

But it’s not a marketing decision designed to sell more cars. Rather, it’s a clever ploy to get around the European Union’s (EU) increasingly strict limits on automobile emissions. By being lumped in with Tesla’s fleet, which produces no emissions, FCA’s per car emissions falls significantly, helping it to avoid significant fines.

The Financial Times reports FCA is taking this step so that it’s fleet of cars sold in Europe can meet the EU’s target of limiting CO2 emissions to 95 grams per kilometer. Before bundling its cars with Tesla’s, FCA’s average was 123 grams.

The move exposes a rather large loophole in the new EU regulations and the lower emissions cap that is set to go into effect next year. Volkswagen has taken steps to lump its low-emission vehicles with its high-performance brands, Porsche and Lamborghini. But two totally unrelated and unconnected car companies being presented as one breaks new ground.

Nice source of revenue

According to The Financial Times, Tesla has been active in using its clean emissions numbers as a source of revenue. Last year, the company reportedly made $103.4 million by selling off zero-emissions credit. It raked in even more the year before.

The EU has set a cap on automobile emissions in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas. But in dealing with individual car companies, it has permitted automakers such as Tesla, with very low emissions, to trade the unused portion of their cap to other automakers whose cars create more greenhouse gas.

The cap went into effect in 2005 but has gotten smaller each year since, forcing car companies, as well as power plants, to become increasingly efficient in managing their carbon output.

Job listings website LinkedIn has released its fourth-annual Top Companies List, which ranks the 50 companies job seekers are most interested in working for based on the level of interest they receive from LinkedIn members, as well as the employee retention rate at each company.

LinkedIn says it looks at “billions of actions taken by LinkedIn members around the world to uncover the companies that are attracting the most attention from jobseekers and then hanging onto that talent.”

This approach “looks at what members are doing — not just saying — in their search for fulfilling careers,” according to the site.

Most sought-after companies

Tech giants Alphabet, Facebook, and Amazon took the top three spots for the third consecutive year, while Tesla dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in the list’s four-year history. Meanwhile, jobs in financial industries appear to be making a resurgence based on this year’s list, which ranks Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo among the top 25.

Below is a list of the top 25 companies according to LinkedIn’s rankings:

1. Alphabet

2. Facebook

3. Amazon

4. Salesforce

5. Deloitte

6. Uber

7. Apple

8. Airbnb

9. Oracle

10. Dell Technologies

11. Netflix

12. Cisco

13. The We Company

14. Spotify

15. Comcast NBCUniversal

16. Tesla

17. The Walt Disney Company

18. Bank of America

19. Lyft

20. ADP

21. Goldman Sachs

22. Citi

23. Slack

24. Adobe

25. Wells Fargo

The complete list of 50 companies can be viewed here.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has fired off warning letters to eight diamond marketers, taking issue with their online advertisements which the agency says may be deceptive.

That’s because the FTC charges that some marketing materials do not make a clear distinction when diamonds are simulated or created in a laboratory. Traditional diamonds are mined from the earth, formed over millions of years. In recent years, producers have created a diamond formed through a controlled process.

Laboratory diamond producers take issue with the term “synthetic diamond,” pointing out they are made of the same material as natural diamonds—carbon that has been crystallized in an isotropic 3D form. It just doesn’t take millions of years.

Jewelry Guides update

Last year, the FTC updated its Jewelry Guides to specifically address deceptive claims about precious metal, pewter, diamond, gemstone, and pearl products, and when marketers should make disclosures to avoid unfair or deceptive trade practices.

The letters warn that failure to follow the guides could result in an FTC enforcement action if the agency finds that the companies engage in unfair or deceptive practices.

The FTC did not name the eight diamond marketers receiving the warning. In the letter, FTC Associate Director James Kohm said the agency’s staff had determined the companies’ advertising appears to step over the line.

“After reviewing your website, Instagram, and Twitter advertising, we have concerns that some of your advertising of jewelry made with laboratory-created diamonds likely falsely implies that the jewelry has mined diamonds,” Kohn wrote.

The letter then advised the recipients to refer to the revised Jewelry Guides for detailed information about how to make non-deceptive representations about jewelry and related products, including mined, laboratory-created, and simulated diamonds.

What the rules apply to

Specifically, the updated rule address:

• Surface application of precious metals

• Alloys with precious metals in amounts below minimum thresholds

• Products containing more than one precious metal

• Composite gemstone products

• Varietals

• “Cultured” diamonds

• Qualifying claims about man-made gemstone products

• Pearl treatment disclosures

• Use of the term “gem”

• Misleading illustrations

• The definition of “diamond”

• Exemptions recognized in the assay for gold, silver, and platinum

In the case of diamonds, marketers are required to make clear and conspicuous disclosures about the source of the stones that are being advertised.

Flu season is tough for many consumers, and as effective as the vaccine has become in recent years, a recent study revealed that some people might still be at risk for a very interesting reason.

Researchers from Michigan State University found that tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ) -- a popular food additive found in anything from processed foods to frozen meat and fish -- can impede the effects of the flu vaccine.

“If you get a vaccine, but part of the immune system doesn’t learn to recognize and fight off virus-infected cells, then this can cause the vaccine to be less effective,” said researcher Robert Freeborn. “We determined that tBHQ was introduced through the diet, it affected certain cells that are important in carrying out an appropriate immune response to the flu.”

Weakening the response

To see how tBHQ affected the flu vaccine, the researchers conducted an experiment on mice in which the additive was introduced into the subjects’ diets. Over the course of the study, the researchers evaluated the mice’s T cells, determining whether the additive was hindering the T cells’ role in helping fight off infection.

The study revealed that tBHQ played a rather large role in the mice’s ability to fight off the flu, despite receiving the flu shot. The additive slowed down the immune system, as the T cells weren’t able to attack the flu virus as fast as they had before, forcing the mice to experience the full force of the flu.

“Overall, we saw a reduced number of CD8 T cells in the lung and a reduction in the number of CD4 and CD8 T cells that could identify the flu virus in the mice that were exposed to tBHQ,” said Freeborn. “These mice also had widespread inflammation and mucus production in their lungs.”

The researchers also found that tBHQ compromised the mice’s immune systems in such a way that they were unable to determine how to fight the flu virus, resulting in longer streaks with the sickness. Moving forward, the researchers hope that consumers are more mindful of how their diets can affect their likelihood of getting the flu.

“It’s important for the body to be able to recognize a virus and remember how to effectively fight it off,” said Freeborn. “That’s the whole point of vaccines, to spur this memory and produce immunity. TBHQ seems to impair the process.”

Benefits of the vaccine

Recently, studies have focused on how the flu vaccine positively affects heart disease and risks of heart attack. Researchers have found that those admitted into the hospital can reduce their risk of heart disease by getting the flu shot, while it can also help those with heart failure.

And though many parents are under the impression that the flu shot causes the flu, pediatricians recommend that parents get their children vaccinated as soon as possible.

Mercedes-Benz USA is recalling eight model year 2018-2019 GLA-250 and GLA250 4MATIC vehicles.

An incorrect rear seat back covering carpet could have been installed on the split-rear seat back. As a result, the child seat anchorage point (top tether) on the center positon of the rear seat may be covered and inaccessible for use.

If the upper anchorage point is covered, the child seat will not be able to be secured as intended in the center position of the rear seat, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a crash.

What to do

Mercedes will notify owners, and dealers will check the rear seat back covering carpet on the affected vehicles and replace it if necessary, free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin April 26, 2019.

Owners may contact Mercedes-Benz's customer service at 1-800-367-6372. Mercedes' number for this recall is 2019030003.

It’s become so common for cyber thieves to hack the block chain and steal cryptocurrency that experts say that at least $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen, though that number is likely higher.

It turns out, the person stealing from your digital wallet wasn’t using your hard-earned coins to buy the dream car you always wanted. They may have instead been using it to build a nuclear bomb.

According to a new report in Wired magazine, a new class of elite cyber thieves in North Korea are hacking blockchains and funneling the money to the government to evade economic sanctions. One hacking group alone is believed to have stolen $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Sources told Wired that the stolen money is going toward “missile and nuclear development programs.”

"We need to ask ourselves,” one source told the magazine, “when North Korea tests their next missile, is it really okay that they paid for it with Bitcoin?"

Earl Enterprise

For nearly a year, people who dined at Tequila Taqueria in Las Vegas, Chicken Guy! in Las Vegas, Mixology in Los Angeles, or any of the 67 Buca di Beppo and 31 Earl of Sandwich locations in the United States were unknowingly giving their credit cards away.

Information skimmed from over 2 million credit cards belonging to people who dined at those restaurants has been for sale on the Dark Web for a ten-month period.

Brian Krebs, an independent security researcher and journalist, discovered the breach in February and alerted Earl Enterprise, the hospitality chain that owns the restaurants. He says that cyber thieves used malware to access credit card information between May 23, 2018 and March 18, 2019.

Earl Enterprise finally acknowledged the “incident” in a statement on its website published March 29. The firm now says that the breach is “contained,” whatever that means. Unlike other major corporations that have suffered data breaches in recent years, Early Enterprises does not appear to be offering free credit monitoring to customers.

People who dined at the affected locations should check their credit card statements.

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says he’s seen enough information to conclude that faulty data from an angle-of-attack sensor played a role in two recent crashes of the company’s new jet, the 737 MAX 8.

A Lion Air jet crashed in October. An Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed last month. Both jets went down shortly after takeoff, killing a total of 346 people. Both crashes are still under investigation but in a statement, the Boeing executive acknowledged the growing consensus.

“With the release of the preliminary report of the Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 accident investigation it’s apparent that in both flights the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, known as MCAS, activated in response to erroneous angle-of-attack information,” Muilenberg said.

The MCAS is an automated system that reads information from a small angle-of-attack sensor located on the side of the aircraft. If the sensor detects the plane is rising at too steep an angle it automatically pushes the nose of the aircraft down, to prevent it from stalling and dropping from the sky.

Faulty data can be deadly

But if the information is wrong, then the MCAS would push the plane into a dive at low altitude during takeoff when it is supposed to be climbing. Though their final report has yet to be issued, investigators in both accidents think that could have happened.

Mullenberg’s statement followed a briefing by Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges, who said a preliminary investigation had ruled out pilot error as a cause of the accident. Earlier, he said the flight crew followed proper emergency steps as the pilots tried to regain control of the aircraft.

Chain of events

“The history of our industry shows most accidents are caused by a chain of events,” Mullenberg said. “This again is the case here, and we know we can break one of those chain links in these two accidents. As pilots have told us, erroneous activation of the MCAS function can add to what is already a high workload environment. It’s our responsibility to eliminate this risk. We own it and we know how to do it.”

Mullenberg said Boeing is taking a “comprehensive, disciplined approach” and will take all the time that is necessary to properly update the 737 MAX’s flight control software. He said the company is nearing the end of that process and expects to have the new software certified and implemented on the 737 MAX fleet in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft remain grounded.

Getting negative feedback at work can be hard to deal with for many consumers. To help fight those negative thoughts, researchers have explored the benefits of being more open to criticism.

According to researchers from the University of Toronto, receiving negative feedback at work can both help and hurt employees, but the most important thing is who delivers the critique: creativity can be sparked when employees receive criticism from someone of a lower rank.

“It makes sense that employees might feel threatened by criticism from their managers,” said researcher Yeun Joon Kim. “Supervisors have a lot of influence in deciding promotions or pay raises. So negative feedback from a boss might trigger career anxieties.”

Staying creative

Kim was inspired by his own experiences at work, and his team completed both a lab experiment and a field experiment to see how criticism at work affected later performance on creative tasks.

“I personally hate hearing negative feedback -- as most people do -- and I wondered if it really improved my performance, particularly when it came to completing creative tasks,” Kim said.

Both of his experiments yielded similar results: hearing criticism from a manager often prompted employees to get in their own heads and feel stunted creatively on their next projects, whereas hearing criticism from people who held lower positions spurred their creativity in future projects.

Kim explained that many employees feel that they’re in competition with their peers, and so hearing criticism from them can be just as detrimental as hearing it from a boss. However, the study also revealed that bosses are very receptive about hearing criticism from their employees, and doing so makes them more creative and productive.

According to Kim, bosses are “in a natural power position and can cope with the discomfort of negative feedback better.”

Moving forward, the researchers suggest that both bosses and employees be mindful when offering criticism, ensuring that comments are focused on work-related outcomes and are in no way personal.

“If you’re a supervisor, just be aware that your negative feedback can hurt your followers’ creativity,” said Kim. “Followers tend to receive negative feedback personally. Therefore, keep your feedback specific to tasks. Explain how the point you’re discussing relates to only their task behavior, not to aspects of the person.”

Workplace wellbeing

Consumers spend a good portion of their time at work, and it can often be stressful. One recent study found that getting into arguments with coworkers can affect your sleep, while another found that co-workers should only offer each other advice when asked first.

However, to cultivate a more positive work environment, researchers found that expressing gratitude in the workplace can improve employee satisfaction and well-being by leading to better sleep and even fewer headaches.

“Employees that receive positive feedback are healthier, and that can impact the bottom line,” said researcher David Cadiz. “Preventing headaches and other stress-related symptoms means fewer sick days, and, in this case, cuts down the cost of replacement nurses and overtime pay.”

While it’s not uncommon for many consumers to reach for a sugary drink or piece of candy for an extra jolt, a new study found that feeling a boost from sugar is more fiction than fact.

Researchers from the University of Warwick found that sugar doesn’t work to boost mood, but rather has the opposite effect, leaving consumers drowsy and less alert.

“The idea that sugar can improve mood has been widely influential in popular culture, so much so that people all over the world consume sugary drinks to become more alert or combat fatigue,” said Dr. Konstantinos Mantantzis. “Our findings very clearly indicate that such claims are not substantiated -- if anything, sugar will probably make you feel worse.”

Feeling the sugar effects

To see how consuming sugar affects the body, the researchers evaluated data from 31 previous studies. In analyzing the materials, the researchers were looking for how the amount of sugar affected the nearly 1,300 participants from past studies, as well as the type of sugar consumed, and how it later affected depression, alertness, and fatigue.

Perhaps the biggest finding from this study was that the idea of a sugar rush has no scientific evidence to support it -- sugar did not boost any participants’ energy levels. Moreover, the more sugar the participants consumed, the worse they ended up feeling. The researchers found that high sugar intake led to participants feeling less alert and more tired than before they had sugar.

The researchers also found that, overall, participants’ moods weren’t affected -- positively or negatively -- when consuming sugar, regardless of how much they had, what type they had, or what they were doing afterwards.

“We hope that our findings will go a long way to dispel the myth of the ‘sugar rush’ and inform public health policies to decrease sugar consumption,” said researcher Elizabeth Maylor.

The researchers also hope that these findings help consumers make healthier choices moving forward and skip the sugar when they want a buzz of energy.

“The rise in obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in recent years highlights the need for evidence-based dietary strategies to promote healthy lifestyles across the lifespan,” said Dr. Sandra Sünram-Lea. “Our findings indicate that sugary drinks or snacks do not provide a quick ‘fuel refill’ to make us feel more alert.”

Aiming to be sugar-free

Recently, many healthcare experts have been encouraging consumers to steer clear of sugary drinks. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released new guidelines regarding children’s consumption of these beverages.

From a legislative standpoint, the state of California is trying to pass a bill that would ban restaurants from serving sugary drinks to kids.

The moves are prioritizing consumers’ health, as other recent studies have revealed that sugary drinks can increase the risk of kidney disease, while replacing just one sugary drink with water can go a long way in improving overall health.

The European Commission has accused BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen of breaking antitrust rules by working together to delay the introduction of clean emissions technology.

In “statements of objections” sent to the companies, the Commission said it believes the companies did in fact violate antitrust rules when they colluded during technical meetings that took place between 2006 and 2014.

Specifically, the Commission has accused BMW, Daimler, and VW of coordinating their AdBlue dosing strategies and delaying the use of Otto Particle Filters, which reduce particulate emissions from the exhaust of petrol passenger cars.

“In the Commission's preliminary view, BMW, Daimler and VW coordinated their AdBlue dosing strategies, AdBlue tank size and refill ranges between 2006 and 2014 with the common understanding that they thereby limited AdBlue-consumption and exhaust gas cleaning effectiveness,” the Commission said in a press release.

By restricting competition on the development of emissions-reducing technology, the Commission says the companies denied consumers the opportunity to purchase cars that produced fewer emissions, “despite the technology being available to the manufacturers.”

The statements of objections come almost two years after the EU carried out inspections at the German carmakers’ premises.

Companies could face hefty fines

BMW, Daimler, and VW now have an opportunity to appeal the EU’s suspicions in writing and request an oral hearing.

“If, after the parties have exercised their rights of defence, the Commission concludes that there is sufficient evidence of an infringement, it can adopt a decision prohibiting the conduct and imposing a fine of up to 10% of a company's annual worldwide turnover,” the EU said.

The accusations come less than a month after the SEC charged Volkswagen and its former CEO Martin Winterkorn with defrauding U.S. investors by deliberately concealing its emissions scheme, known as “Dieselgate,” while selling billions in bonds.

Received a robocall lately? Odds are you did. Americans endured a new high water mark of  5.23 billion robocalls in March, according to data from the free robocall blocking app YouMail.

Scammers were behind almost half of those calls. Undaunted by hefty fines other health insurance scammers have faced, that con is still alive and well, accounting for more than 560 million robocalls -- the most of all robo scams.

Rounding out the Top 5 robocall scam list are easy money (pay to make money/get a job), interest rates (identity theft), student loans (identity theft/scam payments), and search listings (fake search listing fees).

“The robocall epidemic shows no signs of letting up, and consumers are growing frustrated as this problem continues,” said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. “The only good news is the robocall volume is only up 2 percent overall since we first hit 5 billion calls per month last October.”

Southern U.S. targeted

One thing that caught our attention in YouMail’s data was the overwhelming number of robocalls placed to phones in the Southern U.S.

Atlanta reigns supreme as the city with the most robocalls; Baton Rouge as the city and Louisiana as the state with the most robocalls per person; and Texas as the state with the most robocalls overall.

ConsumerAffairs asked Quilici what the story was behind that metric.

His short answer was, “We’re still trying to figure that out.” However, some of YouMail’s  hypotheses are:

1. People in the South tend to answer the phone more (more polite?), which makes their numbers targets for more robocalls.

2. Some of these places in the South are economically disadvantaged, which makes residents more likely to fall for scams and get more payment reminders.

3. The South may have different demographics in general (age, race, etc..) than the rest of the country, and that might affect phone behavior.

Regulators step up robocall efforts

As ConsumerAffairs reported earlier, the FCC and Congress have officially joined forces to try and hogtie robocalls once and for all via the SHAKEN/STIR rule that called on industry stakeholders to implement policies that would create caller ID authentications.

And, to its credit, the government got buy-in quickly from Verizon and AT&T. But, the effort hasn’t gotten much lift so far because “it remains so simple and inexpensive to blast massive volumes of robocalls nationwide within a very short period of time,” according to Quilici.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently raised a new alert for small businesses because, in the agency’s eyes, small businesses are a consumer, too. While the wool scammers pull over the eyes of small business owners is different -- with business services and charitable donations often being targeted -- the FTC wants business owners to know that they’re not being left out in the cold in this matter.

“At the end of your workday, the FTC remains committed to challenging illegal practices that affect you, your family, and your community. One example is Operation Donate with Honor, an FTC, state, and local enforcement sweep targeting outfits that falsely claimed to help veterans,” wrote the FTC’s Lesley Fair.

In 2018, the FTC filed a lawsuit against a company that claimed it was representing Google with a two-pronged approach. One was that the businesses would be listed as “permanently closed” in Google search results unless they paid a fee. The other half of the scam was an upsell with the false promise of first-place or first-page placement in search results.

Amazon confirmed on Thursday that it plans to build over 3,000 small satellites and launch them into low-earth orbit to provide high speed broadband connectivity to underserved areas of the world.

The satellites would provide "low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world," a spokesperson told CNBC.

In federal filings reviewed by GeekWire, Amazon said the satellites, which will be launched as part of “Project Kuiper,” will provide data coverage for areas ranging in latitude from 56 degrees north to 56 degrees south, where about 95 percent of the global population lives.

“Project Kuiper is a new initiative to launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

“This is a long-term project that envisions serving tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband internet. We look forward to partnering on this initiative with companies that share this common vision.”

Last November, Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX obtained clearance from the FCC to build out its global, high-speed, satellite-driven wireless network called "Starlink." When complete, SpaceX’s Starlink network will be comprised of nearly 12,000 satellites.

OneWeb, an initiative backed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group, launched its first 5G satellites in February.

The Labor Department reports there were 196,000 new jobs filled in March, easing fears that the economy may be slowing. But employers handed out fewer pay raises, as wages grew at a slower face than in February.

The nation’s unemployment rate held steady in March at 3.8 percent.

“Incorporating revisions for January and February, which increased nonfarm payroll employment by 14,000, monthly job gains averaged 180,000 in the first quarter of this year. In 2018, employment gains averaged 223,000 per month,” said William Beach, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Where the jobs are

The government reports notable gains in jobs related to health care and in professional and technical services. The economy added 49,000 health care jobs last month for a total of 398,000 over the last 12 months.

The professional and technical services sector grew by 34,000 jobs last month, adding more than 311,000 in the last 12 months. Employment continued to trend up in architectural and engineering services, as well as in management and technical consulting services which added a combined 12,000 jobs.

Restaurants and bars also did a lot of hiring last month, adding 27,000 positions. Government economists say that sector has been among the most stable over the last few months.

Employment increased by 16,000 in construction, adding nearly a quarter million jobs over the last 12 months.

Sigh of relief

The March report drew a big sigh of relief from Wall Street after a dismal showing in February, which raised concerns that the U.S. was joining the rest of the world in an economic slowdown.

In other areas, the employment picture was little changed from the month before. The number of people out of work for 27 weeks or more -- classifying them as long-term unemployed -- was essentially unchanged at 21.1 percent of those who are out of work.

The labor force participation rate was also little changed, at 63 percent, and has shown almost no movement over the last 12 months.

People working part time, but who are looking for full time work, also remained stable last month at 4.5 million.

Wages are growing but not as fast. Wage gains rose 0.14 percent last month with paychecks 3.2 percent bigger, year-over-year.

Unplanned maintenance at key oil refineries have reduced the flow of gasoline, and fuel supplies continue to shrink. As a result, gasoline prices continued to rise in the last week.

The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey shows the national average price of regular gasoline is $2.72 a gallon, up four cents in the last week. It’s risen 29 cents in the last month.

The price of premium is $3.27 a gallon, five cents higher than last Friday. The average price of diesel fuel is $3.03 a gallon, just a penny more than last week.

Prices normally rise at this time of year, but they’re getting a boost from the nation’s oil refineries, which aren’t turning out as much fuel as they normally do. Thursday’s report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows refineries are operating at about 86 percent. Normal utilization at this time of year is 93 percent.

Marathon’s 383,000 barrel a day Carson facility in California and the 200,000 barrel a day McKee refinery in West Texas are both undergoing unscheduled work, sending California gasoline prices soaring. Five other western states -- Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada -- all have statewide average gasoline prices above $3 a gallon.

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 ($3.70)

• Hawaii ($3.50)

• Washington ($3.23)

• Oregon ($3.13)

• Nevada ($3.03)

• Alaska ($3.01)

• Illinois ($2.88)

• Pennsylvania ($2.86)

• Michigan ($2.85)

• Arizona ($2.85)

The states with the cheapest regular gas

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

• Alabama ($2.43)

• Arkansas ($2.44)

• Mississippi ($2.44)

• Louisiana ($2.45)

• South Carolina ($2.47)

• Missouri ($2.47)

• Utah ($2.48)

• Virginia ($2.49)

• Oklahoma ($2.50)

• Texas ($2.48)

AdvancePierre Foods of Enid, Okla., is recalling approximately 20,373 pounds of ready-to-eat beef patties.

The product may be contaminated with extraneous materials -- specifically soft purple plastic.

There are no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The following item, produced on November 30, 2018, is being recalled:

• 14.06-lb. cases containing three bags with 30 pieces for a total of 90 portions of “CN FULLY COOKED FLAMEBROILED BEEF PATTIES CARAMEL COLOR ADDED” with case code 155-525-0 and package code 8334.

The recalled product, bearing establishment number “EST. 2260E” inside the USDA mark of inspection, was shipped to food service locations nationwide.

While the product was distributed to schools, it resulted from a commercial sale and was not part of food provided by the USDA for the National School Lunch Program.

What to do

Food service locations that purchased the recalled product should not serve or consume it, but discard or return it to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact AdvancePierre’s consumer affairs hotline at (855) 382-3101.