Current Events in November 2019

Merritt Manufacturing is recalling 216 Angel Guard Angel Ride car beds.

The restraint harness may not have been properly sewed where the buckle is attached.

The harness may not restrain the bed occupant in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

What to do

Merritt will notify owners and provide replacement harnesses free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin in November 2019.

Owners may contact Merritt customer service at (317) 409-0146.

If a green salad is on your Thanksgiving menu, just make sure the romaine lettuce didn’t come from Salinas, Calif. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified that agricultural region as the source of an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses that has sickened more than 40 people in 16 states. 

“Our investigation has led us to farms in Salinas, Calif., and while the FDA is sending investigators there to look for the source of contamination, we are updating our advice today to help protect the public health and to help ensure we contain this outbreak,” the agency said in a statement. 

The FDA says consumers should not eat any romaine lettuce that came from Salinas, Calif. If there is no labeling information on the product, the agency says it’s best to throw it out.

The FDA says restaurants and grocery stores should not serve or sell romaine lettuce if they cannot confirm where it was grown. Suppliers, distributors and other supply chain partners should also not sell or ship any romaine lettuce from Salinas. 

Other romaine lettuce is safe

“At this time, there is no recommendation for consumers or retailers to avoid using romaine harvested from other sources outside of Salinas or labeled as indoor, or hydroponically and greenhouse-grown," said Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response Frank Yiannas.

Yiannas said FDA investigators used DNA-fingerprinting to associate the current outbreak with ones that occurred in the past. He said everyone across the supply chain needs to make a greater effort to protect consumers. 

“The lessons we have learned from previous romaine-linked outbreaks and the adoption of labeling and traceability best practices by many in the industry have facilitated our traceback efforts and helped us target our advice to a defined harvest region,” Yiannas said. “Our goal with today's advice is to limit exposure and help prevent additional people from becoming sick.”

Voluntary labeling standard

One problem for consumers is that there are no uniform labeling standards for lettuce. The FDA says romaine lettuce may state the growing region on the label, but it might not. 

If consumers have any doubts about the origin of the romaine lettuce in their refrigerators, they shouldn’t eat it. The FDA says romaine lettuce from other regions and produce that is hydroponically and greenhouse-grown is not implicated in the outbreak.

The agency says genetic analysis of the E. coli O157:H7 strains from patients in the current outbreak are similar to strains of E. coli O157:H7 associated with previous outbreaks in 2017 and 2018.

E. coli is a serious condition that usually requires medical treatment. Early symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever, and mild dehydration.

It looks like Microsoft might be integrating Google’s Gmail, Drive, and Calendar into its own Outlook.com. According to a story first published by The Verge, the integration is still in the beta phase, but consumers who’ve been tapped to try out the integration report the following:

• What products are integrated? Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar are integrated into Microsoft’s Outlook. While Google Docs is essentially Google’s version of Microsoft Word and Excel, it’s unknown whether those will be incorporated or not.

• How does it work? Users report that the process is fairly simple and all it takes is linking your Google Account to an Outlook.com account. After that’s done, the Google products: a) will be displayed along with the Outlook’s in-box; b) can be sent as attachments.

It’s undetermined if or when a complete, public version will be published. For the moment, it’s reported that the feature has only been offered to Outlook.com webmail users.

Neither Google or Microsoft’s corporate sites mentions the move and a Microsoft spokesperson only went as far as telling The Verge that, “We are always looking for new ways to extend the best email experience to our customers and can confirm that we’re experimenting with a small set of Outlook.com users to learn and gather feedback.” In other words, keep watching.

Cooperation instead of annihilation?

Rare are the times that big tech tries to find a way to integrate a competitor’s software. In the past, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple have been more likely to throw millions of dollars at a competitive strike, duke it out in front of the consumer, and let consumers decide for themselves. 

Google, in particular, has been notorious for this, building a myriad of products to try and stymie Facebook and Twitter’s growth, only to toss in the towel a year or two down the road when the company exhausted all attempts to capture the flag.

While no one at Google or Microsoft has come right out and said it, both companies are probably aware that, between work and home, many consumers use products from each and working together to make life simpler for the consumer is a feather in both of their caps. Fingers crossed.

Inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, has unveiled a plan to prevent the web from continuing on its path to becoming what he calls a “digital dystopia.” 

Acting on concerns that the web has become a breeding ground for misinformation, privacy violations, and political manipulation, Berners-Lee formed a non-profit campaign group called the World Wide Web Foundation. 

The World Wide Web Foundation, through which Berners-Lee has released a global action plan called the “contract for the web,” has already garnered the support of Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and more than 150 organizations.

Berners-Lee says the help of governments, companies, and citizens is needed now to keep the web from becoming a place of harmful content rather than a benefit to humanity. 

“The power of the web to transform people’s lives, enrich society and reduce inequality is one of the defining opportunities of our time,” he said. “But if we don’t act now - and act together - to prevent the web being misused by those who want to exploit, divide and undermine, we are at risk of squandering that potential.” 

Key elements of the contract

The contract asks companies to respect consumers’ data privacy and urges governments to ensure that everyone is able to get online and access all of the internet, according to its website. Additional commitments to help protect the web include: 

• Web users should have access to any data held on them.

• Users should be able to object to data being held.

• Users should be able to prevent their data being processes.

• The Internet should be affordable.

• Web services be accessible.

“The web was designed to bring people together and make knowledge freely available. Everyone has a role to play to ensure the web serves the public good,” the website says.

Berners-Lee is set to attend a four-day UN Internet Governance Forum in Berlin on Monday. Ahead of the event, he tweeted that failing to take immediate action in defending “the free and open web” puts the web at risk of becoming a “digital dystopia of entrenched inequality and abuse of rights."

In an effort to help kids make healthier choices, legislators in cities across the country, including Philadelpia and Seattle, have implemented taxes on sugary drinks, while California representatives are trying to ban restaurants from serving kids sugary drinks. 

Though sugary drinks continue to be a favorite among kids, researchers are seeing the benefits of these taxes. Researchers have recently found that consumption of sugary drinks is on the decline for children and teens. 

Making healthier choices

The researchers utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) to determine how much sugar children and teens were consuming via drinks, analyzing responses from 2003 through 2014. 

While the survey included responses from over 15,000 kids and teens, the researchers were interested in assessing the decisions of recipients of the food assistance program SNAP -- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- with roughly 28 percent of the responses coming from kids utilizing SNAP. 

Though over 60 percent of all children were still consuming at least one sugary drink per day, the researchers found that overall, consumption of such beverages -- whether soda, juice, or sports drinks -- decreased among children between the ages of two and 19. 

As legislators are working to improve SNAP in an effort to improve consumers’ diets nationwide, the researchers found that kids who were involved in the program were drinking fewer sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) per day, and as a result, consuming fewer calories from such drinks. 

At the start of the study, over 84 percent of the children involved in SNAP were drinking at least one SSB per day. By the study’s end, that number dropped to under 76 percent. Similarly, SSB-fueled calories decreased from over 260 per day to just over 180 per day. 

While these numbers are trending in the right direction, kids started increasing their consumption of energy drinks or sports drinks over the course of the study. The researchers remain critical of the SNAP program and children’s SSB consumption in general. 

Moving forward, the researchers hope that advances with SNAP, and more legislative efforts, can help kids make healthier choices in the future. 

“While our results confirm that efforts to decrease SSB consumption over the past decade have been successful, they also suggest that the continued surveillance of children’s SSB consumption by beverage type is important, given the consumption trends for sports/energy drinks and non-traditional SSBs like flavored milks,” said researcher Sara N. Bleich, PhD. “These trends could reduce or eliminate the past decades’ achievements limiting SSB consumption.” 

Uber’s license to operate in London has been revoked by the city’s transport regulator due to ongoing safety concerns. London officials concluded that Uber has demonstrated a “pattern of failures,” which ultimately puts passenger safety at risk. 

The regulator initially suspended Uber’s license in 2017, citing concerns over the ride-hailing giant’s safety practices. Over the past two years, Uber has been granted two temporary permits to continue operating in the city. The first was issued in 2018 by a judge and gave the company a 15-month license to operate; a second two-month permit was granted by Transport for London (TfL) in September. 

“Uber has made a number of positive changes and improvements to its culture, leadership and systems in the period since the Chief Magistrate granted it a licence in June 2018. This includes interacting with TfL in a transparent and productive manner,” TfL said in a statement.

However, although Uber has taken several steps to mitigate some of its concerns, TfL said it still “does not have confidence that similar issues will not reoccur in the future” and concluded that the company is “not fit and proper at this time.” 

Uber plans to appeal

As soon as the decision was announced, Uber said it intends to appeal. The company has 21 days to do so and can operate while its appeal is considered. 

"TfL's decision not to renew Uber's licence in London is extraordinary and wrong, and we will appeal,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. "Over the last two months we have audited every driver in London and further strengthened our processes.” 

“We have robust systems and checks in place to confirm the identity of drivers and will soon be introducing a new facial matching process, which we believe is a first in London taxi and private hire,” the company added. 

Underscoring a host of changes Uber has made to correct its previous shortcomings, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the TfL’s decision was “just wrong.” 

"We understand we're held to a high bar, as we should be. But this TfL decision is just wrong," Khosrowshahi tweeted. "Over the last two years we have fundamentally changed how we operate in London. We have come very far — and we will keep going, for the millions of drivers and riders who rely on us." 

Uber noted in a blog post that it recently introduced a Safety Toolkit with the aim of increasing passenger safety and has also introduced safety and privacy training for all UK-based employees. The company has also taken steps to improve the culture among its employees in the wake of the departure of its former CEO Travis Kalanick. 

The regulator said it “recognises the steps that Uber has put in place to prevent this type of activity.” It said its main concern lies in the fact that “Uber's systems seem to have been comparatively easily manipulated."

With Black Friday coming up at the end of the week, retailers are putting the final touches on their plans, competing for both online and brick-and-mortar sales.

Target says it will offer early access to some of its best Black Friday deals on Wednesday -- if you happen to be a RedCard holder or belong to Target circle. The early access will begin at 6 p.m. CST.

RedCard holders will get access to special deals on Target.com and in the Target app. RedCard holders will receive an additional 5 percent off all purchases.

Walmart will also start offering some Black Friday deals on Wednesday, starting at 10 p.m. EST., on Walmart.com -- a prelude to the main event that will begin Thanksgiving evening. Some of the biggest deals will be on apparel, electronics, home furnishings, and toys. 

Deals on toys include Disney Frozen 2 Fold & Go Arendelle Castle, Hover-1 All-Star Hoverboard, and LEGO Classic or Duplo Creative Box.

Retro spin on toy shopping

Putting a retro spin on toy shopping this holiday season, eBay is offering parents a way to stand out and maybe surprise their children. The online shopping site says it’s offering everything from collectible Star Wars action figures to new Kindi Kids dolls, from the My Size Barbie of yesterday to the Astronaut Barbie of today.

Sam Bright, vice president and general manager of Merchandising at eBay, says if a toy was popular once upon a time, there’s a good chance it will be popular with today’s kids.

"There's a revival of all things retro right now and we're seeing classic toys gaining popularity alongside the most coveted new offerings,” Bright said, “The thing is, it isn't always easy for shoppers to cross the vintage and hard-to-find gifts off their lists." 

Toys for parents too

Because collectors often use eBay to sell items Bright says it’s not uncommon to find toys that span the decades. And it’s not just children who might want some of these classic toys under the tree. Millennials often want to get their hands on remakes of the games they played with as kids, such as the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite.

Meanwhile, Amazon is in the midst of a seven-day Black Friday Deals Week with new deals offered each day leading up to the big day itself. Recent deals have included Walker’s Razor Slim headphones for $27.29 to $39.79.

It’s often said, “You can’t fight City Hall” -- but when you’re as big as Amazon, maybe you can. At least it’s going to try.

Amazon, which also operates one of the world’s largest cloud services companies -- AWS -- has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, claiming politics played a role in its loss of a huge Pentagon contract to rival Microsoft.

The company has taken its complaint to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims after expressing its displeasure at losing the $10 billion cloud contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project, known as JEDI.

It’s unusual but not unprecedented for a losing bidder on a government contract to go to court. In this case, Amazon believed it would land the deal because it is the biggest player in the industry and it has a track record with the national security establishment, having provided similar services for the CIA.

But there may be another factor at work here -- at least Amazon thinks there is. Amazon’s CEO is Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, which is not one of President Trump’s favorite publications. In its filing, the company suggests that its loss of the contract has political overtones.

‘Free from political influence’

“It’s critical for our country that the government and its elected leaders administer procurements objectively and in a manner that is free from political influence,” Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said in a statement to the media. “Numerous aspects of the JEDI evaluation process contained clear deficiencies, errors, and unmistakable bias -- and it’s important that these matters be examined and rectified.”

Amazon hasn’t commented beyond that initial statement and Microsoft hasn’t commented either, apparently preferring to stay out of it. Even Trump hasn’t mentioned it in a tweet -- at least not yet.

Earlier this year, Trump did comment on the contract process, asking whether the Defense Department was fairly judging the bids. He pointed to complaints from Microsoft, as well as Oracle and IBM.

Oracle has also gone to court to appeal a ruling from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that rejected its legal challenge to the contract process.

The Jedi contract was awarded to Microsoft in late October.

At an event in Los Angeles on Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a futuristic-looking Tesla Cybertruck that promises up to 500 miles of range on a single charge. Just a few days later, Musk revealed that there have been about 187,000 orders for the vehicle. 

Musk noted that the Cybertruck, which has an entry price point of $39,900, amassed this many pre-orders “with no advertising and no paid endorsement.” 

During the unveiling of the Cybertruck, Musk attempted to demonstrate how tough the pickup’s “armored glass” windows were, but shattered them while doing so. The blunder, paired with the look of the vehicle, worried some Wall Street investors. 

“The shattering of the truck’s unbreakable glass windows during the live demonstration was not a good start,” Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner said in a note to investors, according to Forbes.

“Tesla’s Cybertruck looks weird … like, really weird. Musk had warned investors that Tesla’s pickup would be ‘really futuristic, like cyberpunk Blade Runner,’ and he wasn’t kidding,” Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in a note titled “Mad Musk, Fury Road.” 

Despite the lack of confidence among analysts, thousands of pre-orders poured in for the Cybertruck over the weekend. 

Three versions of the truck 

Musk said entering the pickup segment, which accounts for roughly 15 percent of all vehicle sales in the U.S., is an important move for Tesla. 

“We need something different. We need sustainable energy now,” Musk said during a 25-minute presentation at SpaceX’s headquarters.

Production on the vehicle is slated for late 2021, according to Tesla’s website. There will be three versions of the truck available: 

• Single motor rear-wheel drive with 250 miles of range, 7,500-pound towing capacity, and 0–60 mph capabilities in under 6.5 seconds, for $39,900;

• Dual motor all-wheel drive with 300 miles of range, 10,000-pound towing capacity, and 0–60 mph in under 4.5 seconds for $49,900;

• Triple motor all-wheel drive with 500 miles of range, 14,000-pound towing capacity, and 0–60 mph in under 2.9 seconds for $69,900.

Tesla’s website states that an immediate payment of $100 is required to reserve an order. 

Following an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Monsanto has pleaded guilty to spraying a banned pesticide called Penncap-M on corn seed and research crops on the Hawaiian island of Maui. 

The Department of Justice announced the decision on Thursday, saying the Bayer-owned company has agreed to pay $10.2 million in fines over its use and storage of the banned pesticide. 

Prosecutors noted that the pesticide is considered “acute hazardous waste” and therefore poses a threat to the environment. 

“Monsanto admitted in the court documents that it used Penncap-M, even though the company knew its use was prohibited after 2013 pursuant to a ‘cancellation order’ issued by the Environmental Protection Agency,” the Justice Department said in a release. 

“The company further admitted that, after the 2014 spraying, it told employees to re-enter the sprayed fields seven days later – even though Monsanto knew that workers should have been prohibited from entering the area for 31 days.” 

Terms of the agreement

The $10 million fine Monsanto has agreed to pay includes a $6 million criminal fine and $4 million in community service payments to Hawaiian government entities, the DOJ said. The company won’t be prosecuted if it abides by the agreement, which also states that it must fully comply with federal environmental laws. 

The agreement adds to mounting legal troubles for Monsanto’s parent company Bayer, which is currently facing more than 40,000 lawsuits claiming glyphosate is carcinogenic. To date, three separate juries have found that the company’s glyphosate-based product Roundup caused plaintiffs’ non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 

In a statement, Bayer expressed remorse for failing to use its products safely and manage its waste correctly. 

“We take this very seriously and accept full responsibility for our actions,” said Darren Wallis, Bayer’s vice president of communications in North America.

T-Mobile has disclosed that it recently suffered a data breach that allowed a malicious party to access the account information of some of its prepaid customers. The wireless carrier said it “quickly corrected” the security issue after discovering it. 

“Our Cybersecurity team discovered and shut down malicious, unauthorized access to some information related to your T-Mobile prepaid wireless account,” the company said on its customer support page. “We promptly reported this to authorities.” 

The carrier noted that no financial data or social security numbers were accessed in the breach, and no passwords were compromised. However, information associated with users’ prepaid wireless accounts -- including names and billing addresses -- was accessed. Other personal data that was revealed included phone numbers, account numbers, rate plans, and add-on features (such as an international calling add-ons). 

Affected customers notified

The company said it’s started the process of notifying all affected customers. Users who received a notification are advised to update their PIN on their T-Mobile account.  

“We take the security of your information very seriously and have a number of safeguards in place to protect your personal information from unauthorized access,” T-Mobile said. “We truly regret that this incident occurred and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.”

T-Mobile said some customers whose information was compromised may not have received a notification because their contact information is out of date. Customers who are worried that they may fall under this category are advised to contact T-Mobile’s customer support department for further assistance. 

“If you are a T-Mobile customer, you can reach us by dialing 611 from your T-Mobile phone or by calling 1-800-T-MOBILE from any phone,” the company said. 

Amid partisan wrangling in the House over the proposed impeachment of President Trump, the Senate has voted 74-20 in favor of a spending bill to keep the government operating through December 20. The House has already approved the measure and President Trump signed it Thursday.

The bill heads off a potential government shutdown at a time when Republicans and Democrats are engaged in heated political opposition. The next step is for the House and Senate to come to some agreement on how the money should be spent through September of next year.

It’s still possible that the impeachment inquiry being staged in the House Intelligence Committee could lead to a political impasse on the budget. 

If the House impeachment inquiry is reaching its peak in December when the budget bill comes up again, it’s possible that political acrimony could derail the process. Politics is also involved in the budget process itself because Trump is requesting funds to construct a wall along the U.S. southern border. Democrats have been adamantly opposed.

Not uncommon

Government shutdowns have not been uncommon during the Trump administration. A year ago, a government shutdown dragged through the holidays. At that time, Democrats’ refusal to vote for money for a border wall, insisted upon by the president, led to the shutdown.

While this week’s vote should head off an unscheduled government vacation, there is no guarantee that it will. If partisan disputes over impeachment poison the atmosphere, it’s possible lawmakers on both sides of the aisle may view a shutdown as preferable to compromise.

While researchers have previously found health implications associated with skipping breakfast, a new study has discovered that it can also affect kids’ performance in the classroom. 

Researchers from the University of Leeds found that kids are more likely to perform poorly on standardized tests when they skip breakfast.

“This report provides impressive evidence that eating a healthy breakfast improves a child’s educational attainment, which supports our own findings of improvements in a child’s concentration in class, readiness to learn, behaviour, and punctuality,” said researcher Nicola Dolton. 

Maximizing children’s performance in the classroom

According to Dr. Katie Adolphus, the researchers wanted to pursue this study because of the “growing problem of food poverty” in the U.K. Though all students receive lunch at school, breakfast isn’t part of the school day. That means that kids don’t usually have a meal until lunchtime if they don’t eat breakfast at home.

To understand the effect that skipping breakfast can have on kids throughout the school day, the researchers surveyed nearly 300 students. They compared the survey responses with students’ performance on a standardized test in the U.K. that all students take in high school. 

Nearly 30 percent of students were found to be skipping breakfast regularly, and this proved to be a huge detriment to their test scores. The researchers say these students scored over 10 points lower than their peers who were eating breakfast. 

These findings are certainly cause for concern, as they highlight the huge impact that breakfast can have on students’ academic outcomes . However, it’s important for consumers to encourage their children to sit down for breakfast each morning and for legislators to do their part in making breakfast accessible for kids in school. 

“This study is a valuable insight, reinforcing the importance of breakfast in boosting pupils’ academic attainment and removing barriers to learning,” said researcher Alex Cunningham. “Education is crucial to a child’s future and escaping poverty, therefore ensuring every child has access to a healthy start to the day must be a priority. 

In addition to student loans and credit cards, personal loans have now become something of concern to economists. Consumers have used these unsecured loans to go on a spending spree lately.

All three credit agencies -- Equifax, Experian, and Transunion -- report personal loans are growing faster than any other form of consumer credit. Equifax reports personal loan balances have increased 10 percent in just the last 12 months.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, says the statistics should be a cautionary sign for the economy.

 “There’s an old adage in banking: If it’s growing like a weed, it probably is a weed,” Zandi told the Washington Post.

Presented as an alternative

Personal loans are often presented as an alternative to high-interest credit cards, but in truth, the rates on personal loans can be quite high as well. Value Penguin reports the average personal loan interest rate in 2019 ranges from 10 to 28 percent.

Lower personal loan rates will go to the most creditworthy borrowers while consumers with blemished credit can pay rates higher than the average credit card interest rate.

One appeal of personal loans may be the ease of borrowing. Fintech companies compete with each other to lend money to consumers, using apps to streamline the borrowing process. Heavy advertising entices consumers to consider personal loans for a wide range of purposes, from paying off credit cards to paying for vacations.

Higher balances

Of added concern to personal finance experts is the amount consumers are borrowing. Experian reports that the average personal loan balance is over $16.000, while the average credit card balance is about half that.

Experian also reports that more consumers are borrowing even larger amounts than they would put on their credit cards. Balances of at least $30,000 have increased by 15 percent over the last five years, no doubt fueling the explosive growth in consumer debt reported recently by the Federal Reserve.

Equifax reports that the total amount of personal loan debt is still only a fraction when compared to student loan or credit card debt, but it is in a position to quickly gain ground. Outstanding balances totaled $115 billion last month, but that figure would have to increase significantly before becoming a systemic risk. 

But that’s not to say that personal loan debt can’t pose a risk to individual consumers who get over-extended. Personal finance experts say these loans are often better alternatives, especially when it comes to using a personal loan to pay off a credit card balance.

Instead, consumers with good credit can apply for a balance transfer card with a year or more of 0 percent interest. A year of interest-free payments can make a huge dent in a high-interest credit card balance. The remaining balance would then be easier to manage.

Not getting enough sleep can affect everything from what food we choose to eat and how accurate our memory is, and now a new study found that it could also affect the likelihood of developing heart disease. 

Researchers at the European Society of Cardiology have discovered higher numbers of low-income people suffering with heart disease, with women in particular struggling more so than men. The team is now pointing to poor sleep as the possible reason why. 

“The absence of mediation by short sleep in women could be due to the weaker relationship between occupation and sleep duration compared to men,” said researcher Dusan Petrovic. “Women with low socioeconomic status often combine the physical and psychosocial strain of manual, poorly paid jobs with household responsibilities and stress, which negatively affects sleep and its health-restoring effects compared to men.” 

The power of sleep

To understand how lack of sleep can affect consumers’ heart health, the researchers analyzed data from previous studies that included over 111,000 participants. 

The participants self-reported on a variety of factors so the researchers could best understand what’s at play, including the average number of hours they slept per night, their occupation and income, and their medical records. Everyone involved in the study also underwent medical exams to properly assess the status of their heart health. 

The researchers found that in over 13 percent of the men involved in the study who were in the lower income bracket, their heart disease was in direct correlation to their consistently short nights of sleep. For the purposes of the study, the researchers determined that a long night of sleep was anything over eight and a half hours, whereas a short night’s sleep was six hours or fewer. 

To combat this problem, the research team suggests that more legislation be passed to ensure that neighborhoods stay quiet during nighttime hours, as this is one such way to improve sleeping conditions. 

“Structural reforms are needed at every level of society to enable people to get more sleep,” said Petrovic. “For example, attempting to reduce noise, which is an important source of sleep disturbances, with double glazed windows, limiting traffic, and not building houses next to airports or highways.” 

As motorists prepare to hit the road for next week’s Thanksgiving holiday, they should find fairly stable gas prices. The biggest price fluctuations should be declines.

The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey shows the national average price of regular gas is $2.59 a gallon, a penny less than last week. That’s almost the same as it was at this time last year. The average price of premium is $3.19, two cents less than last Friday. The average price of diesel fuel is $3 a gallon, down one cent from seven days ago.

Prices in most states remained stable over the last week but dropped by 10 cents a gallon in California. That state’s motorists were paying 23 cents a gallon more just one month ago. Consumers in Michigan faced an eight cents a gallon swing in the other direction, seeing the average price go from $2.46 to $2.54 a gallon in the span of seven days.

Prices for premium and diesel fuel have been very stable over the past few weeks, with little to no movement. Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a tweet that’s especially true for diesel.

“It's been a remarkably unremarkable year for U.S. diesel prices,” DeHaan wrote. “The range for the national average diesel price is just 19 cents a gallon so far in 2019, compared to a 42 cents a gallon range in 2018.”

Growth in gasoline stockpiles during the previous week, reversing a couple of weeks of drawdowns, added to stability at the gas pump. The Energy Information Administration (EIA)  Reports total domestic gas stocks grew by 1.8 million barrels last week. 

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 ($3.91)

• Hawaii ($3.66)

• Washington ($3.36) 

• Nevada ($3.32)

• Oregon ($3.23) 

• Alaska ($3.17)

• Idaho ($2.99) 

• Arizona ($2.93)

• Utah ($2.95)

• Colorado ($2.80)

The states with the cheapest regular gas

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

• Louisiana ($2.21)

• Mississippi ($2.21)

• South Carolina ($2.25)

• Missouri ($2.27)

• Texas ($2.25)

• Alabama ($2.26)

• Arkansas ($2.29)

• Oklahoma ($2.29)

• Tennessee ($2.30)

• Virginia ($2.30)