Current Events in January 2020

Boeing has not only taken a public relations hit from its involvement in the fatal crashes of its 737 MAX aircraft; it has also taken a financial hit.

Anticipating that the near-$10 billion ding its bottom line took will grow even larger when its fourth quarter 2019 financials are released, the aircraft manufacturer is reportedly talking to banks about borrowing enough to offset the sting of that loss. The company has already secured a little more than half of that $10 billion. 

Where everything stands

Boeing halted production of the 737 MAX in December. If the company ever gets the all-clear from regulators that the plane is safe, it will have to find a way to unload hundreds of aircraft it has in storage. 

Despite the existing orders Boeing has for those planes, most -- if not all -- airlines sense that there are few travelers who are willing to fly on one, no matter how safe and secure the company says the planes are.

“We have previously stated that we would continually evaluate our production plans should the MAX grounding continue longer than we expected,” Boeing wrote at the time of that decision.

“As we have throughout the 737 MAX grounding, we will keep our customers, employees, and supply chain top of mind as we continue to assess appropriate actions. This will include efforts to sustain the gains in production system and supply chain quality and health made over the last many months.”

In other words, hang tight, world. This story has a long way to go before it’s ever finished.

Recent studies have explored the difference in quality in men’s and women’s heart health-related treatments, with many women often receiving the wrong treatment for such issues. 

Now, researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center found that this could boil down to a distinct difference in physiology between the genders: women’s blood vessels age at a faster rate than men’s. 

“Many of us in medicine have long believed that women simply ‘catch up’ to men in terms of their cardiovascular risk,” said Dr. Susan Cheng. “Our research not only confirms that women have different biology and physiology than their male counterparts, but also illustrates why it is that women may be more susceptible to developing certain types of cardiovascular disease and at different points in life.” 

Effects on the body

The researchers started by examining study participants’ blood pressure readings, which is oftentimes one of the first signs of cardiovascular concerns. Over 32,000 participants were involved in the study, ranging in age from young children to seniors; each person’s blood pressure was checked regularly over the course of a 43-year span. 

The researchers kept the women’s and men’s readings separate, as they were trying to determine popular risk factors that emerged among the female participants and how they were different or similar to those of the male participants. 

They learned that high blood pressure, though a good benchmark for later heart concerns, is different for men and women. Not only did women present with high blood pressure symptoms earlier in life than their male counterparts, but their heart health progressed at a much more rapid pace over time. 

“This means that if we define the hypertension threshold the exact same way, a 30-year old woman with high blood pressure is probably at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease than a man with high blood pressure at the same age,” said Dr. Cheng. 

Better care in the future 

Armed with this information, the researchers hope that clinicians take these findings into account when treating their patients for heart-related conditions, especially high blood pressure. 

It’s crucial that doctors are taking the difference in their male and female patients into account when determining treatment plans because of how quickly high blood pressure can evolve into something more serious. 

“This study is yet another reminder to physicians that many aspects of our cardiovascular evaluation and therapy need to be tailored specifically for women,” said researcher Dr. Christine Albert. “Results from studies performed in men may not be directly extrapolated to women.” 

With vaping illnesses running rampant recently, researchers from the American Heart Association (AHA) dove deeper into the risks associated with another popular type of smoking: hookah. 

According to the researchers, hookah has been linked to an increased risk of developing blood clots, despite the popular belief that it was better for the body than smoking either traditional or electronic cigarettes. 

“Hookah smoking, which has become more popular in Western countries, is perceived as less harmful than cigarettes, yet hookahs carry a toxic profile that is thought to be comparable or to even exceed that of traditional cigarettes,” said researcher Fadi Khasawneh, PhD. 

“Some studies have found that the smoke emitted from one hookah tobacco smoking episode contains significantly more harmful chemicals compared to a single cigarette.” 

Hookah-related health risks

To understand how the body could react negatively to hookah, the researchers conducted their study on mice. 

Half of the mice were exposed to hookah smoke in volumes that matched what humans would be exposed to in a typical smoking session; the other half weren’t exposed to any smoke. The researchers then assessed what was going on in the mice internally by checking their vitals and paying particular attention to their platelet activity; this was used to determine how the smoke affected the way their bodies pumped blood. 

The team learned that it took the mice who weren’t exposed to the hookah around five minutes to form a blood clot. However, for the mice who were exposed to the smoke, it took just 11 seconds. 

These findings are consistent with a study the AHA published last year. It explored how exposure to hookah smoke can affect consumers’ overall heart and lung function, much in the same way that regular tobacco smoke does. 

No smoke is good smoke

The researchers’ message is simple: exposure to any type of smoke poses risks for consumers’ overall well-being. 

“Our findings provide new evidence that hookah smoking is as unhealthy -- if not more so -- than traditional cigarettes,” Dr. Khasawneh. “Smoking a hookah, cigarettes, e-cigarettes or other forms of tobacco all increase your risk for heart disease and stroke.” 

Electric cars were once a novelty. Now they’re the future, with nearly every automaker racing to get new electric vehicles on the market.

But the change in emphasis has more to do with government mandates than consumer preferences. In fact, Subaru CEO Tomomi Nakamura recently shocked a gathering of automotive journalists when he declared that American consumers aren’t very interested in buying an electric vehicle, with the exception of a Tesla.

Nakamura said Subaru has already discovered how difficult it is to market an electric car to American consumers. In 2018, it sold an average of just 300 cars a month when it introduced a plug-in hybrid of the Subaru Crosstrek.

“We think the U.S. market is really difficult,” he said.

Government pressure

If consumer demand isn’t driving automakers to make electric vehicles a priority, then what is? Most likely, it’s rising government fuel economy standards. Manufacturers can still sell gas-guzzlers, but their total fleet of vehicles must meet increasingly ambitious miles-per-gallon targets. 

Since a plug-in electric vehicle uses no gasoline, the more the company can sell, the higher its MPG average goes.

The Edison Electric Institute reports consumers are embracing electric vehicles in rapidly growing numbers. It has published a chart showing the number of electric cars on the road increased from just a few thousand vehicles in 2011 to nearly 1.2 million in April 2019.

While that’s impressive, total light-vehicle sales in the U.S. last year totaled just over 17 million vehicles, and Tesla, by far the largest seller of electric vehicles, sold an estimated 179,000 units.

Headwinds

Electric vehicle sales currently face two significant headwinds to widespread consumer acceptance -- range and cost.

In measuring the average range of an electric vehicle, Kelley Blue Books ranks the Tesla Model S as having the longest range on a charge -- 370 miles. The average is around 250 miles. That’s fine for in-town commuting but problematic if you’re driving halfway across the country.

Subaru executives cite cost as perhaps a bigger impediment to consumer acceptance. The average transaction price of new cars in the U.S. last year was nearly $39,000. Electric vehicles tend to cost much more.

But while electric vehicles cost more, their sticker price is going down while gas-powered vehicles are getting more expensive. Data analyzed by Cox Automotive shows that electric vehicle prices fell from $64,300 to $55,600 earlier this year, a 13.4 percent decline over the previous year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is continuing to update consumers on the number of lung illness (EVALI) cases that are connected to vaping. In its latest advisory, the agency points to new evidence that devices containing THC are part of the problem. 

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical in marijuana that produces a psychological “high.” The agency says that e-cigarette devices that contain THC were linked to 82 percent of EVALI cases as of January 14. Overall, 33 percent of consumers who developed EVALI reported that they only used a THC-containing device before becoming ill. 

With those numbers in mind, the CDC has adjusted its advisory to focus more on warning consumers to avoid THC-containing e-cigarettes.

“The EVALI outbreak primarily affects young adults, is driven by use of THC-containing products from informal sources and is strongly linked to vitamin E acetate,” the agency stated. “CDC and FDA recommend that people not use THC-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, particularly from informal sources like friends, or family, or in-person or online dealers.”

“THC use has been associated with a wide range of health effects, particularly with prolonged frequent use. The best way to avoid potentially harmful effects is to not use THC-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products.”

Cases continue to decline

While the CDC continues to narrow down the factors related to these lung illnesses, the number of EVALI cases continues to decline. 

As of January 14, 2,668 consumers had been hospitalized nationwide due to lung illnesses linked to e-cigarette use. There have also been 60 reported deaths from 27 states and the District of Columbia, and officials say these cases are still under investigation. 

Consumers in Illinois and Texas have been hit hardest by this outbreak of illnesses, with each state experiencing between 200-249 hospitalizations. Cases of EVALI peaked last September but have slowed to a trickle in 2020. 

For more information, consumers can visit the CDC’s website here.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, has proposed legislation that would bring major change to the way Facebook, Twitter, and hundreds of other platforms conduct their business.

In an interview with the editorial board of the New York Times, Biden said Congress should repeal an obscure provision of an obscure law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

That provision, adopted when the internet was in its infancy, said internet companies could not be held responsible for content on their websites posted by third parties. In effect, it removed the gatekeepers that police content broadcasted on radio and TV and printed in newspapers and magazines.

In 1996, the internet was still a novelty and had not become a primary medium for transmitting information. But as consumers began to use it to air complaints about companies and individuals, defamation lawsuits proliferated.

Landmark ruling

In late 2009, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that established Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as legal protection for internet companies that published third-party content. 

Not coincidentally, what happened next was the rise of social media, where people could say just about anything. The companies that owned the platforms were not concerned because they could not be held legally accountable.

In his interview with the Times, Biden took special aim at Facebook, alleging that it has become a platform that distributes falsehoods.

“You guys still have editors,” Biden said. “I’m sitting with them. Not a joke. There is no editorial impact at all on Facebook. None. None whatsoever. It’s irresponsible.”

Potential impact

If Congress were to remove the immunity protection provided under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which is well within its right to do, how would that affect social media?

In all likelihood, it would require these companies to monitor what users are posting on their sites and intervene when someone posts unsubstantiated or libelous information. With a reported 2 billion users, Facebook might find that difficult to do.

Repealing that section of the law would likely have far-reaching consequences for most internet sites. Any publication that allows readers to post comments to stories would be required to carefully monitor those posts.

But there are a growing number of people, including some on both sides of the aisle in Congress, who maintain that’s exactly what they should be doing.

Chrysler is recalling 20,441 model year 2018-2019 Pacificas equipped with an 8.4 inch radio display, 360 degree surround view camera system, and seat back video screens.

A software error can cause the rearview camera image to remain displayed on the radio after the vehicle has been shifted out of reverse.

The lingering rearview image can distract the driver, increasing the risk of a crash.

What to do

Chrysler will notify owners, and dealers will update the radio software free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin January 31, 2020.

Owners may contact Chrysler customer service at (800) 853-1403. Chrysler's number for this recall is VE2.

Volkswagen Group of America is recalling eight model year 2019 Jetta GLIs, Golf Alltracks, and Golf GTIs.

The front wheel bearings may have been improperly machined, potentially causing excessive stress on the wheel, wheel bolts, or wheel bearings.

Excessive stress can cause steering, traction or other stability issues or breakage relating to the front wheels, and increase the risk of a crash.

What to do

Owners of the recalled vehicles are advised not to drive them until the repairs have been made.

Volkswagen has notified owners, and dealers will replace the wheel bearing assemblies, wheels and wheel bolts free of charge.

The recall began December 11, 2019.

Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at (800) 893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 40P1.

The U.S. Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for products assicated with a recall of hard boiled eggs by Almark Foods.

The products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

CDC, FDA and public health and regulatory officials in several states are investigating a multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections.

The following ready-to-eat products, containing ingredients involved in the Almark Foods, are affected:

• 3.6-oz. plastic packages containing “CHEESEWICH Ready to Eat BACON N EGGS” with “USE BY” dates 12/27/19, 1/3/20, 1/23/20, 1/30/20, 2/5/20, 2/6/20, 2/14/20, 2/28/20, and 3/6/20 and lot codes 281191, 304191, 309191, 316191, 323191, 331191, 336191, 344191, 351191.
• 3.1-oz. plastic packages containing “EGGLANDS BEST HARD-COOKED EGG BACON & CHEDDAR” with “USE BY” dates of 12/23/19, 1/3/20, 1/17/20, 1/31/20, 2/6/20, 2/24/20.
• 3.3-oz. plastic packages containing “EGGLANDS BEST HARD-COOKED SALAME & PROVOLONE” with “USE BY” dates of 12/23/19, 1/3/20, 1/17/20, 1/31/20, 2/6/20, 2/24/20.

The recalled products contain separately packaged bacon and hard-boiled eggs. Packages bear establishment number “P-45031” and “EST. 44926” inside the USDA mark of inspection.

What to do

Consumers with questions may contact Almark Foods at (877) 546-0454 Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm (EST).

After stern warnings from Congress, 127 consumer complaints, 110 crashes, 52 injuries, and sitting on a petition to act for nearly a month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has finally decided to take a look at reported issues that Tesla automobiles have an inherent defect that causes “sudden unintended acceleration.”

The Tesla models that are allegedly affected are the 2012-2019 Tesla Model S vehicles, 2016-2019 Tesla Model X vehicles, and 2018-2019 Tesla Model 3 vehicles (yes, the same Model 3 the NHTSA lauded with a 5-star safety rating). All told, the investigation covers nearly a half-million vehicles.

Tricking the autopilot

Are “driver replacement technologies” being masked as “driver assistance” features?

More than 200 cars from 33 mainstream brands have what’s termed as “driver assistance” features. For example, if the car’s electronics sense that the driver is starting to veer into another lane, it will gently nudge it back into the center of the lane. 

Other typical features include adaptive cruise control and hands-free driving, and the latter is causing most of the issues in Senator Ed Markey’s (D-MA) opinion.

“Drivers have identified a variety of tricks to make autopilot believe they are focused on the road even if they are literally asleep at the wheel alarmingly,” expressed Markey, trying to push NHTSA into looking into the matter nearly three months ago.

“You can go to YouTube right now and learn about some of these tricks...you can take a water bottle, take an orange, and put it right into the steering wheel and then that tricks the system into believing that your hands are on the wheel and, then, the car just drives as though it's a fully autonomous vehicle and not something that's just human helped in the driving.”

“Somebody's gonna die because they can go to YouTube as a driver [to] find a way to do this, and then some innocent person on the street will wind up dead or a driver in another car will wind up dead, so we can't entrust the lives of our drivers and everyone else on the road to a water bottle.”

So, what is the NHTSA going to do about it?

If you’re looking for a “we’re sorry,” stop looking. 

Despite the admonitions and we-told-you-so’s, all the NHTSA is saying is that it has received a defect petition, that it knows how many vehicles were included in the report, that it has asked the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) to look into the matter, and that the agency will let everyone know when it hears something back.

Though defined by many as a rare disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) is debilitating for the millions of people worldwide who have it. There is currently no cure for the condition, but certain treatments and therapies can help consumers manage their symptoms. 

However, a recent study has found that affording these treatment options is much more difficult. Researchers say that the cost of 15 MS drugs tripled from 2011 to 2017, rising from $453 million to 1.32 billion over that time period. And the cause? The meteoric rise in prescription drug prices.

“Increased spending was primarily driven by increases in prescription costs, which doubled [from 2011 to 2017,]” said study author Danie Hartung. “Most of these drugs cost more than $70,000 per year on average and costs for these drugs are among the highest drug cost areas for private insurers as well as Medicare and Medicaid.”

Generic drug didn’t reduce costs

Even after adjusting for financial factors like rebate amounts, the researchers found that spending on MS drugs still more than doubled over the seven-year study period -- from $278 million to $600 million annually.

While you might think that the introduction of a generic drug in 2015 might have helped reduce these staggering prices, that was sadly not the case. In fact, the researchers said that prescription prices actually went up afterwards and only slowed month-to-month as time wore on.

“Before the introduction of the generic drug, the maker of the brand name drug worked to push its market share from the 20 mg dose to the 40 mg dose, which was not interchangeable with the new generic,” explained Hartung. 

“The low market share for the generic drug was also because the generic drug was only 15 percent less expensive than the brand name drug at 20 mg at approximately the same cost as the 40 mg dose when it launched. Of course, some doctors and patients may also be reluctant to switch to a generic drug for clinical reasons."

More price cuts needed

In 2017, a second generic drug for MS became available that also proved costly for consumers. However, Hartung noted that the price dropped significantly after his team published their study. Still, the researcher says that more work still needs to be done.

“There is an urgent need for more robust competition from generics within these MS drugs,” Hartung said.

The researchers’ full study has been published in the journal Neurology.

Boeing’s 737 MAX planes have received plenty of press lately for additional safety issues and revelations that its employees thought the plane was unsafe. So, it’s only natural that airline companies would respond by creating some more distance.

That’s what Southwest Airlines did on Thursday. The carrier announced that it would be extending the removal of MAX flights from its schedule to June 6. It previously said it would ground these flights through April.

“Based on continued uncertainty around the timing of MAX return to service, as well as Boeing's recommendation for Pilot simulator training, the Company is proactively removing the MAX from its flight schedule through June 6, 2020,” Southwest said in a press release.

Doing it for travelers

In its announcement, Southwest said that it decided to remove the MAX flights to remove the possibility that it might need to take them away later at the last minute. By acting now, the airline says that it hopes to let its customers make appropriate travel plans.

“We offer our apologies to our Customers impacted by this change, and we thank them for their continued patience,” Southwest said.

In total, the extension of the MAX cancellations will take away around 330 weekday flights. However, the company notes that it will still offer over 4,000 daily flights during the peak flying season. Moving forward, Southwest says it will continue to monitor the FAA’s approval process for the 737 MAX so that it can reinstate those planes quickly when the time comes.

“We remain confident that, once certified by the FAA, the enhancements will support the safe operation of the MAX,” the company stated.

According to the YouMail Robocall Index, there were 58.5 billion robocalls in 2019, marking a 22 percent increase over 2018 and a troublesome 92 percent hike over 2017. Nearly half of those were scam-related come-ons. 

“It’s no wonder that (TRACED) an anti-robocall bill passed Congress overwhelmingly and was signed by the President on December 31, 2019,” said Alex Qulici, YouMail CEO, when pointing to the two-year flood of calls.

How do we robo thee? Let us count the ways…

Here’s how 2019 went down by category:

The Robocall-a-Day Club

Qulici suggests that the best way to measure the pain of robocalls is to analyze how many each person gets on average. His findings show two states were in the robocall-a-day club -- Washington, D.C., with 599 robocalls per person over the year, and Louisiana, with 371.

If you live in Alaska, consider yourself lucky. Residents in the 50th state got fewer than one robocall a week. However, Qulici says that it’s not a lack of love from robocallers in Alaska’s case, but merely the number of folks they can prey on. 

The number of robocalls made to a particular state is generally tied to the state's population – the larger the population, the more robocalls that state takes. Residents in Texas and California weathered more than 6 billion robocalls in 2019. On the flipside, only 5 smaller states got fewer than 100 million calls during the year: Alaska, Vermont, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wyoming. Lucky them, right?

Whooping cough has been a cause for concern for consumers for some time, but researchers from the University of New South Wales say it may be evolving into a superbug. The team says it’s important for consumers to be aware of the risks. 

Study findings suggest that whooping cough bacteria have grown and evolved beyond the protection of the vaccine and are now capable of staying alive and infecting both those who have been vaccinated and those who have not. 

“We found that the whooping cough strains were evolving to improve their survival, regardless of whether a person was vaccinated or not, by producing more nutrient-binding and transport proteins, and fewer immunogenic proteins which are not targeted by the vaccine,” said researcher Dr. Laurence Luu. “This allows whooping cough bacteria to more efficiently scavenge nutrients from the host during infection, as well as to evade the body’s natural immune system because the bacteria are making fewer proteins that our body recognises.” 

“Put simply, the bacteria that cause whooping cough are becoming better at hiding and better at feeding -- they’re morphing into a superbug,” he explained. 

Understanding the risks

The study was based in Australia, where whooping cough has become especially problematic for infants and seniors -- two groups that are among the most vulnerable populations when it comes to the infection. 

The risk is particularly high for newborns because the vaccine is given in three rounds. Babies must be at least two months old to receive the first round of the vaccine, so they are often left unprotected for some time before they can receive all three courses of treatment.

“Vaccination is especially important for children, people who are in contact with children, and pregnant women who need the vaccine to produce antibodies to protect their newborns from developing whooping cough in the first few weeks of life,” Dr. Luu said. 

Importance of vaccinations

The current whooping cough vaccine attacks the three primary antigens associated with the condition. Though the researchers have now discovered that consumers can still be susceptible to whooping cough bacteria after receiving their vaccination, they stressed the importance of still getting vaccinated and staying up to date on all vaccines. 

“It is critical that people are vaccinated to prevent the spread of whooping cough -- the current vaccine is still effective for protecting against the disease -- but new vaccines need to be developed in the long-term,” said researcher Ruiting Lan. 

Developing a new vaccine is a critical component for the researchers, as they want to emphasize the importance of staying on top of the ever-evolving whooping cough bacteria. Being able to do that should yield better results in protecting consumers from the infection. 

“We need more research to better understand the biology of the whooping cough bacteria, how they cause disease, and what proteins are essential for the bacteria to cause infection, so that we can target these proteins in a new and improved vaccine,” Lan said. “This will all help to future-proof new vaccines against the evolving whooping cough strains.” 

While recent studies have explored how too much time in front of screens can affect young people’s mental health, a new study conducted by researchers from Swansea University sought to discover how too much time online can affect college students’ studying habits. 

They found that excess time on the internet can not only heighten anxiety for students, but it can also make them less likely to study for exams or make the effort to connect with the course material. 

“These results suggest that students with high levels of internet addiction may be particularly at risk from lower motivations to study, and, hence, lower actual academic performance,” said researcher Phil Reed. 

Monitoring internet use

The researchers recruited nearly 300 college students to participate in the study. They began by assessing how much time they were already spending on the internet and what their typical study schedule looked like. 

Because mental health was such a large component of the study, the researchers also had the students report on their current anxiety levels. 

The researchers learned that nearly one-quarter of the students involved in the study were spending more than four hours per day on the internet, with the majority of that time spent on social media. The remainder of the participants reported spending anywhere from one to three hours per day on social media. 

According to the researchers, excess time online affected the students’ academic performance, as they were less likely to study and had difficulties with organization and productivity. 

“Internet addiction has been shown to impair a range of abilities such as impulse control, planning, and sensitivity to rewards,” said researcher Roberto Truzoli. “A lack of ability in these areas could well make study harder.” 

Effects on mental health

While too much internet time was found to affect the students’ academic performance, the researchers also found that it had an effect on their mental health. 

The study revealed that being consumed by the internet increased feelings of loneliness among the students, and it also prompted greater anxiety prior to test days. 

These findings have prompted the researchers to question the benefits associated with putting so much of required school assignments on the internet, as the outcome could actually be negatively affecting many students. 

“Before we continue down a route of increasing digitisation of our academic environments, we have to pause to consider if this is actually going to bring about the results we want,” said Reed. “This strategy might offer some opportunities, but it also contains risks that have not yet been fully assessed.” 

NBCUniversal is joining the streaming sweepstakes, announcing the launch of a new video service called Peacock. 

The service, which will debut later this year, is made up of three tiers: a limited content package that will be free, a premium tier that will contain ads, and an ad-free platform.

Peacock will offer more than 600 movies and 400 series, as well as live and on-demand content across news, sports, late-night, and reality. 

Parent company Comcast is one of the nation’s largest cable TV providers, so the new service appears carefully designed not to cannibalize that revenue. Peacock Free will be available to everyone at no charge so there’s less pressure for cord-cutting.

Over 7,500 hours of programming

Peacock’s free tier will offer more than 7,500 hours of NBCUniversal programming. Subscribers will get next-day access to current seasons of new broadcast series, complete classic series, popular movies, curated daily news, and sports programming that includes Olympics coverage.

Peacock Premium is another ad-supported tier but costs $4.99 a month. It will include about twice the amount of content offered on the free tier. It will be provided at no charge to 24 million Comcast and Cox subscribers.

The third tier is just like Peacock Premium but without ads. That will be provided to subscribers for $9.99 a month. The service will be available to Comcast and Cox subscribers in April and will roll out for all other consumers in July.

“This is a very exciting time for our company, as we chart the future of entertainment,” said Steve Burke, chairman of NBCUniversal. “We have one of the most enviable collections of media brands and the strongest ad sales track record in the business. Capitalizing on these key strengths, we are taking a unique approach to streaming that brings value to customers, advertisers and shareholders.”

Following Disney

Peacock follows the wildly successful launch of Disney+ in late 2019. Sandwiched in between AppleTV+ at $4.99 a month and Netflix’s basic service at $8.99 a month, Disney+’s initial price is $7 per month. Because Disney now owns Hulu and already had ESPN in its portfolio, consumers who add in services from either of those two channels will get an extra $5 off, creating a $13 a month bundle for Disney+, Hulu (with ads), and ESPN Plus.

Disney says it has signed-up more than 10 million subscribers to its new video service since launching in early November. Peacock has now made the streaming field even more crowded.

While more options are good for consumers, it may be an even bigger challenge to figure where to spend a monthly subscription budget. For its 13th annual Digital Media Trends survey released in March 2019, Deloitte surveyed more than 2,000 digital consumers across the U.S. and found that nearly half said the rapidly growing market for streaming services is causing them to experience “subscription fatigue.”

Deloitte’s survey showed strong growth in streaming video subscription services, with 69 percent of households now subscribing to one or more.

Toyota is looking skyward, announcing a collaboration with Joby Aviation (Joby), an aerospace company that is developing and commercializing all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

The two companies hope that by working together, they can meet the potential of the air taxi market -- something that is in its infancy today but is expected to explore in the near future.

“Air transportation has been a long-term goal for Toyota, and while we continue our work in the automobile business, this agreement sets our sights to the sky,” said Toyota President and CEO Akio Toyoda.

Toyota will be the lead investor in Joby’s $590 million start-up, putting it in a ground floor position should Joby emerge as a leader in the air taxi industry. Besides the financial investment, Toyota will share its expertise in manufacturing, quality, and cost controls for the development and production of Joby Aviation’s breakthrough eVTOL aircraft. 

Follows Uber and Hyundai venture

The announcement comes a week after Uber and Hyundai announced that they plan to use flying cars to launch an aerial rideshare network. The concept is aimed at speeding mobility through congested urban areas.

Uber has been working on this for some time. In 2018, it held a summit with aerospace companies to go over some potential designs. In the end, the rideshare giant decided to partner with an automotive company.

Toyota says it chose to partner with Joby because it believes the company’s design is well matched to serve the needs of an emerging air transportation market. But how that market will operate remains to be determined.

City planners have been looking to the skies as urban streets have become more congested. Helicopters are notoriously expensive, but there was a famous instance last month where a helicopter ride from New York’s JFK Airport to Manhattan cost slightly less than a ride-share.

Details to come later

The two companies said details of the prototype aircraft and production plans will be announced at a later date.

“This collaboration with Toyota represents an unprecedented commitment of money and resources for us, and for this new industry, from one of the world’s leading automakers,” said Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt. “Toyota is known globally for the quality and reliability of its products driven by meticulous attention to detail and manufacturing processes. 

There are, of course, air taxi services now, but their costs can be quite high. The newly launched ventures between automakers and service providers are aimed at developing so-called “flying cars” that will be electric-powered and easier and cheaper to operate. 

Gasoline supplies remain plentiful and motorists are filling up less, so the price at the pump is finally trending downward.

The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey shows the national average price of regular gas is $2.56 a gallon, four cents less than last Friday. The price is back in line with where it was a month ago. The average price of premium is $3.16 a gallon, two cents less than last week. The average price of diesel fuel is $3 a gallon, a penny less than a week ago.

A variety of factors kept gas prices slightly elevated into the end of 2019 and the beginning of this year. Oil prices were volatile and demand during the holidays was heavier than normal. Now, things seem to be returning to normal.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday that total supplies of gasoline rose by 6.7 million barrels last week. Consumers tend to drive less in the winter months, and that trend appears to be reasserting itself.

“Growing stocks — amid lower demand — have helped ease pump prices, lowering the national average,” AAA said in its latest market update.

In a tweet, GasBuddy analyst Patrick DeHaan notes that total U.S. gasoline stockpiles “have never been this high so early in the year, already 3 million barrels ahead of last year and far ahead of the 10-year average of ~239 million barrels for the 2nd week of Jan.”

As a result, some states enjoyed a sizable drop in fuel prices over the last week. The average price of regular is 10 cents a gallon less in Kentucky and Michigan.

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:

• Hawaii ($3.66)

• California ($3.53)

• Washington ($3.12) 

• Nevada ($2.99)

• Oregon ($2.99) 

• Alaska ($2.98)

• Arizona ($2.83)

• Pennsylvania ($2.80)

• New York ($2.71)

• Utah ($2.64) 

The states with the cheapest regular gas

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

• Missouri ($2.19)

• Oklahoma ($2.25)

• Texas ($2.26)

• Mississippi ($2.27)

• Kansas ($2.28)

• Arkansas ($2.28)

• Louisiana ($2.29)

• South Carolina ($2.32)

• Alabama ($2.33)

• Tennessee ($2.34)

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing is recalling 3,751 model year 2019 Prius vehicles.

An electrical short circuit in the combination meter could occur, causing the speedometer, odometer and fuel gauge to go blank.

A blank main display will not show important information like vehicle speed or fuel level. Driving with an inoperative display can increase the risk of a crash.

What to do

Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the flash memory chip (ROM) production date, and if necessary, replace it along with the combination meter circuit board free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin February 3, 2020.

Owners may contact Toyota customer service at (888) 270-9371. Toyota's numbers for this recall are 19TA21 and 19TB21.