Current Events in February 2025

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has been hit with a wave of firings, apparently as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) drive to drastically reduce the size of the federal payroll.

The department oversees automobile safety and public transportation. The reports of widespread firings coincide with earlier indications that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was being subjected to a round of cutbacks despite a pre-existing shortage of air traffic controllers. 

Sean Duffy, the U.S. Transportation Secretary, denied the firings jeopardized safety. 

“The FAA alone has a staggering 45,000 employees. Less than 400 were let go, and they were all probationary, meaning they had been hired less than a year ago. Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go,” Duffy wrote in a post on X. “I will not rest until I return the Department of Transportation and its incredible employees to its mission of efficiency and safety.”

The firings came without cause and were not based on performance or conduct, according to David Spero, national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists. 

Highway safety agency hit

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was also hit witih layoffs, according to Politico and other outlets. It is responsible for processing safety complaints about cars and other vehicles, including the electric Teslas manufactured by Elon Musk, who heads DOGE. 

Layoffs have also been reported at DOT entities that oversee pipeline safety and maritime shipping.  

The layoffs generally seem to hit those with less than a year's tenure, who in many cases are still regarded as probationary. 

Consumer groups react

Consumer groups reacted swiftly to the reports. 

"NHTSA cannot oversee and promote automotive safety without world-class staff, many of whom have served behind the scenes for decades doing the day-to-day work of making the cars safer and making the agency run,” said Daniel Greene, senior director of consumer protection and product safety at the National Consumers League. 

"Ultimately, the American people will feel the effects of this unconscionable action through more unnecessary crashes. That means more death, more injuries, more broken families, and more shattered communities," he said.

Write to Jim Hood at jhood@consumeraffairs.com.

Apple has announced the latest addition to its product lineup – the iPhone 16e. 

With the new phone, the company is offering a more affordably-priced option for consumers with the same updated features – like a high-quality camera, extended battery life, Apple Intelligence, and more – as the higher-priced iPhones.

“iPhone 16e packs in the features our users love about the iPhone 16 lineup, including breakthrough battery life, fast performance powered by the latest-generation A18 chip, an innovative 2-in-1 camera system, and Apple Intelligence,” Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, said in a news release.  

“We’re so excited for iPhone 16e to complete the lineup as a powerful, more affordable option to bring the iPhone experience to even more people.”

Is it more affordable? 

The new iPhone 16e will be available in 59 countries starting Friday, February 28, but consumers can begin preordering it as early as Friday, February 21. 

The phone will be available in two matte colors – white and black – and three different storage capacities – 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. 

The starting price for the iPhone 16e is $599 or $24.95/month for 24 months. Comparatively, the most recently released iPhone 16 starts at $799 or $33.29/month for 24 months, and the iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999 or $41.62/month for 24 months. 

What can consumers expect? 

For many years, Apple had its SE iPhone models, which were smaller, cheaper options for customers. The iPhone 16e builds off of that, while incorporating many of the newer features consumers have come to expect from Apple products. 

The iPhone 16e has a 6.06-inch screen, which is nearly the same as the traditional iPhone 16, which has a 6.1-inch screen. The updated model also has Face ID, rather than the Home Button, and will operate with the USB-C charging port. 

The new phone will also feature the Action Button, which was a new release on the iPhone 16. Users can customize the Action Button to do a number of things with the tap of a button – switch between ring and silent modes, activate voice memos, quickly open the camera or flashlight, and more. 

Also similar to the latest iPhone releases, the iPhone 16e is built with the A18 chip, which makes it compatible with Apple’s latest artificial intelligence features and satellite features when the user is out of cell reception range. 

The new phone has only one camera on the back, as opposed to two or three like some of the other new releases, and it doesn’t have the camera activation button. However, users will be able to access Portrait Mode and Night Mode with the iPhone 16e. 

A new study from the USC Schaeffer Center shows that out-of-pocket costs for brand-name medications have increased sharply for Medicare Part D patients. This is because more drug plans are tying patient costs to the full list price of medications instead of using fixed copayments.

Why are costs rising? 

• In 2020, only 9.9% of stand-alone Medicare drug plans used coinsurance (where patients pay a percentage of a drug’s list price).
• By 2024, that number jumped to 71.9%.
• Patients in these plans are now paying more as drug list prices continue to rise.

While drugmakers offer rebates and discounts, these savings usually benefit insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), not patients. In fact, large rebates may even drive higher list prices, making things worse for those on coinsurance.

Big cost increases for popular drugs

For patients in stand-alone Part D plans, out-of-pocket costs more than doubled for several widely used medications, including:

• Eliquis (blood thinner): from $46.76 to $102.32 per month.
• Trulicity (diabetes): from $54.04 to $128.43 per month.
• Xarelto (blood clots): from $46.54 to $94.50 per month.
• Ozempic (diabetes/weight loss): from $56.95 to $135.43 per month.

Patients in Medicare Advantage plans, which offer more comprehensive coverage, saw only small cost increases in comparison.

Impact on patients

Many seniors are shocked by sudden price jumps for medications they’ve been taking for years. While Medicare’s new out-of-pocket cap will help reduce total yearly expenses, some patients may struggle with high upfront costs—potentially leading them to skip medications and risk their health.

Lead researcher Erin Trish warns, “Medicare beneficiaries taking highly rebated drugs are paying more while generating savings for insurers. That’s the opposite of how insurance should work.”

The findings highlight the growing financial burden on Medicare patients and the need for reforms to ensure fair pricing and affordable prescriptions.

The full text of the study is available online. 

It’s long been advisable to wear reflective clothing at night when walking or riding a bike. You are much more visible to drivers.

On the other hand, it might not be such a good idea. A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has uncovered a significant issue with automated crash prevention systems in vehicles, suggesting that clothing designed to enhance pedestrian visibility to human drivers may, paradoxically, render them invisible to these systems. 

This revelation has prompted calls for automakers to refine their pedestrian automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems.

IIHS President David Harkey emphasized the gravity of the findings, saying it is untenable that the clothes that pedestrians, cyclists, and roadway workers wear to be safe may make them harder for crash avoidance technology to recognize.

Daytime and nighttime yield different results

Historically, pedestrian AEB systems have been shown to reduce pedestrian crash rates by 27% during daylight. However, their effectiveness diminishes significantly on dark roads, where most fatal pedestrian accidents occur. Automakers are already working to address these shortcomings, especially as IIHS ratings now prioritize nighttime performance.

The study evaluated the impact of conspicuous clothing and enhanced roadway lighting on the pedestrian AEB systems of three 2023 vehicle models: the Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5, and Subaru Forester. Prior to 2024, IIHS provided separate ratings for daytime and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention, with the Forester earning the highest nighttime rating of superior.

Researchers conducted trials using an adult-sized dummy dressed in various outfits, including a black sweatshirt and pants, a retroreflective jacket, and a white outfit. The tests were conducted at 25 mph under different lighting conditions, including no lighting, 10 lux, and the federally recommended 20 lux.

Concerning results

The results were concerning. The CR-V and CX-5 collided with the dummy in 84% and 88% of the tests, respectively, while the Forester avoided collisions in all but one scenario. The CR-V and CX-5 failed to slow down when the dummy wore clothing with reflective strips, which are typically used by roadway workers.

David Kidd, a senior research scientist at IIHS, said the placement and motion of reflective strips on the joints and limbs of pants and jackets allows drivers to quickly recognize the pattern of movement as a person but doesn’t have the same effect for the pedestrian AEB systems. 

IIHS said the study highlights a critical gap in the technology, particularly concerning the safety of roadway workers and emergency personnel who rely on reflective clothing.

The sky is getting a lot more crowded. Not only are there a record number of scheduled commercial airline and general aviation flights, aerial photographers are launching more and more drones.

Now, get ready for flying cars. These vehicles have been in development for decades and are now becoming a reality. This month, Alef Aeronautics successfully conducted a flight test of its flying car, calling it "a significant milestone in urban mobility. "

The test, which took place over a closed-off city road in a non-densely populated area, demonstrated the car's ability to drive and take off vertically, a first in the history of automotive and aviation integration, according to the company.

The ultralight version of Alef's Model Zero was used for the test. The public street was closed to ensure no bystanders were under or near the flight path, and the surrounding area was selected for its low population density. Comprehensive safety equipment and personnel were on site to oversee the operation, which concluded without any incidents.

Alef Aeronautics released a video of the test, saying it is the first publicly available footage of a car driving and taking off vertically. Previous demonstrations involved cars using runways for takeoff or tethered flights of eVTOL flying taxis.

‘Real world city environment’

"This drive and flight test represents an important proof of technology in a real-world city environment," said Jim Dukhovny, CEO of Alef, in a stateement. "We hope it will be a moment similar to the Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk video, proving to humanity that new transportation is possible."

Alef's flying car is fully electric, capable of driving on public roads, and equipped with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. The company said it has already received 3,330 pre-orders through its website, highlighting the growing interest in innovative transportation solutions.

The Federal Aviation Administration is currently working on regulations to cover the emerging technology of flying cars, focusing on pilot training and certification. 

More consumers are searching for, but not necessarily finding cheaper auto and homeowners insurance. In 2024, the LexisNexis Risk Solutions U.S. Insurance Demand Meter reported an 18% increase in consumer policy shopping compared to 2023. 

There’s a fairly obvious reason. The surge is attributed to rising insurance rates over the last 12 months. LexisNexis also cites aggressive marketing campaigns by carriers promoting lower premiums. 

However, once consumers dug into the details they may have found other offers less than convincing. Despite the heightened shopping activity, the analysis found that many consumers opted not to switch their policies, indicating a complex interplay between shopping behavior and actual policy changes.

Insurance is a growing pain point for many consumers. Auto insurance rates are up by more than 11% in the last 12 months, for a variety of reasons. New cars are more expensive and contain lots of expensive high-tech parts. Auto repair costs have also risen as shops have increased pay and benefits to attract mechanics.

Home insurance policies have not only gotten more expensive in the wake of natural disasters, but some companies have stopped insuring homes in certain areas, reducing competition.

Nearly half of policies are getting shopped

By the end of 2024, 45% of policies in force had been shopped at least once in the preceding 12 months. The fourth quarter of 2024 saw a 26% increase in shopping activity and a 17.7% rise in new policy growth year-over-year. 

However, the holiday season traditionally sees a dip in new policies, a trend that continued in 2024 as consumers prioritized holiday spending over insurance shopping. This decline was more pronounced than in previous years, likely due to increased rate parity across carriers, which limited consumers' ability to find significantly lower rates.

New York and Hawaii emerged as outliers in the national trend. While most states saw pre-hard market volumes in shopping and new business, New York experienced a decline in new policy growth, remaining below fourth quarter 2020 levels. This was despite rate increases aligning with industry averages, possibly due to continued underwriting restrictions and limited marketing efforts in the state.

Looking ahead

As 2025 unfolds, the potential slowdown in policy shopping and switching may prompt carriers to step up their targeted marketing strategies.

The start of 2025 has been marked by significant events, including wildfires in Southern California and winter storms in the South, exacerbating the impact of last year's natural disasters.

While auto insurance rates have stabilized, insurers are expected to continue raising rates in response to these catastrophes. Monitoring the interplay between home insurance shopping and auto insurance behavior will be crucial as the market evolves.

Whether you buy or rent, housing will take a big bite of your monthly budget. But in most major metros, new research shows it’s a little cheaper to rent.

According to an analysis by Realtor.com, renting a median-priced unit continues to be more economical for median-wage earners than purchasing a median-priced home in nearly all major U.S. metros. The exceptions to this trend are Detroit and Pittsburgh, where buying remains the more affordable option.

Over the last 12 months, there has been a consistent decline in rental prices, coupled with persistently high mortgage rates, contributing to a market that favors renters. This shift is evident as the number of markets where buying was less expensive than renting has decreased from six to just two. 

Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said her team expects an increase in renter households and declines in the homeownership rate in 2025.

The exceptions of Detroit and Pittsburgh

Detroit and Pittsburgh stand out as the only major metros where buying is more affordable than renting. These cities have the lowest median listing prices among the top 50 metros, with Pittsburgh at $229,700 and Detroit at $239,950. 

The affordability in these Rust Belt cities is attributed to their relatively low home prices, coupled with the increasing share of income required for rent, making homeownership a more economical choice.

Despite the decline in rental prices, renters are still experiencing the effects of the rapid rent growth the occurred in 2021 and 2022. Although the January 2025 rent figures are lower than those of the previous two years, they remain $257 higher than in January 2020, indicating that renting has not yet returned to pre-pandemic affordability levels.

Renting vs. buying

The report also examines the dynamics between wage growth, mortgage rates, median rent, and listing prices to identify which metros favor renting or buying. New York, San Jose, and Detroit are the only metros where the share of income required for both renting and buying is increasing, making them less favorable for both renters and buyers.

Conversely, Kansas City, Kan., is becoming more buyer-friendly, with a higher share of income spent on rents and a lower share on buying. Additionally, 18 metros have shifted towards being rent-favoring, where a greater portion of the median earner's income is needed to purchase a home compared to a year ago.

Environmental groups are pressuring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court to complete its review on the dangers of the pesticide atrazine, which could lead to a ban of the chemical.

Atrazine is already banned in 60 countries after it was found to pollute water and have links to birth defects, cancer and fertility problems, nonprofit Center for Food Safety said Wednesday.

But atrazine remains the second-most-widely-used herbicide in the U.S, the Center for Food Safety said. 

Environmentalists said the Biden administration delayed its court-mandated review of atrazine danger's to wildlife for more than three years and the responsibility now falls to the Trump administration.

"The Trump administration has the opportunity, right now, to undo decades of cowardly inaction on atrazine and create a sweeping, signature achievement for everyone's health by banning this nasty stuff," said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a press release.

Nothing short of a complete ban ...

"Nothing short of a complete ban on atrazine will end the harm this extraordinarily dangerous pesticide is doing to human health and the thousands of waterways it has poisoned," he added.

Atrazine has also found critics among Trump's supporters, including commentator Alex Jones, who said it turned frogs gay, and recently-confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said it was contributing to gender confusion among young people.

The EPA didn't immediately respond to ConsumerAffairs's request for comment.

Nearly 90% of atrazine is sprayed on corn people don't eat that is fed to animals, said George Kimbrell, legal director at Center for Food Safety and attorney on the case, in a press release.

"Atrazine is not necessary to grow healthy food or help farmers, making its continued use and the delay of judicial review of its unlawful approval all the more infuriating," he said.

Email Dieter Holger at dholger@consumeraffairs.com.

A new study finds a dramatic increase in sports betting and gambling addiction help-seeking since the landmark Murphy v. NCAA Supreme Court decision in 2018 paved the way for states to legalize sports betting.

The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine and led by researchers from the University of California San Diego.

“When the Supreme Court legalized sportsbooks — a venue where people can wager on various sports competitions — in Murphy v. NCAA, public health experts paid little attention,” said the study’s senior author John W. Ayers, Ph.D. “Now, sportsbooks have expanded from a single state to 38 states, with hundreds of billions of wagers, mostly online, coinciding with record-breaking demand for help with gambling addiction as millions seek help.”

Unprecedented growth in sports betting

Since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling, the study documents staggering growth in the sportsbook industry:

• The number of states with operational sportsbooks grew from 1 in 2017 to 38 in 2024.
• Total sports wagers skyrocketed from $4.9 billion in 2017 to $121.1 billion in 2023, with 94% of wagers during 2023 placed online.

“Sports betting has become deeply embedded in our culture,” said Matthew Allen, a third-year medical student. “From relentless advertising to social media feeds and in-game commentary, sportsbooks are now everywhere. What was once a taboo activity, confined to the fringes of society, has been completely normalized.”

A blind spot

“Despite gambling addiction as a recognized disorder ... it remains largely overlooked in healthcare and public health with no formal ongoing surveillance,” said Kevin Yang, M.D., a third-year resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry. “Without systematic surveillance, we are flying blind while millions bet on sports.” 

To fill this gap, the research team analyzed aggregate Google search trends for queries that mentioned gambling, addiction, addict, anonymous or hotline, from January 1, 2016, through June 30, 2024.

“Many people struggling with addiction don’t openly discuss it, but they do turn to the internet for answers,” said Davey Smith, M.D., professor of medicine. “By analyzing search trends, we can gain real-time insight into the true scale of gambling addiction in the U.S.”

Record Levels of Gambling Addiction

Parallel with the growth in sportsbooks, internet searches for help with gambling addiction, such as “am I addicted to gambling”, have cumulatively increased 23% nationally since Murphy v. NCAA through June 2024. This corresponds with approximately 6.5 to 7.3 million searches for gambling addiction help-seeking nationally, with 180,000 monthly searches at its peak.

By state, the opening of sportsbooks consistently corresponded with increased demand for gambling addiction help seeking:

• Illinois (35%),
• Massachusetts (47%),
• Michigan (37%),
• New Jersey (34%),
• New York (37%),
• Ohio (67%),
• Pennsylvania (50%) and
• Virginia (30%).

These states all experienced significant increases in gambling addiction-related searches following the opening of any sportsbooks in their state. 

Online sportsbooks drive greater risk

The study found that online sportsbooks had a substantially greater impact on gambling addiction help-seeking than traditional brick-and-mortar sportsbooks. For example, in Pennsylvania: 

• The introduction of retail sportsbooks led to a 33% increase in gambling addiction help seeking searches during the five months before online sportsbooks launched.
• When online sportsbooks became available, searches surged 61%—a significantly greater and more sustained increase that persisted for years

Health reforms needed

“The expansion of legalized sports betting to always be at arm’s reach has outpaced our ability to understand and address its public health consequences,” said Nimit Desai, a third-year medical student. “Our findings are a wake-up call for policymakers, healthcare professionals and public health advocates to act now.”

To reduce the risks posed by the expansion of sports betting, the researchers recommend interventions increased funding for addiction treatment, stronger advertising regulations and stronger safeguards for online sportsbooks, including betting limits, age limits, enforced breaks and restrictions on credit card use for gambling.

“Sportsbook regulations are lacking because the Supreme Court, not legislators, legalized them,” concluded Ayers. “Congress must act now by passing commonsense safeguards. History has shown that unchecked industries—whether tobacco or opioids—inflict immense harm before regulations catch up. We can either take proactive steps to prevent gambling-related harms or repeat past mistakes and pay the price later." 

The article, “Growing Health Concern Regarding Gambling Addiction in the Age of Sportsbooks” is available online on the JAMA Internal Medicine website.

Donald Trump was a vote-getter at the polls but he's not doing so well as a consumer magnet. Four of ten Americans say they have shifted their spending as backlash against companies that have changed their policies to align with the Trump Administration, a new poll finds. 

A recent Harris poll found that a quarter (24%) of respondents have even stopped shopping at their favorite stores because of their politics (Black: 35%, gen Z: 32%, Democratic: 31%), according to a Guardian report.

Democrats are more likely to see their wallets as a substitute for a voting card, with 50% saying they're changing their spending habits, compared with 41% of Republicans and 40% of Independents. 

Target was one of the first to feel the pinch. After it ended some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, it encountered blowback from liberal consumers and was disinvited from participating in the Pride festival in Minneapolis, its hometown.

Two can play

Boycotts are a double-edged sword, as Republicans demonstrated during the Biden presidency. Bud Light lost an estimated $395 million when Trump fans boycotted it for partnering with transgender influencer Dylvan Mulvaney for a social media post. 

It may be difficult for liberal boycotts to have too much effect, however, simply because so many businesses have started pulling back from taking a leadership role in equity struggles.

Walmart, McDonald's and other household names are potential target victims while other companies, including Costco, Microsoft and Apple have all said they have no plan to cut back on their DEI policies.

Adding to the confusion is a growing feeling among consumers that they have had enough of just about everything. They're opting out of the news and politics and many are also trying to opt out of the economy -- buying as little as possible so as not to reward companies they feel have done them wrong.

The Rev. Al Sharpton has promised to sharpen the boycott focus a bit. He said last month that his National Action Network has been studying which companies have backed out of their DEI commitments and will select two of them to focus on.

“Donald Trump can’t make us buy your stuff. The Senate can’t make us buy your stuff,” Sharpton said at a speech last month. “In the name of Dr [Martin Luther King Jr], we’re going to do what King did.”

Inflation remains sticky in 2025 with the U.S. inflation rate, as measured by the Consumer Price Index rising 0.5% in January and gaining 3% year-over-year.

Grocery shoppers complain about the cost of food prices but prices of most food items, with the notable exception of eggs, have leveled off in recent months, albeit at far above pre-pandemic levels.

A ConsumerAffairs analysis of the January CPI shows 10 spending categories account for the most pain. We looked for 12-month price increases in excess of 3% – January’s inflation rate – and found the usual suspects, as well as some that might have been overlooked.

Some expenses can be avoided, such as tobacco products and airline fares. Others are harder to avoid. In the last 12 months, here are the biggest drivers of inflation:

​Most homeowners are aware that insurance premiums are rising. That category is included in “owners equivalent of rent.”

Some categories that remain under 3% on an annual basis rose above that level in January and could be a problem for consumers as the year unfolds. Fuel oil prices rose 6.2% from December to January but are down 5.3% for the year. 

Other categories seeing a significant one-month increase in prices are groceries, non-alcoholic beverages, gasoline, used cars and car insurance.