pileofcrapola

Shopping at Whole Foods can be enough of a drain on your bank account (that’s why they call it Whole Paycheck, right? Right?), so it doesn’t help if the upscale supermarket chain is also involved in some questionable practices that had customers in California paying more than they should have. Today, the company agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a statewide investigation into allegations of overcharging.

L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer, along with the City Attorneys for Santa Monica and San Diego, announced the settlement this afternoon, saying the deal puts an end to a one-year probe into claims that Whole Foods was charging higher than advertised prices.

Among the problems alleged by investigators:

• That Whole Foods failed to deduct the weight of containers when ringing up charges for self-serve foods at the salad bar and hot bar;

• That the actual weight of packaged food items sold by the pound was less than the weight stated on the label.

• That Whole Foods was selling prepared food and deli items by the piece, instead of by the pound as required by state law.

The settlement, in which Whole Foods admits no wrongdoing, covers all 74 Whole Foods stores in California. In addition to the slap-on-the-wrist $800,000 penalty, there are other restrictions involved in the deal.

For at least the next five years, the company must appoint two “state coordinators” to oversee pricing accuracy at Whole Foods stores throughout California. Each store must designate an employee who will be responsible for checking pricing accuracy. Whole Foods must also conduct four random audits a year at each store to check on the accuracy of prices and that container weights are being deducted correctly.

“No consumer should ever be overcharged by their local market,” says Feuer, though we have to admit it’s a state state of affairs when anyone refers to Whole Foods as “their local market.”

Two years ago, the Centers for Disease Control launched a series of ads featuring horror stories from former smokers who got cancer, lost organs, teeth, and whose children suffered from the ill effects of being exposed to cigarette smoke. Some of these ads have been viewed millions of times online and the CDC claims they are helping to get people to quit or to never start smoking; that’s why a new series of TV spots will soon start hitting the TV airwaves in July.

The new commercials, which will have you reaching for the remote starting on July 7, feature a rainbow of former smokers offering “tips” intended to make you think twice about lighting up that Marlboro, Camel, or Kool.

Like the mom who smoked during pregnancy and offers advice on how to talk to your baby through the vent hole in a NICU incubator:

Or the former smoker who lost most of this teeth to gum disease and advises you to save your smile while you still can:

And one final message from Terrie, whose 2012 ad for the campaign has been seen nearly 3.5 million times on YouTube. She pass away in 2013, but not before recording one last “tip” for the CDC campaign:

According to the CDC, Terrie “demanded that we come and film her for this ad just days before she passed away.”

CDC Director Tom Frieden says the ads “highlight illnesses and suffering caused by smoking that people don’t commonly associate with cigarette use.”

With around 1-in-5 American adults still smoking, and millions of people still using chewing tobacco — which contributed to the recent cancer death of baseball great Tony Gwynn — the CDC says there is still a lot of work to be done to get people to stop.

Of course, it can’t help that the FDA is continuing to allow cigarette manufacturers to release new products, so long as they are virtually identical to cigarettes already on the market; thus allowing the tobacco industry to continue generating interest in its cancer-causing products.

We’ve chronicled the financial problems of the U.S. Postal Service, and it’s great that they’re seeking out new revenue sources. This prominently-placed poster in reader Chris’s local post office encourages postal customers to prepare early and buy their Christmas stamps now. In June. For Christmas cards. Cards for that holiday that doesn’t happen for another six months.

Was the poster in a remote corner of the building, maybe, where no one had noticed it was still up from last Christmas? No, Chris says. “It was posted at the window immediately in front of the wait line,” Oh, dear.

We sent his photo off to the USPS to see whether maybe this post office put the poster up a little early. We’ll update you when we hear back.

While we’re unaware of any existing maxim that says lions can be tamed with a package of sweet treats, the Memphis Zoo is definitely against any plan involving visitors hopping enclosure barriers to offer up cookies to the big cats. That’s why the zoo has banned one woman, who allegedly climbed into the actual lions’ den while singing and bearing snacks.

It’s unclear if she was attempting some sort of big cat selfie, reports WMC-TV, but her fellow visitors contacted zoo security when they saw her jump over the barrier to enter the lion’s enclosure, reportedly while singing. The only thing between her and the cats? A bit of wire.

“[She was singing] some song that was telling how much she missed them. It was bizarre,” a witness told the station. “I’ve never seen someone singing to a lion. It was really loud.”

The zoo confirmed the incident, which was the second time she’s gotten in trouble for trying to feed the lions cookies.

“Last week she was noticed by our security staff throwing objects into the lion exhibit; at that time she was asked to leave the zoo,” a Memphis Zoo spokesperson said.

Not only is it dangerous for a human to be so close to the animals — whether they’re tamer than say, a wild lion or not — but cookies are not part of a lion’s daily diet.

As such, the singing cookie-bearer will have to find another way to connect with the animals: Her photo has been distributed at the zoo in case she defies officials and tries again.

“She was asked to leave the zoo permanently. She will not be granted access to the zoo anymore,” the spokesperson added.

Singing zoo visitor hops barrier to feed lions cookies [WMC-TV]

I probably fly about as much as the average American adult, but even in my modest travels I’ve had some odd, seemingly nit-picky reasons for takeoff delays — a broken coffee machine, a toilet that didn’t have enough “blue juice” in the tank and had to be manually filled — that held up the flight for 30 minutes or more. But the crew of an American Airlines commuter plane recently determined that taking a minute to ensure the safety of a baby was less important than avoiding an FAA fine for a late departure.

Forbes contributor, former NTSB member and aviation safety consultant John Goglia has the story of a family that was recently traveling on an American Eagle flight from NYC to Columbus, OH.

The parents had paid for a separate seat for their 14-month-old son and had brought him onto the plane in an approved safety seat. The plane had already been sitting idle for about two hours when the cabin crew, making their final check before the long-delayed takeoff, noticed that the baby’s seat was not properly buckled in.

Rather than take the time to fix this easily resolved problem, the flight attendant told the parents that the baby needed to be held in one of their laps during takeoff — in spite of the fact that the FAA has stated that “the safest place for your child on an airplane is in a government-approved safety restraint system (CRS) or device, not on your lap,” and that “Your arms aren’t capable of holding your child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence.”

The child’s dad attempted to debate the issue but tells Goglia he was given the choice of “turning the plane around and being thrown off the plane, or holding our son during takeoff and landing.”

While a rep for AA took some issue with how the parents characterized the incident, she did confirm to Goglia that “properly securing the seat at that time would have been time consuming and delayed the flight’s departure.”

Since the flight had already been delayed for two hours, AA may have been at risk for a hefty fine that charges carriers several thousand dollars per passenger when a plane sits on the tarmac for more than three hours.

Still, even though securing a safety seat is slightly more time-consuming than putting a seat belt on yourself, it still wouldn’t have taken more than a few seconds to fix this problem.

“[H]as the pressure for on time departures so affected the airlines and crew that they would rather risk the safety of an infant by allowing him to fly unrestrained rather than take a few moments to ensure the security of the seat?” asks Goglia.

At the very least, this is a reminder for all parents traveling with children in safety seats to double-check the seat is secured before takeoff.

Last week, KFC was doing a lot of apologizing after the family of a little girl with facial scars claimed their daughter had been told to leave a KFC eatery in Mississippi because she was making other customers uncomfortable. A new report now says that no such incident occurred but the girl’s family is sticking by their original account of how things happened.

A report in the Laurel, MS, Leader-Call dubs the story a “Kentucky Fried Hoax,” citing anonymous sources who claim that the little girl — who is recovering from a vicious dog attack — can not be found on in-store video footage from the day on which the incident allegedly occurred. The sources also say there is no record of any order being placed that matches what the girl’s grandmother claimed to have ordered at the KFC during their visit.

Workers at KFC also tell the paper that they have never and would never ask someone to leave because of some scars and bandages on their face; not just because it’s rude, but because the store is located near the hospital and gets a lot of traffic from customers coming and going from treatment.

“We’ve had people come in who were shot in the face,” one source is quoted as saying. “We’ve had them with tubes and wire sticking out. We never have asked anyone to leave. There is a physically challenged person working in the Woodrow Wilson location and one of the other [KFC] managers has a child with Tourette’s Syndrome.”

In addition to the $30,000 that KFC has pledged to help with the young girl’s medical bills, the outpouring of public sympathy has resulted in more than $100,000 in donations and gifts.

Late last night, the Facebook page set up for the young girl’s cause posted an update denying the claims made in the Leader-Call story:

I promise its not a hoax, I never thought any of this would blow up the way it has. The article circling the web calling this a hoax is untrue. The article it self say the investigation is not complete. It is not over until KFC releases a statement. The media outlet running this story is not connected with KFC. The family has not asked for anything, a attorney is handling all the media publicity for the family pro bono. Please do not believe untrue media. I have personally watched this family go without to provide for Victoria. They have not and would not do anything to hurt Victoria in any way.

KFC is not commenting on the Leader-Call story, other than to say that its investigation is still pending. The family’s attorney says they have not decided whether they will accept the restaurant chain’s $30,000 offer.

An Arizona company says it has successfully completed the first small-scale test flight of a high-altitude balloon and capsule being developed to let tourists float 20 miles above the earth.

A small circle of history researchers is racing to capture the last remnants of a little-known French dialect that endures in some old Missouri mining towns before the few remaining native speakers succumb to old age.

A judge has decided not to grant a restraining order to stop the distribution of campaign handouts that the state's largest teachers' union says misrepresent their trademarked ballots shaped like apples.

Authorities say a 49-year-old Virginia man vacationing on the Outer Banks has died after he was buried in 6 feet of sand while digging a tunnel to connect two large holes.

The Virginia Department of Health and Walgreens are teaming up to offer free HIV tests.

A retired D.C. police detective has pleaded guilty to embezzling money from two unions he founded.

Police have charged three more suspects in the fatal shooting of a Lynchburg man.

The Virginia Zoo in Norfolk is welcoming three new cassowary chicks.

Long after the gag of joke birthday candles wears off, they still have one helpful use: getting that darned campfire lit.

Read more...

When a loved one dies, family members and close friends are left to pick up the pieces and plan a funeral. Important decisions must be made about how to lay a loved one to rest, all while factoring in the costs. And those decisions will directly affect how much of a financial burden the funeral may be.

Read more...

We've discussed how to manage pests like spiders , but weblog Housewife How-to's has a good tip: Spiders don't like peppermint or vinegar. Spray a mixture of peppermint oil and vinegar around your home to deter them from coming inside.

Read more...

I was going to do another list of geeky sci-fi wallpapers, until I stumbled upon a picture of a puppy. Now it's physically impossible for me to cultivate a list of anything other than baby animals. So here are a few to dress up your desktop.

Read more...

There are plenty of tools available to make searching for a new apartment easy, or at least easier than running around looking for "for rent" signs. Last week we asked for your favorites , then took a look at the five best apartment search tools . Now we're back to highlight the crowd favorite.

Read more...

You know that new car smell? It's adds to the pleasant and exciting experience of buying a brand new car. But something like a smell probably isn't worth the premium. We often spend money on features that we don't really need, and should stop and think before writing a check.

Read more...

Getting your kids to eat vegetables is one of those classically difficult tasks, but tending a garden with them can get them excited about eating what you grow.

Read more...

Sure, credit card issuers, including Target, aim to get us all using chip-and-PIN (EMV) credit and debit cards sometime next year. They will make our transactions more secure, and maybe we’ll be less likely to get our digits stolen in a catastrophic data breach. Here’s one question that you may not have thought to ask, though: where do these cards actually come from?

Sure, sure, the bank. But who makes the physical cards and mails them to you on the bank’s behalf? Credit.com paid a visit to the new, mysterious facility that credit card manufacturer CPI Card Group has built near Denver, where payment cards are born.

Security is about as strict as you’d expect: the Credit.com writer had to wear a pocket-free lab coat, and no employee is allowed to be behind a closed door alone. (Except in the bathroom, we hope.)

In fact, your future card may already exist. This new facility was built specifically to make EMV cards, since they’ll have to crank out more than a billion cards in order to meet the deadline and replace all current magnetic strip card with chip ones by next year. CPI Card Group already has millions of EMV cards stockpiled and ready to go: they will simply need to be encoded with your name and card number when it’s time to upgrade America’s payment systems.

The Secret Facility Behind the Credit Card Revolution [Credit.com]

As many of you recall, TV’s Dr. Oz took a spanking last week before a Senate subcommittee that questioned his use of terms like “miracle” and “magic” in the description of unproven weight-loss products and treatments. And on HBO’s Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver suggested a better line of work for the pill-pushing physician, along with a more accurate title for his much-watched talk show.

After reviewing some of Oz’s most dubious decrees, like calling raspberry ketone, a “miracle flower” for fighting fat, Oliver asked, “Miracle flowers? Are you a doctor or an Old-West traveling salesman?”

He then suggested that Oz could sell his viewers “A monkey’s paw mixed with five petals of a rose in a thimble full of otter semen! Guaranteed to cure your lumbago!”

With regard to the so-called “Oz Effect,” in which the mere mention of a questionable weight-loss product on his shows results in scammers and sketchy marketers coming out of the woodwork to take advantage of desperate consumers, Oliver said, “The only problem with the Dr. Oz effect is that magic pills don’t technically exist, and Dr. Oz knows that.”

In his testimony before the subcommittee, Oz the Great and Doctorful said that while he believes in the stuff he pushes on his audience, he knows that some of it wouldn’t pass scientific muster.

“That’s the whole point!” interjected Oliver. “You’re presenting it as a doctor. If you want to keep spouting this bullsh*t, that’s fine. But don’t call your show Dr. Oz, call it ‘Check This Sh*t Out With Some Guy Named Mehmet.’”

You can watch the whole clip above, though not all the NSFW language is bleeped out, so keep your volume down if you’re at work.

Greek yogurt is not made in Greece. Sure, this has caused manufacturers of the thick dairy product some legal problems in the United Kingdom, but most consumers are savvy enough to know that the name describes a type of yogurt, not a point of origin. Right? Well, two men in New York City are suing two major producers of Greek yogurt, accusing them of deceptive advertising.

There’s more to this lawsuit than just not being made in Greece: the lead plaintiffs claim that the packaging of the yogurts’ containers claims health benefits that the products simply don’t have. “Defendants… prominently display the number zero (shown as “0%”) on the top and front of their Product packaging without providing any context as to what the 0% represents,” says their initial complaint against Chobani. “Defendants intend to create consumer confusion by causing purchasers to impute any meaning to the 0% that consumers wish, such as the Products lack sugar, carbohydrates, calories, or any other content which a consumer may believe is unhealthy.”

Chobani, meanwhile, counters that everyone knows that Greek yogurt is not from Greece, and the term is a description of the yogurt type, like an “English” muffin. “Chobani” itself is a Turkish word, and the company’s founder is from Turkey. In a statement to the New York Daily News, the company said:

Much like English muffins and French fries, our fans understand Greek yogurt to be a product description about how we authentically make our yogurt and not about where we make our yogurt in upstate New York and Idaho.

The pair are also suing Fage (pronounced “fah-yay,” before you ask), a company that really is based in Greece, but makes its yogurt in upstate New York.

Chobani Greek Yogurt accused in lawsuit of not being Greek and deceiving customers over its nutritional benefits [NY Daily News]

For those of you’ve never had a hangover, I’m not going to go to lengths to describe how awful it can be because you don’t need that bad energy in your life. And if you’ve had one, well, let’s not dwell on things in the past, but it’s safe to say you’ve tried every method under the sun to make it all go away. One doctor says he’s got The Cure.

Not the band, no, but one method that purports to take that hangover and turn it into a bad dream. Color me skeptical, but the guy behind I.V. Doctor is an actual doctor, albeit not the kind you might associate with booze, if you were inclined to do such a thing.

He’s a urologist, reports CNNMoney, and his most popular package goes for $250, providing a cocktail of hydrating I.V. bags and various medications to fix what’s ailing you after a few too many.

The New York doctor and his surgical resident use intravenous hydration and “other medicine” in the service, making house calls to homes and businesses throughout the city, with the help of 60 nurses in NYC and 12 in the Hamptons. Because all those summer parties filled with fabulous people mean lots of expensive hangovers.

And the bulk of his clients, the doc says? People working in finance who work hard and play harder. No, but really.

“We’re the work-hard, play-hard type and everyone said they felt replenished,” one client who’s used the service said. “Even some of the server girls we hired for a barbeque got it done and they all said they felt better.”

Just going to leave that there.

Anyway, you can also call the doc for other common, somewhat related ailments, like food poisoning or the flu, or if you need a recharge after a big game or race.

The I.V. Doctor plans to expand to Chicago this summer, because clearly, hangovers know no geographical boundaries.

This doctor cures hangovers for $250 [CNNMoney]

A jury has rejected the race and sex discrimination allegations of a former D.C. police commander who filed a lawsuit against the city.

Over the weekend, a news story out of Texas about a man asked to leave a Walgreens store because of his service dog spread across the Internet. The important question is, should we be filled with righteous fury at the store, or at the dog-toting shopper? While asking the pair to leave could have been handled more graciously, the important question is whether the dog is a service animal at all.

The customer is a Marine veteran, who says that his dog is therapeutic. Providing comfort and companionship isn’t the same as being a service dog, though: a dog can be your best buddy and provide emotional support, but that doesn’t matter if it lacks training to perform a specific function other than just being a dog, such as alerting people to its owner’s seizures.

There is no national registry of service dogs, and another wrinkle is that the Veterans Administration isn’t currently using service dogs as a form of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder: if it did, it would provide the dogs and training, as well as veterinary care for the dogs. Some nonprofits are filling in the gap, providing specially-trained pups or training for the dogs that veterans might already have or acquire from a shelter.

PTSD service dogs do exist: they are trained to distract their owners when a stress reaction occurs or is imminent. Slapping an orange vest on your BFF and calling him a service dog doesn’t automatically make him one.

The federal government has a very specific definition of a service dog:

Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

An attorney explained to Fox 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth that there are two questions it’s okay for businesses to ask someone with a purported service dog in their establishments: “Is that a service dog?” and “What is it trained to do?” A demonstration isn’t required, since that would be dangerous for dogs trained to detect seizures or low blood sugar.

Vet says he was asked to leave Walgreens because of service dog [Fox 4]
COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SERVICE ANIMALS IN PLACES OF BUSINESS [USDOJ]

W*USA 9

Suspect sought in Va. beauty salon burglary W*USA 9 Manassas City Police Department is searching for a suspect or suspects in connection with a beauty salon burglary that happened Friday morning. Loading… Post to Facebook. Suspect sought in Va. beauty salon burglary Manassas City Police Department is ... and more »

Manassas schools providing free summer meals for kids Inside NoVA The Manassas school division is participating in the USDA Summer Food Service program, sponsored by the Virginia Department of Health. Through the program, free meals will be provided to all children under 18. Meals will be provided at following ...

A Richmond police officer plans to adopt a kitten that was rescued from a 75-foot interstate pillar.