pileofcrapola

Skimming attacks on ATMs increased at an alarming rate last year for both American and European banks and their customers, according to recent stats collected by fraud trackers. The trend appears to be continuing into 2016, with outbreaks of skimming activity visiting a much broader swath of the United States than in years past.

In a series of recent alerts, the FICO Card Alert Service warned of large and sudden spikes in ATM skimming attacks. On April 8, FICO noted that its fraud-tracking service recorded a 546 percent increase in ATM skimming attacks from 2014 to 2015.

“The number of ATM compromises in 2015 was the highest ever recorded by the FICO Card Alert Service, which monitors hundreds of thousands of ATMs in the US,” the company said. “Criminal activity was highest at non-bank ATMs, such as those in convenience stores, where 10 times as many machines were compromised as in 2014.”

While 2014 saw skimming attacks targeting mainly banks in big cities on the east and west coasts of the United States, last year’s skimming attacks were far more spread out across the country, the FICO report noted.

Earlier this year, I published a post about skimming attacks targeting non-bank ATMs using hidden cameras and skimming devices plugged into the ATM network cables to intercept customer card data. The skimmer pictured in that story was at a 7-Eleven convenience store.

Since that story ran I’ve heard from multiple banking industry sources who said they have seen a spike in ATM fraud targeting cash machines in 7-Elevens and other convenience stores, and that the commonality among the machines is that they are all operated by ATM giant Cardtronics (machines in 7-Eleven locations made up for 17.5 percent of Cardtronics’ revenue last year, according to this report at ATM Marketplace).

Some financial institutions are taking dramatic steps to head off skimming activity. Trailhead Credit Union in Portland, Ore., for example, has posted a notice to customers atop its Web site, stating:

“ALERT: Until further notice, we have turned off ATM capabilities at all 7-11 ATMs due to recent fraudulent activity. Please use our ATM locator for other locations. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”

7-Eleven did not respond to requests for comment. Cardtronics said it wasn’t aware of any banks blocking withdrawals across the board at 7-11 stores or at Cardtronics machines.

“While Cardtronics is aware that a single financial institution [Xceed Financial Credit Union] temporarily restricted ATM access late in 2015, it soon thereafter restored full ATM access to its account holders,” the company said in a statement. “As the largest ATM services provider, Cardtronics has a long history of executing a layered security strategy and implementing innovative security enhancements at our ATMs. As criminals modify their attack, Cardtronics always has and always will aggressively respond, reactively and proactively, with innovation to address these instances.”

DRAMA IN DC

A bit closer to home for this author, on April 22 FICO pushed an alert to its customers and partners warning about “a recent and dramatic increase in skimming fraud perpetrated at a chain of discount supercenters point-of-sale (POS) terminals,” in an around the Washington, D.C. area, including Frederick, Ellicott City and Mt. Airy in Maryland, and in Fredricksburg, Va.

“As this fraud activity has appeared and progressed suddenly, it is likely that sites in other cities and other geographic areas will be targeted by organized criminal groups,” the organization cautioned.

EUROPE

Banks in Europe also enjoyed an increase in skimming attacks of all kinds last year. According to statistics shared by the European ATM Security Team (EAST), during 2015 there were 18,738 skimming attacks reported against European ATMs. That’s a 19% increase from the previous year and equates to 51 attacks per 1000 ATMs over the period.

“During 2015 total losses of 327.48 million euros were reported,” EAST wrote. “This is a 17% increase when compared to the total losses of 279.86 million euros reported for 2014 and equates to losses of 884,069 euros per 1000 ATMs over the period.”

EAST’s report further breaks down the skimming activity by specialization. For example, there were at least 2,657 cases in which a thief tried to blow up or otherwise physically force his way into the cash machine. “This total also includes data from solid explosive and explosive gas attacks. This is a 34% increase from 2014 and equates to 7.2 attacks per 1000 ATMs over the period.”

EAST also tracked 15 malware incidents reported against European ATMs in 2015.  All of them were ‘cash out’ or ‘jackpotting’ attacks. According to EAST, this is a 71% decrease from 2014.

PROTECT YOURSELF

As I’ve noted in countless skimmer stories here, the simplest way to protect yourself from ATM skimming is to cover your hand when entering your PIN. That’s because most skimmers rely on hidden cameras to steal the victim’s PIN.

Interestingly, a stat in Verizon‘s new Data Breach Investigations Report released this week bears this out: According to Verizon, in over 90 percent of the breaches in the report last year involving skimmers used a tiny hidden camera to steal the PIN.

The Verizon report also offers this advice about ATM safety: Trust your gut. “If you think that something looks odd or out of place, don’t use it. While it is increasingly difficult to find signs of tampering, it is not impossible. If you think a device may have been tampered with, move on to another location, after reporting to the merchant or bank staff.”

For more on ATM skimmers and other skimming devices, check out my series All About Skimmers.

Dollar stores are a minefield of cheap junk and questionable food, but there are also some great deals on stuff you use every day. If you know what to look for and what to avoid, you can make the dollar store the first stop in your grocery shopping quest and get the most bang for your pennies.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus bid farewell to its performing elephants on Sunday, as the show closed its own chapter on a practice that has entertained audiences in America for two centuries but has come under fire by animal rights activists.

“This is a very emotional time for us,” Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson told the crowd as the performance came to an end in Providence, Rhode Island, on Sunday.

He called the six Asian elephants beloved members of the circus family and thanked the animals for more than 100 years of service.

“We love our girls. Thank you so much for so many years of joy,” he said as the elephants left the ring for a final time. “That’s history tonight there, ladies and gentlemen, true American icons.”

Earlier, the crowd watched as the elephants performed an act that had them dancing, balancing on each others’ backs, sitting on their hind legs and pretending to sleep.

“We came to say farewell to the elephants,” said Sheila Oliver, of East Providence, who brought her 4-year-old daughter, Lilliana. “This is her first circus and, unfortunately, it’s their last one.”

Five elephants also performed earlier Sunday in a Ringling Bros. show in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

The Providence show opened with the national anthem. An elephant carried a performer holding an American flag then stood at attention as the song ended. A few minutes later, six elephants entered the ring, each holding the tail of the one in front of her.

After Sunday’s performance, the animals will live at Ringling’s 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida, said Alana Feld, executive vice president of Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus. Its herd of 40 Asian elephants, the largest in North America, will continue a breeding program and be used in a pediatric cancer research project.

Elephants have been used in the circus in America for more than 200 years. In the early 1800s, Hackaliah Bailey added the elephant “Old Bet” to his circus. P.T. Barnum added the African elephant he named “Jumbo” to “The Greatest Show on Earth” in 1882.

The Humane Society says more than a dozen circuses in the United States continue to use elephants. But none tour as widely or are as well-known as Ringling Bros.

It’s also getting more difficult for circuses to tour with elephants. Dozens of cities have banned the use of bullhooks – used to train elephants – and some states are considering such legislation.

Just as in the Disney movie “Dumbo,” elephants in the past have been dressed up as people and trained to do a range of tricks: play baseball, ride bicycles, play musical instruments, wear wedding dresses or dress in mourning clothes, said Ronald B. Tobias, author of the 2013 book “Behemoth: The History of the Elephant in America.”

The change at Ringling signifies a shift in Americans’ understanding of elephants, Tobias said. People no longer see elephants as circus performers, he said, “but sentient animals that are capable of a full range of human emotions.”

Attitudes are shifting about other animals as well. Last month, Sea World announced it would end live orca shows and breeding. Ringling will continue to use animals, Feld said. Sunday’s show included horses, lions, tigers, dogs, pigs and other animals.

Before Sunday’s show, around half a dozen protesters stood outside, including one wearing a lion costume, to protest Ringling’s use of animals.

The Humane Society has called for an end to the breeding program at Ringling’s Florida center, and for the company to retire its elephants to one of two accredited sanctuaries, one in California and one in Tennessee, both of which have more than 2,000 acres of land.

Feld said they have the most successful breeding program in North America and have determined they can accommodate the elephants in the space they have. In 2014, Feld Entertainment won more than $25 million in settlements from animal-rights groups, including the Humane Society, over unproven allegations of mistreated elephants.

An announcer told the crowd before Sunday’s performance in Providence about the cancer project. Cancer is less common in elephants than humans, and their cells contain 20 copies of a major cancer-suppressing gene, compared with just one copy in humans. A researcher at the University of Utah is working with Ringling to study the elephants’ blood cells.

Tobias said as attitudes have changed, people are more interested in seeing elephants in a natural habitat such as a sanctuary, rather than in a circus or zoo.

“I think people will get a lot more satisfaction out of elephants living their real lives than to see them performing as clowns,” Tobias said. “It’s kind of a new age in our understanding and sympathy and empathy toward elephants.”

___

On the Web:

https://www.facebook.com/RinglingBros/

The post Elephants perform for final time at Ringling Bros. appeared first on WTOP.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A judge on Monday temporarily barred the city of Louisville from removing a 70-foot-tall Confederate monument near the University of Louisville campus.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman signed a restraining order forbidding the city from moving the 121-year-old obelisk honoring Kentuckians who died fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Mayor Greg Fischer and University President James Ramsey had announced Friday that they would remove the monument, marking the latest government effort to reconsider displaying Confederate symbols following the massacre of nine black churchgoers in South Carolina last summer.

The city said the stone and bronze structure, for years a source of tension, would be disassembled and moved to storage until a decision is made on where it should be properly displayed.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans and Everett Corley, a Republican running for Congress, filed for the restraining order on Monday. They contend that the mayor lacks the authority to remove the monument and did not follow proper protocol.

County Attorney Mike O’Connell said he would aggressively defend the merged city-county government’s legal ability to remove the sculpture from its prominent location between Second and Third streets, next to campus and the university’s celebrated Speed Art museum, which just completed a $60 million renovation.

The judge scheduled a hearing Thursday morning, though O’Connell’s office asked for more time to prepare its legal arguments. The judge will hear that motion Tuesday morning.

Corley, a real estate agent running against two other Republicans to take on Rep. John Yarmuth in the fall, called the statue’s proposed removal “the 2016 version of book burning.” He said removing the monument — which features statues of three Confederate soldiers and the inscription “To Our Confederate Dead” — would be an insult to soldiers who fought and died.

Kentucky, sandwiched between three free states and three slave states, never seceded from the Union and attempted to remain neutral throughout the Civil War. But its people were deeply divided. Some fought for the Union, others for the Confederacy, and the mixed allegiances tore apart families and communities across the state.

Kentucky is the birthplace of both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederacy. Both are honored in the state’s Capitol rotunda with large statues. Following the Charleston church shootings, leaders from both political parties called for the removal of the Davis statue. But a state commission voted 7-2 to leave it be.

Corley charged that while the city says it plans to move the Louisville monument, it really intends to destroy it and throw it away. O’Connell called that allegation “ridiculous.”

Some in the city and the university community have called for years for the monument to be removed. The city’s announcement last week came days after Ricky Jones, a professor of Pan-African studies at the university, wrote an opinion piece in the Courier-Journal newspaper calling again for it to be moved. He called it “a symbol of treachery, terrorism, slavery and racism” and a “celebration of backwardness.”

The post Judge temporarily blocks removal of Confederate monument appeared first on WTOP.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia middle school that was named in honor of a prominent segregationist will be renamed for a local historically black village.

News outlets report that the Henrico County School Board voted 3-0 Thursday to change the name of Harry F. Byrd Middle School to Quioccasin (kwee-ock-a-sin) Middle School.

The board had voted last month to remove Byrd’s name from the Richmond school following a petition drive.

Byrd was a politician who fought against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to end school segregation.

More than 1,600 people had suggested that the school be renamed in honor of former student Alysia Burton, who died on Sept. 11, 2001, but the board opted against naming the school after a specific person.

The new name takes effect next school year.

The post Board renames Virginia school that honored segregationist appeared first on WTOP.

The ever-popular Montana State Society Testicle Festival is only two weeks away.

Now in its 12th year, the festival is taking place from 6-11 p.m. on Saturday, May 14. As usual, it’s being held at the American Legion hall at 3445 Washington Blvd, in Virginia Square.

The event is, of course, all about the all-you-can-eat Rocky Mountain Oysters, but for those who aren’t fans of “swinging beef” — also known as “cowboy caviar” or “Montana tendergroins” — there are other options thanks to food trucks that will be parked behind the hall. And then there’s the beer and Crown Royal.

Here’s how the pun masters at the Montana State Society are promoting their big day.

You’d be NUTS to miss this! The Montana State Society would like to invite you to have a ball (literally!) at the 12th annual D.C. Testy Fest – “Members Only” – to be held from 6:00PM – 11:00PM on Saturday, May 14th, 2016 at the Arlington American Legion.

Last year over 600 people flocked to the event to enjoy live music provided by the Wil Gravatt Band and graze on all-you-can-eat Rocky Mountain Oysters! Thirsty? Wash them down with a limitless supply of Crown Royal (A.K.A liquid courage) & beer – all for the bargain price of $25 bucks! While the theme this year is “Members Only,” all are welcome at this great event.

Our Rocky Mountain Oysters are prepared by legendary chef Frank McGraw, and shipped fresh from the Rock Creek Lodge in Western Montana. Not your ‘bag’? Don’t worry baby! We will have food trucks there selling delicious grub. Get there early, the first guests will also get a T-Shirt to forever memorialize the event.

What: 12th Annual DC Testicle Festival “Members Only”
When: Saturday, May 14th 2016, 6:00PM – 11:00PM
Where: Arlington American Legion, 3445 N. Washington Blvd, Arlington, VA (metro accessible via Virginia Square or Clarendon stations)
TICKETS: $25 online OR $30 at the door. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2540264
**MUST BE 21+ years of age!

Prepare to go Ballistic! For more information and to see all of your friends who are attending please visit our Facebook page for the event! https://www.facebook.com/events/104383383301895

The post Testicle Festival Returns to Va. Square Next Month appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that Baltimore city officials were more concerned about political fallout than responding to the destructive riots and protests that erupted in the city last spring, and the political career of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is over as a result.

Hogan made the comments in response to a question at the American Action Forum in Washington, where he also spoke about his triumphs so far as a Republican governor in a state that overwhelmingly supports Democrats.

“It’s very unfortunate. We’re going to have a new mayor, though. She’s still a lame duck, got a few months to serve out her term. But her career in Baltimore is done,” Hogan said.

Rawlings-Blake, a Democrat, announced several months after the riots and protests broke out in Baltimore one year ago this week that she would not run for re-election.

“The mayor prefers to focus on governing the city rather than obsessing on perceived past slights or differences of opinion,” the office off Rawlings-Blake said in a statement to WTOP.

The governor expressed his frustration with how the city handled the crisis.

“I think there was a lot of political stuff going on at the city level. They were talking to the White House, they were talking to the (Democratic National Committee), they were getting political advice about how to handle the situation. I couldn’t care less about any of that,” he said.

Since then, Hogan said that Rawlings-Blake has done nothing but criticize the governor for his actions: sending in 2,000 National Guard troops to help restore order. The state also provided businesses damaged by the looting and vandalism with grants or loans to help them recover and reopen.

Hogan said the mayor never thanked the state for its assistance.

He also detailed a final phone call with the Rawlings-Blake before a state of emergency was declared.

“I called her and said we needed to move now. And she said ‘I need more time’,” Hogan recalled. “I said there is no more time. She said ‘Can I have 15 minutes?’ I said ‘Okay, we can give you 15 more minutes and then we are going to act’.”

The mayor later agreed to seek the state’s assistance, but she told Hogan that the governor “was holding a gun to her head,” he said.

Hogan has said that he could not reach Rawlings-Blake for three hours during the rioting. But when he finally connected with her, he told the mayor that she had a choice: To ask for the state’s help or have the help forced on the city.

He said that the National Guard protected the city from further damage during the chaos.

Rawlings-Blake also ordered a citywide, multiday curfew. And neighboring communities sent in additional police and emergency responders.

The violence broke out hours after thousands gathered for the funeral of Freddie Gray, a black man who died in the back of a police van. Gray’s death became a flash point in the debate over the treatment of black Americans at the hands of police.

Watch Hogan’s comments here:

The post Hogan calls out Baltimore mayor over riot response appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON —  Nine people were injured after four separate crashes, involving 20 vehicles, occurred Sunday on Interstate 95 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

Virginia State Police said the initial crash, which involved two cars, happened at around 11:45 a.m. on the northbound portion of the interstate, at the 120.6 mile marker. Four separate crashes occurred as a result of the initial crash, police said.

The first crash following the initial one involved seven vehicles and the second two crashes involved 10 vehicles. The last crash involved three vehicles, amounting to a total of 20 vehicles.

The nine people injured in the crashes were taken to Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, Lee Hill Medical Center and Mary Washington Hospital. The injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, police said.

State police are still on investigating. Lanes on I-95 have since reopened near the site of the crash, which was previously shut down.

The post Virginia State Police: 20 vehicles involved in 4 separate I-95 crashes appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON —  A Prince George’s County ambulance crew says they were assaulted by a teenager they were were trying to help early Sunday morning. 

Prince George’s County Fire and EMS received a call around 5:30 a.m. Sunday about a “sick person” in Langley Park. Family members let the EMT crew into the apartment in the 8100 block of 15th Avenue, said Mark Brady, a spokesman with Prince George’s County Fire and EMS.

According to Brady, the family members of the boy thought he had too much to drink.

The ambulance crew went into the teenager bedroom to assess his medical condition when the teen grabbed one of the female medics by the uniform and punched her, the emergency responders allege.

The crew quickly left the apartment and called for police assistance.  Brady said the teen remained combative as police subdued him and handcuffed him.  Another ambulance crew, with police on-board, took the teen to the hospital to be evaluated.

The female ambulance crew member was shaken up but remained on-duty, Brady said.  There is no word yet about whether charges will be filed against the teen.

These incidents against rescue crews are troubling, Brady said.

The assault happened weeks after the death of Prince George’s County firefighter and paramedic John Ulmschneider, who was shot along with his fellow firefighter Kevin Swain while checking on the welfare of a man.

“The fire and EMS department is very concerned,” Brady said.  “Our first priority is the safety of all of our members.”

The post Ambulance crew assaulted by patient in Prince George’s Co. appeared first on WTOP.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Police are investigating after a man’s body was found in a creek in Falls Church.

The Fairfax County Police Department said a person saw the body in the creek Sunday and alerted authorities. The department said the body is that of a white man, who appeared to have been in the water for some time.

Police said they body was taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death. Authorities haven’t identified the man. They say their investigation is ongoing.

The post Police investigating after body found in Falls Church creek appeared first on WTOP.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Virginia will file a lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s decision to allow more than 200,000 convicted felons to vote in November, GOP leaders said Monday.

Republicans argue the governor has overstepped his constitutional authority with a clear political ploy designed to help the campaign of his friend and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the important swing state this fall.

“Gov. McAuliffe’s flagrant disregard for the Constitution of Virginia and the rule of law must not go unchecked,” Senate Republican Leader Thomas Norment said in a statement. He added that McAuliffe’s predecessors and previous attorneys general examined this issue and concluded Virginia’s governor can’t issue blanket restorations.

Republicans have hired Charles J. Cooper, a Washington, D.C., attorney known for defending California’s ban on gay marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. GOP leaders did not say when they will file the lawsuit. They said it would not be paid for using taxpayer dollars.

The pending legal fight highlights the important role Virginia will likely play in this year’s presidential contest. Clinton could benefit from a surge of new minority voters, who typically vote Democratic. Although even if all the 206,000 ex-felons signed up, they would represent only about 4 percent of total registered voters in the state.

McAuliffe has said the move was not politically motivated.

A lawyer for former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine said in 2010 that the restoration of rights must be done on a case-by-case basis. A blanket order restoring voting rights would be a “rewrite of the law,” Mark Rubin, a counselor to Kaine, said in a letter at the time.

A spokesman for McAuliffe said Republicans have yet to express any specific constitutional objections to the executive order.

“The governor is disappointed that Republicans would go to such lengths to continue locking people who have served their time out of their democracy,” Brian Coy said in a statement. “These Virginians are qualified to vote and they deserve a voice, not more partisan schemes to disenfranchise them.”

Virginia, Iowa, Kentucky and Florida are the only states that strip all felons of their voting rights for life unless a state official restores them, according to the Washington D.C.-based Sentencing Project. Such policies make black Americans of voting age four times more likely to lose their voting rights than the rest of the adult population, the group says.

McAuliffe says people who have served their time should be given a second chance to exercise their civic duties. He has also said he’s certain he has such authority after consulting with legal and constitutional experts, including Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who is also a Democrat.

The governor’s order enables every Virginia felon to vote, run for public office, serve on a jury and become a notary public if they have completed their sentence and finished any supervised release, parole or probation requirements as of April 22.

The administration estimates this population to include about 206,000 people. In the future, the governor will act month by month to restore the rights of felons who complete all these requirements.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that 206,000 people would represent about 4 percent, not 1 percent, of registered voters in Virginia.

___

Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aedurkinricher . Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer .

The post Virginia GOP lawmakers to sue over felons’ voting rights appeared first on WTOP.

Two years after recalling 1 million vehicles because of faulty airbags, and a year after federal regulators questioned whether that fix had worked, Nissan is giving the whole airbag recall thing another shot: recalling 3.7 million vehicles that contain airbags that might not deploy properly in the event of a crash. 

Nissan announced over the weekend that it would recall the vehicles in two separate initiatives, putting to end to an investigation opened by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in March 2015.

According to a notice [PDF] posted with NHTSA, the first recall involves 3.2 million vehicles in which the Occupant Classification System (OCS) — which uses sensors to identify an occupant in the passenger seat — may not detect an adult in the passenger seat, resulting in the non-deployment of airbags in the event of a crash.

Nissan notes that a number of circumstances could lead to the incorrect vacant classification, including high vibration at idle when the seat is empty and then becomes occupied, or unusual occupant seating postures.

In all, that issue covers model year 2016-2017 Maxima, model year 2013-2016 Altima, NV200, LEAF and Sentra, model year 2013-2017 Pathfinder, model year 2014-2016 NV200 Taxi, Infiniti QX60 and Q50, model year 2014-2017 Rogue, model year 2015-2016 Murano, Chevrolet City Express and model year 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles.

The problem first surfaced in early 2013, when Nissan said it became aware of possible issues with the system. The company was unable to determine if the problem constituted a safety defect, but later recalled 990,000 vehicles in March 2014.

However, regulators received 124 complaints from vehicle owners after their cars were fixed, prompting NHTSA to open an investigation into the issue and proposed fix.

The car company now says it is aware of at least three crashes in which the airbag system did not deploy properly. Those incidents resulted in moderate injuries.

In addition to the 3.2 million vehicles that may not detect an adult passenger, Nissan says that 622,000 model year 2013 to 2016 Sentra vehicles are being recalled because of an issue with the Child Restraint system.

According to a notice [PDF] with NHTSA, the front passenger seat belt bracket may become deformed if it is used to secure a Child Restraint System.

The deformed seat bracket may cause the Occupant Classification System to incorrectly classify the installed child restraint, resulting in the front passenger airbag deploying when it should not.

If the airbag deploys when a child seat is installed in the front passenger area, there could be increased risk of injury in the event of a crash.

Nissan says it will notify owners of all the recalled vehicles and a dealer will make appropriate repairs when parts are available.

More than a year after the National Federation of the Blind of California filed a lawsuit accusing Uber drivers of discriminating against passengers waiting for rides with service animals, the two sides announced they’ve reached a settlement.

Uber has agreed to take affirmative steps to prevent discrimination against blind riders who have guide dogs with them across the U.S. According to a press release from the Federation, this is the first nationwide class-action settlement of its kind against an app-based transportation network company.

Uber passengers had claimed that drivers denied them rides when they realized they’d have a guide dog in the car as well. In some cases, blind customers said drivers told them to put their animals in the trunk, or charge cancellation fees even when they were the ones to deny a ride.

Under the settlement, Uber is promising to end that kind of discrimination: the company says it will take steps to inform drivers about their obligations to transport riders with service animals, and will require new drivers to expressly confirm that they understand their legal obligations to do so.

The company will also use stricter enforcement in cases where drivers fail to comply: it’ll only take a single complaint now to have a driver removed from the platform if Uber finds that the driver knowingly denied a rider with a service animal. If a driver has more than one such complaint leveled at them, they’ll be booted from the platform regardless of the driver’s intent.

The ride-hailing company is also promising to improve its response system for these kinds of discrimination complaints, and will track detailed data related to all such allegations.

The National Federation of the Blind will also be going behind the scenes, sending out testers over a multi-year period to make sure Uber is complying with the settlement.

“Access to reliable and effective transportation is critical to the ability of blind people to live the lives we want,” Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said. “Uber and similar services can be a great asset to the blind when they are fully and equally available to us. The National Federation of the Blind is therefore pleased with Uber’s commitment to effectively enforce a nondiscrimination policy with respect to blind people who use guide dogs. We look forward to working with Uber to ensure that all blind passengers can take advantage of the innovative transportation service it offers.”

The agreement is now awaiting approval from the court to settle as a nationwide class action.

In many cases, having too much cheese is the kind of problem that can be solved by pointing me in the direction of that dairy and letting nature take its course. But the surplus cheese and butter situation the U.S. now finds itself in won’t be sorted out so easily.

Right now, we’re sitting on the largest cheese stockpile the country has seen in 30 years, Bloomberg reports, which means our export business is not booming.

We can blame our neighbors over yonder in Europe: the European Union’s dairy export business has been climbing so far this year and last — this, despite big spender Russia putting the kibosh on buying cheese from outside the country (and, ultimately, destroying tons of it by committing fromagicide).

There’s too much milk, cheap prices, and a weak euro right now, which means the EU has been going gangbusters selling cheese in Asia and the Middle East. Meanwhile, U.S. exports have fallen — no one wants our cheese, and everyone wants what Europe is selling.

And by everyone, that means, well, everyone: European cheese is so cheap, even the U.S. is buying — and digging itself a deeper hole as those products pile up in refrigerators. The dairy glut is compounded by the fact that American dairy production is at record levels this year as well, Bloomberg notes.

As a result, cheese inventories at the end of March were the highest for that period since 1984, according to USDA statistics. More than half of the surplus is American cheese, with Swiss accounting for 2% and the rest falling into a mysterious category the government calls “other.”

“It’s been difficult for them to export, given the strong dollar, and they’re sucking in imports,” a global dairy market strategist explained to Bloomberg. “Where the U.S. has lost out on business, Europe has gained.”

This isn’t all that great for some on the other side of the pond, however: European dairy farmers have been warning that these bargain prices could put them out of business.

If you take anything away from this, let it be that we need to eat more cheese. Immediately.

The U.S. Is Sitting on a Mountain of Cheese [Bloomberg]

I love coffee. I drink it every day. I love trying new brewing methods at home. I’m also lazy when it comes to my daily cup of coffee. I’m not willing to go through the ridiculous steps most coffee connoisseurs suggest for the “perfect” cup. With that in mind here are a few tips I’ve picked up over the years to make a good cup of coffee as conveniently as possible.

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If you don’t have strike anywhere matches, and the striking surface on your matchbox has worn out, this last resort trick can help you get a fire going.

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Flour isn’t just made from wheat. Not only are there “alternative” grain flours, some are made with nuts, legumes, and even spuds. They may seem reserved for the gluten-free, health-conscious set, but when used well wheatless flours can be amazing. We’ve rounded up a few, and some delicious ways to use them.

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In this week’s Brain Buffet, what you should do if you’re about to get canned at work, why it seems like so many celebs are dying in 2016, Google’s new hardware division, and much more.

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Celebrities on Instagram love to hawk weight loss products, and one of the biggest trends is the teatox: Herbal “detoxing” teas that are supposed to help you lose weight naturally. Of course, miracle cures don’t exist, and many of these teas are just laxatives.

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If you’re looking for a tasty vegan breakfast treat, these tofu waffles will taste like the real thing. You can even use your favorite waffle mix.

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It’s Saturday afternoon and you’re relaxing at home. Have you checked your work email today? If so, you’re probably contributing to your own burnout .

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You’ve probably heard it’s not a good idea to cook acidic foods like tomato sauces, wine sauces, or chilis in cast iron because the iron could leach into the food and add a bitter, metallic taste. Well, America’s Test Kitchen put that theory (and some others) to the test, and the bottom line? It’s fine.

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Amazon hardware, a 4TB external drive, and discounted sleepwear kick off Sunday’s best deals.

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Fairfax Co. message board at center of investigation after firefighter's death WTOP WASHINGTON — Fairfax County officials are investigating a local online message board with a reputation for cyberbullying after the death of a firefighter-paramedic last week. On Friday, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department announced an internal ... Fairfax Co. Fire Chief addresses cyber-bullying claims in Nicole Mittendorff's deathWJLA all 16 news articles »

Running shoes, universal remotes, and metal detectors lead off Saturday’s best deals.

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When a Long Island collectibles seller heard reports from customers that items were arriving damaged, he became a one-man investigative reporting team and decided to watch workers in action at the local FedEx store. He was surprised to watch an employee picking up packages and flinging them onto a truck. Yes, even packages labeled “fragile.”

“I was just blown away. I was absolutely left speechless for the most part,” he told New York’s WCBS. (Warning: auto-play video at that link.) “I couldn’t believe it.” He evidently isn’t a regular Consumerist reader, though we see delivery drivers chucking one package at a time more often than drivers chucking entire loads of packages at a time. He was so surprised to see this that he whipped out his phone and took a video.

“If my local fedex store is any example of the companies standards then they are in need of a major reboot,” he noted on the original footage that he posted to YouTube.

When asked about the video footage, a FedEx representative said that customers should complain to the company and file claims when they receive packages that have been damaged. “The behavior depicted in the video is not consistent with the professionalism FedEx Ground demonstrates every day,” the company said in a statement. “They’re committed to treating packages with the utmost care, and will take the appropriate action to address this situation.”

L.I. FedEx Worker Caught On Video Hurling Packages Into Truck [WCBS] (Warning: auto-play video)
Video shows East Northport FedEx driver tossing packages [Newsday]

When Americans travel, our money goes with — and not just in a metaphorical sense. Where people go, coins get left behind. Meanwhile, the pennies we drop at home get swept into trash heaps and scrap yards, falling out of sight and out of mind. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist — and even if they’re beat up, it doesn’t mean they lose their value.

The Wall Street Journal reports this week on the weird and lucrative market of coin repatriation. Money that has traveled around the world can come back home, and those pennies add up.

How many nickels, dimes, and quarters have you lost in your car over the years? Now multiply that by 315 million Americans and the more than 250 million cars we collectively own, and it adds up.

When those cars are scrapped and shredded, the metal goes overseas, often to China. And that’s where the repatriation business comes in.

A bunch of hired hands go through all that salvage and pulls out the coins. The man behind the repatriation business then collects them in bulk, from various salvage yards, and ships them to a partner in the U.S. The American partner then turns in all those coins to the Mint, which will buys back for nearly face value.

It adds up — big. The U.S. Mint has paid out more than $100 million in coin redemption since 2009, the WSJ reports. And it’s not just American money, either: repatriation takes place for British coins too, for example.

If it sounds like maybe that fat wad of cash is too good to be true, well, the feds think so too. So many more coins started pouring in since 2009 that law-enforcement officials are thinking a bunch of them have to be fake.

The coin reimbursement program shut down last year, and officials detained $664,000 worth of coins from our cunning entrepreneur. While the man profiled in the WSJ piece was not accused of any wrongdoing, federal prosecutors allege three others in the same line of work have been importing counterfeit coins.

Lost in the Seat Cushions, There’s $100 Million in Spare Change

The lure of luxury goods can be very strong, but thieves in Paris took that desire for designer products to an extreme, police say, using a sports utility vehicle to ram their way into a Chanel boutique, ransacking the store and fleeing on scooters with a “quite significant” haul.

Police say the burglars slammed into metal shutter protecting the front of the store with a stolen Jeep Cherokee early Thursday morning, The Wall Street Journal reports, at a time when police patrols in the city are typically ending their night shift and returning to their stations.

After raiding the store and grabbing a bunch of bags, the robbers set fire to the vehicle in an effort to get rid of evidence, and fled on scooters, police said. It’s unclear how many people were involved or the value of the stolen goods, with police noting that the haul was “quite significant.”

“These criminals generally dump the products on black markets at a fraction of their official price,” a police officer said.

Burglars Ransack Chanel Boutique in Paris [The Wall Street Journal]

As we reported earlier this month, Paramount Pictures is trying to block a crowdfunded Star Trek fan film based, in part, on the studio’s claim that it actually owns the copyright on the Klingon language. Now the Language Creation Society has chimed in on the case, making the argument that Paramount can’t claim ownership on a fictional language.

While Klingons have been part of the Star Trek universe since the original TV series, the actual Klingon language was not created until 1984 for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, produced by Paramount.

“Given that Paramount Pictures commissioned the creation of some of the language, it is understandable that Paramount might feel some sense of ownership over the creation,” writes the LCS in a brief [PDFKlingonamici] filed yesterday with the federal court hearing the case. But, feeling ownership and having ownership are not the same thing.”

While Paramount has long asserted its ownership over the Klingon language, and official books published by groups like the Klingon Language Institute, have licensed the language from the studio, this is believed to be the first time Paramount has made a claim to ownership in a legal proceeding.

In its brief, the LCS contends that Klingon is no longer used solely within the context of a fictional universe, noting that Microsoft’s Bing search engine, allows users to translate text to and from Klingon.

“The popular television show The Big Bang Theory featured Klingon dialogue at several points, with one episode even featuring a game of Klingon Boggle,” adds the LCS. “Similarly, Klingon was substituted for Hebrew as a gag in the hit television show Frasier. A Swedish couple spoke their marriage vows in Klingon during a traditional Klingon wedding ceremony. Even foreign governments have seen fit to provide official statements in Klingon.”

In addition to arguing that a movie studio can not lay claim to an entire language known by millions of people throughout the world, the brief points out that Paramount cites “no authority supporting their assertion that Klingon (or any language) can be copyrighted.”

While you can try to trademark a single word or short phrase, U.S. copyright law, the LCS say it “does not give the copyright holder the right to exclude others from making use of the ideas or concepts themselves.”

The LCS says that works written in Klingon — or any other constructed language (or “conlanguage”) — are deserving of copyright protection. So the dialog in a Star Trek script would be covered, or a story written in Klingon, but that doesn’t mean the entire language can be copyrighted.

“Allowing copyright claims to a language would create a monopoly on use extending far beyond what is needed to protect the original work or to claim credit for the language’s creation,” writes the group in a blog post from today. “The potential threat of a lawsuit for merely using a conlang, or creating new works to make it more accessible, has a chilling effect; it makes conlangers, poets, authors, educators, and others less likely to build on and enjoy each others’ work, to the detriment of conlanging in general.”