pileofcrapola

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A former children’s television show host who vanished decades ago amid allegations he sexually abused children on a camping trip in Louisiana was indicted Thursday on rape charges.

Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Brian Mosley says a grand jury indicted 76-year-old Frank John Selas III on two counts of aggravated rape, three counts of sexual battery and eight counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile. Mosley said the charges relate to one alleged victim, who testified before the central Louisiana grand jury.

Federal agents arrested Selas last month in California. Authorities say he had settled in the San Diego area by 1985 and legally changed his name to Frank Szeles in 1992.

In the late 1970s, Selas hosted the “Mr. Wonder” show on KNOE-TV in northern Louisiana. He allegedly fled to Brazil in 1979 after parents complained to authorities that he abused their children on a camping trip to Kisatchie National Forest in central Louisiana.

The Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office has said investigators identified seven alleged victims in Louisiana as a result of the 1979 investigation, which led to an arrest warrant but not an indictment.

District Attorney Phillip Terrell said Selas could face additional charges beyond those contained in Thursday’s indictment.

“I’m aware of the possibility of another victim arising out of the same incident,” Terrell said of the 1979 camping trip.

Selas initially claimed that authorities had arrested the wrong person, but a San Diego judge ruled on Feb. 11 that he is the fugitive wanted in Louisiana since 1979. That ruling paves the way for Selas to be brought back to Louisiana to face the new charges.

Selas was scheduled to return to the San Diego court Friday. Mosley said he planned to send a copy of the indictment to San Diego authorities before that hearing.

In San Diego, the man known to neighbors as Frank Szeles was a former Cub Scouts leader who advertised swim lessons and other activities for young children from his home in Bonita — about 10 miles southeast of downtown San Diego.

The Boy Scouts of America said he was removed from his position several years ago for failing to comply with the organization’s “youth protection policies and procedures” after a parent made an unspecified complaint that didn’t relate to scouting. Selas also belonged to a Mormon congregation in San Diego, but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it removed him from “all positions related to children” for failing to comply with the church’s child protection policies.

Investigators in Louisiana believe Selas lived in other places — including Chicago; Darien, Connecticut; South Royalton, Vermont; and Sheffield, Massachusetts — after he returned from South America in the early 1980s.

The post Former host of children’s TV show indicted on rape charges appeared first on WTOP.

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — Alice Tanaka Hikido clearly remembers the bewilderment and sense of violation she felt 74 years ago when FBI agents rifled through her family’s Juneau home, then arrested her father before he was sent to Japanese internment camps, including a little-known camp in pre-statehood Alaska.

The 83-year-old Campbell, California, woman recently attended a ceremony where participants unveiled a study of the short-lived internment camp at what is now Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

Archaeologists working on the research used old records to pinpoint the camp location in an area now partially covered by a parking lot. The Army study is expected to be finalized later this year.

“As I look back, I had no idea as a child that the U.S. and Japan were having difficulties,” Hikido said. “It was a tremendous surprise to me.”

Hikido herself was interned at Idaho’s Minidoka camp with her mother, younger sister and two brothers a few months after her father’s arrest during one of the nation’s darkest chapters — the forced incarceration of tens of thousands people of Japanese ancestry, including Americans, during World War II.

Her father eventually joined his family in Idaho in 1944. They spent more than a year there together before the war ended and they returned to Juneau.

Her father, Shonosuke Tanaka, was among 15 Japanese nationals and two German nationals who were rounded up in the territory of Alaska almost immediately after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

That number would grow to 104 foreign nationals, mostly Japanese, who were arrested in Alaska as alien enemies. An estimated 145 others, including some Alaska Natives who took Japanese names in marriage, also would be sent to internment camps outside the territory under Executive Order 9066, which launched the exile of about 120,000 Japanese-Americans.

Before leaving Alaska, Tanaka and 16 other men were briefly housed at the Anchorage Army post formerly known as Fort Richardson.

Archaeologists recently zeroed in on the site based on documents including a map and the only two known photographs, according to Morgan Blanchard, a local archaeologist who worked on the study.

“Although it was known that this camp existed — it shows up on all the lists of camps that existed during the war — no information was available,” Blanchard told a small crowd during a Feb. 19 Day of Remembrance ceremony at the base. “So we filled in a lot of the blanks.”

Researchers discovered debris such as .30 carbine rounds and barbed wire fragments at the site, but they were unable to find anything definitely connected with the camp, Blanchard said. Researchers believe — but can’t say with certainty — that the 17 foreign nationals who were sent to the post were actually held at the camp, constructed between February and June 1945.

It was only after her father joined them in Minidoka that Alice Hikido and her family heard his story for the first time, from his apprehension in Juneau to various internment camps including at least one in New Mexico.

The family’s time in captivity forced the closure of her father’s Juneau cafe. They reopened it upon their return, with the help of a welcoming community.

Hikido and her 75-year-old sister, Mary Tanaka Abo, are the only surviving members of her family who experienced the internment.

Today, Hikido sees the same distrust of some foreigners that her family experienced so many decades ago. It’s troubling to her to hear politicians whipping up that fear by demonizing certain minorities.

If there’s a lesson to learn, she said, it’s how crucial it is for individuals to arm themselves with knowledge.

“It’s incumbent upon citizens to be well-informed,” Hikido said. “If you’re well-informed, then fear doesn’t overcome your better judgment.”

___

Follow Rachel D’Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro .

The post Study examines little-known WWII internment camp in Alaska appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center are warning that cyberattacks against law enforcement, fire departments and other emergency services have become commonplace and are likely to increase in frequency.

An intelligence assessment obtained by WTOP, reads, “cyber targeting of the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) will likely increase as systems and networks become more interconnected and the ESS becomes more dependent on information technology for daily operations.”

The assessment said the unified nature of the systems “creates more targets for hackers,” and that “vulnerable systems include call-center communications-management software, closed-circuit TV camera systems, interactive voice response systems, and emergency alert systems — particularly wireless emergency alert systems.”

Hacking emergency systems is not a new phenomenon. Similar incidents date back more than four years. The most notorious took place in February 2013.

KRTV television viewers in North Central Montana heard the familiar emergency alert tones and saw the usual accompanying messages scroll across their screens, but what they heard next triggered a wave of panic in the first-responder community.

“Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Follow the messages on screen that will be updated as information become available. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are considered extremely dangerous,” was the message.

Similar messages were later broadcast on WMNU-TV and WBUP-TV, in the upper Michigan Peninsula area. Their systems, along with those in California, New Mexico and Utah, were hacked in the same manner: The hacker remotely logged in over the Internet and manipulated the system because of firmware vulnerability in those systems.

Authorities stopped the perpetrator overseas. But the attacks have continued.

Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has detected a pattern suggesting they will become more frequent. The DHS assessment says “approximately 600 critical government phone systems nationwide, including 200 public-safety answering points (PSAPs) were hit by telephony denial of service (TDoS) attacks.”

The next year police were targeted. A city “in Southern California and several local public-safety agencies were hit by ransomware” in June 2014; 100 computers and 10 servers were affected. In May 2015, a Nevada county sheriff’s department and a Wisconsin police department were victims of a ransomware attack that encrypted both departments’ shared folders.

The concern is not just limited to first responders. Earlier this month, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, in Los Angeles, announced it was a victim of a ransomware scheme, and it paid close to $17,000 to have its files released.

Bracing for an increase in attacks, DHS has offered a list of best practices for first responders and emergency system operators to follow to avoid vulnerabilities.

• Perform regular backups of all critical information to limit the impact of data or system loss and to help expedite the recovery process. Ideally, this data should be kept on a separate device, and backups should be stored offline.
• Maintain up-to-date anti-virus software, and keep operating systems and software up-to-date with the latest patches.
• Be cautious about all emails received, including those purported to be from “trusted entities,” and be careful when opening links within those messages.
• Do not input personal information or login credentials in pop-up windows or links within an email, and do not open attachments or click on links in unsolicited emails — access the links by navigating to the organization’s website directly.
• Look for uniform resource locaters that do not match a legitimate site, but appear to be associated with the site through small spelling variations or different domain names (.com vice .net).
• Be wary of downloading files from unknown senders. Malicious code can be embedded in commonly emailed files, such as .doc, .pdf, .exe, and .zip; and be particularly cautious of double file extensions (evil.pdf.exe).
• Only download software from trusted sites, and enable the feature to scan email attachments before downloading and saving them to a system or network.

The post DHS: Hackers increasingly targeting emergency systems appeared first on WTOP.

We’re all prone to epic blunders from time to time, and knowing why they tend to happen can help you avoid them in the future. A study published in the journal Intelligence breaks down what we consider or dumbest mistakes into three categories.

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Your oven’s temperature display could be lying to you. Some ovens run hotter or colder than their readouts. One delicious way to find out: Make some Pillsbury biscuits.

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This video, from Nonnahs Driskill and Get Organized Already!, is packed with tips to save kitchen counter space and make sure dirty dishes get into the dishwasher (and the clean ones back out.) Anyone with a small kitchen—or who lives with another person—can find something here to try.

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My Uncle Danny once helped me buy a new Corolla while I watched in awe. He was a relentless, negotiating beast. He threatened. He acted offended. He sat in silence and stared at the salesman. In the end, I paid nearly $5,000 less than I expected. Negotiating is powerful. As a timid person, it’s not something that comes easy for me, and it might not come easy for you. Here are some of the best ways to do it, even when you dread it.

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A good cup of coffee can be a necessary start to the day, or a rewarding treat, depending on how you make it, and if you’re aiming for a dessert coffee or fancy flavored drink, don’t buy a mix—just toss in a chocolate square. Go with a flavored one if you’re feeling really fancy.

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A damaged rope can be totally useless for doing most tasks safely, especially if the damaged section is somewhere in the middle. This simple knot can bypass the damaged section and make the rope fairly safe to use again.

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WASHINGTON — If you’re a Leap Day baby, or “leapling,” it’s time to party.

And even if you’re not, there’s good reason to celebrate on Feb. 29, the extra day added to the calendar almost every four years to get it back in sync with the earth’s rotation around the sun.

Many businesses treat it like a holiday by offering special freebies and deals, and we put together this list.

 If Feb. 29 is your birthday: 

• Olive Garden will give you four free Dolcini (mini desserts).
• At participating Great American Cookies, get a free 5-by-7-inch Individually Yours Cookie Cake.  Show a valid ID proving your birthday. No purchase necessary.
• At Miss Shirley’s Cafe locations in Annapolis and Baltimore, each Leap Year Baby and guest can share a free Crabcake Po’boy and tall stack of specialty Pancakes.  Just show your server your ID once you’re seated.
• At participating Pizza Hut, show a government-issued ID and get a free one topping Personal Pan Pizza for carryout.
• Participating Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen and Villa Pizza locations will give you a free slice of pizza when you show a valid ID.
• Hard Rock Cafe will serve you a free entree from a special “Leaplings Eat Free” menu.  No purchase necessary.  Must show valid government ID.

Offers for everyone on Feb. 29: 

•  At Krispy Kreme, buy any dozen doughnuts and get a dozen original glazed for $2.29 at participating shops.
• The Embassy Row Hotel is having a sale on Feb. 29 only.  Book a two night stay for a future date and get a third night free, plus a $50 food and drink credit.  Blackout dates my apply.
• All area Legal Sea Foods locations except Reagan National Airport will offer 2 one-pound lobsters and 2 sides for $29.
• The Greene Turtle will offer 29-cent wings all day.
• Morton’s the Steakhouse has a two-course menu (appetizer and entree) for $29. You can add a bottle of Pebble Lane wine for $19.
• At The Oceanaire Seafood Room in D.C., get a 6 oz. Filet and an Oceanaire Jumbo Lump Crab Cake for $29.
• Members of Tropical Smoothie Cafe‘s loyalty club, Club Tropical, can get a 24 oz. Classic Smoothie for just $2.29.

The post Leap Day 2016 deals and freebies appeared first on WTOP.

While federal law has long blocked most states from collecting taxes on Internet service, that prohibition has to be renewed every few years. But today President Obama signed into law a new piece of legislation that makes existing bans permanent, and puts an end date on Internet taxes for the few states that still collect them.

The Internet Tax Freedom Act was first passed back in 1998 with the intention of encouraging consumers to get online by not taxing access to things like dial-up or DSL Internet access. The legislation has never addressed the issue of collecting taxes for online purchases (more on that below).

In typically shortsighted D.C. fashion, the bill was structured so that it needed to be periodically renewed — a process it’s undergone five times in the years since.

The original Tax Freedom Act also included a grandfather provision for the then dozen-or-so states that had already been collecting taxes on Internet access. Many of those states subsequently decided to cease collecting that tax.

There had been various legislative attempts to make the ban permanent over the years, but they either got bogged down by partisan politics or caught up in the controversial debate about online sales tax collection.

In order to bypass that problem, in Dec. 2015 the Senate appended the text of what had been the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act onto a much more pressing legislative matter — HR 644, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, which, among other things, authorizes funding for Customs and Border Protection, and which was destined to eventually be signed into law.

The amendment itself is rather simple. It removes the end date on the existing tax ban, thereby making it permanent. Additionally, it establishes an end date of June 30, 2020 for those few states — Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin — that are still collecting sales tax on Internet services.

Earlier this month, that bill glided through the Senate, passing with a vote of 75 to 20.

The legislation does not resolve the hotly contested issue of taxes for online purchases.

Back in 1992, in Quill v. North Dakota, the Supreme Court ruled that in order for a state to force a business to collect sales tax, that business must also have some sort of physical presence in the state.

That case involved office supply company Quill and an effort by North Dakota to compel the company to collect sales tax on orders shipped to customers in the state, arguing that Quill’s advertising, catalogs — along with software that customers could use to track Quill inventory and place orders — effectively established enough of a presence to force Quill to collect the tax. The Supremes disagreed, ruling that the enforcement of this tax collection would be overly detrimental to interstate commerce, in violation of the Commerce Clause.

And, even though that ruling was made in a pre-Amazon world, that’s how things have stood for more than 20 years.

Facing pressure from bricks-and-mortar retailers, and seeing tax revenues sag as a growing number of people went online to buy things, some states have either rewritten their laws to redefine physical presence so that Amazon and others would have little choice but to collect taxes.

Additionally, Amazon and others have made deals with some states to collect these taxes in exchange for being able to open new distribution centers and warehouses.

But this still leaves a handful of states that don’t have the statutory authority, or anything they can point to as a “physical premise” for these online retailers. Sick of waiting for Congress to maybe hammer out a deal, they are looking to force the issue.

The Wall Street Journal reports that several of these states are getting creative.

For example, Utah is considering legislation that would include certain third-party delivery services under the “physical presence” definition. Some have dubbed this “nuisance legislation” that is only intended to force Congress’ hand to finally draft a definitive legislation that applies to all states. Then there’s Colorado, where state law now requires out-of-state retailers to provide the state a list of in-state customers. That law was upheld earlier this week by a federal appeals court.

No one wants to receive a surprise ambulance bill, so it’s tempting to buy a prepaid ambulance ticket that can save you thousands. In one area in California, the local American Legion runs their own ambulance service and sells tickets for $100. What do they cover? The veterans group and the stores that actually sell the tickets sort of disagree about that.

CBS Sacramento looked into the tickets when a viewer complained that his mother had been sold a ticket and was told that it would cover 100% of the bill if she needed to take an ambulance. The station checked it out, and that was indeed what they were told.

One drugstore clerk explained that the tickets were “like insurance.” Residents just had to pay $100 to cover their ambulance rides all year.

Another said that the tickets make it so you don’t receive a bill at all after taking an ambulance: “if you ever need to use an ambulance that they just don’t charge you for it, if you have the ticket,” the clerk explained.

An American Legion representative explained that they weren’t out to deliberately mislead people, but they would also sort of go broke if the tickets worked the way that they’re sold. The tickets serve either as a discount plan for people who don’t have ambulance coverage on their insurance, or they mean that the copay or deductible is covered if the passenger does have insurance.

Call Kurtis Investigates: Stores Selling ‘Ambulance Tickets’ Don’t Know What They Cover [CBS Sacramento]
Membership [American Legion Post 108]

We can’t even begin to count the number of times we’ve heard about someone chomping down on an unexpected item in their food, but usually in those cases, something gross is happening and the customer is upset. One diner in Washington who encountered the unusual in her meal came away from her experience with a much more appetizing prize than usual, however: a rare purple pearl.

A woman from Issaquah, WA was eating at her favorite Italian restaurant with her husband when she bit down on something “really, really hard,” she tells ABC News (warning: link has video that autoplays).

“I felt like I almost broke my tooth when I first bit it,” she told ABC News. “It was pretty dark in the restaurant, so it was hard to tell what it was, but when I looked at it closer, it looked totally round and perfect. Too perfect.”

She showed the purple pearl to gemologist Ted Irwin, president of the Northwest Geological Laboratory and director of the Northwest Geological Institute, who confirmed that despite his expectations, she did have a genuine Quahog pearl.

Despite the fact that she was eating on the West Coast, he says the gem is found in clams “indigenous to the Atlantic states, the New England area.” You know, like Quahog, where Peter Griffin lives.

The chances of finding a natural, gem-quality pearl like this one is probably “one in a couple million,” he adds. He values it around $600 in today’s marketplace.

The restaurant’s owners were excited to hear the news, and say other guests are now coming in to order the same dish the lucky diner ordered — the frutti di mare, fittingly enough.

The woman says she’s probably going to turn her pearl into a necklace, and keep it as a good luck charm.

Washington Woman Finds Rare Purple Pearl Worth $600 in Her Food While Dining Out [ABC News]

It’s probably no surprise that now that marijuana is legal in Colorado, tourists are trying it out. However, doctors say they were somewhat surprised by the results of a study which found that out-of-state tourists were visiting emergency rooms more often than residents with pot complaints.

In a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine (via the Associated Press), doctors looked at the number of ER complaints that could be possibly related to marijuana use — those that included the word “cannabis” — in 2014, which is the year marijuana became legal, and found that tourists were seeking medical help at a far higher rate than residents.

The doctors found that the rate of ER visits tied to legal pot doubled among out-of-state people, from 85 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 168 per 10,000 visits in 2014.

The rate for state residents didn’t change significantly from 2013 to 2014, doctors found, going from 106 per 10,000 visits with marijuana-related complaints in 2013 and 112 per 10,000 visits with weed woes in 2014.

Each group has different complaints as well: in-staters mostly reported gastrointestinal problems, while tourists had psychiatric issues, including aggressive behavior and hallucinations.

“We didn’t expect people from out of state to actually be coming to the emergency department mentioning this drug more often,” said Dr. Andrew Monte, a toxicologist and emergency-room physician at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora.

However, these complaints are likely not because they’ve pulled a Maureen Dowd and bitten off way more pot-infused food than they can chew: cases where people reported feeling like they’d overdosed on pot were a “vast minority” of those including a cannabis-related problem, Monte said. It was more often the case that patients reported that marijuana exacerbated an underlying medical condition, especially schizophrenia or psychosis.

As for why numbers among tourists are up, Monte thinks it could be two things: more people are using marijuana, and now that it’s legal in the state, they feel more comfortable talking about it with a doctor.

“There’s more communication between patients and providers, and of course there’s just more marijuana out in the community,” Monte told the AP. “People can come in and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got chest pains and I used marijuana a week ago.’ Now, that’s got nothing to do with the marijuana.”

Study: Tourist pot complaints up at Colorado emergency rooms [Associated Press]

“We don’t have the meat.” That could be Arby’s slogan next week when the fast food giant ditches its meat-heavy menu for a vegetarian-friendly lineup, at least for one day. 

Arby’s will turn its menu upside down on Feb. 29 (Leap Day) by replacing all the meat in its sandwiches with veggies, cheese, and other meat-less components. The menu items will be the same cost as their meaty counterparts.

The company claims the meat switch-up is not a joke, but its promotional photos that include a simple bun in place of the traditional roast beef are clearly satirical.

The one-day-only menu change is being promoted as an olive branch to vegetarians, who have very few options, unless ordered specially, at the restaurants on a normal day.

“At Arby’s, we’re proud of our meats, but we also understand that meat isn’t for everyone,” Rob Lynch, Chief Marketing Officer and Brand President of Arby’s Restaurant Group, said in a statement. “So we’ve decided to give vegetarians a reason to visit Arby’s on Leap Day by offering a one-day menu designed specifically for them. If it goes well, we’ll likely bring back the vegetarian menu on Feb. 29 each year.”

While Lynch’s suggestion that the company will bring back the vegetarian menu each year on Feb. 29 is obviously a joke, he doesn’t specify if the company would actually consider using the menu again in 2020, the next leap year.

Arby’s regular protein-packed menu is available as usual, the company says.

Sprouts are a tasty addition to a salad, a sandwich, or a stir fry, but they’re also grown in water and usually eaten raw. That makes them excellent vehicles to bring a variety of foodborne pathogens straight from the farm or processing plant to your mouth. Over a year ago, we wondered whether everyone should just stop buying and eating sprouts, and since then, the sprout-growing industry hasn’t done anything to make us change our minds.

At this moment, there are two sprout-related investigations happening:

At the beginning of the week, the Food and Drug Administration announced a Salmonella outbreak in alfalfa sprouts from Sweetwater Farm in Kansas. Thirteen people have confirmed illnesses linked to this outbreak, and five of them have been hospitalized.

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, there’s also an E. coli outbreak that has been linked to alfalfa sprouts. Nine people have been confirmed sick from that outbreak, and two were hospitalized. All came in contact with alfalfa sprouts from the wonderfully named company Jack and the Green Sprouts.

In healthy people, E. coli produces unpleasant symptoms like bloody diarrhea and stomach cramps, but in people who are very young, very old, or who have compromised immune systems, it can cause life-threatening complications. Pretty much the same can be said for salmonellosis, actually, though the complications are different, and bloody diarrhea is less likely.

Food safety attorney Bill Marler told NPR that he has been campaigning for a warning label on sprouts for years, and he won’t eat them. Experts say that since seeds need moisture and warmth to sprout, and those are also the ideal conditions for growing bacteria, there simply isn’t a way to germ-proof this crop.

Should Sprouts Come With A Warning Label? [NPR]
E. coli outbreak sickening 9 linked to Wis. alfalfa sprouts [Star-Tribune]
Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella Muenchen Infections Linked to Alfalfa Sprouts Produced by Sweetwater Farms [FDA]
Sprout Safety Alliance [Official Site]

The man who lives in a nice brick house in the suburbs of Dallas says that he isn’t a squatter: he’s paying rent for the house. Who is he paying it to? That part is not so clear, and it’s not entirely clear who even owns the house. The neighbors, however, are tired of the mystery tenant’s approach to yardwork, poor maintenance of the house, and constantly barking dogs.

“We can’t sleep, and my daughter has to listen to music at night to drown out the dogs,” a neighbor across the street told CBS DFW.

Maybe the late-night barking would be easier to tolerate if the property weren’t also terrible to look at. The neighbors say that the house has dead bushes, trash that isn’t picked up, holes in the roof, and a fence that collapses periodically. Believing that the man occupying the house is a squatter, the town turned off his access to the water system when they found that he had tapped into it illicitly.

The tenant’s behavior is only one of the problems in this situation. Local authorities actually don’t know who owns the house. The man living there claims that he is paying rent, but that he gives the rent to a friend, and his friend gives the money to an agency. Where the money would go from there isn’t clear.

“At this point, it appears the house is in some sort of mortgage limbo or ownership limbo. Several people are involved here,” a local police detective explained to the local CBS station, which is not terribly helpful.

Two couples disagree about who owns the property, and neither wants to accept responsibility for its problems and code violations. The town decided instead to direct their code violation notices to the man living there, and require him to make the necessary repairs to the roof and fence, and arrange for trash collection.

Rowlett Residents Complain Of Neighbor Nightmare [CBS DFW]

Last year, numerous national retail chains changed their practices around on-call scheduling, a practice where retailers adjust their staffing levels at the last minute according to how busy an establishment expects to be. Many companies discontinued the practice around the time that New York’s Attorney General began asking questions about the scheduling practices of national retail chains. However, a lawsuit over the practice of on-call scheduling continues in California, and hinges on what it means to “report to work.”

Buzzfeed looked over the arguments from both side in this appeal. How on-call shifts worked at Victoria’s Secret was that employees were to call in two hours before the scheduled start time of their shift to find out whether they needed to come in. When employees called in two hours ahead, the company noted in a brief they submitted to the appeals court this week, “they could be in their pajamas, far away from the workplace, actively engaged in some other pursuit, or attending to some other commitment” while physically making the phone call.

However, the employees’ argument, and one of the main arguments against on-call shifts in general, is that not knowing whether they would be needed makes it difficult to do some fairly basic things, like arranging child care, choosing a college schedule, or even scheduling shifts at another job.

This is important not only because of the ambiguity in workers’ schedules, but because California law requires employers to pay anyone who “reports to work” for at least two hours. If the judge concludes that calling in counts as “reporting,” then Victoria’s Secret alone would owe current and former employees more than $25 million for call-in shifts scheduled between 2010 and 2014 just in California.

A Federal Court Is Taking A Closer Look At On-Call Shifts At Victoria’s Secret [Buzzfeed]

Mattress toppers, BOGO video games, and $2 off at Jamba Juice lead off Thursday’s best deals. Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal. Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more, and don’t forget to sign up for our email newsletter.

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The exotic new weapons the Pentagon wants to deter Russia and China Washington Post Little noticed amid the daily news bulletins about the Islamic State and Syria, the Pentagon has begun a push for exotic new weapons that can deter Russia and China. Pentagon officials have started talking openly about using the latest tools of ... and more »

Prince William County crime report Washington Post These were among incidents reported by Prince William County police. For information, call 703-792-7245. DUMFRIES AREA. THEFTS/BREAK-INS. Ashmere Ct., 4100 block, 2:30 to 3:10 p.m. Feb. 12. A hoverboard was stolen from a residence. Taconic Cir. and more »

Prince William County community calendar, Feb. 25-March 2, 2016 Washington Post AARP income-tax preparation help Thursdays and Tuesdays 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Chinn Park Regional Library, 13065 Chinn Park Dr., Woodbridge. 703-792-4800; and Thursdays noon-8 p.m. Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Bull Run Regional ... and more »

With federal regulators now cracking down on Parmesan cheese products that contain wood pulp and other fillers, it was just a mater of time before the first lawsuit was filed against a retailer selling its grated cheese product as “100% Parmesan.” 

A customer filed a lawsuit [PDF] against Walmart, accusing the retailer of defrauding customers by stocking its New York stores’ shelves with containers labeled “100% Grated Parmesan Cheese” when, tests show, it contained up to 10% cellulose.

Cellulose is often used in grated cheese products to keep it from clumping. As much as 4% cellulose is deemed acceptable to meet the Food and Drug Administration regulations for what can bear the label Parmesan.

However, a years-long investigation by the FDA found that some companies were shilling grated Parmesan product that contained a lot of cellulose and minimal Parmesan cheese.

According to the lawsuit against Walmart, filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, the man says he wouldn’t have purchased the Great Value-brand cheese if he had been aware that “the ‘100%’ representation is false and mischaracterizes the amount and percentage of Parmesan cheese in the container.”

“Consumers reasonably rely on the label and believe [Walmart’s] statement that the product consists of ‘100%’ Parmesan cheese means no substitutes or fillers are present in the container,” the suit states. “Because the product does in fact contain fillers and substitutes, the ‘100%’ Parmesan claim is literally false and is also misleading to consumers.”

The man claims that he suffered injury and lost money as a result of Walmart’s allegedly deceptive, misleading, false, unfair, and fraudulent practices.

The lawsuit seeks class action status for the fraud claims.

While the suit appears to be the first filed against a retailer, Bloomberg reports that a California customer sued Kraft last week over similar claims, alleging that the company’s misrepresentations led shoppers to pay a premium for its products.

Issues related to the composition of grated Parmesan cheese came to light recently when Bloomberg News tested several brands. Those tests found high levels of cellulose in some products, including Jewel-Osco’s Essential Everyday 100% Parmesan Cheese. For example, Jewel-Osco’s offering had a level of 8.8% cellulose.

The grocery chain recalled the product from all of its 185 stores last week, and plans to phase out the brand and replace it with its Jewel-Osco Signature Brand.

Wal-Mart Sued Over Parmesan Cheese With Wood Pulp Filler [Bloomberg]

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Unlike other products, we don’t see a barrage of commercials for brands of towels on television and online, telling us which brand to buy. Yet there’s a wide array of choices once you hit a home, department, or discount store. What should you look for? Which towel is right for you? Here’s what you should look for when searching for soft and absorbent towels.

At least, our fluffy and absorbent colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports assume that you aren’t in the market for think and scratchy bath towels: if that’s what you’re into, just follow the exact opposite of the advice here. For the rest of us, here are some towel-shopping tips.

Softness in the store can be deceiving. A cotton towel may have a silky texture in the store, which fades after a couple of washes. How can you get around that? You can’t give a towel a test wash in the store, unfortunately, but you can check what it’s made of.

Being made of part rayon will give them a nice silky feel, and Pima and Egyptian cotton are less prone to fuzzies that cause roughness. Cotton/polyester blend towels are more durable, but less soft.

Take care of your towels. Consumer Reports’ textile engineers recommend staying away from liquid fabric softeners, using dryer sheets instead if you need that extra soft coating. Use a good quality detergent, and bleach for white towels.

Watch for fading. Don’t invest in pricey towels if anyone in your household is using benzoyl peroxide to treat skin problems at the moment, since it can fade towels and wash cloths after coming in contact. To help your memory, buy an extra washcloth in the same color as a set of towels, and keep it aside for a comparison. If it no longer matches up with your towels after a few washings, take the towels back to the store if their return policy is still in effect, or snap a few comparison pictures and send a complaint letter if it isn’t.

How to Choose Bath Towels That Last [Consumer Reports]

The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its annual look at the retail industry, and once again Walmart scored the lowest among department stores, supermarkets, and personal care retailers. But one specialty retailer did manage to eke out an even lower score than Walmart.

That would be Abercrombie & Fitch, which made its bare-chested debut on the ACSI specialty retailers index with a horrid 65 out of 100, a full 12 points below the sector’s average and seven points under the next-lowest scorer (Advance Auto Parts). In fact, A+F’s 65 was the lowest score in all of retail for 2015.

Perhaps the clothing store can chalk it up to the old sports cliche of a “rebuilding year,” as Abercrombie kicked off 2015 saying goodbye to controversial CEO Mike Jeffries — the man who looked like Gary Busey in Lethal Weapon but had the tact of a Mean Girls character.

The company sold its private jet, put shirts back on its army of chiseled-ab dudes, and had more realistic expectations about requiring all of its employees to look like models — but apparently the store hasn’t learned how to satisfy customers yet. There’s always next year.

Meanwhile, Walmart showed a remarkable level of consistency — placing dead last in each of the sectors for which it was scored.

In the department and discount stores index, Walmart’s score of 66 — a 2-point drop from last year — was eight points off the average and five points lower than Sears. That’s right: the retailer whose own ads acknowledge that no one shops there, outscored Walmart by a significant margin.

Not a single retailer in this category saw a year-over-year improvement, with the most precipitous drop belonging to Macy’s, which managed to shave six points off its 2014 score and end up with a 73 — barely enough to beat Sears.

“Macy’s is in a tough spot as it tries to figure out how to best allocate resources between storefront and online channel,” explains ACSI Managing Director David VanAmburg in a statement. “Closing stores and reducing workforce might help the bottom line in the short term, but only at the expense of customer satisfaction, which could create problems in the long term.”

The race for the bottom was tighter on the supermarkets index, where Walmart actually tied for last with Pennsylvania-based Giant Eagle. The two retailers eked out scores of 67, only five points off the average for all supermarkets, and only one point behind Albertsons.

While Walmart might be the caboose in the supermarket satisfaction train, Target may be quickly on its way to the rear. The retailer dropped an astounding 10 points from 2014, leaving it with a below-average score of 71. Likewise, Whole Foods — which recently admitted to practices that overcharged for packaged food items — fell from an 81 to the industry average of 73 in a single year.

The bottom of the barrel was also more crowded in the health and personal care index, where Walmart’s 68 was right on the heels of fellow low-scorers Safeway and Rite Aid (both 69).

As comfortable as it would be if the entire world was your living room, it’s not. We all have to abide by certain rules in public about behaviors that wouldn’t fly outside the home — wearing real pants, not having your butt stuck to the couch, etc. — including no smoking on New York City buses. And as one passenger learned recently, no stealing them when you’re told to behave.

Metropolitan Transportation Authorities in NYC say a passenger lit up a cigarette while she was sitting on a bus in East Harlem on Tuesday morning, reports CBS New York.

The driver noticed she was smoking and asked her to put the cigarette out and leave the bus, but instead, the woman became irate, the MTA says. In these cases, sometimes it’s just easier to get everyone else off the bus to deal with one disruptive passenger, so the driver called another bus to transfer the other passengers.

While the driver was outside the bus moving passengers from one vehicle to another, officials say the suspect jumped into the driver’s seat and simply drove away.

She made it about four blocks before a dispatcher was able to reach through the driver’s side window and turn off the vehicle, the MTA said. Officers boarded the bus and arrested the woman. She was brought to a hospital for evaluation, and charges are pending.

MTA: Irate Passenger Hijacks Bus In East Harlem After Being Told To Stop Smoking [CBS New York]

Megan was shopping for cheese at Target over the weekend, as many sensible people do, and she noticed something strange about the pre-sliced packages of Sargento cheddar. It came in two different sizes, which had the same price. Yes, it turns out that one of them was the victim of the Grocery Shrink Ray, taking the total from 20 slices to 18, depriving customers of enough slices to make an entire grilled cheese sandwich.

She sent along some photos: here’s an enlarged version in case you’re on a smartphone screen. Indeed, the product page on Sargento’s site also has this particular cheese with only 18 slices.

A week after Sports Authority told employees it would close all of its Texas locations, the sporting goods retailer appears to be on the brink of filing for bankruptcy protection and closing nearly half of its stores. 

Reuters, citing sources close to the matter, reports that Sports Authority intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as next month and close up to 200 of its 450 locations.

The move was initiated after the company missed a $20 million coupon payment on Jan. 15, which triggered a 30-day period, ending Feb. 14, to work out a compromise with its creditors.

Sources tell Reuters the company was unable to come up with a plan, leading it to make the decision to move toward bankruptcy.

The plan, the sources say, is for the company to expedite closing some of its 450 stores across the U.S. and then eventually re-emerge through the bankruptcy process.

Reuters reports that before Sports Authority can file for bankruptcy it must line up creditors to get it through the process, and find liquidators for the stores it plans to close.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Sports Authority was taking steps toward bankruptcy in the face of a looming debt payment.

The retailer, which has an estimated $643 million in debt, was reportedly in talks with lenders on a deal to reorganize its operations in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Sports Authority to file for bankruptcy as early as March-sources [Reuters]

In case you were worried that you would have to face a spring without Easter egg nog and Peeps-flavored sugar milk, don’t fret: the good people at Prairie Farms haven’t just brought back those springtime beverages, but they’ve expanded the line, even adding a Walmart-exclusive orange creme flavor.

This is the first year that the Peeps beverages will be available nationwide, and the company is celebrating by sending their chef to Just Born headquarters in Pennsylvania with a basket of milks and a performer dressed as a Peep that has suddenly sprouted legs.

Easter egg nog isn’t a new concept, and has even been available in some markets for decades. Orange milk for holidays isn’t new, either, though it usually hits the market for Halloween. We could condemn this marketing partnership, but we simply like Peeps too much. Sorry, haters.