Third Candy Apple Maker Recalls Treats For Possible Listeria Contamination

(ChrisGoldNY)

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned consumers to avoid some caramel apples after at least 30 people in 10 states have been infected with Listeriosis due to Listeria monocytogenes. This week a third candy maker is recalling caramel apples, the government said, out of concern that its apples may be tainted with Listeria as well.

The Food and Drug Administration announced today that St. Louis-based Merb’s Candies is recalling caramel apples because the company bought the fruit from a supplier that could be a source for the recent outbreak that has killed five people and sickened at least 30 others.

Merb’s Candies brand Bionic Apples and Double Dipped Apples are both being recalled, after having been sold in the St. Louis area at local supermarkets, as well as through mail orders around the country. Caramel apples available from Sept. 8, 2014 through Nov. 25 are part of the recall.

While the apples are no longer available for purchase, the FDA recommends that if you have any of the affected caramel apples you dispose of the product in a secure container to avoid potential contamination to animals.

Consumers who have any product may return it to the store where purchased or dispose of it per the advice of the CDC — in that secure container.

Consumers with questions may contact the firm at customercare.merbscandies@gmail.com or during normal business hours Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST at (314) 832-7206.

Previously, California Snack Foods and Missouri-based Happy Apple recalled caramel apples.

Another Parking Lot Payment Data Breach At OneStopParking

(sfxeric)

December 2014 really hasn’t been great for offsite airport parking facilities. Earlier this week, we learned about a parking lot hear the airport in Orlando that abruptly closed, stopping shuttles from running and trapping customers’ vehicles inside. A few weeks ago, we learned that Park-N-Fly payment information may have been breached. Now there are reports that another offsite lot operator, OneStopParking, may have been breached by the same gang of card-stealing baddies who were behind last year’s Target breach.

OneStopParking operates discount parking lots at hotels near airports and at seaports. Security reporter Brian Krebs’ usual gang of bank sources let him know that cards used on the company’s site had also been used in fraudulent transactions. A company representative confirmed that the parking lot operator has received complaints from customers, and they are investigating the possibility of a recent or ongoing breach.

Banks have found their customers’ card numbers online at store that sells credit cards for $6 to $12 each, including CVV codes and the card holder’s address and phone number. This store does not accept credit cards as payment, as you might imagine.

Meanwhile, Park-N-Fly reports that they are no longer taking online reservation payments, but are accepting payments over the phone.

Target Hackers Hit OneStopParking.com [Krebs on Security]

McDonald’s Keeps Its Name Off Its New Healthier-Food Eatery

(photo via The Corner by McCafe’s Facebook page)

The McDonald’s brand — with its distinctive color scheme, yellow arches, and the use of “Mc” before just about anything it offers — is one of the world’s most well-known. Even people who’ve never had a Big Mac or asked which part of the chicken a McNugget comes from are still aware of the company and its food. Given the power of that brand, you’d expect the company to slap the McDonald’s name on every new venture, but it’s curiously absent from a recently launched eatery from the company.

On the other side of the globe in Sydney, Australia, you’ll now find a health food restaurant with the simple name of The Corner. It opened last week and sells things like lentils, tomato basil soup and pulled pork, along with craft sodas.

But wait — what are those scribbled words in small print below “The Corner” on its logo? It says “by McCafe,” putting a meta-distance between the restaurant and its corporate ownership, as if McCafe were a subsidiary restaurant chain and not just a brand that McDonald’s slaps on its sugared-up coffees and smoothies.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the only other sign you’ll find in the The Corner of its relationship to McDonald’s is a Ronald McDonald cookie jar on the counter.

“If they’re looking for a Quarter Pounder they’ll probably be sorely disappointed,” explains the manager. “It’s a new concept for us, it’s a learning lab where we test the things that Maccas has never done before and push the boundaries of what we can do in a cafe environment.”

[via BurgerBusiness.com]

Plastic Bag Supporters Petition To Challenge Ban In California

(taberandrew)

It was only three months ago that California’s Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law banning single-use plastic bags, and already it’s facing a challenge.

The law goes into full effect July 1, until which time retailers were supposed to phase out the bags, while consumers would need to bring their own multi-use bags or pay for one, or for a paper bag at the register. But supporters of plastic bags say they’ve collected enough signatures on a petition to prompt a referendum on that law, which could possibly delay its final implementation.

Plastic manufacturers and supporters said they gathered more than 800,000 signatures — when they only needed 504,760 to qualify for a referendum — according to trade group American Progressive Bag Alliance, reports the San Francisco Gate.

“The industry obviously is opposed to this particular piece of legislation because it seeks to ban a 100 percent recyclable product and also put fees on consumers for other bag alternatives,” said Jon Berrier, spokesman for the Progressive Bag Alliance. “It’s all orchestrated as a cash grab by members of the California Grocers Association to scam California consumers out of billions of dollars in bag fees, none of which goes to a public purpose.”

(Feds say whether a single-use bag is biodegradable is up for debate, however, until proven.)

Supporters of the ban from the California Grocers Association call the “cash grab” claims a “tired argument,” because the law “clearly states that any monies generated by the sale of paper bags must go toward cost recovery, training and educating the public on reusable bags,” a rep said, noting 90% reductions in single-use bags in cities with similar rules.

“The state Legislature didn’t buy this desperate argument and neither do Californians,” Ron Fong said.

The petitions still need to get checked against a list of registered voters, county by county, before the referendum can be verified. If it goes ahead, the law could be delayed until after the referendum is held in November 2016.

“They are basically buying themselves a 15-month postponement,” said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste and the bag-ban campaign treasurer. “Honestly, it’s frustrating that California’s electoral process can be hijacked by out-of-state plastic-bag manufacturers.”

Areas of the state that already banned plastic bags aren’t affected by the postponement– San Francisco outlawed plastic bags in 2007, and 130 other California cities ban them as well.

Makers of plastic bags gather signatures to overturn ban [The San Francisco Gate]

CFPB Urges DoD To Close Loopholes That Cost Military Personnel Millions Of Dollars

(Hammerin Man)

Nearly three months ago the Obama administration and the Department of Defense announced a proposed overhaul of the Military Lending Act that would aim to close loopholes regularly exploited by predatory lenders in order to sink their hooks into military borrowers. Now, a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau highlights just how devastating – and costly – those loopholes can be for servicemembers.

The CFPB’s report [PDF] found that predatory lenders have continued to target military families with high-cost loans despite protections guaranteed through the Military Lending Act.

Officials with the Bureau say that the Department of Defense’s proposed changes to the rules would provide significant improvements to the protections given to military members and their families.

As Consumerist has previously reported, shady lenders have been able to exploit loopholes in the current rules by creating products that are nearly indistinguishable from those prohibited by MLA.

Those exploitations were confirmed in the CFPB’s latest report, which found that 22% of servicemembers took out more than $50 million in deposit advances during a 12-month period. Of those advances, the CFPB estimates servicemembers paid nearly $5 million in fees.

“The findings indicate that some depository institutions extended millions of dollars in deposit advances to servicemembers with APRs that typically exceeded 300%,” the report states.

The CFPB believes these high-cost loans were made available to servicemembers because the current MLA rules only apply to three narrowly defined consumer credit products: closed-end payday loans for no more than $2,000 and with terms of 91 days or fewer; closed-end auto title loans with terms of 181 days or fewer; and closed-end tax refund anticipation loans.

According to the report, the current law’s failure to address payday loans made in excess of $2,000, allowed a California company to charge a servicemember an APR of 219% on a $2,600 loan. In all, the servicemember paid $3,966.84.

The CFPB found the current law also fails to address longer-term payday and auto title loans that can be just as devastating as typical short-term loans covered by the current MLA.

As an example the CFPB report details how an Illinois lender was able to skirt the rules by offering a 12-month contract term for an auto title loan for a servicemember’s spouse. Because the loan was longer than 181 days, the lender was able to charge an APR of 300%. In the end, the servicemember’s spouse spent $5,70.24 to borrow just $2,575.

Additionally, the CFPB report found that current MLA rules do not cover high-interest loans that are structured as open-ended lines of credit. Because of this failure, the CFPB found that an Internet-based lenders was able to charge military members an interest rate of 584%.

To better protect servicemembers from increasingly sly predatory lenders, the CFPB urges the DoD to finalize proposed changes that would afford new, stricter protections to members of the military.

Under the proposal, the DoD would broaden the scope of the current MLA to include credit offered or extended to active-duty military members that has a finance charge or is payable under a written agreement in more than four installments.

The proposed changes would expand the definition of “consumers credit” covered by the regulation and bring any closed- or open-end loan within scope of the regulation. The rule would only exclude loans secured by real estate or a purchase-money loan such as those used to buy cars.

If the proposal passes muster, creditors would also be required to provide military borrowers with additional disclosures, including a statement that the servicemember should seek other options than high-cost credit.

Additionally, creditors would be prohibited from requiring servicemembers to submit to arbitration, waive their rights under the servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act, or impose onerous legal notice requirements as a result of taking out a loan.

CFPB Report Finds Loopholes In Military Lending Act Rules Rack Up Costs For Servicemembers [CFPB]

Watch Young Kid Go On 3-Minute Dollar Store-Destroying Rampage

Have you ever been so fed up by life that you just wanted to run amok in a retail store, ripping items off shelves and pulling down displays? No? Well, you’re apparently not the youngster in this video.

The above clip [via Reddit] (Note: NSFW language in the cameraman’s spirited play-by-play narration) features a young boy laying waste to the shelves of a dollar store.

He pulls items off the shelves, throws them to the floor, without any attempt to disguise his actions or any apparent fear of being caught.

When people, presumably store employees, catch on to what’s going on, they try to corner the kid, but he tries to escape through the stockroom (into which the vertical videographer follows). There’s no exit, but he is able to avoid capture.

At this point, he actually begins running through the store until he once again pauses to tear down a cardboard display.

Eventually he’s trapped in an aisle between two young men.

“Get back!” he warns the one man in front of him, while threatening to throw an object at him. “I’m not afraid to do it!”

What he didn’t notice was the bigger man walking up behind him, who was able to snatch the kid, saying “I ain’t either” as he uses the youngster’s shirt to take him out of the building and into the parking lot.

We’re trying to find out more about this video. If we get any additional info, we’ll let you know.

Going Out On New Year’s Eve? Plan Ahead So You Don’t Get Hit By Surge Prices

(New England Oddities)

Don’t want to be like that person shocked to find she’s paid out a huge chunk of change the night before due to Uber’s surge pricing? Start the New Year out right and make a plan to avoid those fee hikes, before you hit the bubbly and decide money is immaterial. Your 2015 self will thank you for making the right choice, I promise.

Uber is reminding people now, while reminders still work and before the party haze settles upon our collective brains, that surge pricing will go into effect right at the moment everyone wants a ride home.

Planning in advance when you’re going to hit the road will help, as Uber explains the best and worst times to grab a car if you’re not ready to pay surge fares.

Basically, your instincts are correct: Just before the ball drops fares will be low, but soon after that orb hits the ground, Uber fares will shoot upand stay up until everyone is partied out, at around 2:30 a.m.:

In other words, you’re going to want to stay put for a good three hours into 2015, split a fare with your friends as many times as possible, or risk a nice dent in your finances to pay for it.