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( Nathan Van Driel ) Working more than 40 hours a week but not getting paid overtime because you make too much already? If so, you might soon be pocketing more dough for your extra hours under newly proposed federal regulations that raise the threshold income level at which workers are exempt from overtime pay of time-and-a-half wages. The Los Angeles Times reports that the proposed Department of Labor rule would be the first change to the salary threshold governing overtime pay in more than a decade and could affect the pay of nearly five million Americans starting in 2016. The proposed regulations would more than double the current salary threshold at which employers can avoid paying overtime from $23,660 a year to $50,400 per year. Likewise, the regulation increases the pay of hourly workers exempt from overtime pay from $455 per week to $970 per week. This means that if an hourly or salaried worker makes less than $970 per week or $50,400 per year, they would now have th...

( Scott D. Rogers ) Just in time for the Fourth of July comes some news that might put a damper on your celebrations: A new study says exploding fireworks create toxic air pollution that could be harmful to your health. Happy Independence Day, everyone. A study by federal scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published in the journal Atmospheric Environment says the thousands of Fourth of July firework celebrations we set off around the country is contributing to air pollution, releasing tiny particles called particulates into the atmosphere. Those particulates can affect your health because they travel into your respiratory tract and enter the lungs. Other particulate matter includes dust, dirt, soot smoke and liquid droplets, notes USA Today . They’re measured in micrometers, which is one-millionth of a meter. In this study, particulates from fireworks were 2.5 micrometers in size. Whether you’re breathing them in often or only in the short-term, t...

( ian.poley ) Can you take a cab on a cross-state ride? Sure. But you better be able to pay for it when you reach your destination, or you could face jail. One New York man found that out the hard way, after police say he didn’t have the money to pay his cab driver after a 700-mile journey. Police in Pennsylvania say a Brooklyn man and his children took a cab from Philadelphia to Uniontown, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , so he could surprise his fiancée. Instead, his cab driver called the police to report that his passenger refused to pay after the 304-mile journey. According to police, the passenger said he’d taken the trip to surprise his loved one, but didn’t have the fare when it came time to settle up. “I asked [the passenger] to pay the driver for the fare, and he stated he did not have the money and that his credit card was maxed out for the day,” the patrolman on duty said in police records. Because no one else had the money to pay up, the man was taken into cust...

(Earth2Kim) More than a year after the Federal Trade Commission settled charges with a massive debt collection operation that extorted payments from consumer using false threats, those affected by the deceptive practices are finally seeing a bit of restitution in the form of checks totaling $4 million. The FTC announced today that it is in the process of returning $4 million to the victims of Asset Capital and Management Group’s illegal debt collection operation. Last May, Asset Capital and Management Group settled FTC charges that it used a sprawling network of intertwined companies and dozens of fictitious names to illegally extract payments from consumers for credit card debt that it had purchased from creditors. According to the FTC’s complaint [ PDF ], the company posed as process servers in calls to consumers and third parties, falsely threatened consumers with lawsuits, wage garnishment, seizure of their property, and arrest, and disclosed debts t...

( afagen ) Though Apple’s alleged co-conspirators have long since settled and gone about the process of making good for the price-fixing they did not legally admit to committing, the elecronics company had held out in its fight to clear its name, taking the case to a federal appeals court late last year. It seems the electronics company will have to give up that battle, after the court upheld a 2013 decision that found Apple liable for conspiring with publishers to raise the price of e-books . Apple is expected to pay more than $450 million — much of that to consumers by way of refunds, with the rest going toward fees and other fines, reports the Wall Street Journal . Quick background for those unfamiliar: In 2012, the Dept. of Justice sued Apple and many of the nation’s largest book publishing companies for allegedly conspiring to set high prices on the e-book market. Part of Apple’s argument before the federal appeals court in December was that it was just trying to snap the str...

( Dendroica cerulea ) While flying is often the easiest and quickest way for travelers to get from one place to another, the nearly one million residents in Delaware will have to find a different mode of transportation in their home state — unless they want to fly privately. That’s because the state’s lone commercial airline servicer quietly exited the market last week. Forbes reports that Frontier Airlines flew relatively under the radar last week when it discreetly pulled the plug on its service from Wilmington’s New Castle Airport, citing a lack of profit. The company – which began service at the airport just two years ago – initially announced in April that it would discontinue flights to and from the airport on a seasonal basis. The Denver-based airline’s move means that Delaware is the only state in the U.S. that doesn’t have direct commercial airline service. A number of airlines – including United, Delta and U.S. Airways – have attempted to provide flights at the airpor...

( Eric Norris ) Back in March, federal regulators teamed up with their Canadian counterparts to crack down on auto dealers’ deceptive, fraudulent practices. While that operation culminated in six enforcement actions resulting in more than $2.6 million in judgments and consumer refunds , that wasn’t enough for the Federal Trade Commission, as the agency has now charged two Las Vegas auto dealers with similarly misleading practices. The FTC announced this week that two auto dealers in Las Vegas have agreed to settle charges they used deceptive ads to promote the sale or leasing of their vehicles, including advertising heavily discounted prices that were not actually available to customers. According to the complaints against TC Dealership (doing business as Planet Hyundai [ PDF ]) and JS Auotworld, Inc. (doing business as Planet Nissan [ PDF ]) the companies regularly ran ads that misrepresented the purchase price or leasing offers of their vehicles and the amount due at signing. ...

The thing about bacon is, once you’ve put it on one thing, everyone expects you to dump it all over everything else. Which is just fine with Wendy’s, as the chain is extending the Baconator brand from its burgers to its new bacon-and-cheese fries. The menu item is a limited time offer, but in the short time it’ll be available, the $1.99 Baconator Fries don’t skimp on toppings: Wendy’s natural-cut fries are drizzled with warm cheddar sauce and topped with bacon, before shredded cheddar is added as the cheesy cherry on top. Wendy’s knows that people like bacon, simply put, citing bacon sales at an all-time high and the 50 or so bacon festivals planned for 2015 in its announcement. But Wendy’s wants customers to know its bacon is different from all the other bacon out there, noting that the chain cooks its bacon fresh in restaurants every day. “Others use factory cooked bacon and reheat it in a microwave because it’s easier, but that just isn’t the Wendy’s way,” said Kurt Kane, Wendy’s...

( The Joy Of The Mundane ) When I first started driving, I remember being told to change my car’s oil every 3,000 miles. More than a dozen years later – and after several advancements in vehicle production – most cars can go 5,000 miles to 10,000 miles before they need a fresh dose of oil. But according to a new analysis from Consumer Reports, those mileage markers may be a bit too optimistic, as many new cars actually require additional oil between changes – and that’s not really acceptable. According to a new in-depth analysis from our colleagues at Consumer Reports – which appears in the August issue of the magazine – several automakers have built engines that excessively burn oil between changes, requiring the owners of nearly 1.5 million vehicles to add a quart of oil to their engines as often as every month. The CR “Thirsty 30″ list of oil-guzzling models is based on 498,900 vehicles from the 2010 to 2014 model years, many of which are still under their powertrain warranty....

Six months after direct-sales jewelry company Lia Sophia said it was shutting down , one of its former sales representatives has been joined by a customer in a lawsuit against the company, claiming it refuses to honor its lifetime guarantee on purchases, even while it’s continued to stay alive through online sales. Until the company’s announcement in December 2014 that it was closing up shop, the business worked much like Avon or Tupperware: Sales representatives known as “advisers” would peddle jewelry directly to customers at parties and gatherings. Those customers were given a lifetime replacement guarantee on purchases that allowed them to exchange their jewelry if it ever broke, or provide a certificate redeemable for comparable value. That perk had allowed Lia Sophia to sell its wares for more than the market would usually demand, the lawsuit says. But in a lawsuit seeking class-action status filed this month in Chicago’s federal district court, one of its former advisers and ...

( Felicia Violi ) If today feels like a really long day, that’s because it is. There’s going to be a leap second this evening, making Tuesday 24 hours and one second long. The last time this happened, in 2012, a lot of computers took issue with time going all wonky and systems worldwide crashed as a result. This time around, the big businesses promise they’ve learned their lesson, and we should be able to look forward to business as normal. The leap second is basically like a micro version of the leap year: the actual rotation of the Earth slows down in tiny increments over time. Therefore, time is not quite synced up with the way in which we mortals measure it, and so every so often we have to fudge the numbers a tiny fraction of a bit to catch up. Thus, the leap second. However, the extra second isn’t as predictable as the clockwork arrival of February 29, and so computer systems — new and old — are not necessarily designed with it in mind. The last time a leap second arrived , ...

( Steve ) Craving a little flavor with your morning cup of hot java? If your breakfast joint of choice is McDonald’s, then you likely know that just isn’t an option. Until now – but only in one select area. The Christian Science Monitor reports that McDonald’s is now offering caramel, hazelnut and French vanilla McCafé hot coffees in at least one market. While a spokesperson for the company confirms that the piping hot coffees are being promoted as a local menu item in at least one area of the country, she didn’t specify which area or whether the drinks would be expanded nationally. McDonald’s has served flavored ice McCafé coffees since 2007, but this is the first time a hot option has ever appeared on the menu. Additionally, the company sells bags of French vanilla and Hazelnut coffee at local retailers. McDonald’s to expand flavored coffee sales to restaurants, but not nationwide (yet) [The Christian Science Monitor] by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

( Boss Meg ) Say goodbye to that free checked bag when flying on JetBlue: The company announced last November that it was going to start charging passengers who fly with checked bags at some point , and that point is today. Customers buying tickets on the airline’s lowest tier of fares will have to pay $20 during online check-in or $25 at the ticket counter — one way. If you want to bring that bag home, it’ll be another fee. The move leaves Southwest Airlines as the sole remaining carrier that lets all travelers check a bag for free. If you don’t want to pay a bag fee, customers can upgrade from the lowest “Blue” fare bucket to a “Blue Plus” level that will usually cost about $15 more than the base ticket price. Investors have been all about this change, though many consumers are less than pleased to see the airline give sway to the siren song of cold, green cash. But JetBlue says many travelers don’t check bags as often as they did in the past anyway. “Half of the customers do...

By now we’re well aware that McDonald’s has struggled to attract and keep new customers in recent years, leading to an all-out overhaul of the fast-food powerhouse. The Golden Arches’ trouble is perhaps most evident this week, as the company clocked in dead last among competition in the American Customer Satisfaction Index,  yet again . The ACSI recently unveiled its annual Full-Service Limited-Service Restaurant ratings [ PDF ], which compares a dozen name-brand burger, sandwich, pizza, and coffee chains, as well as sit-down dining establishments. For the sixth year in a row, and the 19th time in 20 surveys, the iconic fast food restaurant brought up the rear with a score of 67 — three points below its score last year, and 19 points below new leader Chick-fil-A. Speaking of Chick-fil-A, the company had a strong showing in its debut in the ACSI ratings, tallying a rating of 86,  the highest ever score by a company in the quick-service category. The restaurant wasn’t the ...

( kenfagerdotcom ) Sure, sometimes breaking up might be hard to do, but it always helps when you’ve got another suitor lined up to take your former flame’s place. Such is the arrangement for the National Football League, which announced today that it’s ending its relationship with General Motors and hooking up with Hyundai. Hyundai will take GM’s place as the NFL’s official automotive sponsor, reports the Chicago Tribune , in a deal that will let the Korean automaker use the league’s trademarks in marketing. It’ll also get access to the NFL’s biggest events like the Super Bowl and annual draft proceedings. Though Hyundai isn’t saying how much it shelled out to get this special status, it’s likely that it would be in the neighborhood of what GM had paid, somewhere around $25 million per year. “There is no better venue to reach consumers,” Hyundai Motor America CEO Dave Zuchowski said in a statement. Hyundai will launch its sponsorship during the NFL’s season kickoff activities on ...

( Adam Fagen ) Employees at Victoria’s Secret will no longer have to call in to find out if they’ll be hawking lotions, perfumes, bras, underwear and other products on any given day, as the company plans to end its use of on-call scheduling. BuzzFeed News, citing several current and former staff members, reports that the retailer decided to reverse its use of so-called “on-call shifts,” in which employees are given little notice on whether they are required to show up for work or stay at home without pay. While on-call scheduling allows retailers to be more flexible with hours and save on payroll expenses by only having workers report for work if the store is busy, the system can make it difficult for employees to predict when they’ll work and their pay. In most cases, employees who are scheduled on-call must phone, email or text managers shortly before their shift begins. According to the retailer’s staff, in addition to ending on-call scheduling, the company will now notify e...

( imgur ) Are you in the market for a new pet, one that doesn’t require much maintenance or care? Or perhaps, one that requires absolutely nothing from you? You’re in luck: One Petco appears to have a long tailed grass lizard skeleton available in its store tank, for the low price of just $9.99. Consumerist reader Holly pointed us to a recent Reddit post titled, “We clean our cages regularly,” with a link to a series of photos apparently snapped at a Texas Petco. If you’re not looking closely enough, you might just think it’s an empty tank, devoid of any pets. That can surely happen when someone buys a pet and the store hasn’t moved a new inmate in yet. But further inspection reveals the skeleton of a small lizard, ostensibly the Long Tailed Grass Lizard on the tank’s sign. That same sign includes helpful instructions that might’ve helped the store’s animal handlers, things like feeding the lizard and making sure it has enough water. The sign also promises a pet that is “quick a...

The FTC and New Jersey AG’s office allege that the makers of the Prized app used the program to infect customers’ phones with malware for their own use. Some reward programs aren’t really rewarding. In fact, some are downright harmful to consumers. That was apparently the case with an Ohio-based smartphone app developer that recently agreed to settle charges that it hijacked consumers’ phones through a seemingly innocuous gaming app. Smartphone app developer Equiliv Investments advertised its Prized app as a way for users to earn points for clothing, gift cards and other prizes by downloading affiliated apps, playing video games embedded with advertisements, or taking online surveys. But the Federal Trade Commission and New Jersey Attorney General’s office say the app was actually used as an entryway to mine virtual currency like Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Quarkcoin. According to a complaint [ PDF ] filed by the FTC and AG’s office, Equiliv and director Ryan Ramminger began marketi...

( pwrplantgirl ) If you’re the kind of person who needs to know everything about a city before you visit, your list of requirements might include pinning down where you can get a cheap beer. So before you hit the road or book that flight, you might want to check out a recent list of which cities around the globe have the priciest pours. A company called GoEuro collected data on the price of beer at both supermarkets as well as bars in cities and then took that average to create the Beer Price Index . The results may factor in when you’re planning a trip, depending on how much you can handle paying for a beer. Traveling to Switzerland? Better save your change for a cold one: Geneva’s beers will hit your pockets the hardest, according to a beer price index compiled by GoEuro: The average price of a brew there is $6.32 ($1.87 in stores and $10.77 at bars). On the cheap end of things, Krakow, Poland and Kiev, Ukraine were tied for the least expensive beers, with an average price of $...

( bluwmongoose ) About 65 Jeep and Dodge SUV owners can expect to receive a phone call from Fiat Chrysler telling them to stop driving their vehicles. The car maker announced over the weekend that it will recall about 7,690 model year 2015 Dodge Durangos and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles that have a suspension component that could fail. While a majority of the affected SUVs have not been sold, the automaker has taken an unusual step for those that are currently in the possession of consumers by urging them to immediately stop driving the vehicles, according to the Detroit Free Press . While more than 7,000 SUVs remain on dealer lots or in transit to dealers, Fiat Chrysler plans to personally call the owners of the 65 vehicles currently on the road. The company says that some of the suspension components installed in the cars were not correctly treated by a supplier for high temperatures. Because of this, the component could break leading to rear-end instability and/or r...

( frankieleon ) Due to an uptick recently in accidents at railroad crossings, the Federal Railroad Administration is stepping up efforts to keep drivers aware when their route intersects with the path of trains. The agency just announced a new partnership with Google Maps, that will provide the locations of all grade crossings in the country. Accidents at rail crossings spiked by 9% last year, reports the New York Times , resulting in 270 deaths and 843 injured people. Those numbers have prompted the government to work with Google: The technology company has agreed to include information from the United States Department of Transportation’s database to nail down every rail crossing in the country, and will also add audio and visual alerts to the app for drivers using the turn-by-turn navigation feature. Google likely won’t be the only company that adds railroad crossing information to its maps — the agency says it also reached out to Apple, MapQuest, TomTom and Garmin. Though man...

( André-Pierre du Plessis ) PayPal’s new user agreement — the one that gives the company even more latitude to make obnoxious prerecorded marketing calls to “any telephone number that you have provided us or that we have otherwise obtained” — is set to kick in this week, but following an FCC warning that this policy might be in violation of federal law , and a letter from multiple senators asking PayPal to rethink its new terms , the company has agreed to make changes that “clear up any confusion.” In a new blog post , PayPal’s general counsel acknowledges that company “used language that did not clearly communicate how we intend to contact them. Unfortunately, this language caused confusion and concern with some of our customers.” The company says its intention in granting itself the ability to call or text any number it might be able to locate for you (an apparent violation of federal rules that say robocalls can only be made to specific numbers that a customer has agreed to re...

( frankieleon ) Nowadays, airlines charge a fee for just about everything – even when it comes to travelers trying to ensure they’re seated next to their children. But that extra cost could be a thing of the past if one legislator has anything to do about it. In a letter to Federal Aviation Administration administrator Michael Huerta, Sen. Bob Casey urged the agency to step in and require airlines drop seat change fees for parents traveling with their children,  The Hill reports. The Pennsylvania senator expressed concern over what he believes is a lack of policies that would ensure airlines are taking “appropriate steps to guarantee that young children can sit with their parents during a flight without paying extra fees.” While reassigning seats may be inconvenient, Casey says there is no reason to separate a child from a parent during a flight. “In recent years, consumers have grown increasingly frustrated by the growing use of varying fees associated with air travel,” Cas...

Hey kids, isn’t vertical integration awesome? Thanks to Comcast’s acquisition of NBC/Universal, the cable giant can now use its latest high-tech remote control to advertise its feature films directly to your living room! Let’s all cheer for cross-promotional, cross-platform, market-targeted, gibberish-spouting synergy!! Last week, Comcast boasted on its corporate blog that users of its new voice-enabled remote controls could speak “Minionese,” the hilariously family friendly and profitable language spoken by the Minions in the upcoming film release The Minions , distributed by Universal. Say something in Minionese into the remote and it speaks back to you in Minionese, along with taking you to various pieces of content curated by Comcast to promote The Minions , opening July 10 in a theater full of kids you’ll want to avoid if you enjoy your sanity. The idea of turning your remote control — for which Comcast customers pay a pretty penny each month — into a de facto toy that is then...