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Farmer's market equals pharmacy as doctors prescribe fresh food
The diagnosis for many children in the U.S. is a doozy: obesity and poverty at once. The prognosis is dim, as many children don't even recognize a potato in its skin, and can't identify a kiwi fruit. The prescription is novel: go to the farmer's market, and here, take this coupon.The problem many families in America today face seems oxymoronic from a distance but, up close, is not much of a surprise. Despite rising unemployment and a record proportion of families on federal food aid, or SNAP, more and more poor Americans are also dangerously overweight.
Tax Lady Roni Deutch accused of duping consumers
California Attorney General Edmund Brown is suing TV's Tax Lady Roni Deutch for $34 million, claiming she duped thousands of consumers who sought her tax advice."Tax Lady Roni Deutch is engaged in a heartless scheme that swindled people with tax problems," Brown said in a statement. "She promises to significantly reduce their IRS tax debts, but instead preys on their vulnerability, taking large up-front payments but providing little or no help in lowering their tax bills."
Deutch is a licensed attorney who runs a tax resolution law firm in California. Her claims to fame are her frequent appearances on late-night cable TV, NBC's Today Show, CNN and CNBC.
Gas prices expected to head south after Labor Day
There's some good news for people who wait to vacation until after Labor Day weekend: at least one industry expert expects gasoline prices to go down. Tom Klonza of the Oil Price Information Service told USA Today that he believes that prices at the pump could drop by as much as 15 cents a gallon.Thank falling crude oil prices, climbing inventories, and a continued slack in demand by the driving public for the projected declines. Unleaded gasoline futures for September delivery have dropped steadily over this month, too, down to $1.88 today, another harbinger of declining fuel costs.
Lest we get overconfident, though, the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Short-term energy outlook is projecting that regular gas will average $2.77 a gallon in the second half of this year, up a penny from the first half of 2010.
Back-to-school bento - the new way to pack lunch
What's smaller than a bread box, easy on the environment, and cool enough for your kindergartner, fifth grader and high school student? That would be a bento box.
Egg recall for Salmonella: 2,000 sickened and 500 million eggs recalled
Mitch Lipka
Aug 23rd 2010 @ 3:15PM EST
Filed Under: Food, Recalls, Health, Consumer Ally, In the News
As the nation's massive recall of potentially contaminated eggs expands to more than half a billion eggs so does the number of those sickened -- rising to nearly 2,000 reported cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.And it's becoming clearer that the already-staggering numbers are just going to get bigger. Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commission of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said on The Today Show that consumers will hear of yet more brands of eggs being recalled.
"We may see some additional sort of sub-recalls over the next couple of days, maybe even weeks, as we better understand the network of distribution of these eggs that are contaminated," she said.
Dress Barn is seeking a new identity
Laura Heller
Aug 23rd 2010 @ 1:35PM EST
Filed Under:
Dress Barn hopes to undergo an extreme makeover. The company is seeking shareholder approval to change its corporate name to Ascena Retail Group Inc., or Ascena, and to reorganize into a holding company. "The proposed change in structure and name should provide an image more closely aligned with our current vision and strategies," President and Chief Executive Officer, David Jaffe said in a statement. "In recent years, we've become a fundamentally different company that extends beyond the original Dress Barn concept and brand. Our vision is to be a family of retail brands each serving a unique customer niche."
Among those other brands Jaffe mentioned are 757 Maurices and 890 Justice stores that market apparel and accessories to tween girls. Shareholders will vote on the proposed changes during the company's annual shareholder meeting December 8.
20,000 kids a year injured while sledding, study finds
Although winter may still seem like a long time away to a nation still sweltering from record-breaking heat waves, a report issued today underscored the hazards of sledding. A new study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that approximately 229,023 children and adolescents under 19 were treated in U.S. emergency departments for sledding-related injuries from 1997-2007 - an average of more than 20,000 accidents each year.
According to the study, which is slated for publication in the September issue of Pediatrics, the most common injuries were fractures (26 percent), followed by cuts and bruises (25 percent). The study also revealed that the majority of injuries occurred during a collision (51 percent), and that collisions were more likely to result in a traumatic brain injury (TBI) than other types of injury.
10 alternative uses for pantyhose
Pantyhose -- the bane and blessing of women's fashion -- have been around for a long time. The nylon-and-spandex invention blossomed in the '60s, when miniskirts arrived and garters and stockings made their way to the specialty section of stores. In recent years, the lingerie staple has become a bit passé, as fashion has trended away from leg coverings -- other than slacks --- to a bare-legged look.No matter, many women still are shackled to the perspiration-inducing, run-guaranteed clothing item, especially businesswomen, whose workplaces often forbid bare legs.
So, what to do with pantyhose after they've run -- you should excuse the expression -- their course?
BBB teaches best back-to-school lesson: How students can avoid identity theft
College students have enough to worry about without falling prey to scammers looking to steal their identities and good credit."Identity thieves don't care if you're a struggling student and don't have a penny to your name; sometimes all they want is to exploit your clean credit record," says Angie Barnett, president and CEO of the Greater Maryland Better Business Bureau. "Young adults that establish good habits for monitoring and detecting fraud are laying a path that will help create a healthy financial road for the rest of their lives."
A report on fraud showed that college students are the slowest to catch identity theft.
The National Consumers League and the Better Business Bureau have each put together some tips to keep your identity safe and get through the semester.
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