7/24/2015 The world’s largest producer of spirits, Diageo, confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating the company for shipping distributors more inventory than they desire in an effort to boost sales totals. The British-based company manufactures many popular brands such as Smirnoff, Crown Royal, Captain Morgan, and Johnnie
7/23/2015 The House of Representatives passed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act (SAFE) on Thursday by a 275-150 vote. While the margin of victory was significant, the bill has been contentiously opposed, with detractors calling it the “Deny Americans the Right to Know” (DARK) Act. Among other provisions geared to classify food products that
7/23/2015 First, it was Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS), potentially fatal rash, now Zithromax may cause life threatening liver and kidney damage. Zithromax (azithromycin), often called Z-pak or Zmax, is a widely used antibiotic for the treatment of bacterial infections such as pneumonia, ear infections, skin infections and tonsillitis. It’s popular due to the relatively short
7/23/2015 Los Angeles Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compliance officer Dr. Raymond W. Brullo issued a scathing warning letter to Thomas Ring, the CEO of New Jersey-based device manufacturer C.R. Bard. The letter contained a litany of violations regarding several single-use devices for IVC and foreign body retrieval. The letter follows a series of inspections
7/23/2015 Ikea, the Swedish furniture icon, along with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), has recalled seven million dressers from its popular Malm collection, along with 20 million other dressers and chests of drawers following the deaths of two children who were crushed in 2014. Although technically considered a recall, the CPSC and the company’s
7/22/2015 A recent poll conducted by Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) on behalf of C-SPAN shows that 76 percent of respondents believe that cameras should be allowed in the Supreme Court during oral arguments. That number is up 15 percent since a similar PSB poll was conducted in June 2009. Currently the Court does release transcripts and
7/22/2015 Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), announced his support on Tuesday of AT&T’s $48.5 billion merger with DirecTV. The announcement makes it very likely that the deal will pass any forthcoming regulatory obstacles involved with completing such a massive consolidation. Wheeler’s approval is conditional however; contingent on the willingness of
7/22/2015 Chris Umson, the director of Google’s driverless car program, blogged earlier about the first Google self-driving car injury accident. This one, like many others, involved the Google car being rear-ended. Also like the others, it was not the driverless car’s fault. The biggest difference was that this accident produced minor injuries. The driverless car,
7/21/2015 Reasonable dialogue took a back seat on Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding controversial “Sanctuary Cities.” These municipalities have some form of explicit agreement that bars employees from discussing residents’ immigration status with federal officials. Begun in the 1980s by church groups seeking to protect refugees from war-stricken Central American countries, the
7/21/2015 A facility manager for Augusta, Georgia’s Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center has been indicted on 50 counts of instructing his staff to falsify medical records for patients seeking treatment outside of the VA health system. Cathedral Henderson pleaded not-guilty to the charges in U.S District Court in Savannah on Friday. Henderson managed revenue and