7/26/2015 In a potential victory for privacy advocates, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a proposal on June 18th to “protect consumers against unwanted robocalls and spam texts.” In a series of declarations, the FCC announced that consumers have the right to prevent unwanted calls while granting telecommunications companies the legal license to use software
7/26/2015 Superstar Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara scored another victory on Friday, July 24th, when Manhattan U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni denied former Democratic New York Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver’s motion to dismiss the corruption indictment filed against him. Prosecutors allege that Silver used his position to funnel money involving asbestos-related litigation and real-estate referrals
7/26/2015 Multiple sources are reporting that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) will issue Fiat-Chrysler a record $105 million fine for its lax response to 23 separate recalls involving over 11 million vehicles. The NHTSA conducted a public hearing earlier in the month regarding the company’s multiple safety issues, its first such hearing in
7/25/2015 In separate investigations, both the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s office and New York’s top financial regulator, the Department of Financial Services, have questioned at least seven banks in the corruption scandal involving FIFA, the world’s soccer governing body. The banks in question are HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered, Israel’s largest bank, Hapoalim,
7/24/2015 The U.S. Probation Office has recommended that the former owner of Peanut Corporation of America, Stewart Parnell, be sentenced to life in prison for allowing several shipments of peanuts from facilities infected with salmonella. The peanuts led to the deadliest food outbreak in U.S. history from 2008-2009, causing nine deaths and over 700 illnesses
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 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