Category: Featured

Biking is one of the more favored American pastimes, with nine million bike trips made every day. One of the biggest hindrances to the sport, however, are bike thefts, which are extremely commonplace. Luckily, a new bike lock is in the works to make theft a lot more difficult — or disgusting.

The inventors at SkunkLock have developed a new bike lock that shoots a noxious spray into the face of a bike thief, causing them to vomit uncontrollably.

“Basically we were fed up with thefts,” said Daniel Idzkowski, one of the inventors of SkunkLock. “The real last straw was we had a friend park his very expensive electric bike outside a Whole Foods, and then went to have lunch and chat. We went out and his bike was gone.”

The friend had used not one, but two expensive bike locks, each costing $120.

Indeed, most locks are completely ineffective at preventing theft from those with the right tools — according to Idzkowski, thieves can cut through most locks in under a minute. He said they “talk in seconds: a 15-second bike, a 20-second bike, and it goes up to 30-60-second bikes, with Kryptonite locks that require two cuts, each about 25 seconds”.

So Idzkowsji and his co-inventor, Yves Perrenoud, created a U-shaped lock made of carbon and steel and containing a hollow chamber with three pressurized gasses. When about 30% of the lock is cut through, the gasses erupt in the direction of the gash.

“It’s pretty much immediately vomit inducing, causes difficulty breathing,” Idzkowski said. “A lot of similar symptoms to pepper spray.”

The lock has not been tested on any real thieves yet, but the inventors have tested it on themselves and volunteers at various distances. Their chemical has passed compliance tests and is legal.

The entrepreneurs are crowd-funding their lock, raising funds using an Indiegogo fund — a pledge of $99 promises a SkunkLock of your own in June 2017.

For many of us, even a small increase in our monthly utility bills could throw off our entire budget. But what would you do if your next bill was nearly 10 times its normal amount?

That’s precisely what happened to Moreno Valley resident Jay Rajcevich and his water bill. When Rajcevich called the utility to find out what he owed, he was shocked to hear an amount that was eight times the normal bill. In August and September, Rajcevich’s water usage hovered between 600 and 800 gallons per day, for which he paid around $165 per month. But in October, his bill showed that he used over 4,000 gallons of water a day and owed $1,307.68.

Considering the fact that Rajcevich’s water usage has remained consistent over the past 20 years, both he and water district officials suspect that a water leak was the cause of the sudden increase. Water leaks are a common cause for spikes in usage and amounts owed. In fact, 10% of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more on a daily basis. But thus far, Rajcevich has been unable to locate the leak.

Though Rajcevich has expressed frustration with the water district, they maintain that the onus of finding and fixing leaks is on the customer. Due to liability concerns, utility companies cannot task their employees with locating the leaks and cannot make recommendations to find someone who can.
“That’s not our role and responsibility,” said water district spokesperson Kevin Pearson. “It’s up to the customer to seek out somebody they are comfortable with to help them repair that issue.”

The response may seem surprising, given its California location. Though the state reversed its mandatory water reductions in May, California is still struggling to manage one of the worst droughts in its history. The mandates are now set by the districts. Moreno Valley is currently in Stage 3C of its water shortage contingency plan, which eliminates all excessive use water budgets.

Rajcevich initially suspected that his swimming pool or koi pond might hold the key to finding the leak, but after turning off the water supply to both for a few days, he was no closer to locating the source. He’s shut off the irrigation valve to the sprinklers in his front and back yards, checked all pumps and valves, and sought help from the two lawn maintenance workers who installed the sprinklers. But he still can’t figure out where the leak might be originating from.

The water district has informed Rajcevich that he can apply for a charge reduction as part of a program they offer for concealed leaks, which a property owner has no reasonable way of being aware of. He may be able to get the charges lowered by his utility company, but these options offer little comfort. For now, Rajcevich will have to continue to search for the source of the leak and hope that he will soon find a solution — before he’s drowning in water bills.

Renderings from Milestone Communications confirm that a cell phone tower is to be built near an elementary school in Fairfax County, causing parents to worry about the health of their children.

Mothers and fathers of students at A. Scott Crossfield Elementary School are protesting the plans for the cell phone tower, which will be built next to the school’s playground.

“[The tower] would expose our kid to long-term radiation very close to where there is a permanent population,” said parent Randy Griffin.

Parents like Lisa Namerow, whose son will start kindergarten at Crossfield Elementary next year, are banding together to ask the school system to reject the proposal.

“They have control over what happens here, so if they want to withdraw the application – which is what we’re asking for – they have the power,” said Namerow.

A recent study from the National Toxicology Program revealed a link between cell phone radiation and cancer. The study was conducted in Chicago at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and its findings were reported worldwide.

Researchers continuously exposed 3,000 mice and rats to high levels of RF for two years and found that eight percent of the subjects developed brain tumors and other complications as a result.

“I think this is a signal,” said Dr. David McCormick, the lead researcher on the project. “I don’t think this study is definitive in saying yes we have a smoking gun here. However, it’s a signal that something may be going on.”

According to McCormick, the location of the cell tower antenna is a major risk factor. He noted that RF radiation decreases dramatically as one moves further away from the tower.

“If this is at the level of the roof that antenna could be pointing more or less directly into a classroom or an occupied space,” he said. “You know, 25 feet from the tower is an awful lot different than if it’s 100 feet or 200 feet away from the tower.”

Other experts say that if there is a clear and unobstructed view of a cell phone tower facing your location within a distance of about 984 feet, you are advised to consider radiation shielding solutions.

Fairfax County Public Schools, however, told local NBC affiliate News 4 that “Radiation emitted by cell towers is well below the limits set by the FCC.”

Regardless, parents are concerned that if this plan is approved, cell phone towers will soon be built at dozens more schools across the county and the state.

A skyrocketing number of construction-related deaths has prompted the demand of information on recent accidents from NYC officials and labor groups.

Specifically, these groups want the city to classify the growing numbers by specifying whether the jobs being completed were on union or non-union sites.

Advocates have long argued that union workers are not only more skilled, but also safer on a job site. However, the lack of information on the job sites where injuries have occurred has made those claims difficult to confirm or deny.

“Tracking it may actually be helpful in finding out what’s actually going on,” said Councilman Jumaane Williams, who chairs the Committee on Housing and Buildings.

Williams went on to say that the statistics could provide critical data that tells city officials which workers are safe and which are not.

The construction boom may be great for the industry, but the skyrocketing number of deaths and injuries has led to stop-work orders all over the city.

However, the debate between the qualifications of union and nonunion workers isn’t new. In fact, they first surfaced with the 2015 death of 22-year-old hardhat Carlos Moncayo, an Ecuadoran immigrant who was killed at a Meatpacking District construction site.

The city experienced an increase in construction deaths that year, as well.

However, another city is experiencing construction concerns, though not as serious as New York’s.

A flashing construction sign in Chicago was recently hacked to display a disparaging message about the city’s mayor.

The sign read, “Rahm Lies, Children Die.”

Apparently, it wasn’t the first time a construction sign had been hacked in the area, either.

In October 2015 a similar message was put on another construction sign and displayed for all to see.

The only question now is whether or not the hacker will come forward. Both instances involved the speedy removal of the disparaging messages.

Unfortunately, New York’s problems won’t be solved so easily. Approximately 98% of privately owned buildings are constructed in permit-issuing areas, but there’s no way to tell if they’re union or nonunion sites without data released by the city.

On average, it’s recommended that restaurant exhaust systems be cleaned at least once every three months. Some restaurants, unfortunately, do even less than that. So much less than that, in fact, that lawsuits need to be filed.

According to NJ.com, the owner of a New Jersey Hooters is currently being sued by the company after the location was shut down amid a slew of heath code violations.

“Allowing the Paramus restaurant to reach such an unacceptable condition is evidence of Hoot Owl’s gross negligence and willful breach of the franchise agreement,” read the lawsuit. “This third closure of one of Hoot Owl’s franchised restaurants will cause even more damage to the goodwill of the Hooters brand.”

Hoot Owl Restaurants entered into a franchise agreement with with Hooters back in 1996, which now includes 12 Hooters restaurants across the country.

The restaurant was forced to close due to serious health code violations. There were flies scattered throughout the basement, plumbing issues that caused so much backup and resulted in pools of water forming, and there was mold all over the building’s structure.

There were approximately 20 violations in total, including eight that were marked as critical. Having more than three critical violation reports automatically equates to a failing score.

Providence Journal reports that this isn’t even the same time Hoot Owl had to completely shut down a restaurant due to deplorable conditions.

“The Warwick restaurant was in such deplorable condition in July 2014 that Hoot Owl ‘voluntarily’ closed the restaurant in order to perform necessary repairs and maintenance following a health department inspection,” read another lawsuit involving two other Hooters locations, all owned by Hoot Owl, that were being sued in June.

Hooters of America is asking a federal judge to determine which state laws govern its rights to terminate its franchise agreement with Hoot Owl. A receptionist at the Hoot Owl office stated that the company has no comment on the lawsuits.

Everyone knows that smoking tobacco causes cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and doubles the risk of age-related macular degeneration. However, scientists have recently discovered that smoking can also permanently damage a person’s DNA.

A recent study of 16,000 people revealed that smoking leads to a process called methylation, which is the alteration of DNA to inactivate a gene or change how that gene functions. If a person quits smoking, most of these genetic footprints fade after about five years of being tobacco-free. However, some of these alterations stick around forever.

“Our study has found compelling evidence that smoking has a long-lasting impact on our molecular machinery, an impact that can last more than 30 years,” said Roby Joehanes, a researcher from Harvard Medical School and Hebrew SeniorLife. “The encouraging news is that once you stop smoking, the majority of DNA methylation signals return to never-smoker levels after five years, which means your body is trying to heal itself of the harmful impacts of tobacco smoking.”

In their study, researchers found that the pattern of methylation alterations affected more than 7,000 genes, many of which have known links to cancers and heart disease. Among subjects who had quit smoking, most of these changes reverted back to the patterns found in individuals who had never smoked.

Unfortunately, changes that occurred in 19 particular genes, including the one linked to lymphoma, lasted up to 30 years after smoking cessation.

“These results are important because methylation, as one of the mechanisms of the regulation of gene expression, affects what genes are turned on, which has implications for the development of smoking-related diseases,” said the director of the study, Dr. Stephanie London. “Equally important is our finding that even after someone stops smoking, we still see the effects of smoking on their DNA.”

In other words, quitting can often mean the difference between life and death for a smoker; however, it doesn’t totally wipe the slate clean. Some risks still remain.

Most everyone knows that millennials have a lot of student loans, but do you know much this debt costs them? The average Millennial carries a staggering $27,162 in student loan debt, and has a monthly payment of $317.

According to a survey by online loan marketplace LendingTree, these hefty student loans are preventing Millennials from saving their money for important financial decisions down the line. A full 53.27% report being financially unable to travel, 44.74% admit they cannot buy a vehicle, and 38.7% are unable to save for retirement.

Research by LendingTree shows that the average salary of an employed Millennial is $48,146 annually. To put this into perspective, after tax deductions, insurance, and Social Security payments are taken out, each Millennial is only bringing home $2,808 per month.

The study shows that the average student loan payment comprises almost 12% of a Millennial’s net monthly income. When the Millennials were asked how much their debt affects their everyday spending ability, almost one-third answered, “very much.”

What’s worse is that more than half — 55.9% — regret spending so much money on a secondary education. Most of the survey participants admit they should have gone to a more affordable school, followed by wishing they chose a more profitable area of study.

Sadly, 10.4% of these Millennials believe they shouldn’t have gone to school at all, as they feel they are over-educated for their current career path.

LendingTree also asked what Millennials would do with their finances if they had extra funds and no student loans. All in all, 53.98% of respondents said this money would go towards saving for emergencies, 41.76% would buy a home, and 31.68% would save for retirement.

However, those who have been saving up for retirement their entire working lives aren’t necessarily spending their money responsibly.

After years of hard work under their belts, the average American retires at 63. However, new research completed by the the Employee Benefit Research Institute shows that all this new-found free time has retirees living a more lavish lifestyle than they can afford.

Research on EBRI.org shows that over half of all retirees spent more money within the first two years of retirement than what they had when they were working. In fact, 28% of families spent 120% of their yearly budgets within the first years of retirement. By the sixth year of retirement, a full 23.4% still continued these spending habits.

It’s spending like this that can pose a problem if these retirees actually want to stay retired, as the retirees aren’t spending money on necessary life expenses. Only a slim majority of their household budget was spent on durable goods, and the rest was spent on luxury items they couldn’t necessarily afford.

For example, travel. Retirees are going on vacations more and more because it simply makes them happy. In fact, 37% of families — retirees included– say that vacations make them happiest. It’s clear that retirees will put their finances aside to create memories with their families.

So what should retirees do in order to prevent having to go back to work? Financial experts say that developing a spending plan — and sticking to it — is key. This can be broken into three separate goals.

First, each retiree needs to take time to digest what is happening to them during this sometimes overwhelming life change.

“My first recommendation is to give yourself permission to not know what you want to do next,” Malcolm Harris, CEO of the National Care Financial Group in Washington, D.C., explained to 10 NEWS. “Give yourself a finite amount of time, say one year, and tell yourself: ‘I will only spend X amount of money.'”

Secondly, factor in lifestyle and income. It is important to keep a list of monthly expenses on hand to determine how much residual income is left over after each month.

Last but not least, keep learning. Attending a community college class will not only expand your mind but grow your social circle, too, negating the feeling of loneliness some retirees may experience.

Many car buyers — 43%, in fact — finance their vehicles. While many people take out loans to pay for their vehicles up-front, and pay back the bank, many others opt for financing straight through the dealership.

By advertising low financing costs and reduced prices, dealers are able to offer appealing financing options. Some dealers will allow the buyer to take the vehicle home before completing the financing option, then charge them more money to keep the ride after telling them that their credit is too poor.

This practice known as a “yo-yo” tactic, and is illegal. This is exactly how Sage Auto Group managed to land in hot water with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, after they’d unfairly targeted individuals with poor credit, as well as non-English speaking customers.

The FTC has filed a lawsuit against Sage Auto Group, citing yo-yo tactics as well as other “deceptive and unfair sales and finance practices.” The lawsuit includes Universal City Nissan, Kia of Downtown Los Angeles, Mercedes-Benz of Valencia, Sage Hyundai, Sage Covina Chevrolet, and West Covina Toyota. Only one Sage dealership — Sage Lotus in West Covina — was not named in the lawsuit.

Sage Auto has also been accused by the FTC of posting phony online reviews, written by employees, not customers, as well as charging customers for warranties and add-ons without their consent, and not disclosing credit or lease requirements.

Owner of the auto group, Michael Sage, says that he is aware of the FTC requirements, and he holds his dealerships to high standards as well.

“We look forward to vigorously defending ourselves. We will fight this,” said Sage. “When you’re on top of the pyramid, you’re going to get attacked by everybody. We’re number one. We keep kicking it.”

In 2015, the FTC expanded its definition of deceptive practice beyond advertising and into loan application fraud and adding charges to the vehicle’s lease or bill of sale without the customer’s consent.

Sage Auto Group, which was founded in 1969, has had no prior accusations by the FTC. This case marks the first time that yo-yo tactics have been addressed in a lawsuit.