A coalition of consumer groups has filed suit against a plan by electric utilities in California to hit consumers with a monthly rate hike instead of a ten percent reduction called for by a new law. When nine bison escaped from the Oakland Zoo, attendants lured them back with Wonderbread. If that's what bison eat these days, no wonder they're on the edge of extinction. And if they slam into an auto, they have a tendency to do a lot of damage and cause more fatalities. Some consumer advocates have called for higher insurance rates to go with all that extra damage, but according to American Newspeak, an online satirical zine, sport utility vehicles do not necessarily cost insurance companies more money after all.
Severe injuries tend to produce larger settlements than deaths.
Well, there's a reason to go out and buy a sport utility vehicle. If it rolls over and kills you, at least you'll avoid the long hospital stay. According to the report, an official survey showed 2.2 percent of scanner transactions overcharge customers, while only 1.5 percent undercharge. Thousands of Californians are scammed by scanners every day. Sale items are twice as likely to be overcharged than regularly priced items.