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Of all the hacks and data breaches going around lately, the last place you’d expect or want to get hacked is a credit reporting agency. After all, they’re entrusted with an enormous amount of personal information and financial history – a one-stop-shop for identity theft data. So you’d hope that one of the largest consumer credit reporting agencies would have the latest and greatest when it comes to data security. You’d also hope that if one of those agencies were hacked, they’d address the issue ASAP....

Chantix (varenicline), a prescription medication used to help patients stop smoking, may cause or exacerbate psychiatric illness, according to a Public Health Advisory issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is advising consumers to tell their health care provider about any history of psychiatric illness prior to starting Chantix, because Chantix may cause worsening of current psychiatric illness – even if that illness is currently under control – and may also cause an old psychiatric illness to reoccur....

This month hasn’t been a great one for well-operating cars, and these three separate recalls are proof. Automakers GM, Chrysler, and Ferrari have all issued recalls related to their vehicles, with some potential defects proving to be less dangerous than others. For example, Chrysler’s Dodge Durangos and Jeep Cherokees are being recalled because of a defect that may cause the engine to stall. What else should you know about these three car recalls?...

Say you are driving to a friend’s house and you want to bring a few opened bottles of booze from your holiday party to finish up. You put them in the trunk of your car, stop at the store for some snacks, and make it to your destination, no problem. Did you break the law? It depends. Technically, driving with an open container in a car is prohibited. But what is open?...

The federal government would improve its automobile crash tests and strengthen its five-star vehicle safety rating system under a plan unveiled today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters during a visit to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Under the improvements suggested for the five-star safety rating program – known as the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) - vehicles will be subjected to more stringent rollover, frontal and side crash tests....

Yesterday, the CPSC in conjunction with Coby Electronics Corp., of Lake Success, N.Y., announced the recall of the rechargeable batteries sold with Portable DVD/CD/MP3 Players. According to the CPSC, the rechargeable batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers. Coby Electronics has received 22 reports of the batteries overheating, some of which have resulted in property damage ranging from minor up to $9,650. The products under recall are the Coby DVD/CD/MP3 players with product numbers TF-DVD 1020 and TF-DVD 8501....

In a time of rising healthcare costs, discount health programs sound like a good thing. However in California, state agencies have had numerous complaints about healthcare discount programs that overstate their services or misrepresent themselves as insurers. According to the Los Angeles Times, consumers have lodged complaints against more than 150 unlicensed discount health and dental plans over the last four years. This has prodded the California Department of Managed Health Care to consider new licensing regulations....

Thomas Spargo, a former N.Y. State Supreme Court Justice was convicted by a federal jury today in Albany today of attempted extortion and bribery. According to his original indictment (see below), in 2003 Spargo solicited a $10,000 bribe from any attorney who had cases pending before him. At trial, it federal prosecutors proved that when the attorney refused to pay the bribe, the Judge called the attorney on the telephone and told him that he and another judge in New York’s Ulster County were assigned to handle divorce cases, including the attorney’s own pending divorce case....

It didn’t take long. Mere hours after Google announced it was shutting down Google+ after a security breach exposed the private details of half a million users, the first lawsuit hit a federal court in San Francisco. The proposed class action, filed by two former users, claims “a software glitch … gave third-party application developers access to private Google+ profile data between 2015 and March 2018,” allowing app developers to “improperly collect the Personal Information of up to 500,000 Google+ users....

A jury has found James Holmes guilty in killing 12 people and wounding 58 others. Holmes opened fire on a crowd during a showing of The Dark Knight in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater in 2012. The jury, selected from 9,000 possible candidates and short four members who had previously been dismissed, came to the verdict after just over a day of deliberation. The jury also found Holmes guilty of attempted murder and assorted weapons charges....

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett had a noose-like rope tied around his neck when he told police officers about an alleged attack in Chicago by men wearing ski masks, shouting racial and homophobic slurs, and claiming “This is MAGA country.” But over the last three weeks, those claims have crumbled under police and media scrutiny. Today, Smollett has been arrested and charged with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report, allegedly because he was “dissatisfied with his salary” on the show....

There are many reasons a person would want to leave her home country and go to another. One of the most frightening is fleeing violence and persecution. Asylees, as they’re known legally, are in a vulnerable position – in transit to a destination they may be denied access to, with nowhere safe to return. While not all requests for asylum are granted, there are specific policies and procedures to which governments must adhere when assessing asylum claims....

The Academy Awards are probably the most popular of the award shows, with millions of viewers watching worldwide. So, when a person wins an Oscar, there’s no mistaking who that person is, especially if you’re at the show or attending the after-parties. Not His First Rodeo Apparently this isn’t the first time Bryant has taken someone else’s trophy. In January, he posted a video on Instagram where he’s holding what appears to be a Screen Actors Guild Award....

Animal abuse is a serious crime, and not just for pet owners and animal enthusiasts. According to the Washington Post, research demonstrates that animal abusers are more likely than the general population to commit violent crimes against people and the FBI recently bumped animal cruelty up to a Class A felony. The Post also reports that the FBI is tracking cases of animal abuse much in the same way they track homicides, while jurisdictions from Florida to New York are creating registries for animal abusers much in the same way they have registries for sex offenders....

The National Football League has agreed to a landmark, global settlement of lawsuits filed by more than 4,000 ex-players with alleged injuries ranging from advanced dementia to head trauma. Dozens of lawsuits have accused the League of glorifying NFL violence while ignoring health risks and failing to warn players that repeated concussions could lead to brain damage, suicide or depression. The settlement details came via court-ordered mediation with mediator Layn Phillips, according to the attached press release....

You know those cute little egg-shaped lip balms that celebs say are the bomb? Well, they are insofar as they will leave your lips looking coarse and scorched and your skin blistered, according to a lawsuit filed by Rachel Cronin against EOS lip balm on behalf of a class of people harmed by the product, reports Jezebel. Although Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, and Britney Spears promote the product meant to provide “visibly softer lips,” the plaintiffs claim that EOS gave them blisters, rashes and allergic reactions....

As discussed in prior posts, the Obama Administration’s healthcare reform law is facing multiple legal challenges from various states. The states claim healthcare reform is a power grab by the federal government who is exercising rights not given to it by the U.S. Constitution. The government says it is well within the powers of Congress to legislate over such an important issue as healthcare. The first suit, brought in Virginia was argued on July 1....

Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey recently kicked off national “No Phone Zone” campaign to help prevent distracted driving deaths. She is urging people to take the no phone zone pledge to stop texting and driving, ABC news reports. The campaign was kicked off during “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last Friday. The talk show host organized an online pledge that she has asked motorists to sign. A list of more than 60 celebrities such as Sandra Bullock, Tina Fey, Shaun White, Morgan Freeman, Sir Elton John, Jerry Seinfeld, the cast of TV’s Glee, country music’s Lady Antebellum and Queen Rania of Jordan have agreed to sign up and stop using their cell phones behind the wheel....

Political campaigns were warned that they face a $16,000 fine from the FCC if they make robocalls to cell phones and other mobile devices. The FCC says that no one may deliver prerecorded voice and autodialed calls (including live calls, prerecorded voice messages, and text messages) to cell phones, pagers, or other mobile devices without the prior express consent of the called party, reports Ars Technica. And political campaigns are not immune from this restriction....

If you are going to steal motor vehicles of any kind and go joy riding, stop to consider which state you are in before taking well, anything, out for a spin. In recent cases that have received much attention, we can now add to our collective knowledge that a Lay-Z-Boy (or any other brand name recliner), when motorized, is a vehicle for the purposes of DUI law (at least in Minnesota)....