Current Events

  New Jersey Transit must install inward facing cameras in cabs as a first step to improve safety conditions, Sen. Schumer said Sunday.

The push for the boosted camera coverage comes after a NJ Transit Pascack Valley Line train crashed into Hoboken terminal killing a 34-year-old mother and injuring 114 commuters on Sept. 29.

The cameras can spot train engineers texting, goofing around or falling asleep.
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Power down your Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone now.

Whether you’ve hung onto the original Note 7 or exchanged it for one of the replacement devices, Samsung and federal regulators are urging consumers to turn the device off because some of the phones — including replacement units — are overheating when charged.

"No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family or their property,” U.S.
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Samsung Electronics Co.’s global recall of Note 7 smartphones received a fresh blow after a replacement device was blamed for smoke that led to the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines Co. plane.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are investigating Wednesday’s incident, they said in e-mailed statements. Samsung started replacing Note 7s around the world last month because a flaw in its lithium battery can lead to overheating, posing a burn hazard to consumers.
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Johnson & Johnson is warning users of its OneTouch Ping insulin pump that hackers could exploit a cybersecurity flaw to infuse additional doses of the diabetes drug without their knowledge, which could be life-threatening. 

“The probability of unauthorized access to the OneTouch Ping System is extremely low,” the company said in a letter to patients alerting them to the risk. “It would require technical expertise, sophisticated equipment and proximity to the pump, as the OneTouch Ping system is not connected to the Internet or to any external network.”

The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based device maker said it has worked to address the issues and laid out steps patients can take to reduce their risk, such as turning off the pump’s wireless connection to a blood sugar meter, or setting a limit on the amount of insulin that can be delivered. While the potential risk with insulin pumps has been known since at least 2011 when a security conference in Las Vegas featured the hack of a Medtronic Plc device, the issue has gained attention as more devices include wireless technology to make them easier to use.
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The long road to court has not been an easy one for Deborah Giannecchini. Mrs. Giannecchini used Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder daily as far back as 1967 for feminine hygiene purposes, but in November 2012 she was thrown a curveball – an ovarian cancer diagnosis. More than 20 epidemiological studies found a link between the talc in baby powder and ovarian cancer, but despite this, proving Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is responsible for failing to warn consumers of the risks has been challenging.

The company has fiercely battled thousands of pending baby powder lawsuits, but it appears its luck has run out.
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Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said Monday that he plans to push legislation that would allow Wells Fargo & Co. customers to sue the bank over unauthorized accounts opened by employees trying to meet aggressive sales quotas.

The escalating scandal also drew the attention of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who in a speech criticized the San Francisco bank and other companies that use the fine print in customer contracts to force disputes into private arbitration instead of allowing consumers to go to court.

She said Monday that if elected, she would “rein in the abuse.
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New Jersey residents who were injured, sickened or whose loved ones suffered harm as a result of the 9/11 attacks will begin receiving new payments from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, the fund's overseer said.

Volkswagen Group agreed to pay its 652 U.S. dealerships up to $1.21 billion to settle claims stemming from the company's emissions scandal.
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Flaws with a heart device that Medtronic Plc bought last month as part of a $1 billion deal have been deemed potentially life-threatening by U.S. regulators.

The device, called the HVAD System, takes over for a failing heart. One patient may have died because of a flaw where moisture can penetrate the mechanical pump through loose power or data connectors, said Chris Garland, a spokesman for the company.
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The federal agency that controls more than $1 trillion in Medicare and Medicaid funding has moved to prevent nursing homes from forcing claims of elder abuse, sexual harassment and even wrongful death into the private system of justice known as arbitration.

An agency within the Health and Human Services Department on Wednesday issued a rule that bars any nursing home that receives federal funding from requiring that its residents resolve any disputes in arbitration, instead of court.

The rule, which would affect nursing homes with 1.5 million residents, promises to deliver major new protections.

Clauses embedded in the fine print of nursing home admissions contracts have pushed disputes about safety and the quality of care out of public view.
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The House and Senate voted Wednesday to reject President Obama's veto of legislation allowing lawsuits against foreign sponsors of terrorism — the first successful override of a presidential veto since Obama took office.

The president had vetoed the legislation Friday because he said the bill — known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA — would infringe on the president’s ability to conduct foreign policy. It was the 12th veto of his presidency.

But after an intense push by 9/11 survivors and families of victims who want to sue Read more . . .