D.F. Stauffer Biscuit Co., Inc./U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a voluntary recall of fudge-coated animal cookies that were sold at Target stores across the U.S.
Stauffer’s voluntarily recalled its 44-ounce Market Pantry White Fudge Animal Cookies “because they may contain metal,” according to the FDA.
The affected products distributed to Target come in a bear-shaped clear plastic jug and have a best-by date of Feb. 21, 2023, with lot number Y052722 and UPC code 085239817698.
“The recall was initiated when metal (wire) was found inside a portion of the cookies,” the FDA wrote in the recall notice. “Foodborne foreign objects that are hard, sharp, and large are more likely to cause serious injury or dental injury. Foodborne foreign objects that are flexible, not sharp, and smaller in length are more likely to cause minor injuries such as transient choking or small lacerations in the gastrointestinal system.”
Consumers in possession of the product are “urged to stop consuming” it and return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
The FDA hasn’t reported any injuries tied to the possible contamination.
(NEW YORK) — Movie lovers pained by the price of popcorn, slushies and tickets will have something to celebrate on “National Cinema Day.”
On Sept. 3, tickets at theaters across the country will only be $3 for every movie, showtime and format — a fraction of the national average price of $9.17.
The Cinema Foundation, a donor-supported nonprofit, announced a markdown and holiday to celebrate a summer of “record-breaking moviegoing.”
“The one-day event, held at more than 3,000 participating locations with more than 30,000 screens, will bring together audiences of all ages to enjoy a day at the movies,” The Cinema foundation said in a release.
The Cinema Foundation also said moviegoers will be able to see sneak peeks of upcoming films from A24, Amazon Studios, Disney, Focus Features, Lionsgate, Neon, Paramount, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony, United Artists Releasing, Universal and Warner Bros.
“After this summer’s record-breaking return to cinemas, we wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing,” Cinema Foundation President Jackie Brenneman said in a statement. “We’re doing it by offering a ‘thank you’ to the moviegoers that made this summer happen, and by offering an extra enticement for those who haven’t made it back yet.”
Labor Day weekend is historically one of the slowest weekends in theaters, The Associated Press reported. If organizers of the deal find this trial to be successful, National Cinema Day could become an annual fixture.
(NEW YORK) — The ongoing acquisition drama between Elon Musk and Twitter continues.
On Monday, Musk’s counsel sent a letter to Twitter’s general counsel and head of legal, Vijay Gadde, citing “an additional notice of termination.” Twitter responded on Tuesday by denying the allegations.
In July, Musk backed out of the $44 billion sale agreement he made with Twitter. He did so because he said Twitter provided “false and misleading representations” of multiple forms of user data including the quantity of “false or spam accounts” on the social media platform. Twitter is working to force the deal, which values the company at a share price that is roughly 25% above this week’s value.
Now, Musk’s legal team has another reason for terminating the deal, this time involving information published in The Washington Post. The newspaper obtained a whistleblower complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Peiter “Mudge” Zatko against Twitter.
Zatko, a hacker and the former head of security for Twitter, alleges multiple forms of misconduct at the social media company. In Monday’s letter, Musk’s counsel, law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, argued that if Zatko’s allegations against Twitter are correct, “the Musk Parties [have] the right to terminate the Merger Agreement.” The letter singles out aspects of Zatko’s complaint including the allegations that Twitter is “uniquely vulnerable to systemic disruption” and that “the platform is built in significant part on the misappropriation and infringement of third party intellectual property.”
In a statement released to the public, Zatko’s lawyers said the security expert believes “Twitter has been, at all relevant times including today, in violation of numerous laws and regulations.”
Twitter responded by both reaffirming its view that Zatko’s complaint is “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies,” and adding that Musk continues “to knowingly, intentionally, willfully, and materially breach the Agreement.”
“I think that the Skadden letter was an interesting but maybe risky strategy,” David Bernstein, who specializes in mergers and acquisitions with Goodwin Procter LLP, told ABC News. “There is an underlying implication that there is a weakness in the original termination.”
Neither Musk’s lawyers nor Twitter’s legal counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz immediately responded to ABC News’ requests for comment.
On Oct. 17, Twitter and Musk are set to face off in front of the Delaware Court of Chancery for a five-day trial. Twitter would like Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick to compel Musk to buy Twitter at the originally agreed-upon amount, whereas Musk is hoping to avoid the purchase.
Bernstein believes there is a chance that Monday’s letter from Skadden hurts Musk’s case. Because this latest letter is not supplementing the original argument for termination but rather adding a totally separate reasoning, it could be perceived as an admission that the spam account argument is not as strong as Musk had hoped.
“I’m not saying that it totally abandons the first [notice of termination],” Bernstein explained. “I’m saying that it seems to me to indicate some doubt about the strength of the first termination.”
McCormick’s decision will likely be handed out before the end of 2022.
(NEW YORK) — Labor unions reached their highest level of approval in the U.S. since 1965, according to a new Gallup poll.
Seventy-one percent of poll respondents said they approve of such organizations, up from 68% last year. Prior to the pandemic, 64% of poll respondents said they approved of unions.
Support for unions peaked in the 1950s, when three in four Americans said they approved of unions, Gallup data showed.
The increase in support for labor unions arrives amid a surge of labor activity nationwide. Petitions for union elections increased 57% over the first six months of fiscal year 2022, which ended on March 31, compared with the same six-month period a year prior, the National Labor Relations Board said in April.
Union victories at high-profile companies like Starbucks and Amazon in recent months have drawn heightened public attention to labor campaigns.
Since an initial union drive at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, in December, 232 additional company locations have voted to unionize, the NLRB said on Monday. Over that period, 47 stores have voted against a union, the agency said.
Meanwhile, in April, a worker-led labor organization won the first-ever U.S. union at a 6,000-employee Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, New York.
Even as approval for unions has increased in recent years, the union membership rate has dropped to a historic low.
Last year, the union membership rate fell to 10.3%, which amounted to 14 million members, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate had dropped from 10.8% in 2020, the BLS found.
By comparison, the union membership rate stood at 20.1% in 1983, the first year for which comparable data was collected, the BLS said. That membership rate amounted to 17.7 million workers who belonged to a union.
The Gallup poll released on Tuesday reinforced the finding that the vast majority of Americans have foregone union membership. Eighty-four percent of respondents said they do not belong to unions, the poll showed.
There appears to be an opportunity for union growth, however. Roughly one in 10 nonunion workers said they’re “extremely interested” in joining a union, according to a separate Gallup poll conducted in June.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents, however, said they’re not interested at all in joining a union.
Some economists have attributed a surge in union activity in recent months to a tight labor market in which employers are eager to hire, thereby affording leverage to workers.
The U.S. economy added a robust 528,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, matching its lowest level in 50 years.
(NEW YORK) — Uber is rolling out new safety features that will allow users to talk to a live safety agent and text 911 operators in the case of emergency.
Rebeca Payne, the lead project manager on Uber’s safety team, told ABC News about how, according to the popular ride-sharing platform, some of the features can help riders feel more comfortable and can give more access to emergency services. One feature, which Uber says will be rolled out to more than half of the country, including New York City and California, will allow users to text 911 operators for immediate emergency response.
Payne said about 55% of the U.S. will be able to use it.
“Text-to-911 is something that we started testing in 2019 in the counties that allowed for texting to their 911 call centers,” Payne said. “And so with this announcement, we are now expanding that to all of the counties that have this technology available now.”
When riders use the text-to-911 feature in the app, it will generate a prewritten message including information about the trip, such as the vehicle information and location. Payne said it’s a good way for users to “discreetly” get emergency help.
Another new feature, called “live help,” will let riders, drivers and couriers speak to a safety agent through a partnership with the security company ADT. Riders can send a message through the Uber app and receive a call or text with a trained safety agent, according to Uber. Users can then stay on the phone with that agent until they feel comfortable or until their ride ends.
“They can use that for any situation that isn’t yet escalating to the need of getting police or other emergency services like fire department or ambulance, but they may feel unsafe or uncomfortable and need someone to talk them through a situation,” Payne said.
She said that user response to the feature, which was piloted in nine U.S. cities at the end of last year, has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
The features have been added to the app’s safety toolkit, which was introduced in 2018.
In Uber’s most recent safety report, the company reported that 99.9% of the average of nearly three million rides per day had no reports of safety incidents, including car accidents, physical assaults or sexual assaults.
But the report also found that in 2019 and 2020, the company reported 3,824 sexual assault incidents. Uber reported similar rates of such incidents in previous years.
For access to the new safety features, users need to update their Uber apps. Payne said she recommends users also explore the safety toolkit in the app.
(NEW YORK) — Although temperatures are still above 70 degrees in a majority of the U.S., with a little under a month left of summer, Starbucks has already kicked off the unofficial start of fall with the return of Pumpkin Spice Lattes.
Starting Tuesday, the iconic “PSL” — made with Starbucks Signature Espresso, steamed milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, real pumpkin, topped with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spices — will officially return to the coffee chain’s menu for its 19th year.
For customers not quite ready to turn to hot drinks just yet, the fall-flavored drink is available in iced or blended form as well.
The limited time lineup also includes the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, which is sweetened with vanilla syrup, topped with pumpkin cream cold foam and a dusting of pumpkin spice.
The Apple Crisp Macchiato — inspired by the layered apple, cinnamon and brown sugar flavors of apple crisp — will also return to the menu after its debut last season. This year, the drink is made with oat milk and Starbucks Blonde Espresso as its standard recipe.
Harvey Rojas Mora, Starbucks beverage developer, said in a statement that the “oatmilk adds a creaminess and brings forward the oat flavors of a traditional apple crisp topping.”
The Apple Crisp Macchiato will also be available hot, iced or blended throughout the season.
As for the pastry case, pumpkin is up for grabs in muffin form as well as a Pumpkin Scone and Pumpkin Loaf. The Seattle-based coffee shop chain has also added an Owl Cake Pop, made with vanilla cake and buttercream that’s dipped in purple chocolate coating.
To help celebrate the start of the fan-favorite season, Starbucks has created a “Pumpkin Portal to Fall,” a quiz-style game that tests customers’ knowledge of emojis, pop culture and Starbucks.
The company has created new designs for its whole bean coffee packages, inspired by the people and stories associated with the blends’ origin and flavor. The artwork and color scheme of supermarket Starbucks products have also been designed to help shoppers find the perfect coffee for brewing at home.
(NEW YORK) — After years of hardship as a professional dancer trying to find tights that matched her skin tone, Erin Carpenter took matters into her own hands.
A little over a decade ago, the former New York Knicks dancer founded Nude Barre, a bodywear and hosiery company that sells products in 12 inclusive “nude”-toned shades.
Today, the thriving label offers bralettes, underwear, bikinis, girl shorts, camisoles, no-show socks, fishnets and opaque tights.
“I would spend hours dying my tights and ‘pancaking’ my shoes [applying pancake foundation to shoes with a sponge to mattify and change their color], and had many friends and colleagues who were doing the same to meet the industry’s requirement of nude undergarments,” Carpenter told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“I founded Nude Barre to face colorism head on and help alleviate the emotional and physical labor of this process for all humans, dancers and non-dancers alike,” she said.
To come up with Nude Barre’s inclusive lineup of colors, Carpenter said she conducted endless surveys, compared colors to foundation shades and did lots of dye testing.
The names of each hue were created with intention as well and based on how skin tones tend to span a spectrum like the light of the day, ultimately leading to names like “7AM” and “6PM.”
The brand’s offerings are photographed on models with a wide range of diverse body types and complexions.
“Nude Barre’s mission is to fight colorism in the fashion industry and to offer authentic true representation to people of all hues,” said Carpenter. “For decades, skin tone representation has been isolated to people with lighter skin tones, and Nude Barre is here to change that.”
Today Nude Barre’s bestselling fishnets have been worn by everyone from Doja Cat and Lizzo to Laverne Cox and Serena Williams.
Williams was such a fan of the brand that she decided to invest in it. Carpenter said the company has been able to attract high-profile investors like the tennis star because they also value representation.
“Some of our investors are customers or have had personal challenges finding intimates in their shade as I did,” Carpenter said. “So they identify with the problem we solve personally and socially.”
While Nude Barre has had plenty of success, the company’s wins have not come without some challenges. Carpenter said she would sometimes meet with manufacturers that were surprised to see a young woman at the helm of a company and would get the feeling that they didn’t take her seriously.
“Funding was very hard to secure as a woman,” Carpenter said. “The statistics around female founders getting [venture capital] funding are poor, and for Black women the stats are horrible. So while I have been extremely fortunate to have amazing investors, it was not easy and took a long time to get that to happen.”
Still, her perseverance paid off: Carpenter shared that Nude Barre has since expanded its reach by landing in well-known department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s.
She noted that the brand has been able to continually thrive because it offers one of the widest ranges of hues within the intimates and hosiery space.
“Nude Barre is similar to athleisure for your underwear,” she said. “It’s durable enough for athletes plus comfortable and stylish for everyday fashion.”
“I hope the biggest takeaway from Nude Barre is how important representation is — that we are all different, special people and that is beautiful. We should celebrate our individuality,” she added.
“My dream is that one day nude only being represented as beige will no longer exist. Nude is individual and personal. My dream is that my brown daughters grow up to always have products that represent them, and that they do not question their beauty or feel bothered,” Carpenter said.
(NEW YORK) — California became the first state in the nation this week to issue a phase-out of gas-powered vehicles — and other states are planning to follow in its footsteps.
After the California Air Resources Board approved Thursday regulations that ban the sale of new gas-engine vehicles by 2035, requiring all new cars to run on electricity or hydrogen, California Gov. Gavin Newsom told ABC News he was confident that more states would do the same to help combat climate change.
He noted that 17 other states have already followed California’s lead and adopted its tailpipe emission standards, which are stricter than the federal government’s.
Among those, 15 have also backed its zero-emission vehicle requirements, with several states already making steps towards adopting the new regulations.
California is uniquely able to set emission standards that are stricter than federal rules, which other states can then follow. The Clear Air Act allows California to enact emission standards for new motor vehicles through a waiver granted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Other states can adopt California’s standards without government approval, as long as they’re identical, according to the EPA.
Under California’s new rules, automakers cannot sell any car, pickup truck, minivan, SUV or other passenger vehicle that emits greenhouse gasses by 2035. Motorists can continue driving gas-fueled vehicles that were bought before the 2035 deadline and will be allowed to purchase used gas-powered vehicles after the rules take effect.
Here’s a look at states that have made steps to adopt California’s zero-emission vehicle standards or similar policies.
Washington
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called California’s ban on new gasoline cars “a critical milestone in our climate fight” and said this week that his state is “ready to adopt California’s regs by the end of this year.” The state legislature had previously committed Washington to adopt rules implement California’s emission standards. This spring, state lawmakers also set a target to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2030 in its $17 billion transportation plan, though it wasn’t a mandate.
This is a critical milestone in our climate fight. Washington set in law a goal for all new car sales to be zero emissions by 2030 and we’re ready to adopt California’s regs by end of this year. https://t.co/r6jchISD7O
Oregon is also looking to adopt California’s “landmark” regulation, the state’s Department of Environmental Quality said Thursday. “Oregon is moving forward with a proposed rule similar to California’s Advanced Clean Cars II regulation, which is vital to help achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction targets across the state and result in improved air quality and public health outcomes,” the department said in a statement. The proposed rule would transition all new light-duty vehicle sales in the state to zero-emission by 2035. Previously the state had set a target to have at least 90% of new vehicles sold annually be zero-emission by 2035.
Massachusetts
Earlier this month, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a sweeping climate bill into law that includes mandating that all new cars sold in the state be zero-emission starting in 2035, following California’s lead. The law also increases the state rebate for a new electric vehicle, including an additional rebate for low-income earners, and boosts charging infrastructure, among other measures.
New York
Last year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that sets a target to have 100% of the passenger cars and trucks sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035, and medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles by 2045.
Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Twitter is expanding its platform to include podcasts, the tech company said in a statement on Thursday.
Starting Thursday, Twitter will begin incorporating podcasts into its redesigned Spaces tab, an extension of its app that allows people to have live audio conversions, the company said.
According to a statement from Twitter, the newest addition has become available to “a group of global English-speaking audience on iOS and Android.”
It’s not yet clear when the tab will be fully rolled out.
The tech company said the new extension to include podcasts will allow users to have conversations past its 280 written character limit and will bring “people closer to the ideas, content, and creators they know and love is core to Twitter no matter where the conversations take place.”
According to Twitter’s statement, the new tab will introduce personalized “hubs” that group audio content together based on its genre, like news, music or sports.
These hubs will allow users to have easy access to a more personalized selection of live and recorded “Spaces” that discuss topics that matter to them.
These hubs will link the existing Spaces audio content with popular podcasts, Twitter said.
According to their statement, Twitter’s internal research indicates 45% of people who use Twitter in the U.S. also listen to podcasts monthly. In this new move, Twitter aims to readily suggest podcasts to users that they can listen to directly on the app.
Vox Media has partnered with Twitter to showcase their podcasts on the new extension.
“Vox Media has a rich array of popular podcasts across many categories, and we’re thrilled that Twitter is expanding its audio capabilities to help more listeners discover them,” said Ray Chao, general manager of audio at Vox Media, said in Twitter’s statement.
The company’s new move comes just days after Twitter’s former head of security, Peiter Zatko, alleged in a whistleblower federal complaint last month that the social media giant had numerous wide-ranging information security system lapses, according to a copy of the complaint made public on Tuesday.
In response, Twitter said Zatko was spreading a “false narrative about Twitter” and was fired for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.” The company also said Zatko’s public remarks are “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.”
(JACKSON HOLE, Wyo.) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell vowed to fight inflation “forcefully” in remarks on Friday at the central bank’s annual summer gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The Fed is weighing whether a large rate increase will be necessary at the central bank’s meeting next month, Powell said, adding that a reduction in the pace of rate increases will likely take hold “at some point.”
“Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy,” Powell said. “Without prices stability, the economy doesn’t work for anyone.”
The Fed has instituted a series of borrowing cost increases in recent months as it tries to slash near-historic inflation by slowing the economy and choking off demand. But the approach risks tipping the U.S. into a recession.
Powell acknowledged that further rate increases will “bring some pain to households and business” but said persistent elevated inflation threatens even worse pain.
At meetings in each of the past two months, the central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate by 0.75% — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994.
The rate increases may have contributed to a slowdown in price hikes. While still elevated, price increases last month waned from the near-historic pace reached in June, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
July’s consumer price index, or CPI, rose 8.5% over the past year, a marked slowdown from a 9.1% year-over-year rate measured in June, the bureau said.
Price hikes also slowed last month as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, or PCE, a measure of inflation closely watched by the Fed, according to a release from the Commerce Department on Friday.
The PCE rose 6.3% in July from a year earlier after recording an increase of 6.8% year-over-year in June, the data release said.
Fed officials have signaled in recent days that the central bank intends to continue a series of rate hikes, aiming to bring inflation back down to its target of 2%.
Last Thursday, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly told CNN that a 50- or 75-point basis hike at the central bank’s meeting next month would be “reasonable” and that rate hikes would continue into at least 2023.
As it sets policy, the Fed faces mixed economic data.
Inflation remains near a 40-year high and GDP has slowed, raising the specter of stagflation, a damaging combination of high prices and anemic growth.
But observers can take solace in employment data, which persists at robust levels, as the economy added a blockbuster 528,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate stands at 3.5%.
While acknowledging the mixed economic data, Powell said the economy “continues to show momentum.”
He said the Fed will do what it takes to bring inflation down to its 2% target.
“We must keep at it until the job is done,” he said.
