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November 2009
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Tips: October 2009 Archives
Now there's new information about the California accident that spurred that action. A family was driving down the highway near San Diego when the gas pedal caused their gas pedal to stick. They made a desperate call to 9-1-1 but crashed a short time later. All four family members died in the crash. The preliminary investigation blames the floor mat. And Toyota has told drivers of millions of Toyota and Lexus models to remove their floor mats until further notice. According to a story on CNN, "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has documented 100 incidents where accelerator pedals on Lexus and Toyota vehicles stuck." Another item noticed by the NHTSA is the push button ignition on the car involved in the crash in San Diego. If you have a car with this type of ignition you need to know that in order to kill the engine you have to push and hold the start button for more than 3 seconds to disable the engine. It is not clear if the driver in California tried that. You can go here to find out if your Toyota or Lexus car is affected by this recall.
It's why you may be excited about the research UT is doing. Thanks to a grant by Wal-Mart UT researchers are testing seven different types of native grasses to try to find a combination that proves to be drought resistant and requires less maintenance. And they may have found it. According to UT researcher Mark Simmons the native grasses so far seem to be a mixture of Buffalo grass, Blue Grama and Curly Mesquite grass. They are all currently commercially available, which means you can plant them in your own yard. You can find more information about those grasses and the UT native lawn program here. You can also go here to learn how to plant some of these native lawns. What's wrong with what we're currently doing? For example Bermuda and St. Augustine--Bermuda grass is hearty and grows easily. It is also pretty drought resistant. However, Simmons said it grows so fast that it requires more mowing than many of the native grasses. St. Augustine is one of the most popular grasses. Simmons said it is actually more susceptible to pests and disease and like most lawns requires a lot of water. "Lawns use between 30 and 60 percent of the urban water around the country," said Simmons. "With a native grass with these native grasses you can effectively let them go dormant, drought dormant," said Simmons. "So after a summer like we've just had under the water restrictions, you could allow these turf grasses to actually go brown. They won't die they just go dormant. And then when the rains come they'll just green up again." So far that's exactly what researchers have found. A lack of water won't kill these native grasses. Like Bermuda grass they're easy to grow, but they are less susceptible to weeds and require less mowing. "These were mowed two to three weeks ago," Simmons said pointing to two plots of grass sitting side-by-side. "And you can already see the Bermuda grass is much higher now. It's coming up about twice the height of the native turf grasses." "It's actually a much more pleasant texture to sit on and walk on," said Simmons.
Southwest Airlines just launched a huge airfare sale. You'll find some fares as low as $25 one way. Check here for the list of cities and fares. You have until Thursday to book your trip and you must travel December 2 through December 16 or January 5 through February 10, 2010 and not on Sundays. These airfare deals expire October 29, 2009, 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
That's why I wanted to share a site I think is worth book marking. It's called Repair pal.com. This site allows you to look up the make and model of your car and any type of car repair. Then punch in your zip code and it not only helps list a range of prices but directs you to dealerships and independent car repair places that can do the repair. You can also look up terms in case you need more explanation as to what needs to be fixed in your car. It really can help take the mystery out of car repair and it is free.
An article in the Austin Business Journal shows that despite unemployment hitting a 26 year high in September, a survey by Intuit, Inc. Found "44 percent of small business owners are planning to hire new employees within the next 12 months." "Sixty percent expect their businesses to grow in the next year, and newer businesses are the most bullish, with 80 percent of companies founded less than three years ago expecting growth over the next year." "Fifty percent of the small businesses that responded said they were looking for a people person or jack of all trades over a creative genius or mathematical wizard. Upcoming Job Fair Below you will find a list of companies that will attend:
KFC has learned from the Oprah coupon fiasco. Today KFC is giving away one free piece of grilled chicken and you don't need a coupon to get it. According to the fine print the piece of chicken is the manager's choice and this offer is only good at participating restaurants--so you may want to call ahead. Then don't forget about the free spaghetti being offered at Buca as part of World Pasta day.
The city is putting together a comprehensive plan, almost a vision for the future of the city and it wants your feedback. So go here to fill out the survey. Good news for your holiday wish list-prices on electronics and even toys It is one of the upsides of our down economy. An article in the Wall Street Journal paints a pretty picture if a flat screen TV is on your list. "The average price of a flat-panel TV dropped to a record low of $630 by the end of August, down from more than $900 a year earlier," according to research firm NPD Group. Other consumer-electronics products also have hit record low prices. Camcorders fell to an average price of $275, down from more than $360 a year earlier, NPD said. The price breaks are said to be the result of slow consumer sales. "The price declines we're seeing this year are steeper than normal in many more different categories," said Steve Koenig, an analyst at the Consumer Electronics Association, which calculated that consumer-electronics prices fell 7.7% overall in the first half of the year compared with a 1.9% price increase a year earlier, the Wall Street Journal found. However, Koenig says prices have fallen so much you shouldn't expect them to fall much further. On this is happening on the heels of an announcement by Wal-Mart to offer weekly deep savings on a variety of products starting today through the holiday season. That includes the 100 toys the retailer will sell for just $10. Compare Prices
Starting November 1st Target will give customers a five cent discount for every recyclable bag they use. The retailer said a test launched in 100 stores this summer was so successful it cut plastic bag consumption in those stores by as much as 60 percent. CVS said, "It will give customers $1 in credits toward merchandise for every four times they use a reusable bag and refuse a plastic bag at checkout. Customer must be members of the company's free ExtraCare reward program and purchase a single, reusable Green Bag tag for 99 cents that must be presented at the time of purchase. There is a limit of one Green Bag tag scan per household per day." For years Whole Foods has offered the same type of incentive. You can get 10 cents off for each reusable bag you use, 10 percent off for case discounts. Several states have begun toying with the idea of banning plastic bags. San Francisco was the first to ban plastic bags with a measure in 2007. North Carolina recently passed legislation banning plastic bags from stores with more than 5,000 square feet. Some stores worry about those moves because they say it costs more money to have paper bags than plastic bags. However, studies show only about 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled worldwide. What do you think? Is a ban the answer? Or will the small discounts be good enough? Add your thoughts below.
According to the CPSC "Target knowingly imported and sold various toys (Kool Toyz Products, Anima - Bamboo Collection Games, Happy Giddy Gardening Tools and Sunny Patch Chairs) with paint or other surface coatings that contained lead levels above legal limits" between May 2006 and August 2007. Here are two of the toys that were eventually recalled: I was part of the investigative team that did the first stories on this issue in May 2004. That story triggered the avalanche of toy testing and lead recalls we've seen over the past several years. For anyone who's ever doubted the danger, you only need to watch the story I ended up doing in 2006. Nearly two years after my first investigation, 4 year old Jarnell Brown, a Minnesota boy, died after swallowing a bracelet charm that was 99 percent lead. That case resulted in Reebok being fined $1 million.
And this month, we're bumping that up to include one story a month. The stories will air every Friday at 6pm. So I hope you'll tune in for the first one tomorrow night. You'll also find them on our web site after they air. It is my hope that you will join us in the Race for the Cure by coming out to walk or run in the Austin Race for the Cure at the Domain on Sunday, November 1st. Join the KVUE Team By now, many of you have seen the story I did on my own mother's breast cancer journey. I feel so incredibly blessed to say she is doing great. However, it seems each week I'm hearing about another woman being diagnosed, who like my mom, has no history of the disease in her own family. So to help kick off the month, I thought I'd share a few sites that allow you to shop and raise money for your favorite charity. I'll start with The Susan G. Komen for the Cure. It has its own shop online. Twenty five percent of all the proceeds from this site go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. It's a great way to support breast cancer research during Breast Cancer Awareness month. iGive.com offers items from more than 700 name brand stores. You select your state and even search through hundreds of charities to decide which you'd like to support. Then just shop away. Goodshop.com is powered by GoodSearch.com. You'll find more than 1,000 stores. You choose the cause then click on the retailer of your choice and shop like you normally would. Retailers donate as much as 30 percent of the proceeds of your purchase to the charity of your choice. If you don't find the charity you want on the site you can add it. One word of caution charities that I've checked don't tend to make a ton of money through the GoodSearch.com site. For example, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure has made a little more than $309 from the shopping links this year, about $4100 since starting in 2007. If you like to shop on eBay you may want to check out the site's section where sellers agree to give a portion or all of the proceeds to charity. You can also learn how to donate a portion of what you're selling here. |
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Terri Gruca anchors KVUE's 6 and 10pm newscasts. She brings you the latest consumer news and tells you where to find the best deals.
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