Each of the four minivans in the U.S. market received was rated less than acceptable in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s new moderate front overlap crash test, which places a higher emphasis on back seat safety.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Parents whose kids bought virtual gear without their knowledge on the popular Fortnite video game could soon be able to get a refund.
U.S. regulators are starting to notify more than 37 million people by email that they may be eligible for compensation as part of a legal settlement with Fortnite’s maker, Epic Games Inc.
The Federal Trade Commission announced late last year that Epic Games would pay $520 million in penalties and refunds to settle complaints revolving around children’s privacy and its payment methods that tricked players into making unintended purchases.
Part of that $520 million consists of $245 million in customer refunds, as part of a settlement finalized in March. It’s meant to cover some of the costs of unwanted V-Bucks, the game’s in-game currency, or virtual items such as outfits or cartoonish purple llama loot crates.
Consumers have until Jan. 17 to submit a claim.
Epic Games had also agreed to pay a $275 million fine for allegedly collecting personal information on Fortnite players under the age of 13 without informing their parents or getting their consent. It was the biggest penalty ever imposed for breaking an FTC rule.
Walt Disney Co. revealed Tuesday it plans to invest $60 billion in capital expenditures for its Parks, Experiences and Products division over the next 10 years, but it didn’t reveal any specific projects.
That amount would be double what it spent in the past decade on that part of its business, Disney said in an SEC filing.
Potential growth at Walt Disney World could get entangled with the entertainment company’s high-stakes political and legal battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis and his hand-picked tourism oversight board.
“Orlando business interests should be concerned Disney might not carry through with that proposed investment in light of legislation and lawsuits involving the state and Disney World,” said Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor who wrote “Married to the Mouse,” a book about Disney World’s origins.
Disney officials say development agreements at the center of a lawsuit it has filed against the state are critical to their plans.
“We will continue to fight vigorously to defend these contracts because these agreements will determine whether or not Disney can invest billions of dollars and generate thousands of new jobs in Florida,” company officials said in an unsigned statement earlier this month.
Matthew Goldberg | Bankrate.com (TNS)
Personal finance fact: Your money loses purchasing power over time, especially if it’s in a savings account that isn’t earning interest.
But there’s good news for savers: For the sixth straight month, the top savings yield is outpacing inflation, according to Bankrate data.
The current savings rate environment features many top savings account annual percentage yields (APYs) actually outpacing 3.7% inflation. That wasn’t the case a year ago, when inflation was more than two times higher than it is now.
Inflation peaked at 9.1% last summer. And you weren’t going to earn 9% on cash back then,
“But over time, you want your cash earnings to be in the same zip code as inflation, just so you’re preserving your buying power,” says Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate chief financial analyst.
Here are seven reasons why keeping up with inflation matters.
Prices generally increase over time.
Money that isn’t keeping pace with inflation loses purchasing power over time. So, $20 left in your old winter coat in January 2019 could have bought $20 of goods back then. But now you’d need an extra $4.40 to make up the difference in rising costs and have the same buying power.
North American COO Mark Stewart says the company is not leaving the headquarters complex “in any shape, form or fashion, but the areas we’re not using, we’re looking at some different repurposing for those.”