My birthday is May 4, a wonderful time in the spring when everything is blooming. When I was a child growing up in Central Washington on an apple ranch, I used to run through the orchard on my birthday when the trees were in full bloom, an enchanted place. The blossoms were spectacular and the fragrance marvelous.
Citibank was charged Tuesday for failing to protect customers from fraud and for refusing to reimburse them. A lawsuit by the New York Attorney General’s Office alleges that Citi doesn’t have online protections to stop account takeovers, misleads customers about their rights after their funds are stolen, and illegally denies reimbursement to victims of fraud.
About 50 percent or more of price increases driving recent inflation is caused from price gouging. On Thursday, finally, President Biden called out the pharmaceutical industry for raising prices too much. Dozens of pharmaceutical companies will be required to pay rebates to Medicare for outrageous price hikes on prescription drugs.
It’s a flurry of activity getting ready for the holidays. I’ve purchased my plane ticket to California, started my shopping, and am contemplating decorations. My daughters came for an early Christmas last year and the year before. I “decked the halls” with a living Christmas tree, got out the nice China and red table runner, and we cooked up a storm.
What are your plans for today? Visiting a national park? They’re free today. Attending a parade? Visiting a cemetery and putting flowers on the grave of a loved one? For Veterans Day, I’m remembering my family members who served in the military: Frank Gilliam, U.S. Army, World War II. He died in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe.
Are you celebrating Halloween this year? More than 70 percent of Americans are going about it today and estimates are they’ll be spending an average of $108 per person. About a third will be hosting or attending a party, nearly half will carve a pumpkin, and more than half will be decorating their homes.
Fifty percent plan to dress in costumes.
Little did I know when I wrote about International Wombat Day a few days ago, that I’d be writing about World Lemur Day today. I wrote about wombats because I read about the special day on Facebook and thought, since I had a great photo of my niece and her son with a wombat in Western Australia, I’d write about International Wombat Day.
Google has reached a tentative settlement with the attorneys general from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico on one of three major antitrust lawsuits against the company for its anticompetitive conduct in the Google Play Store. In July 2021, 37 attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Google.
Whether you’re celebrating at a picnic, barbecue, rally, football game, or work, happy Labor Day. Sunday I went to our local Olympia Harbor Days celebration that’s always scheduled for Labor Day weekend. It was cloudy, so my photos aren’t as good as the years where there’s nice blue sky. Thankfully, we had only a sprinkle of rain.
