According to the New York Post, Wells Fargo’s reputation took another hit on Friday, April 22, 2017 when the bank admitted its practice of opening phony customer accounts started back in 2002 not in 2009 as first reported. For all you coffee drinkers keep your eyes peeled on the food store circulars, because coffee futures in New York driven by worldwide crop gluts touched a ten year low recently. Don’t get the person with the gavel upset; a judge said VW was guilty of deliberate and massive fraud and must pay a $2.8 billion fine for the diesel engine emissions scandal as part of the $4.3 billion settlement announced in January. If I promise to carry the suitcases on and off David Geffen’s 454-foot yacht, can Theodorsia and I travel with you guys? Just returning from cruising around French Polynesia were Michelle and Barak Obama, Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen with wife Patti Sacialfa. For condominiums in California the median price last month was $430,620; a 5.8 percent above the previous month and 7.6 percent hike over the same month in 2016. Are you looking for a career in nursing? If you are then the Annenberg School of Nursing just be what you need. They have Vocational Nursing programs. Nurse Assistant and Home Health Aide courses. Check out http://www.asn.edu or (815) 757-4431.North Carolina’s audit of last year’s election found just two cases of voter impersonation. So, you remember the cable TV show Bait Car where the L.A. County Sheriff’s department use to leave the car keys in the ignition and wait for someone to steal it? In Arcadia, the police department put GPS devices in boxes left on the porch resulting in six arrests. When thieves scampered down the street the good guys put the handcuffs on them. The United States Postal Service reported its’ approved nearly 50,000 requests in 2013 from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor the mail Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations. The audit along with interviews and documents obtained by the New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act. As you recall a previous commentary where I told you about a device the Postal Service uses to read your mail still in a sealed envelope. What would you say is the percentage of Democrats who favor higher taxes for higher education? Its 68 percent. Twenty percent is the percentage of Republicans favoring her taxes for higher education. Eighty percent is the percentage spanning all parties, races, ethnicities incomes and education levels who support more scholarships and grants.

I just know you have heard of Auto-brewery syndrome, in which a body’s digestive system converts ordinary food into alcohol. Doctors have brought the body’s digestive system under control by mandating the patient go on a low carbohydrate diet. Surprisingly true. It’s hard to believe, but Americans spent more at retail stores on cigarettes in 2016 than they did on soda and beer combined, according to the market-research firm Euromonitor International Consolidation. Could trouble be ahead? I took Economics 101 many moons ago, but if I remember correctly if growth slows, international interest rates rise or the dollar continues to rise poorer nations could be in deep trouble. A very long conversation with your financial advisor just might be warranted. Suddenly, there seems to be a Flurry of new procedures for men with enlarged prostate. A minimally invasive procedure designed to shrink prostate tissue with a series of nine-second blasts of steam. The procedure called Rezum; kills cells, and shrink the prostate by about one-third. It can be done in a doctor’s office in a few minutes, cost about $2,000 and is generally covered by insurance. You and your doctor should read the 2016 December issue of the Journal of Urology published on line. The Culver City Bus Company is sending me more information in two weeks. Everyone has heard of the Keystone Pipeline, but have you heard of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)? The ACP will extend 600 miles, and if constructed will forever change forests, wetland, and rivers, according to the watchdog group NC Policy Watch-and that’s only in North Carolina! Nor have I heard a peep about the Dakota Access Pipeline. Despite fierce opposition in North Dakota, Trump sent a memorandum to the Secretary of the Army on January 25, 2017; an attempt to expedite the project as a substantial, multi-billion-dollar private investment in our nation’s energy infrastructure. Both Associated Press and Reuters have reported Trump owns stock in the company’s building the project. For those who missed an article, all my commentaries can be found at http://www.culvercityobserver.com by placing Rubenstein in the website’s search box.