Consumers California

I'm an 84-year-old man on Social Security with original Medicare and Mutual of Omaha gap insurance. My insurance premium was raised from $262 to $363 a month, a 39% jump. After all my monthly expenses, I have just $240 left. What can I do in the event of another increase in my premiums? If you've had your current Medicare supplement plan for years, it's not surprising that you've seen your costs steadily rise, says Steve Zaleznick, senior Medicare advisor at PlanPrescriber, a Maynard, Mass.-based online provider of Medicare education and plan comparison tools.

California employers cut more workers in December, capping a dismal year in which the state lost more than half a million jobs. Payrolls shrank by 38,800, marking the worst month for job losses since September. The unemployment rate remained flat at 12.4%, but only because more than 100,000 workers left the labor force and are no longer counted. Many of them have given up looking for work or have moved out of state. Economists expect the state's labor market to remain weak this year largely because the bellwether housing sector continues to struggle.

Consumers in California can expect to pay a little more for milk beginning next week when the state raises the wholesale price of milk by 4 cents a gallon. Although the state does not regulate retail prices, a jump in the price paid to farmers typically translates to a similar or slightly larger increase in supermarket dairy prices, state officials say. Californians had gotten a break in April, when wholesale prices plunged 50 cents a gallon to an average of $1.

Call it 3.4-Buck Chuck. Thanks to a convoluted patchwork of state alcohol laws, the Charles Shaw wine that sells for $1.99 at Trader Joe's in California -- hence its nickname, "Two-Buck Chuck" -- goes for $3.39 in Columbus, Ohio. Most of the additional $1.40 winds up in the pocket of a wholesaler in Ohio, where state law requires that an intermediary get a slice of any wine, beer or spirits sale.

A state appeal court Friday upheld the right of insurers to use ZIP Codes to set auto insurance rates in California--dealing a setback to consumer advocates' hopes of lowering rates for urban motorists. In issuing its decision, the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco reversed a controversial 1998 trial court ruling regarding Proposition 103.

Will Californians buy electric cars? Wednesday in El Monte, major auto makers said no. They said market research predicts that they won't be able to sell anywhere near the roughly 20,000 electric vehicles they will be required to sell the first year of a 1998 state mandate. Electric car proponents said yes. They said a survey by UC Davis researchers found more than enough potential buyers.

With her son off racing cars professionally in various cities and her hometown Cleveland Browns based 2,000 miles away, Mary Prappas of Los Angeles found it hard to satisfy her appetite for sports by watching just the 30-odd channels on her cable system. So a few weeks ago, Prappas, 67, plunked down $3,200 for a television system that more of the nation's video junkies are buying: a home satellite dish that can provide as many as 200 channels of viewing from around the world.

A surprising 73% of Californians in six urban counties say they regularly separate their garbage for recycling whether legally required to or not, according to an industry poll to be released today. Another unexpected result of the survey, sponsored by Du Pont Co., was that lower-income people in the six counties appeared more willing to pay for curbside recycling than those with household incomes of $30,000 or more. "I am very encouraged," Archie W.

California's huge beef industry--the state's third-largest agricultural sector--is unlikely to benefit any time soon from the scare over "mad cow disease" in Britain. And American consumers don't appear to be worried about the malady. U.S. fast-food chains, grocers and cattle ranchers say customers are confident in their beef and are aware that the cattle disease--recently linked to a fatal illness in humans--is isolated to England.

SACRAMENTO - Almost 5 million Southern California Edison Co. customers in hundreds of cities and communities across the southern, central and coastal parts of the state will be hit with higher electric bills early next year and bigger hikes in each of the following two years. The decision, which Edison says will add an average of $7 a month to residential bills for the first year, covers Edison's costs to provide service, which amounts to about half a ratepayer's bill. Other costs for buying fuel and contracting for power deliveries fluctuate and are passed directly to consumers.

A state appeal court Friday upheld the right of insurers to use ZIP Codes to set auto insurance rates in California--dealing a setback to consumer advocates' hopes of lowering rates for urban motorists. In issuing its decision, the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco reversed a controversial 1998 trial court ruling regarding Proposition 103.

Consumers in California can expect to pay a little more for milk beginning next week when the state raises the wholesale price of milk by 4 cents a gallon. Although the state does not regulate retail prices, a jump in the price paid to farmers typically translates to a similar or slightly larger increase in supermarket dairy prices, state officials say. Californians had gotten a break in April, when wholesale prices plunged 50 cents a gallon to an average of $1.

A key tool for California travel consumers has entered its second life, but thousands of travelers still don't know it lives at all. First enacted in 1996, the California Seller of Travel Law was created to scare off fly-by-night travel businesses and give Californians a chance to recover money when properly registered travel agents or tour operators fail to deliver a service that has been paid for.

The wave of personal bankruptcy filings by Californians showed no signs of slowing in October, according to CDB Infotek, a public records information service. A total of 18,420 filings, close to the all-time record, was recorded at the thirteen bankruptcy courts in California in October. That is up 9.1% from the 16,891 for September and up 7.1% from the 17,206 for October of last year, according to the Santa Ana company. .

Three California companies have settled charges that they lacked evidence for claims that a popular dietary supplement would help consumers lose weight, the Federal Trade Commission announced today. The three companies agreed to stop saying that the supplement, chromium picolinate, leads to weight loss, increased energy and prevention of diabetes. The companies include San Diego-based Nutrition 21, the sole U.S manufacturer of the product, and two retail distributors.

In the first coordinated legal action over car leases, California and 13 other states on Monday accused Mazda Motor Corp. of America Inc. of using false and deceptive ads to lure consumers into expensive car lease agreements. The lawsuits, filed individually under each state's own laws, mark the opening courthouse salvo in an ongoing investigation by numerous states into the auto-leasing business. "Auto leases are causing consumers many, many problems and consternation," said Deputy Atty. Gen.

A giant Japanese real estate firm with substantial interests in the United States has opened a downtown Los Angeles marketing office where it will employ the "showroom" concept to sell residential and commercial property. Just as many other firms have used the concept to market everything from automobiles to fine art directly to consumers, Haseko (California) Inc. is banking that it can draw prospective buyers to the Haseko Real Estate Showcase in the Los Angeles World Trade Center.

California employers cut more workers in December, capping a dismal year in which the state lost more than half a million jobs. Payrolls shrank by 38,800, marking the worst month for job losses since September. The unemployment rate remained flat at 12.4%, but only because more than 100,000 workers left the labor force and are no longer counted. Many of them have given up looking for work or have moved out of state. Economists expect the state's labor market to remain weak this year largely because the bellwether housing sector continues to struggle.

California's huge beef industry--the state's third-largest agricultural sector--is unlikely to benefit any time soon from the scare over "mad cow disease" in Britain. And American consumers don't appear to be worried about the malady. U.S. fast-food chains, grocers and cattle ranchers say customers are confident in their beef and are aware that the cattle disease--recently linked to a fatal illness in humans--is isolated to England.