Technology Slice Blog

Taco Bell Lawsuit - Taco Bell officials on Tuesday rejected claims made in a lawsuit that the meat in their tacos, burritos and other products is not all beef. Taco Bell President Greg Creed said in a statement that the lawyers who filed the lawsuit got their facts wrong and that Taco Bell plans to take legal action against those making the allegations. He did not explain specifically what type of legal action Taco Bell might take. "At Taco Bell, we buy our beef from the same trusted brands you find in the supermarket," Creed said. "We start with 100 percent USDA-inspected beef. Then we simmer it in our proprietary blend of seasonings and spices to give our seasoned beef its signature Taco Bell taste and texture." The class action lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in California by the Montgomery law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles claims the Taco Bell meat mixture contains binders and fillers. An attorney for the law firm, Dee Mile...

Ryan Murphy Blasts Kings of Leon - Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill issued an angry Twitter post today (Jan. 26) directed at "Glee" co-creator Ryan Murphy, in response to his latest comments about the band's decision not to license its music to the hit Fox show. "Dear Ryan Murphy, let it go," Followill wrote. "See a therapist, get a manicure, buy a new bra. Zip your lip and focus on educating 7yr olds how to say f---." About an hour later, Followill wrote another Twitter post apologizing to "anyone that misconstrued my comments as homophobic or misogynistic," although he kept his original tweet against Murphy intact. Murphy quickly replied to Followill's comment in a statement to Perez Hilton this afternoon, saying, "Wow. That's a homophobe badly in need of some education. I'm all for manicures, don't wear a bra. Would guess most gay dudes don't. But it's telling that Nathan can reduce a group of peop...

Jordan Brown Superior Court Appeal - Lawyers for a child in Pennsylvania who was 11 when he allegedly shot and killed his father's pregnant fiancee attempted today to persuade an appeals court not to try him as an adult under America's harsh system of juvenile justice. Unless the lawyers for Jordan Brown who is now aged 13, can convince the judges to change tack, he will be tried in adult court and if convicted will serve an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole. He would become the youngest child in US history to be sentenced to be incarcerated forever. The US is the only country where juveniles are serving life imprisonment without parole under the so-called "life means life" policy. Only the US and Somalia have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which rules out life sentences with no chance of release for crimes committed before the age of 18. Brown is accused of having killed Kenzie Houk, in February 2009 at her home ...

Toyota Recall Fuel Leaks - Toyota Motor Corp. took almost two years to submit its U.S. recall today of Lexus models after the automaker’s initial investigation of a potential gasoline leak failed to find defects in the cars’ fuel-line components. The first U.S. report of fuel odor was in March 2009, according to a letter Toyota sent today to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Toyota investigated the case and two more reports in 2009, including one from the U.K., and “no abnormality in parts was found,” said Brian Lyons, a spokesman for the Japanese automaker’s U.S. unit in Torrance, California. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, voluntarily recalled today about 245,000 Lexus IS and GS luxury cars in the U.S. to inspect and tighten fuel-pressure sensors. Globally, the Toyota City, Japan-based company, is recalling 1.7 million vehicles for potential defects in fuel pipes and pumps, pressure sensors and spare-tire carriers, including 1.28 million units in Japan. ...

Arizona First State to Ask for Medicaid Waiver - Arizona is the "first state to officially ask the federal government's permission to eliminate Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income residents" from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, reports the Arizona Republic. Governor Jan Brewer wants to suspend the eligibility of 280,000 low-income adults, which would "scale back the state's coverage to near that of most other states and save $541.5 million," the report states. According to the Washington Post, the move is widely regarded as a long shot. But the paper notes that Arizona's spending on Medicaid has increased by 65 percent over the past four years, now accounting for 29 percent of the state budget compared with 17 percent in 2006. Add to that - the extra federal Medicaid funding expires in June, contributing to an anticipated $1 billion shortfall for the state program in the 2012 fiscal year. Despite the long...

Government to Ditch Terror Color Warning - By the end of April, terror threats to the U.S. will no longer be described in shades of green, blue, yellow, orange and red, The Associated Press has learned. The nation's color-coded terror warning system will be phased out beginning this week, according to government officials familiar with the plan. The officials requested anonymity to speak ahead of an announcement scheduled Thursday by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The Homeland Security Department and other government agencies have been reviewing the Homeland Security Advisory System's usefulness for more than a year. One of the most notable changes to come: The public will no longer hear automated recordings at U.S. airports stating that the threat level is orange. The Obama administration will take the next three months to roll out a replacement, which will be called the National Terrorism Advisory System. The new plan calls for notifying specific audienc...

Nova Scotia Baby Offered Sale Online - Police in Nova Scotia are investigating after someone posted an online ad offering someone else's baby for sale. The posting appeared briefly Friday on classifieds website Kijiji, according to Cape Breton Regional Police. The ad listed a two-month-old Sydney, N.S., baby boy for sale and provided the contact information of his parents, police said. Police visited the home and found the mother and her seven-month-old child were not in distress. The mother wasn't aware of the posting. Police are trying to track down who posted the ad but currently suspect it was just a bad joke.

Facebook Feud Long Island - A Facebook feud turned real-life violent in Long Island after a woman allegedly ran over her cousin, twice, with a minivan after a dispute over "friend requesting" a potential love interest, according to reports. The New York Post reports that 21-year-old Giselle Penagos was rushed to the hospital Monday to treat a shattered pelvis and a broken leg after a stranger found her bleeding in a freezing New York street. "If it wasn't for the good Samaritan, she could very easily have been hit by another car," Nassau County Detective Sgt. Robert Galgano told the newspaper. After a night of drinking at a local bar, Penagos and her cousin, Melanie Spanopoulos, argued about a "friend request" that Penagos allegedly sent through Facebook to a guy her cousin liked, according to the Post.

University of Connecticut Donor Wants Money Back - A long-time donor to the University of Connecticut has demanded back $3 million and will halt future donations in a public spat over the school's hiring of a new football coach. The donor, Robert G. Burton, president of Burton Capital Management, accused the school's athletic director of mismanaging the program and not communicating properly with him. Burton addressed a five-page letter, dated Jan. 19, to the university's athletic director, Jeff Hathaway. Burton said Hathaway, who succeeded former director Lew Perkins in July 2003, did not comply with his request to be "involved in the hiring process for the new coach." Burton said Hathaway only informed him of the new pick, Paul Pasqualoni, after he was hired on Jan. 13.

Gabrielle Giffords Good Condition Transfers to Rehab Center - The Arizona Democrat, who suffered a bullet through the forehead in the Jan. 8 shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., that left six others dead, has been at a Houston hospital since being airlifted from Tucson on Friday. Doctors at the Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center Hospital upgraded Giffords' condition late Tuesday from serious to good and this morning transferred her to the TIRR Memorial Hermann, an adjacent rehab facility. Giffords "has made strong progress" in the hospital's neurology intensive care unit, the facility said in a statement posted on its website. The three-term U.S. representative was kept in intensive care a bit longer than expected because of a buildup of fluid in her brain. A tube was inserted to help drain excess fluid and relieve pressure on Giffords' brain. That procedure led to some improvement, and the hospital said "preparations are under way for her transfer to...