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Learn How to Report Sexual Harassment in Housing

If your landlord, rental manager, or anyone with control over your housing sexually harasses you, take the time to report it. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is working to protect people from this type of harassment by rental property representatives. You can report incidents by phone, email, or through the DOJ’s submission tool. Benefit from the Benefit Search Tool  Looking for benefit programs to help pay for food, housing, healthcare, and other basic living expenses? Simplify your search using the Benefit Finder from Benefits.gov, the official benefits website of the U.S. government. This gives you the tools to find out if you qualify for benefits across a wide range of state and federal programs, and explains the next steps on how to apply.   What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?  This time of year can be especially difficult for those with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). SAD is a type of depression that reoccurs during the winter months and typically lasts until the spring or summer. Learn how to spot the most common symptoms, know who is more at risk of suffering from this type of depression, and find treatments for those affected.  Holiday Fire Safety No matter what holidays you celebrate this winter, keep a watchful eye on your candles and decorations to prevent a fire in your home. Follow these helpful tips from the U.S. Fire Administration, such as watering your Christmas tree and keeping candles at least a foot away from flammable materials, to ensure you decorate safely this holiday season. Help Your Child Learn As the 2018 school year comes to a close, you may find yourself helping your child prepare for final exams or projects on various subjects. Check out these homework tips for parents to learn strategies on how to positively support your kids! Winter Food Fun Need hands-on ideas to keep your kids busy during winter break? Help them stay healthy and occupied this holiday season with fun winter recipes! Use tips to build a snowman scene plate using healthy fruits and snacks, as well as explore resources on the different food groups, healthy eating tips, and more. FTC Announces Final Agenda for Ninth Session of its Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century December 11-12 event will focus on data security The Federal Trade Commission announced the agenda for the ninth session of its Hearings Initiative, which will focus on data security and take place on December 11-12, 2018. Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, will deliver opening remarks to kick off the two-day session. The first day also will feature presentations on data breaches, followed by discussions on business incentives to invest in data security as well as consumer demand for security. The session’s second day will feature a fireside chat on emerging threats to the security of consumer data, with FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Joshua Corman, co-founder of the @IamtheCavalry security initiative. The day will also include panel discussions on data security assessments, how the U.S. should approach consumer data security, and FTC data security enforcement. The following additional sessions of the FTC Hearings initiative have been announced and are upcoming: December 6, 2018 - New York University School of Law Common Ownership February 12-13, 2019 - FTC Constitution Center Auditorium Consumer Privacy The FTC Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century will accommodate as many attendees as possible; however, admittance will be limited to seating availability. Reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request. Request for accommodations should be submitted to Elizabeth Kraszewski via email at ekraszewski@ftc.gov or by phone at (202) 326-3087. Such requests should include a detailed description of the accommodation needed. Please allow at least five days advance notice for accommodation requests; last minute requests will be accepted but may not be possible to accommodate. Hearing #9 on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century December 11-12, 2018 FTC Constitution Center Auditorium 400 7th St., SW, Washington, D.C. The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about consumer topics and file a consumer complaint online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources. Contact Information MEDIA CONTACT: Juliana Gruenwald Henderson Office of Public Affairs 202-326-2924 Related Actions FTC Hearing on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century - December 2018 More news from the FTC >> FTC Issues Annual Report on Ethanol Market Concentration 2018 The Federal Trade Commission has issued its 2018 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directs the Commission to perform an annual review of market concentration in the ethanol production industry “to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.” As in prior years, the 2018 report concludes that “the low level of concentration and large number of market participants in the U.S. ethanol production industry continue to suggest that the exercise of market power to set prices, or coordinate on price or output levels, is unlikely.” The Commission vote to approve the report was 4-0-1, with Commissioner Christine S. Wilson not participating. (FTC File No. P063000; the staff contact is Catharine Bill, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2966.) FTC Requests Public Comment on Supervalu Inc.’s Application to Approve Sale of 2 Supermarkets Operating under the Shop ’n Save Banner in Va. and W. Va. The Federal Trade Commission is accepting public comments on an application by Supervalu Inc. to divest a Shop ’n Save supermarket in Berryville, Va., and another in Martinsburg, WV. The FTC’s Oct. 31, 2016 modified final order with grocery chain operators Koninklijke Ahold and Delhaize Group required them to divest 18 of their stores in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia to Supervalu affiliate, Shop ’N Save East, LLC. The final order settled charges that the proposed $28 billion merger of Koninklijke Ahold and Delhaize Group likely would have been anticompetitive. For three years after the order was issued, Supervalu was required under the order to obtain approval from the FTC if Supervalu chose to sell certain stores. According to the application, Supervalu intends to resell two stores – one in Berryville, VA and the other in Martinsburg, WV – back to Koninklijke Ahold and Delhaize Group (“Giant”). According to the application, shortly after it acquired the stores, Supervalu experienced a steep decline in sales. Despite significant efforts, Supervalu was unable to bring shoppers back to the stores and recover the lost sales. Faced with this poor initial performance, Supervalu’s joint-venture partner in the divestiture declined to take over the stores, according to the application. Supervalu states that it plans to close the stores in the coming months unless a buyer is found. The application notes that Supervalu attempted to find alternative buyers for the stores. Giant, however, was the best available buyer. According to the application, the transaction therefore will preserve consumer choice and jobs in each city. The application also states that Giant is expected to make significant investments in the acquired stores going forward. The Commission will decide whether to approve the application after a 30-day public comment period, which expires on Dec. 27, 2018. Comments can be filed electronically, or sent to: FTC Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington. (FTC File No. 151 0175; the staff contact is, Eric D. Rohlck, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2861.) The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about how competition benefits consumers or file an antitrust complaint. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources. =========================== WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to first electronically register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) during a designated registration period. Under the proposed rule, USCIS would also reverse the order by which USCIS selects H-1B petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption, likely increasing the number of beneficiaries with a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education to be selected for an H-1B cap number, and introducing a more meritorious selection of beneficiaries.  The H-1B program allows companies in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelors or higher degree in the specific specialty, or its equivalent. When USCIS receives more than enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-1B cap, a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, is used to select the petitions that are counted towards the number of petitions projected as needed to reach the cap. The proposed rule includes a provision that would enable USCIS to temporarily suspend the registration process during any fiscal year in which USCIS may experience technical challenges with the H-1B registration process and/or the new electronic system. The proposed temporary suspension provision would also allow USCIS to up-front delay the implementation of the H-1B registration process past the fiscal year (FY) 2020 cap season, if necessary to complete all requisite user testing and vetting of the new H-1B registration system and process. While USCIS has been actively working to develop and test the electronic registration system, if the rule is finalized as proposed, but there is insufficient time to implement the registration system for the FY 2020 cap selection process, USCIS would likely suspend the registration requirement for the FY 2020 cap season. Currently, in years when the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption are both reached within the first five days that H-1B cap petitions may be filed, the advanced degree exemption is selected prior to the H-1B cap. The proposed rule would reverse the selection order and count all registrations or petitions towards the number projected as needed to reach the H-1B cap first. Once a sufficient number of registrations or petitions have been selected for the H-1B cap, USCIS would then select registrations or petitions towards the advanced degree exemption. This proposed change would increase the chances that beneficiaries with a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education would be selected under the H-1B cap and that H-1B visas would be awarded to the most-skilled and highest-paid beneficiaries. Importantly, the proposed process would result in an estimated increase of up to 16 percent (or 5,340 workers) in the number of selected H-1B beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education. USCIS expects that shifting to electronic registration would reduce overall costs for petitioners and create a more efficient and cost-effective H-1B cap petition process for USCIS. The proposed rule would help alleviate massive administrative burdens on USCIS since the agency would no longer need to physically receive and handle hundreds of thousands of H-1B petitions and supporting documentation before conducting the cap selection process. This would help reduce wait times for cap selection notifications. The proposed rule also limits the filing of H-1B cap-subject petitions to the beneficiary named on the original selected registration, which would protect the integrity of this registration system. On April 18, 2017, President Trump issued the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order, instructing DHS to “propose new rules and issue new guidance, to supersede or revise previous rules and guidance if appropriate, to protect the interests of U.S. workers in the administration of our immigration system.” The EO specifically mentioned the H-1B program and directed DHS and other agencies to “suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries.” Additional information on the proposed rule is available in the Federal Register. Public comments may be submitted starting Monday, December 3, when the proposed rule publishes in the Federal Register, and must be received on or before January 2, 2019. For more information on USCIS and our programs, please visituscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), Instagram (/uscis), YouTube (/uscis), and Facebook(/uscis).   MedWatch - The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program A new MedWatch Safety Alert recall: Spinal Fusion and Long Bone Stimulators by Zimmer Biomet: Recall - Due to Lack of Adequate Validation and Controls to Ensure Product Cleanliness was just added to the FDA Recalls webpage.   You can read the complete recall alert at: https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/ListofRecalls/ucm626704.htm  A new MedWatch Safety Alert recall: BrightMatter Guide with SurfaceTrace Registration by Synaptive Medical: Recall - Due to Software Defect was just added to the FDA Recalls webpage.   You can read the complete recall alert at: https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/ListofRecalls/ucm626734.htm  A new MedWatch Safety Alert recall: All Amlodipine/Valsartan Combination Tablets and Amlodipine/Valsartan/Hydrochlorothiazide Combination Tablets by Teva Pharmaceuticals USA: Recall - Due to an Impurity Detected Above Specification Limits in an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) was just added to the FDA Recalls webpage.   You can read the complete recall alert at: https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm626802.htm Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Issues Voluntary Nationwide Recall of All Amlodipine/Valsartan Combination Tablets and Amlodipine/Valsartan/Hydrochlorothiazide Combination Tablets That Are Within Expiry Teva Pharmaceuticals has initiated a voluntary recall in the United States, to the patient level, of all lots of Amlodipine / Valsartan combination tablets and Amlodipine / Valsartan / Hydrochlorothiazide combination tablets (see table below) due to an impurity detected above specification limits in an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufactured by Mylan India. The impurity found in Mylan’s valsartan API is known as N-nitroso-diethylamine (NDEA), which has been classified as a probable human carcinogen. This chemical is typically found in very small amounts in certain foods, drinking water, air pollution, and certain industrial processes. Amlodipine/Valsartan combination tablets and Amlodipine/Valsartan/Hydrochlorothiazide combination tablets are used for the treatment of high blood pressure. To date, Teva has not received any reports of adverse events signaling a potential link or exposure to valsartan.