Sayonara straws: Starbucks will eliminate plastic straws from all of its locations within two years, citing the environmental threat to oceans. The company will be the largest food and beverage company to do so as calls to cut waste globally grow louder. A week after its hometown banned plastic drinking straws and utensils, the Seattle company announced this morning that by 2020 it will be using straws made from biodegradable materials like paper and specially designed lids. Read the full story.
Under staffed: Most nursing homes had fewer nurses and caretaking staff than they had reported to the government for years, according to new federal data. As The New York Times reports, the data bolsters long-held suspicions of many families that staffing levels were often inadequate. The data, analyzed by Kaiser Health News, come from daily payroll records Medicare only recently began gathering and publishing from more than 14,000 nursing homes, as required by the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Read the full story.
More misconduct: Nissan Motor announced this morning it improperly measured exhaust emissions and fuel economy for 19 vehicle models sold in Japan, the second case in less than a year where misconduct has been discovered in its inspection processes, Reuters reports. The incident is the latest in a growing list of data tampering in Japan which has tarnished the image of the country’s manufacturing industry, known for high-quality, efficient production. Read the full story.
