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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced a joint recall of 5 million pools sold by multiple companies. At issue is a design flaw of specific above-ground pools that the companies have sold for over 20 years. That flaw has reportedly already contributed to the deaths of nine children as young as 22 months. Heres what you need to know. Whats happened? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a recall notice on its website stating that up to 5 million above-ground pools are being recalled because their design poses a significant drowning hazard to young children. The design flaw centers around compression straps used on the above-ground pools. The steps wrap around the exterior sides of the pools, helping them retain their shape when filled with water. However, the straps can also be used as a makeshift step by young children to stand on and gain access to the pool. The CSPC says that it believes nine children have died because of this design flaw. The agency says the deaths occurred between 2007 and 2022. During that time, nine children ranging in age from 22 months to 3 years gained access to the pools and drowned in them. The deaths occurred in California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Missouri. What pools are being recalled? Up to 5 million above-ground pools are being recalled. These pools have been sold by several companies since 2002. The companies involved in the recall include Bestway, Intex, and Polygroup, according to the recall notice. The pools measured 48 inches or taller in height and retailed for between $400 and over $1,000, depending on the model. A list of the recalled models can be found here, along with images of the design flaw. Where were the recalled pools sold? The CSPC notice says that the recalled pools were sold nationwide, including at some of the most popular physical and online retailers. Stores where the recalled pools were sold since 2002 include, among others: Walmart Target Sears Lowes Kmart Toys R Us Sams Club The Home Depot Big Lots Costco BJs Amazon.com Wayfair.com Bestway USAs website Intexs website Funsicles website Summer Waves website About 266,000 of the pools were also sold in Canada. What do I do if I have one of the recalled pools? Consumers should ensure that children cannot access the recalled pools unattended, the CSPC says. As a precautionary measure, consumers may want to drain their recalled pool until the design flaw can be repaired. Bestway, Intex, and Polygroup will send affected consumers who contact them about the recall a free repair kit, which will contain a rope that is to be used to replace the current compression strap. Consumers with a recalled pool should contact Bestway, Intex, or Polygroup, depending on their pool’s model. Full details of the recall can be found on the CSPCs website.
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E-Commerce
Another crushing heat wave is hitting the United States this week. The so-called “dog days of summer” are in full swing for much of the eastern two-thirds of the U.S., as a heat dome over the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys gradually builds over the eastern U.S. later in the week, according to the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). One unlikely culprit for the high humidity, especially in the Midwest, is “corn sweat.” What is corn sweat? “Corn sweat” is the term used to explain how corn, like other plants, excretes water vapor through its leaves via a process called evapotranspiration, which increases humidity in regions where corn is grown during the summer; namely, the Corn Belt, which stretches from North and South Dakota east to Ohio, including Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, according to The Washington Post. Where is the heat wave? Nearly 60 million Americans are under heat-related warnings, watches, and advisories this week with oppressive heat forecast across the Central Plains, Midwest, and deep South, according to the WPC. What is the weather forecast this week? Heat indices from the Central Plains to the Southeast are predicted to range between 100 and 110 degrees each day, with localized readings potentially reaching 115 degrees. The National Weather Service’s HeatRisk, which ranks heat-related risks on a map, forecasts its most extreme heat level for the Deep South and lower Mississippi Valley on Tuesday, with a major heat risk across the Midwest through Wednesday. Extreme heat warnings are also in place for parts of the Central Plains and lower to mid-Mississippi Valley, along with extreme heat watches across the Midwest, including the majority of the Chicago area. Meanwhile, heat advisories encompass much of the Deep South and northern Florida. That “dangerous, long lasting heat” is expected to persist the longest over the mid-Mississippi Valley and mid-South regions from Tuesday through Thursday, when the heat is expected to be the most intense and widespread, with heat waves that last multiple days in a row with little to no relief. Meanwhile, temperatures into the upper 90s will be high enough to set some local daily records in the Southeast for late July. As if that weren’t enough, thunderstorms could also pose a flash flood threat in portions of the Southwest, Midwest, and Southeast, with severe storms likely in the Northern Plains and Midwest. The Northeast, which should have comfortable temperatures in the 80s in the first half of the week, is forecast to hit 97 to 98 degrees on Friday, in a number of cities including Boston and New York.
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E-Commerce
San Francisco is set to ban homeless people from living in RVs by adopting strict new parking limits the mayor says are necessary to keep sidewalks clear and prevent trash buildup. The policy, up for final approval by San Francisco supervisors Tuesday, targets at least 400 recreational vehicles in the city of 800,000 people. The RVs serve as shelter for people who can’t afford housing, including immigrant families with kids. Those who live in them say they’re a necessary option in an expensive city where affordable apartments are impossible to find. But Mayor Daniel Lurie and other supporters of the policy say motor homes are not suitable for long-term living and the city has a duty to both provide shelter to those in need and clean up the streets. We absolutely want to serve those families, those who are in crisis across San Francisco, said Kunal Modi, who advises the mayor on health, homelessness and family services. We feel the responsibility to help them get to a stable solution. And at the same time, we want to make sure that that stability is somewhere indoors and not exposed in the public roadway. Critics of the plan, however, say that it’s cruel to force people to give up their only home in exchange for a shot at traditional housing when there is not nearly enough units for all the people who need help; the mayor is only offering additional money to help 65 households. Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, says city officials are woefully behind on establishing details of an accompanying permit program, which will exempt RV residents from parking limits so long as they are working with homeless outreach staff to find housing. I think that theres going to be people who lose their RVs. I think theres going to be people who are able to get into shelter, but at the expense” of people with higher needs, like those sleeping on a sidewalk, she said. San Francisco, like other U.S. cities, has seen an explosion in recent years of people living out of vehicles and RVs as the cost of living has risen. Banning oversized vehicles is part of Lurie’s pledge to clean up San Francisco streets, and part of a growing trend to require homeless people to accept offers of shelter or risk arrest or tows. Strict new rules The proposal sets a two-hour parking limit citywide for all RVs and oversized vehicles longer than 22 feet (7 meters) or higher than 7 feet (2 meters), regardless of whether they are being used as housing. Under the accompanying permit program, RV residents registered with the city as of May are exempt from the parking limits. In exchange, they must accept the city’s offer of temporary or longer-term housing, and get rid of their RV when it’s time to move. The city has budgeted more than half a million dollars to buy RVs from residents at $175 per foot. The permits will last for six months. People in RVs who arrive after May will not be eligible for the permit program and must abide by the two-hour rule, which makes it impossible for a family in an RV to live within city limits. It first cleared the Board of Supervisors last week with two of 11 supervisors voting no. RV dwellers can’t afford rent Carlos Perez, 55, was among RV residents who told supervisors at a hearing this month that they could not afford the city’s high rents. Perez works full-time as a produce deliveryman and supports his brother, who lives with him and is unable to work due to a disability. We dont do nothing wrong. We try to keep this street clean, he said, as he showed his RV recently to an Associated Press journalist. Its not easy to be in a place like this. Yet, Perez also loves where he lives. The green-colored RV is decorated with a homey houseplant and has a sink and a tiny stove on which Carlos simmered a bean soup on a recent afternoon. He’s lived in San Francisco for more than 30 years, roughly a decade of which has been in the RV in the working-class Bayview neighborhood. He can walk to work and it is close to the hospital where his brother receives dialysis multiple times a week. Zach, another RV resident who requested being identified by his first name to not jeopardize his ability to get work, started living in the vehicle a dozen years ago after realizing that no matter how hard he worked, he still struggled to pay rent. Now he works as a ride-hail driver and pursues his love of photography. He parks near Lake Merced in the city near the Pacific Ocean and pays $35 every two to four weeks to properly dispose of waste and fill the vehicle with fresh water. He says Lurie’s plan is shortsighted. There is not enough housing available and many prefer to live in an RV over staying at a shelter, which may have restrictive rules. For Zach, who is able-bodied, maintains a clean space and has no dependents, moving to a shelter would be a step down, he says. Still, he expects to receive a permit. If housing were affordable, there is a very good chance I wouldnt be out here, he said. City recently closed its only RV lot RV dwellers say San Francisco should open a safe parking lot where residents could empty trash and access electricity. But city officials shuttered an RV lot in April, saying it cost about $4 million a year to service three dozen large vehicles and it failed to transition people to more stable housing. The mayor’s new proposal comes with more money for beefed-up RV parking enforcement but also an additional $11 million, largely for a small number of households to move to subsidized housing for a few years. Officials acknowledge that may not be sufficient to house all RV dwellers, but notes that the city also has hotel vouchers and other housing subsidies. Erica Kisch, CEO of nonprofit Compass Family Services, which assists homeless families, says they do not support the punitive nature of the proposal but are grateful for the extra resources. Its recognition that households should not be living in vehicles, that we need to do better for families, and for seniors and for anyone else who’s living in a vehicle,” she said. San Francisco can do better, certainly. Janie Har and Terry Chea, Associated Press
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