Declarations

Lack of Transparency

“The word ‘window’ identifies the position of the seat–i.e., next to the wall of the main body of the aircraft. The use of the word ‘window’ in reference to a particular seat cannot reasonably be interpreted as a promise that the seat will have an exterior window view.”

— United Airlines in a filing in San Francisco federal court, claiming it never contractually promised that “window” seats would have views, even when it used “window” to label those seats on seat selection screens and boarding passes. United asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming it unfairly charged passengers extra to sit in windowless “window seats.”

Fluctuating Prices

“The law is clear: if businesses use algorithmic pricing, they must notify consumers. New Yorkers deserve to know whether their personal information is being used to set the prices they pay and if businesses are charging customers different prices for the same products.”

— New York Attorney General Letitia James arguing that businesses must alert customers to algorithmic or surveillance pricing. The pricing method is mostly used on businesses’ apps or as part of loyalty programs. Recent examples include being charged more to book hotel rooms from high-income ZIP codes and Target shoppers seeing prices increase when browsing online inside a Target store.

Cutting Court Costs

“At a time when voters are clearly voting with their pocketbooks, this is really a golden opportunity for other states. We really applaud the political leadership in Florida for taking on an important issue that’s a difficult issue, which is how do you lower suits against our customers for fender-bender accidents. Their courage is really helping Florida consumers save billions of dollars a year. We’re happy, of course, because our customers are saving money. We will charge them less.”

— Tom Wilson, president and chief executive officer of Allstate, suggesting that more states should “lean in” to the types of reform measures that took hold in Florida 2023.

Calls for Resignation

“What’s truly devastating is learning that our own Insurance Commissioner secretly cut a deal that encouraged insurers to drop families like ours. We thought we could trust the system. We never imagined we’d be betrayed by the very person elected to protect us.”

— Branislav Kecman, whose home was destroyed in California’s Eaton Fire. He is among victims of the Los Angeles wildfires calling for the resignation of Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, alleging Lara struck a deal with insurers that enabled them to drop policyholders in exchange for future rate hikes but was billed as a way to keep people out of the California FAIR Plan.

Dips, Fronts, and Luck

“The U.S. benefited from a combination of unique atmospheric conditions, the timing of cold fronts pushing across the East Coast, and a lot of luck to make it through the peak of the season without a single hurricane landfall.”

— Jonathan Porter, AccuWeather chief meteorologist, reporting that AccuWeather found strong dips in the jet stream over the eastern half of the nation, the presence of dry air, and disruptive wind shear prevented hurricanes from making landfall along the U.S.’s Atlantic or Gulf coast. It would be the first Atlantic hurricane season in 10 years without a hurricane making landfall in the U.S.

Limiting Corporate Cannabis

“People are wanting this for the tax money and the small couple of jobs that it provides, but the money going to the corporations–they don’t care about the locals. People aren’t adding that into the equation, that this is like a wolf feeding on the locals and it’s just not a good direction to allow that into the communities.”

— Niles Township, Michigan, resident Brian Long objecting to allowing more cannabis stores on the Michigan-Indiana border. Long said he moved out of the city of Niles because he lived next to a marijuana grow facility and the odor was so potent his food used to taste like it.