Seattle Slaps 20¢ Fee on All Grocery Bags

(NEWSER) - The $1.4 million the plastics industry spent to defeat a grocery bag tax initiative paid off yesterday when Seattle voters defied their green reputation to reject the tax, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The measure would have charged shoppers 20 cents per plastic or paper bag as an incentive to reduce disposable bag use; 58% of Seattle voters said no. More»

'Occupy' marches in Oakland, Seattle elsewhere get physical

(AP) - Activists across the US joined the worldwide May Day protests today, with Occupy Wall Street members in several cities leading demonstrations and in some cases clashing with police. Some examples:

• In Oakland, police fired tear gas and "flash-bang" grenades to disperse the crowds, sending protesters fleeing a downtown intersection where they were demonstrating. Officers took four people into custody.

It clawed back $376M last year

(NEWSER) - The General Services Administration's Vegas shindig was just the tip of the iceberg. The GSA is so loaded with cash that it's a magnet for fraud and abuse, the Los Angeles Times reports. From October 2010 to September 2011 alone, the agency prosecuted 64 cases in which people inflated costs, accepted kickbacks, or just plain stole from it. "GSA handles a lot of money," the agency's inspector general told Congress last week. "There's a lot of temptation." More»

People tend to overestimate what they need, researchers say

(NEWSER) - If you want to save money, a good way to start is by not buying food you won't eat. It sounds like a no-brainer, but in the US, the average family of four spends between $500 to $2,000 per year on food that gets thrown away, the Wall Street Journal reports. Vegetables are the worst culprit, making up 25% of avoidable waste. In all, 33 million tons of food ended up in US landfills and incinerators in 2010—the biggest solid waste component, once paper and paperboard are removed and recycled. More»

Jean-Sun Hannah Ahn says she was talking about the weather, not the city

(NEWSER) - Jean-Sun Hannah Ahn was crowned Miss Seattle Saturday night, but unfortunately, she forgot to delete this tweet from back in December: "Take me back to az!!! Ugh can't stand cold rainy Seattle and the annoying people." Seattle-dwellers were up in arms after the tweet was discovered by KIRO-FM over the weekend, but Ahn explains to the station that it was the weather, not Seattle itself, she was complaining about. ( Another tweet : "Ew I seriously an [sic] hating Seattle right now...") More»