Month: July 2024

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (‘NHTSA’), Hyundai Motor America is recalling nearly 67,000 vehicles in the U.S. over loss of drive power from a fuel pump failure and about 12,349 Santa Fe Vehicles over a software error in the transmission control unit. The recall impacts certain 2019-2023 models of Genesis G70, Veloster N, Elantra N, and Kona N.

Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed out by Sept. 9, 2024; the agency’s recall notice states that to remedy the issue, Hyundai dealers will install an updated fuel control valve (FCV) plunger design and revised engine ECM software logic.

According to NHTSA recall documents, premature wearing of the fuel control valve in the high-pressure fuel pump “could allow excess fuel to enter the fuel pump and the air and fuel mixture can result in a reduction or loss of motive power at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash.” Indications that there might be an issue include, “MIL illumination, lack of power, rough idle or misfire.”

Hyundai said in a statement to ABC News on Thursday that “to ensure the safety of its customers, Hyundai Motor North America and Genesis Motor North America has filed recall campaign 262/023G to address a condition involving the high-pressure fuel pump assemblies in certain Hyundai and Genesis vehicles produced for sale in the U.S. and Canada … There are no confirmed crashes or injuries related to this condition in the U.S. or Canada.”

To see if any recalls were issued on your vehicle, search NHTSA’s database for new recalls. The NHTSA website allows you to search for recalls based on your vehicle identification number or VIN.

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J. Michael Cline, co-founder of movie ticket company Fandango and Executive Chairman of Juxtapose, jumped to his death from a hotel in Manhattan on Tuesday in an apparent suicide.

Cline, 64, of Palm Beach, Florida, was found Tuesday morning after NYPD were called to The Kimberly Hotel at 145 East 50th Street in Manhattan just shortly after 10 a.m. where they found Cline with injuries “indicative of a fall from an elevated position,” police said. He was pronounced dead at 10:30. Cline left a suicide note before jumping from the 20th floor, landing in a third-story courtyard, according to law enforcement sources. His death occurred days after gallbladder surgery. The NYPD said in a statement, “Upon arrival, officers found an unconscious and unresponsive male with injuries indicative of a fall from an elevated position. The investigation remains ongoing.” 

Cline attended Cornell University and Harvard Business School, and founded Fandango in 2000, before leaving the company in 2011 (which is now owned by NBC Universal). He was former chairman and board member of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and founded the company Acumen, an outsourcer of lab operations for large hospitals, in 2010 and served as chairman and director through 2017. He also founded Accolade, a vendor of health services for large employers and hospital systems, in 2007 and worked as founder and chairman through 2022.He also founded and served as managing partner of Accretive, which funds start up companies. At the time of his death was the executive chairman of Juxtapose, which helped to create the Orchard, Tend, Earned, Great Jones and Nectar companies.

Jennifer Mull Neuhaus, chair of the board of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in a statement: “J. Michael Cline was a true champion for conservation and for wildlife. Michael was an exceptional leader as our chairman over the past three years, and his passing leaves us all deeply saddened. On behalf of the foundation and its board of directors, I extend my heartfelt sympathies to Michael’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time. He will truly be missed by all who knew and worked with him, but his legacy in conservation will benefit us all far into the future.”

Cline is survived by his wife Pamela, who were married in 1995, and they share six children.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

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On Wednesday, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. became the latest Democrat to call for President Joe Biden to end his candidacy and exit the presidential race. Schiff is running for former Sen. Diane Feinstein’s seat (Feinstein died on Sept. 29 at age 90, after suffering a stroke).

In a prepared statement, Schiff said it’s time for Biden, 81, to “pass the torch” to a younger candidate to run against Trump, 78: “Joe Biden has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a Senator, a Vice President, and now as President has made our country better. But our nation is at a crossroads. A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November.”

Schiff says the Democratic Party might lose more than the race for the presidency if Biden is the candidate at the top of the ticket, adding that Biden’s candidacy might cause the Democrats to lose the Senate as well as the presidency and stop the party from regaining the House of Representatives. Said Schiff: “There is only one singular goal: defeating Donald Trump. The stakes are just too high.”

Schiff is running against former L.A. Dodgers star Steve Garvey, who is the Republican candidate for the Senate seat. While Schiff is a strong favorite to win the Senate race, he said Democrats will “very well lose the Senate and lose our chance to take back the House” if Biden is the party’s presidential candidate: “The choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone,” but added that even if it is Biden, he will support the Democratic Party’s nominee for the presidency.

Biden has secured 3,896 delegates during the prior state primaries and caucus votes and only needs 1,976 to win the Democratic Party nomination. If Biden doesn’t withdraw his candidacy, he has a virtual lock on securing the nomination for a second term in office. In an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt on Monday, Biden defiantly said ‘he wasn’t going anywhere’ and that he had earned the Democratic nomination, with backing from 14 million primary voters. Asked about his apparent confusion at the June debate with Trump, Biden said his “mental acuity has been pretty damn good.”

The Republican National Convention is currently underway through Thursday in Milwaukee; the Democratic Party is scheduled to start its national convention on Aug. 19 in Chicago.

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On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.  Multiple lawmakers have questioned why the roof of a building within 150 yards of Trump wasn’t secured by the Secret Service or local law enforcement. and also have asked why Secret Service snipers on another roof in the area didn’t engage the shooter until after Crooks had fired multiple times.

During an appearance on Fox News at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Johnson said: “I’m going to call for resignation. Look, I think it’s inexcusable. … Her explanation to the media that there was a slant on the roof, so there was safety concern — it doesn’t wash. And I think she’s shown what her priorities are.”  On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Johnson’s top lieutenant, had also called for Cheatle to resign. 

In the Fox News interview, Johnson also said he will create a congressional task force to consolidate investigations into the security failures around Trump’s Saturday rally that resulted in 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shooting and injuring the president, killing one attendee, and leaving two others in critical condition.  Said Johnson: “The reason we’re going to do it that way is because that is a more precision strike. It goes quicker, there’s not a lot of the procedural hurdles, and it will have subpoena authority for that task force as well. It will be compiled of Republicans and Democrats to get down the bottom of this quickly so the American people can get the answers that they deserve.”

Johnson added that “within hours” of Saturday’s shooting, he was on the phone with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who “did not have satisfactory answers at that time,” adding that he’s also spoken with FBI Director Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines:  “The answers have not been forthcoming. I think they’re gathering data. We’re going to do it as well. We have to have accountability for this. It was inexcusable. Obviously, there were security lapses. You don’t have to be a special ops expert to understand that, and we’re gonna get down to the bottom of it quickly.”

Johnson also referenced Cheatle in an ABC News interview when saying there were no law enforcement officers stationed on the roof from which the shooter fired because the “sloped roof” created safety concerns, despite other Secret Service snipers being positioned on a roof that was also sloped.  Said Johnson: “It doesn’t wash, and I think she’s shown what her priorities are. I don’t know her personally, but we’ll be asking lots of questions.”

Speaking to ABC News earlier this week, Cheatle said she would not resign, but stated: “The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service.” Cheatle said that the Secret Service was responsible for securing the inner perimeter of the rally, while local law enforcement was responsible for securing the area outside the rally, which included the building accessed by Crooks.

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