By Rita R. Robison Today is Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the American flag. As a person who loves red, white, and blue and stars and stripes, I’ve been known to have Flag Day parties. Congress authorized a red-white-and-blue flag with stars and stripes as the official national... Read more →

By Rita R. Robison On Father's Day, it’s always fun to look at how much consumers will be spending on their dads and who American dads are. Father’s Day spending Gift givers are planning to spend more than ever this Father's Day, according to a National Retail Federation survey. The... Read more →

By Rita R. Robison AskMen.com offers these suggestions for gifts your dad will appreciate: Landscaping services Sports tickets Meat for grilling Gadgets Books A personalized gift Golf clubs Fishing gear Alcohol Grilling tools For gifts that your dad probably wouldn’t want to receive, AskMen.com provides this top 10 listing: Artificial... Read more →

By Rita R. Robison Sometimes we run out of ideas for our dads because they seem harder to shop for than moms. However, dealnews.com has been doing research on bargains for Father’s Day and offers the following suggestions for you: Free yogurt The Country's Best Yogurt will serve free yogurt... Read more →

It was a pleasure to march Sunday in Olympia, Wash.'s 2012 Capital City Pride Parade. I've enjoyed marching in the parades in previous years and taking photos, but I especially enjoyed this years parade because so many people there were supporting marriage equality. It was passed by the Washington State... Read more →

By Rita R. Robison Last week, an initiative was filed in Olympia, Wash., to repeal the law legalizing gay marriage, which was passed by the Washington State Legislature this spring. To mark the occasion, the Westboro Baptist Church, a nationally know hate group, came to Olympia to spread their anti-gay... Read more →

By Rita R. Robison About 880,000 ice/hot and ice gel packs are being recalled by California Innovations. About 248,000 units associated with lunch boxes and 55,000 associated with food carriers were previously recalled in January 2012. If the packs aredamaged, they can leak gel that could contain diethylene glycol and... Read more →

By Rita R. Robison I was able to get a bargain on a small item, pushpins. However, satisfaction with a more expensive consumer item, computer glasses, hasn’t been achieved yet. My best consumer experience: A good price on pushpins Just as I got a couple of blocks from my house... Read more →

By Rita R. Robison The computerized claims’ systems used by most of the nation’s largest insurance companies can be easily adjusted to make broad-scale “lowball” claims’ payments to injured consumers that are less than what they should receive under their insurance policies. Those are the findings of a report released... Read more →

By Rita R. Robison Drownings are the leading cause of injury death for children ages 1 to 4, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is continuing its work to reduce drowning deaths by launching the third year of its Pool... Read more →