12/1/2016:
Visa Extends EMV Deadline
Visa is giving gasoline retailers three more years to install EMV technology to process new chip-based credit cards and debit cards. It is moving the automated fuel dispenser (AFD) EMV activation date from Oct. 1, 2017, to Oct. 1, 2020, according to a Visa blog post. Visa said it is “attempting to proactively address marketplace realities and known challenges” in implementing the Europay, MasterCard and Visa rules.
 
12/1/2016:
Ramsey planning board rejects Route 17 Wawa
The Planning Board unanimously rejected a proposed Wawa on Route 17, believing the project was too large for the property and would create unsafe traffic circulation on site. For more than 50 neighbors who hired an attorney to oppose the project, the vote was a welcome relief. "I can't believe it," said Richard Krim, who lives adjacent to the property. "I have such a great appreciation for the integrity of the Planning Board." Hearings on the project spanned nearly four years, as residents of Bear's Cove -- an adjacent condo complex -- protested the venture over quality of life issues. The project called for a 5,000-square-foot gas station and convenience store, with a canopy extending over eight gasoline pumps and 46 parking spaces. Residents testified to a litany of concerns they feared over the Wawa’s construction, from boisterous truck noise to the possible smell that onsite dumpsters would emit. In the end, planning board members relied heavily on the advice of the borough’s engineering experts, who said traffic maneuvers around the property would be tight.  They recommended Wawa downsize some combination of the building footprint, fueling stations and parking spaces, which would allow trucks and cars to circulate more easily. Wawa declined to make those revisions. Board Chairman Rudy Iorio said Wawa’s decision not to make reductions led him to deny the application, calling the project “over-intensified” on the 1.77-acre property.
 
11/30/2016:
Oil Jumps Most in Nine Months After OPEC Agrees to Output Cuts
Oil surged after OPEC approved the first supply cuts in 8 years in an effort to ease a record glut and stabilize global markets.  Futures rose 9.3% in New York, the biggest gain since February. OPEC agreed to reduce collective production to 32.5 million barrels a day, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said. The accord comes into effect at the start of 2017 and will last six months. The pact also calls for an additional 600,000 barrels a day of cuts from non-OPEC suppliers. Oil has whipsawed since a production-cut was first proposed in Algiers in Sept. and investors speculated about whether a deal could be struck. Right to the end, major obstacles threatened to sink the deal. "OPEC has delivered on its Algiers goal to achieve a collective cut, but as always the devil is in the details," said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London. "What are the baselines of the cuts and the perennial issue of execution risk looms large. Furthermore, despite hopes for non- OPEC participation, the historical track record has been dismal."
 
11/26/2016:
Some fear California's tax on e-cigarettes may deter smokers
Smoking has dropped to historic lows nationwide, dramatically decreasing revenue from tobacco taxes. In search of funds, a growing number of states are taxing electronic cigarettes — a trend that is sparking a fierce public health debate over whether it will deter smokers from switching to a safer alternative. California became the 7th state to tax e-cigarettes with the overwhelming approval of a Nov. 8 ballot measure.  Proposition 56 also will add a $2 per pack state tax to cigarettes onto the already existing 87 cents per pack tax. State officials are still calculating the new tax structure.  The vaping industry estimates the tax could hike up the price of the battery-operated devices and liquids by more than 60 percent, making it more expensive to vape than smoke, even with the additional per-pack tobacco tax. "California just made the most attractive option unattractive for many smokers, and unaffordable," said Greg Conley of the American Vaping Association, which advocates for e-cigarettes as an alternative to tobacco. "Some may never make an attempt to quit." The taxation of e-cigarettes has split the public health community between those who support e-cigarettes being treated the same as tobacco and those who see them as an important tool in the fight against smoking, the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States. There's no scientific consensus on the risks or advantages of "vaping."