[Fox Business] California bars required to offer drug testing devices this summer

A new law will require many establishments that serve booze in California to provide drug test tools and post signage warning about drink spiking, starting July 1 this year.

The measure, AB1310, requires establishments with a Type 48 liquor license – granted to bars and nightclubs, without a requirement to serve food  – to offer patrons drug testing kits to test for common date-rape drugs, often referred to as ‘roofies,’ according to a press release. 

The required signage will include a message reading, “Don’t get roofied! Drink spiking drug test kits available here. Ask a staff member for details.”

The state says the new law will affect approximately 2,400 establishments in the Golden State. 

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Establishments must make test strips available, either for free or a small charge to customers who request them. Test strips have been on the market for a few years, often distributed at colleges, universities and within the U.S. military community. 

State Assembly member Jowsh Lowenthal of Long Beach – who owns three restaurants – introduced the bill to prevent sexual assault, according to local FOX 2 KTVU.

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“We have a crisis that’s taking place that’s resulting in sexual assault, that’s targeting primarily women and members of the LGBTQ communities,” Lowenthal said in a video presentation to the assembly. He is a father to three daughters and said the crime is underreported. 

“By way of example, I have members of my staff that have been roofied, members of the legislative body that have been roofied,” he said.  

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California is the first state in the country to enact such a law. 

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[Fox Business] ‘Shark Tank’ star Barbara Corcoran reveals when housing prices ‘will go through the roof’

One of America’s most prominent figures of commerce, finance and real estate has unveiled exactly when the housing market may see its next drastic shift.

“I can’t explain the rates going up or down – that’s not my bailiwick. But what I can explain is if rates go down, just another percentage point, that’s what I’m hoping for, prices are going to go through the roof,” The Corcoran Group founder and “Shark Tank” investor Barbara Corcoran said in a wide-ranging interview on “Cavuto: Coast to Coast” Wednesday.

“Everyone will come out and buy. There are probably 10 buyers on the sidelines waiting for interest rates to come down that are actually active in the market,” she continued. “So everybody’s going to charge the market.”

As of March 27, the interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage sat at 7% while the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.125%, both unchanged from the previous day.

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The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged for the fifth straight time in its latest meeting, while clarifying that plans to cut rates may be pushed out further, but remained committed to three this year.

The decision, which was widely expected, keeps the federal funds rate between a range of 5.25% to 5.5%, a 22-year-high. This will also keep rates for mortgages, loans and credit cards at elevated levels.

“If you wait for interest rates to come down by another point, I don’t think you’ll gain. I think you’ll wind up paying more,” Corcoran cautioned, “because I wouldn’t be surprised if real estate went up by another 8 or 10% if interest rates come down.”

“There’s a magic number that makes people get all juicy about. And it just has to slide down there for everybody to say: let’s get out there and take advantage of it,” she added.

Corcoran also expanded on recent commentary where she argued that the cost of selling homes could go down this year, but it doesn’t mean housing price tags will go lower.

“A lot of people are predicting house prices will come down because the seller will pay less of a commission and take that difference and give it to the buyer. Sellers aren’t made that way. When the seller lists a home, they want the most money they can get, so they’re going to take any savings and put it in their pocket,” she told FOX Business’ Neil Cavuto.

“The cost of housing, I believe, will go up because it has been going up. It’s been going up for the last five years, despite the dire state of the shortage of houses,” Corcoran said. “So house prices have gone up 6% this year alone. But the real deal is, [there] is not enough houses to go around.”

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Amid other macroeconomic uncertainties, the one factor that would push real estate on an upward trajectory is more supply, according to the industry leader.

“Whenever there’s uncertainty, people stall. And whenever people stall, it stalls the marketplace. So any kind of uncertainty slows down the market,” Corcoran noted. “But despite that, and overriding all of that, is a shortage of houses. You can’t erase a shortage of houses, and it’s going to push that market forward.”

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FOX Business’ Suzanne O’Halloran contributed to this report.

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[Fox Business] March Madness lets athletes boost name, image, and likeness opportunities

March Madness is entering its second week with Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games coming up and student-athletes whose teams are in the field will be on their biggest stage of the season as they look to help their teams advance and potentially find themselves receiving lucrative marketing opportunities at the same time.

A rule changed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2021 allowed college athletes to earn income through licensing their name, image and likeness (NIL) rights to businesses that want to pay them money to do things like appear in advertisements or make social media posts. NIL has in many ways transformed the college sports landscape.

The NCAA Division I basketball tournament is one of the biggest stages in college sports and sponsors have looked to capitalize with NIL deals with some of the sport’s biggest stars. 

Michael Duffy, managing director, private wealth strategist and head of art planning at Merrill Wealth Management, told FOX Business in an interview that athletes competing on such a big stage “expands their NIL universe immensely” and that the college-affiliated collectives, which can function like a clearinghouse for NIL deals, can see an influx of sponsors as their teams progress.

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In the women’s tournament, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark got a deal with Bose and appeared in an ad for their headphones after she appeared in a Buick ad a year ago around the time of the tournament. Nike, State Farm, Gatorade and other brands have also sponsored Clark through NIL deals over the course of her college career as she has become the all-time leading scorer in Division I.

This year’s men’s tournament saw the No. 14 seed Oakland Grizzlies pull off a stunning upset of the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats, the winningest program in college basketball history. Oakland was led by shooting guard Jack Gohlke, a Division II transfer who landed NIL deals with TurboTax and Buffalo Wild Wings, among others, after sinking 10 three pointers in the upset bid.

Duffy explained that it can be challenging for college athletes, who are often influenced by how they see professional athletes acting in terms of their financial habits, to understand that they’re at a different stage of their career and should be more cautious about conserving their newfound funds for the future.

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“It’s very hard to teach these amateurs that they’re not there yet in their career, that they shouldn’t worry about that part of their public image, they should be worrying about their performance and not the clothes they’re wearing or the clothes they drive,” Duffy said.

He added that convincing a college athlete not to spend their money on a knee jerk purchase and to instead put money away into a retirement plan that they can’t withdraw from without penalty in most cases until they’re at least 59 and a half years old “can be a difficult conversation but it’s so worthwhile – I mean the earlier they can start the better.”

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Duffy explained that some NIL beneficiaries haven’t taken business courses or may not understand the power of compounding

“One of the ways to prove it to them is just showing them the numbers: If you start now versus 10 years from now or 20 years from now, this is what it would look like when you’re approaching retirement,” he said. “And if you can just put this money in, forget about it, and just pretend it’s not yours for the next three or four decades you’re going to be just fine.”

He noted that college athletes receiving NIL funds are self-employed so they can “maybe do a SEP-IRA or some other alternate retirement plan for a sole proprietor or just a single person” that gets them started saving for their future.

With NIL in college sports a relatively new phenomenon, Duffy said that schools and their associated collectives are “putting in a support system now for these college athletes” that can feature “classes and seminars on basic financial management up to how to build a website to enhance your NIL visibility.”

“What I am seeing, by the way, is some very successful college athletes remain college athletes for an extra year or two because the money is so good before going on and trying to make the pros somewhere,” Duffy said, noting that some NIL deals may be more lucrative for college athletes than a pro contract at the lower end of a league’s pay scale.

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Duffy added that financial advisors can help college athletes dealing with an influx of income from NIL run interference with what can be extremely difficult requests from family members or friends who are looking to tap into those funds, when it may not be in the long-term financial interest of the athlete to agree to those requests.

“We can run interference, we can provide education. I love to say the your financial advisor can be the one who says no to your friends and family – let them be the bad guy,” he said. “I think it’s great to have a professional, an adult in the room, who can help try to lead that athlete to a good decision.”

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[Fox Business] FTX CEO John Ray has harsh words for Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX CEO John J. Ray III, who is representing the creditors seeking billions in restitution from the defunct crypto trading firm, submitted on their behalf a victims’ statement to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ahead of Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing on March 28, 2024. Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven counts of defrauding investors. 

Ray did not mince words, poking holes in the sentencing submission given by Bankman-Fried in which he claimed FTX debtors made false claims. Ray describes in his letter how his team was handed a “dumpster fire” to reorganize. 

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During congressional testimony in 2022 ahead of Bankman-Fried’s conviction, Ray revealed a massive lapse of corporate governance at FTX overseen by Bankman-Fried himself, which included the co-mingling of funds with sister company Alameda Research. 

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Bankman-Fried, whose net worth was over $20 billion, before the FTX collapse, is banking on the rebound of bitcoin. It has risen to nearly $70,000 from the $15,000 level. It’s unclear how or if a bitcoin bounce could play a role in a lighter sentence should more victims get their money back. 

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