It's never a good sign when 23 district attorneys are coming after you. But that's what happened when almost two dozen California district attorneys targeted retailing giant Amazon over plastic products labeled as "compostable" or "biodegradable" on its website. Golden State statutes ban such claims without caveats about exactly how long it will take for the product to actually break down. (Somewhere between 450 and 1,000 years.)

But Amazon settled those claims last week, dishing out $1.5 million and agreeing to fund testing of plastic products marketed to consumers as compostable or degradable.

In yet another salmonella outbreak, Pepperidge Farms has voluntarily recalled 3.3 million packages of Goldfish Crackers due to potentially contaminated whey product. All salmon and goldfish jokes aside ...

Essure, once sold worldwide as an effective and safe form of permanent birth control, has seen its own product life stunted. Bayer Pharmaceuticals announced that it will pull Essure from the U.S. market, the last to sell the device, by year's end.

Launched in 2002 as the first permanent non-surgical form of birth control, the device has fallen out of favor all over the world. Though Bayer claims the reason it will stop selling Essure is due to declining sales, many believe it is because thousands of women have filed a class-action product liability lawsuit, blaming the device for serious health problems, including constant pain, bleeding, and perforation of the uterus and fallopian tubes.

Milk has become a murky issue. Who knew a simple four letter word could be so misleading. Since the arrival of Soy Milk back in the 1980s, many different non-dairy milk products have come on the market, most notably rice and almond, and now hemp, and quinoa, and everything in between.

They prefer to call themselves "milk" in order to benefit from its halo affect, given the product's wholesome, nutritional public persona. But are these beverages really "milk"?

Look, we're not saying that you cheated on your spouse. We're not even saying that you've thought about it, received a steamy email, or had a stranger's number burn a hole in your smartphone. All we're saying is that some unsavory scam artists are playing the odds that your marital history is less than pristine, and hoping your insecurity will lead you to paying some big bucks to keep them quiet.

The first step to avoiding the scam is obvious: don't cheat. After that, know that the scammers probably don't have any real evidence, and report the incident.

A recent outbreak of salmonella linked to Kellogg's Honey Smacks cereal led to a recall of 1.3 million boxes, but it is widely believed that there are even more contaminated boxes out in the public. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has made it very clear to consumers -- "Do not eat Kellogg's Honey Smacks cereal of any size package or with any 'best if used by' date." They tweeted it even more bluntly -- "Do not eat this cereal."

So it's clear that we shouldn't be eating nor feeding our loved ones Honey Smacks. But what isn't so clear is what to do if you get sick from a salmonella outbreak.

You may have heard about predatory payday loans, wherein lenders give consumers cash advances based on their payroll and employment records. These loans often come with exorbitant interest rates, leading consumers to borrow more money, diving deeper into debt. But why make cash-strapped consumers come to you with their pay stubs, when you can just mail them a check, hoping they'll cash it and start the spiraling debt cycle themselves?

That's the latest predatory loan scheme, and its backers may be surprising.

In today's busy world, we often overlook a few things, especially if they are not in plain sight. One of those frustrating and costly things is recurring fees for auto-renewal services and recurring purchases. And sometimes those fees could be more than we bargained for, such as "free trial" offers where you get one free month and then a $59/month fee charged automatically to your credit card. Sound familiar?

Perhaps the fees were in small print that wasn't caught. Or perhaps we forgot to put a note in our calendar to cancel the subscription. Now, California has a new law concerning online cancelation. Here's what you need to know.

Consumers may have good intentions by installing solar panels on their homes, but some are reporting that solar companies and their sales representatives aren't making good on their promises. After reports of companies making false guarantees, purposely installing undersized systems, and knowingly signing unbuildable systems, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) kicked off a consumer education campaign aimed at educating and protecting solar customers from unscrupulous sales and construction companies.

So, if you're interested in installing some solar panels on your house, here's what to look out for and where to turn for help.

Erupting volcanoes (and earthquakes). Massive flooding. The world's deadliest hiking trail. A rash of snorkeling deaths. Few destinations in the world are as picturesque and relaxing as the Hawai'ian Islands. And few places seem as dangerous. And while Americans have been dreaming of a tropical vacation since Elvis strummed a guitar on its shores in 1961, many of them are now wondering if the risk is worth the trip.

The obvious answer is, yes -- you can safely travel to Hawai'i for vacation this summer. But there are a few things you'll want to watch out for, lest your dreams of an island paradise turn into a nightmare holiday.