Los Angeles has swapped out 140,000 street lights for highly efficient LEDs, a move that could save the strapped $10 million annually

Highly efficient light bulbs may not be popular in  Minnesota’s 6th District. But the LED has taken over Hollywood.In 2009, Los Angeles Mayor AntonionVillaraigosa launched the Los Angeles LED Street Lighting Energy and Efficiency Program. The plan: swap out over 140,000 street lights and replace them with highly efficient light-emitting diodes. The effort was the largest such street LED light replacement program in the world.The project is a salient example of the benefits to biting the bullet on high upfront costs in exchange for big savings down the road.

No reason given.

Now who will guarantee people loving the way they look? On Wednesday, Men’s Wearhouse Inc. said it was dismissing founder and spokesman George Zimmer, but offered no explanation. The chain, which has more than 1,100 stores, has had a successful run recently, with its stock rising 30 percent in the last year. The retailer, along with Zimmer, is famous for its ads, which end with Zimmer saying, “You’re going to love the way you look. I guarantee it.”

Read it at The Los Angeles Times

Richard Drew/AP

The Federal Reserve says the economy is getting better. So why are investors so miserable?

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a little news today. No, he didn’t shed any light as to whether he will be serving another term once his current term expires next January. (We can safely assume he won’t.) And no, he didn’t announce a significant, imminent change in the policy under which the central bank buys $85 billion of securities in a month. In its statement, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s policy-making body, basically said there would be no change to the quantitative easing policy, designed to keep interest rates low and support the economy.

Rick Bowmer/AP (NSA Utah Data Center)

Sick of the growing lack of anonymity on the web? Apparently many people are, as ‘anonymous’ search engine DuckDuckGo saw a major boost after the NSA Prism scandal leaked.

by Cadie Thompson The 'anonymous' search engine DuckDuckGo is getting a boost off the PRISM scandal that is putting big tech companies like Google and Apple to shame.DuckDuckGo, a search engine that claims it gives its users complete anonymity, has seen a 33 percent increase in users since the NSA news broke over a week ago, said founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg on CNBC's Closing Bell Tuesday."We always knew people didn't want to be tracked, but what hadn't happened was reporting on the private alternatives and so it's no surprise that people are making a choice to switch to things that that will give them great results and also have real privacy," Weinberg said.

Will not ban ads for problematic food.

Don’t look to SpongeBob to get kids in shape. After the Walt Disney Co. said it would enact nutritional standards for ads related to food on its children’s channels, many advocates focused on rival Nickelodeon to follow suit. With food spots accounting for nearly a fifth of Nickelodeon’s advertising, the Viacom-owned network fired back at advocates, telling them that its job is to entertain children, whereas it is the government’s purview to decide where the lines are drawn on advertising, children, and nutritional standards.

Read it at The New York Times

At Paris Air Show.

Despite years of bad headlines over new models for the planemakers, the Paris Air Show has seen Boeing and Airbus land lucrative deals for their new jets. Boeing announced a $15.6 billion deal with Ryanair, the European budget airline, as well as the potential for more orders worth $20 billion. Airbus also landed a deal with Air France-KLM worth $7.2 billion for 25 of its A350 planes, as well as a $2.6 billion deal with SriLankan Airlines. Both Boeing and Airbus are benefiting from red-hot demand for fuel efficiency as well as growth in budget travel and emerging markets.

Read it at Reuters

Of Model S.

Despite no customer complaints and rave reviews from Consumer Reports, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a recall of hundreds of its Model S cars due to a seat problem. Tesla discovered an issue with a weld that could cause a back seat to come loose in an accident. Tesla’s preemptive action is notable, given the auto industry’s tendency to wait until after problems arise, like with Chrysler’s recent Jeep recall after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said there was a fire risk if the cars were hit from behind. Tesla says it will contact customers affected by the recall, pick up their cars, give them a loaner if required, and return the car in a couple of hours.

Read it at CNN Money

Michael Dwyer/AP

Are you ready to know how fattening your coffee is?

Your relationship with Starbucks is about to become a lot more intimate. The FDA has been planning to lay out national rules requiring chain restaurants to label their products with calorie counts for years, but in the meantime Starbucks is taking matters into its own hands and doing it now. And while you may not want to know that your favorite morning blueberry scone actually has 460 calories—a quarter of most women’s ideal daily intake—Starbucks is actually doing you a favor. Now, with the numbers staring you in the face, you’ll finally be motivated to make the long overdue switch from that 260-calorie caffè mocha to the 15-calorie Americano.

Read it at The Atlantic

Le Quang Nhat/AP

Ready to start taking action now.

The World Bank is concerned about the effects of global warming and not in a distant-future sort of way. It believes climate change poses short-term risks and has begun dedicating billions of dollars to water management, flood prevention, and other projects to help “hotspots” like Bangkok, Jakarta, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where the threat of damage from climate change is exceptionally high. According to a new study released by the bank Wednesday, Ho Chi Minh City’s flood-control system, for example, is considered outdated and in need of a $2 billion makeover. It “was built for a scenario that no longer exists,” said the bank’s vice president for environmental and sustainable development. “The investment they made was obsolete.” The World Bank’s new spending initiative hopes to remedy other such systems in various hotspots that could become dangerous in the next 20 years or so.

Read it at The Washington Post

Andrew Burton/Getty

The prophets of American economic decline revise their thinking.