Most of nation sees gas prices decline
California drivers wondering whether they will get relief
The average national price of regular gas has slipped under $5, marking the first time the closely watched number has decreased in nine weeks, according to AAA.
That's little consolation for California drivers who paid an average of $6.38 a gallon as of Tuesday, but it's an indication that prices will be slightly lower before the July 4 holiday, experts say.
Consumer gas prices dipped slightly in California in recent days, with the state average falling nearly 6 cents over the last week, AAA's survey of gas station prices showed.
Los Angeles County saw its largest daily decrease in the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline since April 13, with prices dropping 1.5 cents to $6.403 on Tuesday.
As in L.A., the Orange County average also has decreased for seventh consecutive days, dropping 1.4 cents overnight to $6.334.
Pump prices are declining in part because of a reduction in demand for fuel, reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as more drivers change daily routines and prioritize budgets for recreational travel, said Doug Shupe, corporate communications manager for the Automotive Club of Southern California.
Even more important, the wholesale price of oil fell by about 40 cents nationally and by 60 cents in California in the last week, said Marie Montgomery, spokesperson for the Automotive Club of Southern California.
Montgomery said the drop was due partly to the Federal Reserve's move last week to hike interest rates.
“There's sort of a negative reaction with commodities when interest rates are going to be raised,” Montgomery said. “So that was really the trigger for why we are seeing gas prices now coming down.”
At some California gas stations, prices have dipped below $6 a gallon, Montgomery said. They could fall further if high fuel costs continue creating “demand destruction,” as consumers opt to travel less rather than face high prices at the pump.
when companies engage in discriminatory advertising using more traditional advertising methods.”
Clarke said “companies like Meta have a responsibility to ensure their algorithmic tools are not used in a discriminatory manner.”
According to terms of the settlement, Facebook will stop using an advertising tool for housing ads that the government said employed a discriminatory algorithm to locate users who “look like” other users based on characteristics protected by the Fair Housing Act, the Justice Department said. By Dec. 31, Facebook
must stop using the tool once called “Lookalike Audience,” which relies on an algorithm that the U.S. said discriminates on the basis of race, sex and other characteristics.
Facebook also will develop a new system over the next half-year to address racial and other disparities caused by its use of personalization algorithms in its delivery system for housing ads, it said.
If the new system is inadequate, the settlement agreement can be terminated, the Justice Department said. Per the settlement, Meta also must pay a penalty of just over $115,000.
The announcement comes after Facebook already agreed in March 2019 to overhaul its ad-targeting systems to prevent discrimination in housing, credit and employment ads as part of a legal settlement with a group including the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Fair Housing Alliance and others.
The changes announced then were designed so that advertisers who wanted to run housing, employment or credit ads would no longer be allowed to target people by age, gender or zip code.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that the 2019 settlement reduced the potentially discriminatory targeting options available to advertisers but failed to resolve other problems, including Facebook's discriminatory delivery of housing ads through machine-learning algorithms.