Americans are rediscovering the coldest aisle in the supermarket.

According to a new report, sales of frozen foods, including vegetables and prepared foods, are now on the rise following a multi-year slump.

The uptick is new — and modest. But growth “is accelerating as consumers begin to see freezing as a way to preserve food with fewer negatives,” concludes a report from RBC Capital Markets.

At a time when two-thirds of Americans say they want to eat more vegetables, 85 percent of consumers fail to eat the minimum recommended amount. It’s “one of the widest disconnects in the world of eating,” concludes the RBC report. Perhaps innovations in the frozen aisle could help narrow this divide.

Frozen produce already has several factors going for it: “its affordability and its convenience,” says Phil Lempert, editor of Supermarketguru.com. And given that the typical American family tosses out $1,500 worth of food yearly — normally after it goes bad in the fridge — frozen foods, which have a much longer shelf life, could help cut back on waste. “People are more concerned about waste than ever before,” Lempert says.

Big food companies are offering up new options in the frozen aisle. The RBC report points to the development of products such as veggie tots, an alternative to carbohydrate-heavy tater tots, and veggie rice, which is seen as a healthier alternative to white rice, which is a refined starch that can spike blood sugar.

Pinnacle Foods, which owns Birds Eye, has launched new pastas made from vegetables. And Green Giant, owned by B&G Foods, has introduced Veggie Spirals, made from beets, butternut squash, zucchini and carrots. Options like these may help “increase vegetable eating occasions” — and help maintain the growth momentum for frozen foods, the report concludes.

But, there are still headwinds facing the frozen food sector. Many Americans have heard the message that fresh is best. And the texture of frozen vegetables turns some people off.

“Fresh and local is what they say tends to be healthier,” shopper Olivia Mitchell told me as she shopped the aisles of a Trader Joe’s with her baby in tow. Mitchell says she prefers to buy fresh produce, and she recently joined a CSA, so she’s looking forward to deliveries of local produce this summer.

However, with two kids and a busy schedule, Mitchell acknowledges the convenience of frozen food. “I buy frozen peas and okra,” she says. She also buys frozen entrees that her husband takes for lunch.

As for the assumption that fresh is healthiest, it turns out that frozen produce can pack a punch when it comes to nutrition.

When you freeze fruits and vegetables, it locks in nutrients, and several studies have shown that this helps retain high levels of vitamins.

“You can store them in the freezer for a year and the nutrient level pretty much stays the same,” says plant scientist Hazel MacTavish-West, who is a food industry consultant.

She says many factors influence the nutritional content of fruits and vegetables, but frozen produce tends to hold up pretty well.

Food scientists at the University of California, Davis, designed a study to compare the nutritional value of fresh and frozen produce. They measured the nutrients in samples of eight different kinds of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables — including carrots, broccoli, spinach, peas and berries.

“We were quite surprised to find there were no significant differences,” says study author Diane Barrett, an emerita professor in the Department of Food Science & Technology at UC Davis.

“Overall, the frozen was as good as fresh, and in some cases the frozen fruits and vegetables were better than fresh,” Barrett says. For instance, most of the frozen fruits and vegetables had higher levels of vitamin E.

That study was funded by the Frozen Food Foundation, part of the American Frozen Food Institute. However, Barrett says the foundation did not dictate any of the parameters of the study. “I designed the study, determined which analytical procedures to use, and interpreted the results,” Barrett explains.

Barrett says frozen produce does lose some nutrients during processing, when it’s blanched or steamed. But she says part of the reason the nutrition holds up well in frozen fruits and vegetables can be explained by how quickly it’s frozen after harvest. “Typically, the freezing facilities are very close to where the vegetables are grown, so within hours, [the vegetables] are frozen,” she says.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Wednesday it has launched an investigation into a rear-end collision involving a Tesla in South Jordan, Utah, the Associated Press reported. It marks at least the third investigation into crashes involving the company’s cars since March.

The driver of the Tesla Model S told police the car was in Autopilot, a semi-autonomous mode, and that she was staring at her phone when the sedan plowed into the back of a Utah fire department truck stopped at a red light. The 28-year-old driver, who said she was going about 60 mph, sustained a broken ankle while the truck’s driver suffered minor injuries.

“Consistent with NHTSA’s oversight and authority over the safety of all motor vehicles and equipment, the agency has launched its special crash investigations team to gather information on the South Jordan, Utah, crash. NHTSA will take appropriate action based on its review,” the agency said, as quoted by CNBC.

Car company owner, Elon Musk said in a tweet Tuesday, “It’s super messed up that a Tesla crash resulting in a broken ankle is front page news and the ~40,000 people who died in US auto accidents alone in past year get almost no coverage.”

Minutes later he added, “What’s actually amazing about this accident is that a Model S hit a fire truck at 60mph and the driver only broke an ankle. An impact at that speed usually results in severe injury or death.”

The electric car company cautions drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and remain vigilant even while the vehicle is in semi-autonomous mode.

Just last week, the agency opened investigation into a Florida crash where the same model Tesla caught fire, trapping and killing two men and injuring a third after ramming into a concrete wall.

“The vehicle immediately caught on fire, becoming fully engulfed in flames. The speed of which the vehicle was traveling is believed to have been a factor in the crash,” Fort Lauderdale Police said in a statement.

Meanwhile, NHTSA investigators are still scrutinizing the conditions leading to fatal wreck in March in California, where Tesla’s Autopilot system was in use. In that case, the Model X SUV collided head-on into a roadside barrier and caught fire. The driver was pulled out of the car but did not survive.

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Now that the Supreme Court says it’s OK, states are free to legalize betting on sports if they want to. As a once under-the-table economy moves into the open, it creates some large business opportunities — and the potential for millions in new tax revenues.

But first comes the nitty-gritty part: writing the rules for how sports fans can bet on their favorite games — the legal age, where people can bet, licensing requirements, software standards for mobile apps, and money laundering safeguards.

“We also have to establish what the tax structure will be,” says New Jersey Assemblyman John Burzichelli. “That’s very important. We’re actually in our budget cycle now.”

He says the tax rate is still being negotiated, but will be between 8 percent and 15 percent of revenue after winnings are paid out. He says New Jersey can get these rules written in about four weeks.

This puts the state neck and neck with Delaware and Mississippi. Close behind them — and just in time for football season — are Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Connecticut. These are all states with an established gaming industry, all trying to be the first to take legal sports bets.

“Markets of this size don’t just come into being on a regular basis,” says Chris Grove, a gaming analyst for the research firm Eilers & Krejcik.

He expects 32 states to eventually allow sports gaming, worth roughly $6 billion annually. But, he says, that may not come so easily.

“There’s an existing black market. It’s entrenched. It’s attractive. It offers a number of advantages that regulated betting sites will never be able to offer: the lack of having to fill out tax forms and have your winnings reported, the ability to bet on credit,” Grove says.

But new entrants into the gaming industry don’t expect much competition from the black market.

“I think most people would prefer to do things in a legal manner if given the option,” says Jason Robins, CEO of the daily fantasy sports company DraftKings.

He compares illegal sports betting to the pirating of music. Most people shifted to legal products when streaming services came along. He contends something similar will happen in sports gambling.

Some analysts warn that profit margins might not be as plush as investors hope. A lot depends on how heavily sports betting is taxed.

And on top of taxes, there’s what professional sport leagues want.

After years of fighting against sports betting, the NFL, Major League Baseball and other leagues have changed their approach. Over the last few months they’ve been going state to state, lobbying aggressively for a special fee to pay for policing against cheating, like an athlete intentionally throwing a game.

In New Jersey, leagues tried to get a fee between 2 percent and 3 percent of gross wagers. But lawmakers balked.

“They’re not paying that in Nevada and their not paying that to the illegal sportsbooks.” Burzichelli says. “That’s a nonstarter as far as I’m concerned.”

In statements Monday, the major sport leagues said they will be looking to Congress for a “regulatory framework” to protect the “integrity” of their games.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey is sponsoring one bill, which would establish a legal framework for consumer protections and give the Federal Trade Commission some oversight. But he acknowledges it’s not getting passed anytime soon.

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The Trump administration announced Monday that it has dramatically increased the number of worksite investigations and audits to make sure that American businesses do not employ people who are in the U.S. illegally.

Immigration officials say they have launched more than 3,500 worksite investigations, already doubling the number of cases compared to the previous fiscal year. Similarly, 2,282 employer audits were conducted between Oct. 1 and May 4 (with five months remaining in FY18). Over the course of last fiscal year, only 1,360 audits were launched.

“An audit is a review of business records,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Danielle Bennet. “An investigation can include an audit and is conducted because of suspicion that the law in being violated and can result in criminal charges and/or civil fines.”

A 1986 federal law requires employers to verify that their employees are legally authorized to work here. Employers have to document the eligibility of their hires using Form I-9.

In a statement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it is working to ensure that American businesses maintain “a culture of compliance.”

“Our worksite enforcement strategy continues to focus on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly break the law, and the use of I-9 audits and civil fines to encourage compliance with the law,” said Acting Executive Associate Director for Homeland Security Investigations, Derek N. Benner. “HSI’s worksite enforcement investigators help combat worker exploitation, illegal wages, child labor and other illegal practices.”

Thus far, 594 employers have been arrested for criminal violations of the immigration law, that’s four times the number of arrests last fiscal year.

According to the Associated Press, ICE plans to ramp up its audit campaign this summer.

“Derek Benner, head of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, told The Associated Press that another nationwide wave of audits planned this summer would push the total ‘well over’ 5,000 by Sept 30. ICE audits peaked at 3,127 in 2013.

“The agency has developed a plan to open as many as 15,000 audits a year, subject to funding and support for the plan from other areas of the administration, Benner said.

“The proposal calls for creation of an Employer Compliance Inspection Center to perform employer audits at a single location instead of at regional offices around the country, Benner said. Electronically scanning the documents will help flag suspicious activity, and the most egregious cases will be farmed out to regional offices for more investigation. Audit notices will be served electronically or by certified mail, instead of in person.”

The ICE statement says that in FY17, “businesses were ordered to pay $97.6 million in judicial forfeitures, fines and restitution, and $7.8 million in civil fines.”

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It’s a single line in an email:

“The office of ‘Students & Young Consumers’ … will be folded into the office of ‘Financial Education.’ “

Words sent Wednesday morning by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s acting director, Mick Mulvaney, announcing various staffing changes at the bureau.

Why did this bureaucratic-sounding announcement trigger a sheaf of critiques from consumer groups, California’s attorney general and at least two U.S. senators?

Because student loans just crossed the $1.5 trillion mark. They are the biggest category of borrowing after mortgages. And since 2012, when college students are mistreated or misled, the CFPB’s Student and Young Consumer division has been there to help:

• They have collected and analyzed hundreds of thousands of student complaints.
• They’ve recovered more than $750 million on behalf of defrauded students.
• They were instrumental in the shutdown of the for-profit ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges, both accused of predatory practices.
• In January of last year, CFPB sued Navient, the nation’s largest student loan company.

Students and Young Consumers, until recently, was a parallel program office to the office of Financial Education, so this reorganization looks an awful lot like a demotion. Staffers at the bureau, who declined to use their names for fear of losing their jobs, tell NPR they believe this is a move to weaken their ability to protect student loan borrowers and other young people.

A former senior CFPB attorney agrees. “This is an appalling step,” says Christopher Peterson, a law professor at the University of Utah and a former enforcement lawyer and special advisor at the CFPB. “This has been an office that’s been out there protecting consumers when student loan debt collectors, predatory schools, and other companies have been violating the law.”

The CFPB’s spokesman John Czwartacki told NPR: “This is a very modest organizational chart change to keep the Bureau in line with the statute but the office is still operating within the same division. The work of the office continues, personnel are all on the job and working on the same material as they were before. The bottom line is there is no functional or even practical change.”

Here’s a recap of the context. President Trump named Mulvaney, who is still the director of the Office of Management and Budget, concurrently to this post at CFPB last fall. The only problem was, Obama appointee Richard Cordray had already named his deputy, Leandra English, to be his successor. In fact just last month the two were in court fighting about it. As a U.S. Representative, Mulvaney criticized the agency and voted both to muzzle it and to get rid of it entirely. Also last month, he faced off against Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in a banking committee hearing; she blasted him for his lack of regulatory verve since assuming the post, saying, “You are hurting real people to score cheap political points.”

Meanwhile, it’s getting lonely out there for those trying to hold shady lenders, servicers and colleges accountable.

“Now, I’m less convinced that there’s going to be somebody in Washington who is paying attention to whether or not these businesses are doing what they’re supposed to,” says Peterson.

The Department of Education stopped cooperating with CFPB on student loan enforcement last fall, and in March, they issued guidance telling states to back off too.

This story has been updated with the CFPB’s response.

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