The marriage of unruly locks, spandex and squelching guitar riffs nabbed the ’80s MTV generation.
This summer Oshkosh relives the glory days of big hair and heavy sounds when management group PMI welcomes hard-hitting rockers Cinderella and Warrant to Leach Amphitheater.
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Berks County Employer Sentenced for Workers’ Compensation Violations
HARRISBURG, Pa., May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A Berks County employer has been sentenced for failing to maintain workers’ compensation coverage for employees.
The Department of Labor & Industry today said Michael James Mortorano, owner of Merchandise Movers Inc., was sentenced to one-to-23-months incarceration, followed by six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring, and seven years probation.
Judge Scott Lash also fined Mortorano $50,000 and ordered him to pay $193,080.22 in restitution to an injured employee and $300,000 to the PA State Workers’ Insurance Fund.
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This is the final post related to Strategies of Abundance for green business ecopreneurs. The first two addressed how banks have a stranglehold on our lives (Part 1). Part 2 addresses the KISS principle (keep it small stupid), relocalization movement, and thriving on natural capital.
Following are a few more strategies we’ve employed, like many other ecopreneurs.
Strategy # 5: Enough Is Enough
A key facet for many small business ecopreneurs is the recognition of living within our ecological and financial means. By exiting the rat race and crafting our own business at a level we can manage, we can commit ourselves to our Earth Mission. A key step, however, is to let go of the idea that we must own a new car or new stereo, go on lavish vacations or in myriad ways keep up with the fictional Joneses. Many Europeans have known this for years.
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Maybe you’re not checking your credit report, but plenty of other people are – especially now. As consumer defaults rise, wary lenders are more particular about who they give money to and are raising the standard for what qualifies as an acceptable credit score.
Though it’s always a good idea to check your credit report, “the need to do that is even more compelling now,” says Norma Garcia, a senior attorney at Consumers Union.
Even if you have impeccable spending habits, your report may well have errors, which you’ll need to fix. So now’s a good time for a primer on how to buff up your report, and your score.
First, some basics: Your credit report plays a part in deciding how much interest you cough up for your car payment, whether you qualify for a mortgage loan, and what kind of credit card you can get. In North Carolina, home and auto insurers can use it to help determine the premium they’ll charge you. Some employers will ask if they can check your report before they hire you. Landlords, cell phone providers and utilities may also want to look at your status.
Your credit report includes information about the balances, defaults and opening dates of your credit cards, mortgage payments, student loans and other loans. Information from public records, including bankruptcies, foreclosures or tax liens, can be included. It also tells you who has recently asked for a copy of your report. There are three national companies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – that collect this information, then sell it to lenders and others.
Diane Ervin, a mortgage broker in Charlotte, figures that 60 percent of the people who walk through her door have no idea what’s on their credit report. And the majority of them, she said, have errors. She worries that people will be denied loans because they didn’t bother to check and correct their reports.
Errors often happen when your file is merged with that of someone who has a similar name or address, said Travis Plunkett, at the Consumer Federation of America. And since lenders don’t have to share information with the credit bureaus, many credit reports are missing information. A 2004 survey by U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups, found that one in four credit reports contained errors serious enough to result in a denial of credit.
If you’re applying for a job that involves handling money, your potential employer will probably ask for permission to pull your report. “If you’re a cashier, a waitress, a bookkeeper – your employer wants to know if you’re up to your eyeballs in debt,” said Leonard Gordon, a regional director with the Federal Trade Commission.
“Of course, you could be a trustworthy person with terrible credit,” he added, “but that’s not the way the business world thinks.”
How to get your credit report
Since 2005, the federal government has required each of the big three credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - to provide you with a free copy of your credit report once a year. (You’re also entitled to a free copy under certain circumstances, including if you’ve been the victim of identity theft, if you’re unemployed but expect to apply for a job within 60 days, or if your application for credit, insurance or employment is denied.)
The easiest way to get your report is to visit AnnualCreditReport.com. There are Web sites with similar names, but the Federal Trade Commission and consumer groups recommend against using them.
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May 22, 2008 (Computerworld) As the CEO of LifeLock Inc., Todd Davis has attracted considerable attention and controversy by publicly posting his Social Security number on the company’s Web site and publishing it in ads — all part of an effort to highlight LifeLock’s identity theft protection service.
But now LifeLock customers in three states are suing Davis and his company for false advertising and deceptive trade practices. Class-action lawsuits filed over the past few weeks in New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia allege that Tempe, Ariz.-based LifeLock is overstating the capabilities of its service and misleading customers about the guarantees that it makes to customers.
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After years of exploring the feasibility of a free trade agreement with the European Union, Canadian politicians and officials are now turning their attention to the next Canada-EU summit, in Montreal in October, as the venue for finally launching official talks.
But despite strong support for the relationship from Canadian policy makers and business associations at a conference last week, European diplomats and officials warn there are significant obstacles that must be addressed if October’s summit is to mark the start of negotiations.
While past talks between the two sides have been plagued by bureaucratic
hurdles, a momentum from within Canadian ranks for a possible free trade deal has garnered a fair amount of attention lately, including the presence of several high-level policy makers at a Public Policy Forum conference on the subject last Thursday.
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The wheels of criminal justice are grinding ever slower in the country’s adult courts, finds a Statistics Canada study.
In 2006-2007, it took an average of eight months to complete a case, compared to six months five years earlier, the agency said Tuesday.
"Longer times to complete cases may be in part due to an increase in the proportion of cases involving multiple charges," the study said.
In 2006-2007, cases involving multiple charges comprised 60 per cent of the adult case load, compared to 53 per cent a decade earlier, it said.
Although complexity is rising, fewer cases are being handled by the courts.
The courts handled just over 372,000 cases in 2006-07, a decrease of seven per cent compared to five years earlier.
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Georgia’s credit-freeze law goes into effect Aug. 1
The law, signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue last week, was hotly debated for three years. Credit bureaus and business argued it would provide minimal protection while increasing red tape. Consumer activists pushed for even stronger reforms. But after Georgians on both sides of the debate had time to assess the impact of other states’ similar laws, attitudes changed. Businesses in other states did not see a hit to their profits. Consumers did not rush to freeze their credit reports. And some experts say the option is neither problem-plagued nor ideal for everyone. The Georgia law comes after the big three credit bureaus — Experian, TransUnion and Atlanta-based Equifax — voluntarily began allowing consumers to freeze their credit files late last year. Resources for
RALEIGH, N.C., May 16, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — MJM, Inc., the global leader in insurance fraud mitigation and claims investigative services, working in conjunction with Everest National Insurance Company, successfully aided in the arrest and conviction of a California man for fraudulent workers’ compensation insurance claims.
Odir Fuentes, a 30-year-old construction worker, allegedly suffered injuries while working in July 2001. He was treated and released on the same day as the injury. Fuentes was under doctor’s orders to wear a back brace and given certain physical restrictions. Additionally, he was to limit the numbers of hours he worked per day.
Fuentes continued to work full time at the construction company, including overtime, using his own name until November 2001 when he began working under the name of Francisco J. Ceja.
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HireRight Releases the Industry’s Most Comprehensive Pre-Integrated Background Screening Solution Certified for Taleo 7.5
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HireRight, Inc. (Nasdaq: HIRE), a leader in on-demand employment screening, today announced it has released the industry’s most comprehensive, dynamic and easy-to-use pre-integrated background screening solution certified for use with Taleo Recruiting 7.5 talent management solution. HireRight is a long standing Taleo partner for integrated background screening solutions and provides the most widely-used integrated screening solution among Taleo customers. The HireRight Pre-integrated Screening Solution for Taleo is the first to offer an electronic I-9 capability integrated with Taleo Recruiting and HireRight’s employment screening services. In addition, this new enterprise screening management solution incorporates a Web 2.0 management dashboard, advanced collaboration capabilities and functionality that enables users to accomplish almost any required action related to employment screening with a single click.
According to Rob Pickell, vice president of marketing and product management, HireRight, Inc., “Leading companies understand that effective background screening is a program in which the entire enterprise is involved. Integrating employment screening seamlessly with the talent management solution results in increased workforce productivity, reduced time-to-hire and greater protection of the workplace and its employees. We’ve leveraged our 7 years of experience in providing pre-integrated screening solutions to develop what we believe to be the new benchmark in performance, ease-of-use, convenience, collaboration and capability.”
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