plus 3, Local briefs - Asbury Park Press

Local briefs - Asbury Park Press
10 worst ideas of the week: Feb. 28 - San Francisco Examiner
Fiat, Atlantia, Intesa, UniCredit, Enel: Italian Equity Preview - BusinessWeek
Debt Consolidation Services - Are They The Best Alternative? - PRLog (free press release)

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 08:20 AM PST

Businesswomen honored

Jackie Berman, Shannon Harris and Bernadette Strout were awarded the Teal Heart Award from the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners, Monmouth-Ocean chapter. The award is given to acknowledge members for outstanding service and dedication to the chapter.

Berman owns Cartridge Renewal Systems, a cartridge remanufacturing company which she and her husband started in 1993. She is a member of NJAWBO and is currently the state vice president of membership. Berman was also awarded the Business Woman of the Year Award. This award honors a woman business owner who has distinguished herself in her business, NJAWBO and in her community.

Harris is a regional vice president and independent consultant with Arbonne International, a network marketing and health and wellness company specializing in anti-aging skin care.

Strout is a financial adviser with Ameriprise Financial Services in Matawan. She offers personal financial planning for retirement income strategies, cash-flow management strategies, health care planning, tax management strategies, protection planning/family security, estate planning strategies and small businesses.

Wall man joins board

Christopher Martin of Wall has been appointed to the board of directors of the Provident Bank Foundation and elected president. Martin has served as vice president of the foundation since 2004.

Martin has 28 years of banking experience. Before joining Provident as chief operating officer in 2004, he was president and chief operating officer of First Sentinel Bancorp. which was acquired by Provident Financial Services.

Therapy service moves

CentraState Sports Performance and Physical Therapy has relocated from Freehold to Monroe 33 Tennis, Basketball and Sports Center at 4 Farrington Blvd., Monroe. The program helps athletes maximize performance while preventing injuries.

Chiropractor opens office

Dr. Sharon Daly DeHope has opened Family Wellness Chiropractor at 1140 Burnt Tavern Road, Brick.

She has been practicing for more than 20 years and emphasizes nutrition counseling and strength training along with activator chiropractic adjustments for all ages, especially infants, children, teens and prenatal patients.

Chamber gives awards

The Point Pleasant Chamber of Commerce presented its Leadership Awards at its annual awards and installation dinner dance.

Award recipients are Bubbakoo's Burritos for business excellence; the Scone Shoppe for entrepreneurship; the Point Pleasant Foundation for excellence in education for service to the community. Jack Burke was honored for volunteer services and Edward Gilmore's award was for lifetime leadership.

Frank Scarpone of OceanFirst Bank was installed as president; Colleen Smith of J.F. Murray is vice president; Nancy Strassheim of Heim Electronics is secretary; and Heather Keefe of Keefe Communications is treasurer.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

10 worst ideas of the week: Feb. 28 - San Francisco Examiner

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 07:59 AM PST

1. Self-abduction

French firm offers to kidnap you

The details: Are you rich, bored and need an adrenaline boost? Ultime Realite, a firm in eastern France, is offering a package where it will kidnap you, keeping you incarcerated — bound and gagged — for four hours. All for a tidy sum of $1,226. That is just for the basic package. If you choose, you can involve an escape or even a helicopter chase. The longest incarceration has been 11 hours. The company was opened in January and is receiving two requests a day, many from top-level executives who are tired of bungee jumping and skydiving.

2. Poor sport

Speedskater shoves worker after disqualification

The details: Sven Kramer is a legend in the Netherlands, which treats speedskating like it is the Super Bowl. The Vancouver Olympics' 5,000-meter gold medalist was disqualified after winning his 10,000-meter race and, he thought, another gold after he skated the last eight laps in the wrong lane due to his coach providing the wrong directions. To make matters worse, Kramer pushed and shouted at a worker, causing international scorn. He has since apologized.

3. Big Brother strikes

Man arrested for wearing wig, clown mask in Florida

The details: A 19-year-old Tampa, Fla., man faces charges after a deputy spotted him wearing a clown mask and bright wig as he walked down the street with two other people. Apparently, it's against the law to wear a mask or hood on a public road in Hillsborough County if you're over the age of 16. He was released from Hillsborough County Jail on $750 bond.

4. Bank fees

Credit cards blitz consumers to keep using services

The details: As credit card rules tighten for banks, the industry is aggressively pitching customers with various persuasive letters, phone calls and e-mails urging consumers to keep using costly services. The new rules require banks to get customers to agree or "opt in" to continue some services, like debit card overdraft protection. Some banks are now charging up to $35 for this service; fees that provide sought-after revenue.

5. The inhumanity

Onlookers tweet, videotape, taunt man to jump

The details: A young man committed suicide by jumping from a downtown San Francisco building in his underwear, shocking the crowd that had gathered. Onlookers will carry not only the memory of the death itself, but of some members of the crowd yelling "Jump!" just before the tragedy, videotaping, calling and tweeting about the event — which many seemed to think was a publicity stunt. "It was pretty messed up," a witness said. A teen who had been present commented on The Examiner's Web site that the lack of respect for the victim was very traumatic.

6. Florida politics

Senate campaign heating up

The details: Marco Rubio, Senate candidate and former Florida House speaker, blasted opponent Gov. Charlie Crist's campaign for leaking Rubio's state GOP credit card statements. Rubio said his nearly $110,000 in charges over 25 months were legitimate travel to promote the Republican Party. Sharon Day, the state party's national committeewoman, defended Rubio and said she was angry someone would try to use the credit card statements against him.

7. All wet

Dubai's giant aquarium cracks and floods mall

The details: Shoppers at Dubai's glitziest mall fled in terror after a 2-year-old aquarium holding hundreds of sharks and stingrays in 10 million gallons of water cracked open through a 30-inch-thick acrylic viewing panel. Torrents of water gushed into the tank's walk-through area, where visitors are virtually surrounded by the water. Workers wearing lifejackets managed to seal off the leak without any of the aquarium's 33,000 sea creatures getting out.

8. NBC on thin ice

Olympic figure skating held for air until almost midnight

The details: Broadcasting decisions on NBC's part are leaving viewers angry and confused, especially when they have to wait until past bedtime to watch a tape delay of the women's figure skating competition. Kim Yu-na, Rachael Flatt and Joannie Rochette's performances were some of the most popular and compelling, but Bay Area fans had to wait until almost midnight to see who was crowned the champion. NBC is contracted for the Olympics until 2012, so the peacock network needs to get its priorities straight.

9. Hot for teacher

Teachers perform lap dance in front of high school students

The details: A spirit rally turned into a steamy erotic dance at a Winnipeg high school, when a male teacher danced suggestively around a female teacher who was sitting in a chair. More than 100 students in grades 9-12 watched, and many whooped their appreciation from the stands. Of course, someone was videotaping with a cell phone, and the video wound up on YouTube and went viral. Both teachers are off work while the board looks into the incident, but many students say they support the teachers and want them to come back.

10. Dumb dialing

Cops overhear teens talking during automobile theft

The details: Two Florida teenagers face charges after 911 dispatchers heard them discussing breaking into cars. One teenager's cell phone accidentally dialed 911 while the two were rummaging through a car they had broken into, deciding what was worth taking. Officers were directed to the area and confronted the teens, who both admitted to the robbery.

Dim bulb of the week: Tony Kornheiser

What: ESPN host says Hannah Storm's outfit looks like 'sausage casing'

Why: The "Pardon the Interruption" host made inappropriate comments on longtime colleague Storm's clothing, saying her duds were "horrifying" and that her shirt looked like "sausage casing wrapped around her upper body." Kornheiser also speculated on Storm's age vis-à-vis her hemline: "It's way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s." He was suspended for two weeks.

Sinking ship

Recent college graduates owe an average $23,200 debt in student loans, and the burden is expected to keep rising. The number of student loan accounts in the U.S. has climbed to 69 million — a 29 percent increase since just two years ago. As college becomes less and less affordable, students borrowed a grand total of $527 billion to get through to graduation.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Fiat, Atlantia, Intesa, UniCredit, Enel: Italian Equity Preview - BusinessWeek

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 07:16 AM PST

February 28, 2010, 10:19 AM EST

By Lorenzo Totaro

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may be active in Italian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are from the previous close.

Italy's benchmark FTSE MIB gained 225.09, or 1.1 percent, to 21,068.32 in Milan.

Fiat SpA (F IM): The Italian carmaker that runs Chrysler Group LLC, will bring the Alfa Romeo back to the U.S., probably in 2012, Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said. The shares were unchanged at 7.73 euros.

Atlantia SpA (ATL IM): Italy's toll highway operator sold its 25 percent stake in Autoestradas do Oeste SA to Lena SGPS and Lena Engenharia e Costrucoes SA for 26.1 million euros ($35.6 million). The shares rose 1.4 percent to 16.94 euros.

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP IM): Italy's second-largest lender selected eight banks to manage and advise on the initial public offering of its Banca Fideuram asset management unit, Il Messaggero reported without saying where it got the information.

Also, Compagnia Sanpaolo, the biggest investor in Intesa, and the Fondazione Cariplo banking foundation will support the same candidates for the supervisory board of the bank, the newspaper said. The shares lost 0.2 percent to 2.5825 euros.

UniCredit SpA (UCG IM): A Milan court ordered CNP UniCredit Vita, the Italian bank's joint-venture with CNP Assurance, to pay 369,570 euros to a client of its life-insurance unit who was sold a policy indexed to a Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. structured bond, Il Sole 24 ore reported, citing court documents and the client's lawyer. The shares increased 1.5 percent to 1.857 euros.

Enel SpA (ENEL IM): Italy may fail to return to nuclear power because of a lack of political support and possible delays in site selection and plant construction, Former Prime Minister Romano Prodi said in an opinion piece in Il Messaggero. Enel Chief Executive Officer Fulvio Conti had said in a Feb. 15 interview with Les Echos that his company should be "responsible" for Italy's nuclear power program. The shares gained 2.1 percent to 3.9825 euros.

Mittel SpA (MIT IM): Giovanni Gorno Tempini, the director general of the financial-services company headed by Intesa Sanpaolo SpA Chairman Giovanni Bazoli, may replace Massimo Varazzani as chief executive officer of Cassa Depositi & Prestiti Spa, the lending arm of the Italian government, Il Sole 24 Ore reported without saying where it got the information. The shares rose 0.2 percent to 3.35 euros.

--Editors: Susan Lerner, Claudia Maedler.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lorenzo Totaro in Rome at ltotaro@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Fraher at jfraher@bloomberg.net

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Debt Consolidation Services - Are They The Best Alternative? - PRLog (free press release)

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 07:59 AM PST

PR Log (Press Release) – Feb 28, 2010 – The interest rates alone could be keeping your payments high enough that they just aren't manageable. This is particularly true if you've had some kind of financial setback.

How Do You Lower Your Debt?

Natalia Osorio Editor of the "Best Debt Consolidation Services" website -- http://www.ReputableDebtConsolidationCompanies.com -- pointed out;

"…The internet is a great tool for helping you manage your debt and bring it back to a level that you can live with. Finding a loan that can help you consolidate all of your monthly re-payments into just one payment that will bring you a lower payment each month with a much lower interest rate can be done quite easily from your home PC…"

Is Debt Consolidation a Good Alternative?

In fact, if you use it wisely there are various types of programs and loans that are one of the best alternatives to the higher multiple payments you are making each month. Consider that you may be paying even 25% interest on some of the credit cards that you are currently attempting to repay. Those interest payments alone can keep you from being able to repay the debt in a timely way. If you pay more than one high interest loan or credit card company each month, then any way to lower your payment is certainly something you need to look at more closely.

The reason that these services are the best alternative for many people is simple mathematics. Interest rates on bank loans are, even if you don't qualify for the best rate, still much lower than you are currently paying on your credit card bills. If you are paying multiple credit cards, as most people are, the interest rates alone could be keeping your bills higher than you can afford to repay.

"…One loan could wipe out the interest rate on many credit cards. The lower interest rate, as well as the lower monthly payments that many of these services will be charging you, will lower your payments each month. The acquisition of a service such as this could cut the monthly payments you pay out by as much as half of what you are paying now. That monthly savings in payments may be enough to help you to get back on your feet and make your payments manageable so that you can begin to rebuild your credit and get your finances in order…" N. Osorio added.

Further information about trusted and reputable companies for debt consolidation by visiting; http://www.ReputableDebtConsolidationCompanies.com

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.