Despite high-profile media attention, the odds of having your credit or debit card number stolen by crooks remains at historically low levels. That said, it’s always good to know what to do in case lightening does strike and someone fraudulently uses your card. Left unchecked, they might try to run up bills, drain your checking account or worse – steal your identity.

Here are actions to take if this happens to you:

First, contact the bank or credit union that issued your card. You’ll find a toll-free number on the back of your card, on your billing statement or at the company’s website. Close the compromised account and open a new one with a different account number. Change related passwords or PIN numbers and notify companies that have automatic payments tied to the closed account to make sure you don’t miss a payment. Also log all calls, letters and emails you have with your card issuer about the fraud – this will be helpful if you need to file a claim or police report.

Contact one of the three major credit bureaus, Equifax (888-766-0008), Experian (888-397-3742) or TransUnion (800-680-7289), and place an Initial Fraud Alert on your credit file if you suspect you have been, or are about to be, a victim of identity theft. Whichever bureau you contact will notify the other two to do the same. If you wish, you can renew these fraud alerts each quarter, free of charge. If you determine that you actually have suffered identity theft, you can also file an Extended Fraud Alert, which will stay on your reports for seven years.

Placing a fraud alert entitles you to one free credit report from each bureau. Although the alert makes it harder for someone to open new credit accounts in your name, it won’t necessarily prevent them from using existing accounts. That’s why it’s important to close compromised accounts and to carefully review your credit reports for errors, fraudulent activity, or suspicious credit inquiries from an unfamiliar source. Also be aware that posting a fraud alert could delay your own ability to obtain new credit.

If you determine someone has stolen from your account or your identity has otherwise been compromised, file an identity theft report with the police. The Federal Trade Commission’s “Defend: Recover From Identity Theft” website contains step-by-step instructions for completing and filing the report with local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies (www.ftc.gov/consumer).

Also send copies of the report – by certified mail, return requested – to the credit bureaus and companies whose accounts were impacted. You can also file a complaint with the FTC, which will enter the information into a secure online database shared by thousands of civil and criminal law-enforcement authorities worldwide (https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov).

Most card issuers provide “zero liability” coverage for unauthorized credit and debit card use when you promptly report the loss. Rules vary, so ask your bank or credit union for its policies.

Going forward, carefully monitor your monthly credit card and bank statements for fraudulent charges. To learn other good tips for protecting your personal and account information and preventing fraud, visit:

• The National Cyber Security Alliance’s www.StaySafeOnline.org.
• The FBI’s “Be Crime Smart” page (www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/be_crime_smart).
• Visa Inc.’s VisaSecuritySense (www.visasecuritysense.com), which contains tips on preventing fraud online, in stores and at ATMs, spotting deceptive marketing practices, and more.

Jason Alderman directs Visa’s financial education programs. To Follow Jason Alderman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PracticalMoney

Share on Facebook

Choice Network is a full service adoption agency located on-site at abortion clinics across Ohio offering women a true choice.  We work with adoptive couples and birth mothers to create stable, permanent families. Our mission is a true choice for all women.

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

EarthTalk ® E – The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: I understand that Congress passed legislation not too long ago that protected a few million acres of wilderness areas, parks and wild rivers, in part to help offset climate change. How does conserving land prevent global warming? – M. Oakes, Charlottesville, NC

Photo courtesy Thinkstock. According to The Wilderness Society, American forests capture about one-tenth of the greenhouse gases put out by U.S. cars, factories and other sources. Pictured: Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

The legislation in question is called the Omnibus Public Land Management Act. It was passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Obama in the spring of 2009. The Act protects some two million acres outright as wilderness in nine different states (California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia) and requires the Bureau of Land Management to prioritize conservation on another 26 million acres of mostly Western lands. The bill also established three new national park units, a new national monument, three new national conservation areas, over 1,000 miles of national wild and scenic rivers, and four new national trails.

With provisions appealing to sportsmen and conservationists alike, the bill enjoyed broad support; drafters took into account requests from dozens of constituent groups in putting together the legislation. As such, it is one of the most significant expansions of U.S. wilderness protection in the past quarter century. “This legislation guarantees that we will not take our forests, rivers, oceans, national parks, monuments and wilderness areas for granted, but rather we will set them aside and guard their sanctity for everyone to share,” President Obama said upon signing the bill into law.

While the law doesn’t specifically address global warming in its language, environmentalists are overjoyed at the climate benefits that protecting so much land will bring. “Our forests store vast amounts of carbon in tree trunks, roots, leaves, dead wood and soils—a service that is becoming ever more essential as the threat of global climate change mounts due to the buildup of human-generated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” reports the nonprofit Wilderness Society.

Plants and trees utilize ground-level carbon dioxide as building blocks in photosynthesis. The more flora we leave growing naturally on the ground, the more greenhouse gas we can store (or “sequester”) there and prevent from drifting on up to the atmosphere where it can contribute to global warming.

“Although investments in energy efficiency and clean energy will provide the only permanent solutions to climate change, forest sequestration can buy us time to develop those alternatives,” says the Wilderness Society, adding that American forests currently capture the equivalent of about one-tenth of the greenhouse gases put out by U.S. cars, factories and other sources. In addition, forests provide other key environmental benefits such as cleansing our air and water.

In the absence of binding legislation mandating stricter carbon emissions standards, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, given the climate-related benefits of land conservation, may well be the most significant global warming bill Congress has passed to date. And environmentalists might have to take what they can get: With Republicans now in control of the House and gaining ground in the Senate, dedicated climate legislation may be even more elusive than analysts thought even a year ago.

CONTACTS: Bureau of Land Management, www.blm.gov; Wilderness Society, www.wilderness.org; Omnibus Public Land Management Act, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-146.

Dear EarthTalk: What specific issues and protections are covered by the Food Safety Modernization Act recently signed into law? – P. Palmerino, New York, NY

Photo courtesy FDA. Some 48 million Americans are afflicted with a form of food borne illness each year. The Food Safety Modernization Act, signed into law in January 2011, now gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wider latitude in protecting our food supply, including the ability to order recalls of tainted foods (previously, the agency could only negotiate with businesses to order voluntary recalls).

Existing laws and oversight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have done a decent job of keeping the vast majority of Americans safe from food borne illnesses, but several recent cases of contamination have put the spotlight on what more we can do to protect ourselves from unwittingly consuming harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses and toxins that could be lurking on our dinner plates.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that, of the 48 million Americans afflicted with some sort of food borne illness every year, 128,000 are hospitalized and about 3,000 die. In response to this growing problem, in January 2011 Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a comprehensive $1.4 billion bill that aims to stop outbreaks of food borne illnesses before they begin.

“This law makes everyone responsible and accountable at each step in today’s global food supply chain,” reports FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. “This law represents a sea change for food safety in America, bringing a new focus on prevention, and I expect that in the coming years it will have a dramatic and positive effect on the safety of the food supply.”

FDA inspectors have monitored domestic producers of seafood, juice, meat, eggs and poultry for decades, but the new law expands their powers to evaluate hazards in all kinds of food and to impose stricter standards on imported foods. Processors are now required to proactively take measures to prevent contamination, and must have plans in place for corrective action when something does go wrong. Smaller producers are exempt from some of the more onerous and costly provisions of the new law, but are nevertheless still responsible for maintaining the strict health safety standards set forth in its provisions. The new law also increases the number and frequency of inspections at both high-risk and non-high risk facilities. And the FDA can now order recalls of tainted foods; before FSMA’s enactment, the agency could only negotiate with businesses to order voluntary recalls.

Given that some 15 percent of our food supply—including 60 percent of fresh fruits and 80 percent of seafood—is imported, the new law also requires importers to verify the safety of food from their foreign suppliers and authorizes the FDA to block foods from facilities or countries that refuse inspections.

FSMA also provides funds for training, equipment and facilities at food safety agencies across federal, state, local, territorial, tribal and even foreign jurisdictions to ensure that all parties are up to snuff on the ways and means of preventing and containing food borne illnesses.

“Really this is a major victory for every American who will sit down at the dinner table and have more confidence that their food is going to be safe,” says Erik Olson of the Pew Health Group, one the most vocal of hundreds of nonprofits in favor of strengthening our nation’s food safety net.

CONTACTS:  FDA, www.fda.gov; CDC, www.cdc.gov; Pew Health Group, www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_category.aspx?id=184.

EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E – The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe; Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

The Arts and New Albany Take Center Stage at the McCoy 2012 Center Stage Gala

Gala Features Jazz Singer and Award-Winning Songwriter Anna Wilson

By Mindy Hayward, Director of Marketing & Communications

McCoy Center for the Arts, New Albany

The McCoy Center for the Arts in New Albany is pleased to announce the 2012 Center Stage Gala, featuring jazz performer Anna Wilson, on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 7p.

The Center Stage Gala is the premier annual fundraising event for the McCoy Center for the Arts. Guests will be treated to an all-inclusive evening at the McCoy Center, including a pre-show dinner reception at 7:00PM, concert at 8:30PM, and a post-show dessert celebration. “We are pleased to host the entire evening at the McCoy to showcase our beautiful facility,” said Julia Weikert, Director of Development. “Our event chair, Jill Beckett-Hill, and past chair Lynne Redgrave, have provided outstanding leadership and we have a very talented committee of community volunteers. It will be a wonderful night to celebrate the arts.”

Now in its fifth year, the Center Stage Gala’s previously featured artists have included Broadway talents Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, comedian Martin Short, and musicians Chris Botti and The Neville Brothers. The 2012 Gala Featured Artist is the sultry and soulful jazz singer from Nashville, Anna Wilson.

Raised in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, Anna Wilson began piano and guitar lessons and wrote her first song in fourth grade. Eager to launch her music career, she rushed through Baltimore’s Loyola University in three years and moved to Nashville 15 days after graduation.

Anna’s music is a unique mix of jazz, country, and pop which blends to form a timeless new sound and pays homage to Nashville’s musical roots.

Also a prolific songwriter, Anna has penned songs for Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lee Ann Womack and Chris Cagle, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians, including Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum. Her performance style will provide a special, up-close-and-personal experience for Gala guests as they gather to celebrate the McCoy Center and the New Albany community.

The McCoy 2012 Center Stage Gala, featuring guest artist Anna Wilson, will take place at the McCoy Center for the Arts, located at 100 W. Dublin-Granville Rd. in New Albany, on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 7p. The cost for this all-inclusive evening is $250 per person, and includes a pre-show dinner reception at 7p, concert at 8:30p, and a post-show dessert celebration. For reservations or additional information, please visit the McCoy Center Website at www.mccoycenter.org or call 614.245.4701 (Mon-Fri, 9a-5p). The McCoy 2012 Center Stage Gala is presented by the McCoy Center for the Arts, together with Artist Sponsor TS24, Dessert Sponsor Bungalow Home, and Reception Sponsor Turner Construction.

Share on Facebook

I got to chat with Sarah Pruden, a senior at CCAD who will be showing one garment in the Senior Fashion Show. Sarah’s from Dublin, Ohio and attended school at Dublin Jerome High School. “At 11 years old, she started sketching and creating her own clothes because she couldn’t find things she really liked in stores.” Growing up not too far from Columbus, I wanted to learn a little more about Sarah, her experience with fashion in Columbus, a bit about who she is as a designer and her plans for the future.

Jayra Harris: Growing up were there local fashion programs you were involved in?

Sarah Prudent: Not really, I didn’t get into anything until sophomore year in highschool when I took a fashion class at CCAD.

JH: Are there educational opportunities in fashion missing from Columbus?

 SP: I would have liked earlier classes in school when I was younger to explore more.

JH: How did you decide to pursue fashion?

SP: I Always wanted to be an artist, figured I could paint and draw. But I love fashion, I just never thought it could become a career; CCAD made me see I could be successful.

JH: Is there anything not out in the fashion industry that you plan to bring?

SP: Nothing in particular just details and combining different styles.

JH: What’s the one memory you will always hold onto from your experience at CCAD

SP: Oh just one? There’s a lot but meeting my best friend would be it. I got a random roommate and got lucky. We’ll be friends for life.

JH: What’s the next step for you? Will you be staying in Columbus?

SP: Just get out there and look into Highball (I didn’t know what that was, so if you don’t either, she told me it’s the fashion show in October.) I would like to stay in Columbus, but if something takes me somewhere else I’m open.

Well there you have it, be on the look out for Sarah’s work.

Share on Facebook

With commencement right around the corner CCAD’s 133^rd annual Student Exhibition will open across campus at 4 p.m. May 11, with the Senior Fashion Show to follow.

“The CCAD Senior Fashion Show has become the college’s signature event; expectations are that $200,000 will be raised to benefit the general scholarship fund.” Over the years the fashion show has evolved into an event that “showcases the talent of the various art disciplines involved in creating the show: students work as models, create the photography sets and take the studio fashion photos, design the event materials including the glamorous Lookbook, and will document the event with video and photography.”

This year’s show features 15 designers from all over Ohio, Florida, New York and China. I got to spend a little time with the four designers who attended school in central Ohio; Rachel Cass from Upper Arlington High School, Jennifer Tang from Northland High School, Rachel Kaplan from Hilliard Darby High School and Sarah Pruden from Dublin Jerome High School. The interviews covered some different information that you won’t find on the CCAD website. My interviews along with a little background info I got from CCAD’s Director of Marketing & Communications, Robin Hepler, are posted on Outlook’s website.

Read up on the designers before attending the fashion extravaganza May 11, 2012. “The evening offers there events in one location: a VIP reception, the runway show and a dance party. The VIP party begins at 7:30 p.m., doors open to general admission ticket holders at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at www.ccad.edu/fashion; $350 for VIP tickets, $125 general admission.

If you some how manage to miss the show, no worries, Orie and I will be covering the event and we’ll bring back all the good stuff.

Share on Facebook

Do you ever wonder what being free would feel like? What would it mean to have freedom in your life, your job and your relationships? Joel Beebe and Tim Trad, Co-owners of Columbus based company .free clothing co. have an idea of what being free means and are doing their best to live it. I got to chat with Joel and Tim and they gave me the dish on their business.

Jayra Harris: How did .free clothing co. get started?

Joel Beebe: Tim came to the high school I was going to, we met our senior year at soccer practice. We had been working in the fashion retail industry around the same time and were just into fashion and into tee shirts. We’d take a weekly trip to the thrift store and look for shirts for each other, not only for design but shirt material as well. Sometimes you’d find a cool design but it was a crappy shirt. Eventually we stopped looking at designs and just focused on the tag. One day Tim said, “I’ve got an idea for a clothing company,” and I had been designing graphic tees so we got 100 shirts made, numbered them individually by hand.

Tim Trad: Our idea wasn’t, “Hey man lets start a tee shirt company and make a lot of money,” when we started it was like, “lets just make some tee shirts we like.”

JH: If I buy into this idea of .free clothing co. what am I buying into?

TT: We’ve got this indie feel to it, that’s an experience. You’re not just buying a tee shirt, you’re buying into everything that we built, everything that’s gotten involved, like a community.

JH: What does free mean to .free clothing co.?

JB: Both Tim and I have defined and clear definitions of what free means to us, but we don’t want to impose our bias on the brand, the message is live free. You can have what live free means to you; to me it’s living without bondage, without restriction, being able to do what you love when you can and not let the weight and pain of this world weigh on you. The second half of “live free” is “love people” so its like being able to allow other people to live free, that’s part of our non profit work.

TT: We’re not saying live our free, but live your free. We leave it open but I want to influence you in a positive way. For me living free is creating clothes, traveling around the world developing new products and meeting the kids we help. Whether it’s empowering them to take whatever step they haven’t been able to or just making them look cooler.

JH: What do you sell?

TT: Until this month tee shirts were our mainstream, sweatshirts, hoodies, tank tops all tops for the most part. Last year we branched out into shoes, because I really wanted to; we had three prototypes of canvas uppers made, and decided, “you know what screw that, let’s take a style that’s already popular and put a gimmick on it.” We put out a Tom’s style shoe and named it Tim’s, which were really successful. They’ll be back this summer and eventually we’ll have a subsidiary of just shoes. Now we’re working on cut and sew, windbreaker style jackets and button down style shirts.

JH: Who do you design your products for?

TT: Our analysis shows 18-24 year olds buy our products; we don’t necessarily aim for that. I want to sell from baby onesies to Depends but we do market to our strongest drawing.

JH: Has free clothing worked with any other companies?

JB: We worked with Koalawalla to make beanies. We designed I phone cases, they aren’t super protective but are kind of designer which fits with us. Currently we’re working with Dodge and a Swedish toy company called Active People that makes yo-yo style active toys.

JH: Any plans for a retail store?

TT: We plan to have one in the works this year; it’ll be in the Short North, the gallery hop district.

If you’ve already fallen in love with .free clothing co, you’ve got something to look forward to. They’re being pretty hush hush about this but I am allowed to tell you that in addition to the spring line “Flight” they will be releasing a new arm of .free clothing called BOLD. To learn more about .free clothing co check out the website www.freeclothingco.com, follow them on twitter @freeclothing and friend them on Facebook, just search for .free clothing co.

Share on Facebook