It’s the advertising that consumers turn to when they are ready to buy.

The yellow pages industry has been around for more than 120 years. Consumer usage of print directories remains strong, with new online yellow pages products further contributing to growth. Savvy businesses advertise in both print and internet yellow pages to ensure they reach consumers however and wherever they search.

“Of consumers surveyed online and by telephone, 65 percent said they referenced print and/or Internet Yellow Pages within the past month when looking for local business information. Search engines scored second with 58 percent, flyers/coupons were 38 percent, newspapers were 33 percent, and magazines were 14 percent. When analyzed individually, print Yellow Pages were 54 percent and Internet Yellow Pages were 33 percent.”

“The study also found that consumers consider Yellow Pages the source they trust most to find accurate local information. More than two-thirds of consumers (67 percent) said that print or Internet Yellow Pages is the source they trust most for finding local business information, compared to 33 percent for search engines. When polled on accuracy of local business information, print and Internet Yellow Pages similarly scored highest with 68 percent, followed by search engines with 32 percent.”

Source: Yellow Pages Association Press Release, “First Annual ‘Local Media Tracking Study’: Yellow Pages Capture Greatest Consumer Reach and Trust Among Sources for Local Business Information”, March 24, 2010

To compete in today’s fragmented marketplace, local businesses need to advertise in both print and online Yellow Pages in order to attract the growing number of consumers who gather information from multiple sources before making a purchasing decision.

Will the “Three Kings” deliver or is this a bunch of Hot Air? No pun intended.

Make no mistake, Miami Heat will be a team to watch. Very entertaining to say the least. Expect the fancy dunks, alley-oops and prancing and poses from the “Three Kings.” But a championship? Not this season. The team has top players but they still have a ton of work to do. Being built up on free agents in the past never brought about championships. Looking back, championships were built on trades and drafts while free agency was about adding a “big piece”. The Bulls drafted Michael, the Lakers drafted Kobe, the Spurs drafted Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett was traded to the Celtics. Either way the Heat has a fighting chance, but not a championship just yet.

With James, Wade and Bosh being known as the top players in the NBA, will Lebron finally get the championship he’s been desiring for the past 7 years? We all know he can’t be considered a “King” anymore. His franchise as we know it will have to include Bosh and Wade. Lebron could have gone anywhere else and built up his new empire. Was this a good move? I really hope so. He’s still worthy but should now be considered Prince James while Wade has the thrown. As soon as he can take his claim in Miami, maybe, just maybe James will be considered King again. Either way I already have my Miami Heat Tickets to a few games.

Judging by the headlines, it’s easy to believe the cost of college puts it out of reach for all but the most affluent. According to the College Board, average annual tuition at a four-year private college now tops $26,000. If you just look at the sticker price, four years at a private university approaches the cost of a Rolls Royce.

But that doesn’t mean only the rich need apply. While the sticker price may be $26,000, the College Board says the average price actually paid at private colleges is less than $9,000. How can that be?

Watch this story we did for television to find out how students are cutting their college expenses in half:

So while college is certainly expensive, it’s often not as expensive as the “sticker price” you so often see in the popular press. As the expert said in our video, while you can’t walk into a car dealership and ask for discounts based on your achievements or your needs, with college you sometimes can, largely due to $168 billion of annual financial aid available to students.

Here are six strategies you can harness to get your degree at a discount.
1. Scholarships

The search for scholarships isn’t just for those just graduating from high school. It’s a process that should continue throughout your college career. It’s something you should never pay a fee for.

Start with the web. Here are some sites that can hook you up with free scholarship searches:

* FastWeb
* College Board
* Wiredscholar.com
* ScholarshipCoach.com
* FinAid.org
* College-Scholarships.com
* College Answer

And don’t forget to beat the local bushes as well. Awards from the local Rotary, YMCA or Kiwanis Club may not be as big or as convenient to apply for, but there’s also less competition. You can find out about home-grown awards at your local library or high schools.
2. Accelerated Degrees

While it’s not easy, it’s possible to earn a four-year degree in three years at some schools and in some fields by taking accelerated classes: essentially stuffing a full semester’s worth of work into six- or eight-week classes. Not all schools offer this option, but those that do can save you a ton of tuition money.
3. Start at a less expensive school

Consider a community college or other less expensive option for the first two years, then transfer to the university whose name you’d like to see on your degree. This is probably the single biggest way to save on a college education. Not only do you save on tuition costs, attending a community college might also allow you to stay under your parents’ roof and save housing expenses as well.

Be careful. Make sure the courses you’re taking at your less expensive school will transfer. Look for an articulation agreement from the school where you intend to graduate to see which schools they accept credits from, as well as the grades they expect you to maintain in order to transfer.
4. Love the school that loves you

In the video above, University of Miami Financial Aid Administrator Jim Bauer says, “”You can’t shop for a college the way you shop for a car. If you walk in to buy a car, you aren’t going to sit down with a salesman and have them say, you’re a good guy, you’ve lived a good life so far, so we’re going to knock another $10,000 off. That doesn’t happen in other kinds of purchase other than essentially education.”

Why would a school make tuition more affordable for some students? Because they want those students. While Harvard might not be knocking down your door, there could be other schools that want you enough to offer enticing discounts, aid and scholarships.

What you have to do is look for the school that’s looking for you. Obviously, the more you have to offer, the more of these schools you’ll find. But consult college guides, comparing your grades and SAT scores to the averages at various schools. If you’d fit in the top 20% to 25%, consider applying.

While this strategy may not land you in the university of your dreams, there’s still the option of transferring later – and saving a ton of money in the meantime.
5. Check out schools that don’t charge tuition

According to this article in Business Week, there are at least 11 schools that offer a tuition-free education for some students. Here they are:

* Cooper Union (New York, N.Y.)
* U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, N.Y.)
* College of the Ozarks (Point Lookout, Mo.)
* University of the People (Online)
* Alice Lloyd College (Pippa Passes, Ky.)
* Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia, Pa.)
* Berea College (Berea, Ky.)
* William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY (New York, N.Y.)
* Webb Institute (Glen Cove, N.Y.)
* Deep Springs College (Big Pine, Calif.)
* Barclay College (Haviland, Kan.)

Admission requirements are all over the map: Some require you to work while attending school, some require excellent grades, etc. Learn more by checking out the article or visiting each school’s website.
6. Volunteer for loan forgiveness

If you’re going to incur debt to get your degree, consider exchanging post-graduate community service for federal education debt forgiveness.

Debt-forgiveness programs are available for teachers, medical professionals, lawyers, nurses and others.

* For medical degrees, visit the National Health Services website.
* For teachers, see this Federal Student Aid website.
* Nurses should check out the Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program.
* Law students should ask their law school about loan forgiveness or loan repayment programs, but here’s an American Bar Association list of law schools that offer loan forgiveness.
* Peace Corps volunteers can get forgiveness of Perkins loans: here’s the info.
* Volunteer for AmeriCorps or Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and you can get educational awards of $4,725 for each year of service. These awards can be applied to student loans or future education expenses.

To learn more about loan forgiveness programs, see this summary sheet from FederalStudentAid.ed.gov

Whip out your red, white, and blue and celebrate the July 4, 2010 holiday with this huge list of freebies. From sandwiches to books, these freebies will make the long holiday weekend even sweeter. Thank goodness for independence!

Buy any drink, excluding coffee and value drinks, at an Arby’s on Monday, July 5 and receive a free Junior Deluxe Sandwich — a new item on the value menu not officially available until next week. The sandwiches will be available any time of day. The Junior Deluxe Sandwich is made of roast beef, lettuce and tomato on a toasted sesame seed bun. Once it hits the value menu, the sandwich will sell for $1. With the drink exclusions, you’ll likely spend $1.50 to get this freebie. Find an Arby’s near you.
Barnes & Noble is offering freebies for book lovers – 21 free ebook downloads celebrating American writers. Free titles include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and The Scarlet Letter. B&N Classics normally go for $2 and up, so this deal is worth $42 or more if you download all the books. The free downloads expire Monday, July 5. If you don’t already have Barnes & Noble’s free book reader, you can download that too. It is compatible with most systems.

Help others, get ice cream. That’s a proposition I like. Target and Ben & Jerry’s have teamed up to give free ice cream to folks who volunteer. Sign up for a project in your neighborhood through Volunteer Match, then look for an e-mail with a coupon for a free scoop, which you can redeem at any Target that sells Ben & Jerry’s. In my neighborhood, the projects included volunteering at a library sale, helping literacy teachers and hosting an exchange student. Once you earn your coupon, you can pass the coupon onto five friends. Think of it as an ice cream party at Target! Ben & Jerry’s created two new flavors in honor of volunteers, including Berry Voluntary and Brownie Chew Gooder. While supplies last.

Join ThredUp, an online clothing swapping site that recently branched out to include kids wear, and get two months of free swapping. The way the site works is you fill a box with gently used clothes that your child no longer needs, then offer it up for grabs. Meanwhile, you can pick a box of clothes you want to receive from the dozens that are listed. You can pick by gender, size, and season. You pay $13 to receive a box; sending boxes is free. Click here to join.

This is the last weekend to get a free 60-day BJ’s membership. The membership is valid from the time you start it, but you must begin no later than July 5. The free membership comes with a secondary free membership for a member of your household.

Need a reason to clip coupons? Here are three drugstore products you can get free by saving and clipping coupons. One of my favorite bloggers who matches coupons with sales, Bargain Briana, found three freebies at Walgreens this week, among others. Among the coupons are free Dentyne Gum, Johnson & Johnson Floss, Reach Crystal Clean toothbrush and free Finesse Hair Care products.

If you live near a Waffle House, print out this coupon for a free slice of pie and head on over before July 10, when the coupon expires. Valid on dine-in orders only. One per customer. It’s unclear if you need to make a regular purchase to get this deal, but it does not sound like it. Find a Waffle House near you. Caveats: not valid on take out. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Valid at participating Waffle House restaurants only.

Get six free red, white, and blueberry pancake puppies at Denny’s in honor of the July 4th holiday when you spend at least $2 and print this Facebook coupon. Pancake puppies are small balls of fried pancake dough. It looks like the puppies are tinted red, they have blueberries inside, and you can drizzle white chocolate on top for an American flag look. This offer expires July 25. Caveats: one coupon per check per table. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Valid at participating restaurants only. Photocopies of the coupon are not accepted.

Tags: Bargain Babe, bargains, Fantastic Freebies, July 4, july 4th, july 4th 2010, july 4th bargains, july 4th deals, july 4th freebies, july 4th sales, july fourth deals, july fourth freebies

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CHICAGO – With the city’s gun ban certain to be overturned, Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday introduced what city officials say is the strictest handgun ordinance in the United States.

The measure, which draws from ordinances around the country, would ban gun shops in Chicago and prohibit gun owners from stepping outside their homes, even onto their porches or garages, with a handgun.

Daley announced his ordinance at a park on the city’s South Side three days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they live. The City Council is expected to vote on it Friday.

“As long as I’m mayor, we will never give up or give in to gun violence that continues to threaten every part of our nation, including Chicago,” said Daley, who was flanked by activists, city officials and the parents of a teenager whose son was shot and killed on a city bus while shielding a friend.

The ordinance, which Daley urged the City Council to pass, also would :

• Limit the number of handguns residents can register to one per month and prohibit residents from having more than one handgun in operating order at any given time.

• Require residents in homes with children to keep them in lock boxes or equipped with trigger locks.

• Require prospective gun owners to take a four-hour class and one-hour training at a gun range. They would have to leave the city for training because Chicago prohibits new gun ranges and limits the use of existing ranges to police officers. Those restrictions were similar to those in an ordinance passed in Washington, D.C., after the high court struck down its ban two years ago.

• Prohibit people from owning a gun if they were convicted of a violent crime, domestic violence or two or more convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Residents convicted of a gun offense would have to register with the police department.

• Calls for the police department to maintain a registry of every handgun owner in the city, with the names and addresses to be made available to police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders.

Those who already have handguns in the city — which has been illegal since the city’s ban was approved 28 years ago — would have 90 days to register those weapons, according to the proposed ordinance.

Residents convicted of violating the city’s ordinance can face a fine up to $5,000 and be locked up for as long as 90 days for a first offense and a fine of up to $10,000 and as long as six months behind bars for subsequent convictions.

“We’ve gone farther than anyone else ever has,” said Corporation Counsel Mara Georges.

Still, the mayor, whose office is trying to craft an ordinance that will withstand legal challenges, had to back off some provisions he’d hoped to include, including requiring gun owners to insure their weapons and restricting each resident to one handgun.

Georges said it would be expensive for homeowners to include guns on their homeowners’ and renters’ insurance policies, so such a requirement could be seen as being discriminatory to the city’s poorer residents. Limiting the number of handguns could be seen as discriminatory to people who owned weapons before the city’s ban went into effect in 1982 or before they moved into the city.

“We can limit the place in which those handguns can be located,” she said, before adding a not-so-veiled swipe at the court: “For instance, the Supreme court does not want them coming into the courthouse.”

Still, Daley indicated that no matter what was included in the ordinance, he expects legal challenges.

“Everybody has a right to sue,” he said.

In the week ending June 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 472,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 459,000. The 4-week moving average was 466,500, an increase of 3,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 463,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending June 19, unchanged from the prior week’s revised rate of 3.6 percent.


The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 19 was 4,616,000, an increase of 43,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,573,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,567,500, a decrease of 25,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,592,750.
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The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.077 million.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 438,305 in the week ending June 26, an increase of 14,867 from the previous week. There were 559,857 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4 percent during the week ending June 19, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,311,264, an increase of 3,471 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.5 percent and the volume was 6,078,254.


Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin during the week ending June 12.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,083 in the week ending June 19, a decrease of 64 from the prior week. There were 2,381 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 118 from the preceding week.

There were 18,082 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending June 12, an increase of 245 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 34,334, a decrease of 2,589 from the prior week.

States reported 4,515,499 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending June 12, a decrease of 217,513 from the prior week. There were 2,503,379 claimants in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.One-Stop Resume Posting to Over 75 Career Sites. Click Here

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending June 12 were in Puerto Rico (6.6 percent), Alaska (5.1), Oregon (4.9), California (4.4), Nevada (4.4), Pennsylvania (4.4), Wisconsin (4.1), Connecticut (4.0), North Carolina (4.0), New Jersey (3.9), and South Carolina (3.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 19 were in Pennsylvania (+3,460), New Jersey (+1,708), Iowa (+1,494), Maryland (+1,404), and Michigan (+1,251), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-3,711), California (-3,629), New York (-3,566), Georgia (-1,921), and South Carolina (-1,565).

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Well if so the brighter day at the end of the tunnel is coming since Bank of America will pay $108M for Countrywide’s abuses.

The Federal Trade Commission announced the settlement Monday and said the money will be used to reimburse borrowers.

Bank of America (BAC) purchased Countrywide in July 2008. FTC officials emphasized the actions in the case took place before the acquisition.

Bank of America said it agreed to the settlement “to avoid the expense and distraction associated with litigating the case,” which also resolves litigation by bankruptcy trustees. “The settlement allows us to put all of these matters behind us,” the company said.

Countrywide hit the borrowers who were behind on their mortgages with fees of several thousand dollars at times, the FTC said. The fees were for services like property inspections and landscaping.

Countrywide created subsidiaries to hire vendors, which marked up the price for such services, the FTC said. The company “earned substantial profits by funneling default-related services through subsidiaries that it created solely to generate revenue,” the agency said in a news release.

The agency also alleged that Countrywide made false claims to borrowers in bankruptcy about the amount owed or the size of their loans and failed to tell those borrowers about fees or other charges.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.