Jan 21, 2011

She changed my life


As a TV reporter in Dallas and Green Bay, I met hundreds of Big Brothers and Big Sisters.  Doing stories with them for more than 10 years, I never met one of them that I didn't like...a lot.
And so it was at the Winter Party of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rock, Walworth, and Jefferson Counties held during public skating at the Janesville, WI Ice Arena. 
The kids they help are nice, too.  Some are eloquent…like 12-year-old Erika of Delavan talking about Big Sister Jamie of Fontana.

Jan 14, 2011

Funny Fine-Print Warning Labels

WomansDay.com

Coming Soon: Multiple Prices for the Same Item Depending on How You Pay

Consumer World

O boy! I rescue opossum! (click on title below, not on arrows)


Threaten, the opossum plays sick...lips drawn back, teeth bared, and mouth foaming.  See for yourself as I rescue old possum.

Haiti Aid Groups Criticized As Money Sits Unspent

NPR

Merchandiser Who Illegally Charged Consumers' Accounts Settles with FTC

FTC

FTC Settlement Bans Recidivist Robocaller from Telemarketing

FTC

Record 2.9 Million U.S. Properties Receive Foreclosure Filings in 2010 Despite 30-Month Low in December

RealtyTrac
 More than half of last years foreclosures happened in California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois, or Michigan. (Thanks to The Consumerist for alerting me to this week's foreclosure stories.)

Company that promises cleaner, faster computers should scrub its sales practices, says Washington Attorney General

Washington Attorney General

Dreams for Sale: Lehigh Acres and the Florida Foreclosure Crisis (click on title below, not on arrows)

Part 2 Dreams for Sale: Lehigh Acres and the Florida Foreclosure Crisis

Part 3 Dreams for Sale: Lehigh Acres and the Florida Foreclosure Crisis

Jan 7, 2011

Mark Twain’s Egyptian Journey and his companion from Janesville, WI



Her ashes are in Janesville's Oak Hill Cemetery.

But 150 years ago, Julia Newell was a young woman writing travel stories for the Janesville Gazette, accompanying Mark Twain to Paris, Italy, Greece, Holy Land and Egypt. The 70 tourists traveled on the side-wheel ocean steamship Quaker City.

My video focuses on Twain, but the relationship between Miss Newell and Twain on this trip is fascinating and is explored in a Wisconsin Academy Review article by Jeffery S. Churchwell, entitled, “The Letters of Julia Newell:  Traveling Abroad with Mark Twain.”

Churchwell says Newell was funny like Twain and strong and independent. She was the only woman in the group who climbed the Great Pyramid of Cheops.

Allegation: Glasses-Free 3D Fails To Wow At CES 2011

The Consumerist

Allegation: Sorry, Your Four-Year-Old $3K Oven Is Too Old To Repair

The Consumerist

Study Linking Vaccine to Autism Was Fraud, Journal Reports

NYTimes.com

Supermarket Surprise: The Price You See is Not the Price You Pay

Mouse Print»Blog Archive 

ShopSmart's Top 15 Money Saving Tips for 2011

USNewswire/ --

10 Things Your Boss Won't Tell You

SmartMoney.com

Prescription Drugs Abuse Sends More People to Hospital

NYTimes.com

Best and Worst Investments of 2010

SmartMoney.com

Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

msnbc.com

FTC Charges Another Defendant as Part of Crackdown on Bogus Medical Discount Plans

FTC