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BALTIMORE, MD (August 2, 2007) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is warning consumers about potentially dangerous tires that may have been sold to Maryland drivers and could create a potential safety hazard for those riding in light trucks, sports utility vehicles, and vans equipped with the tires. The tires were manufactured by the Chinese tire company, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co., and imported into the United States by Foreign Tire Sales, Inc. (FTS) of Union, New Jersey. The affected tires may be susceptible to tread separation, which can cause serious accidents.
“The potential for harm is great for consumers who may have purchased these tires,” Gansler said in a statement. “Consumers who believe they own the affected tires should have them inspected by their tire dealer as soon as possible and contact our office.”
According to Gansler's office, the tires were sold from 2002 to 2006 in the U.S. under the names Westlake, Compass and YKS. Consumers can find the tires' brand, model and DOT number on the sidewalls.
If the DOT serial number starts with “7D”and has “FTS” as part of the number, it may be subject to a future recall. Check the box to the right for size and model numbers.
The AG offered the following advice to consumers who bought the tires: call the dealer you bought them from; if the dealer is over 50 miles away, contact another dealer and ask them to inspect the tires.
Consumers who have the specified tires should also contact Gansler’s Consumer Protection Division at 888-743-0023 toll free or at 410-528-8662. Consumers should also contact the Division if a tire dealer is unwilling to replace the specified tires.
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Finding unclaimed property online:
Anyone who finds their name should contact the Comptroller's Office at 410-767-1700 or toll free at 1-800-782-7383 to make a claim. The agency has 714,000 accounts worth more than $580 million on its books. |
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Anyhow, Comptroller's Office employees will be manning booths throughout summer at various state fairs to allow people to check the agencies files of unclaimed property.
"Our No. 1 job at the Comptroller's Office is to serve the people," Comptroller Peter Franchot said in a statement. "Part of that responsibility is to connect people with unclaimed funds so they get what they are owed. I urge Marylanders who are attending any of these events to stop by our booth."
Apparently, the service will only extend to five county fairs and the state fair in the Baltimore-Washington metro region.
The schedule:
Er, hello? Remember us over here? Western Maryland? We have this little function called the Great Frederick Fair? Hello-o-o?
Hmmm. I called Comptroller's Office Spokeswoman Christine Duray yesterday to ask her why we're not getting a visit, but she hasn't called back yet.
Maybe we're just more careful with our stuff out here.
If you look to the right, you can see links to check unclaimed property records from home.
UPDATE 12:00 p.m.: I should have included the following information on why the Comptroller's Office has the program. From the press release:
"Financial institutions, utilities, insurance companies and other corporations are required to report to the Comptroller any bank accounts, security deposits, wages, insurances benefits and contents of safe deposit boxes that have been unclaimed after three years. Funds remain the property of the owners or their legitimate heirs and can be claimed anytime. There is no statue of limitations."
UPDATE 4:10 p.m.: Duray called back earlier this afternoon and left a message on my voicemail.
The agency is debating whether to put a booth at the Great Frederick Fair, she said, but has a conflict with another fair held at the same time. They're figuring out if they have staff to attend.
"Right now, we're not scheduled to go, but we're thinking about it," Duray said.
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KAPLAN COLLEGE:
5301 Buckeystown Pike, Suite 150 |
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The college was renamed to reflect ownership of Kaplan Higher Education, which has, a letter from President Chris Motz says, "70 schools in 22 states throughout the United States."
Kaplan Higher Education is owned by Kaplan Inc, which is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Co.
According to the press release, Kaplan Higher Education decided to change the names of some of its schools to reflect the Kaplan brand and take full advantage of Kaplan's national reputation for educational excellence.
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| Photo by New York Times Middletown resident Rachel Grandi shows a copy of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" she was first in line for at a B&N in New York, when the book came out. |
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The Francis Scott Key Mall Barnes & Noble will be open late with an event themed around the last installment of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
From 8 p.m. on, B&N will hold a Midnight Magic Costume Party. Copies of the book go on sale at midnight.
“Barnes & Noble and B. Dalton stores nationwide will be participating in the world’s largest Harry Potter costume party in honor of the final book in this remarkable series,” said Fabby Santiago, community relations manager of Barnes & Noble at FSK Mall. “We will stay open past midnight so Harry Potter fans can be among the first to purchase a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And we’ll have lots of fun while we wait on this magical night.”
Here's an excerpt from the press release:
The Midnight Magic Costume party will be held at the following store:Barnes & Noble
Francis Scott Key Mall
5500 Buckeystown Pike
Frederick, MD 21703
301-698-0121Come dressed as your favorite Harry Potter character for a night of enchanting activities, spellbinding prizes, photo opportunities, unique items for sale, and even more magic, including face painting, make your own wand, the chance to leave a message to J.K. Rowling that will be delivered to her and much more!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will sell for $20.99, 40 percent off the list price of $34.99. Barnes & Noble Members can buy the book for $18.89, a savings of 46 percent. The compact disc and audiocassettes for the unabridged book will also be available. Customers can order the book at any Barnes & Noble or B. Dalton store or online at Barnes & Noble.com at www.bn.com/midnightmagic.
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ON THE WEB: www.wheresgeorge.com
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"What? You haven't seen that before?" he asked.
No, no I hadn't. So I was somewhat tickled to learn there's a website you can go to, www.wheresgeorge.com , that you can visit, enter the serial number, denomination and series, and it'll tell you where that bill's been.
Users enter the information and can enter a small note about how you got the bill. The site tracks how far the bill's traveled and will even show you a map of where it's been.
However, I do feel it's incumbent on me to note, as a morally responsible, stand-up citizen, that defacing U.S. currency is illegal.
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The article talks about American, errr, habits:
"Americans typically use twice as much toilet paper as Europeans — as much as an arm's length each pull, (Kimberly Clarke Professional Washroom Director Richard) Thorne says. The company decided the best length is about 20 inches — or precisely five standard toilet paper squares, though the machine can also be adjusted to churn out 16 inches or 24 inches, depending on the demand."
Now, can someone please tell me just how they studied that? ... On second thoughts, I don't want to know.
(I thought about adding this to the small business category. Please cue the groans.)
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Topics covered:
The workshop costs $5 to attend. Registration is recommended but not required.
Need more detials? Call Barbara Wyatt at 301-600-1792 or Linda Gravitt at 301-600-2995.
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ON THE WEB: Border's Harry Potter events
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Nationwide book chain Borders will hold similar celebrations at its stores.
You can find out about the events here.
Locations near Frederick are here.
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| Photo by Christopher Simmons (Jessica's husband) Zaminy plays at Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro, N.C. |
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When Jessica becomes Zaminy Hibbard she strums a Taylor guitar named O'Keef and sings songs at open mic night. Listen here.
She started when she was about 16 years old with an Ibinez guitar called Buzz — named after the sound the strings made as she struggled to hold them tight.
Her BFF Amy played a B-flat clarinet. Together, they formed the Buzz & B-fer show playing cover gigs at the Dimock, Pa. public library. They played tunes such as "Feeling Groovy" by Simon & Garfunkel or "Heart of Gold" by Neil Young.
Now Zaminy writes and plays songs about life experiences — love, moving to a new town and remembering things.
She also keeps a blog that lists soundtracks to accompany events, such as Top 5 Songs for a Non-traditional Wedding and Top 5 Songs for a Dinner Party. I'd love to attend the tapas dinner served with the Buena Vista Social Club Soundtrack. Dinner for two over Miles Davis? Done it. Love it.
Read more in tomorrow's Slice of Life.
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Talking Biz News: Here
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Now, I understand that's pretty meaningless to the average reader, but Roush is the closest thing to a celebrity in the business journalism world. Making his Talking Biz News column is kind of like making Al Tompkins, or Romanesko.
Ah. I guess you don't know who they are either. Hmmm.
UPDATE 10:58: I e-mailed Roush this morning to tell him about some of the other things we're doing here at the FNP. He almost immediately blogged about it.
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Ladies and gentlemen -- Mr. Ed Waters Jr. Web star! |
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Why the painted face? You'll have to watch tomorrow's Ed-Cetera on FNP@3 to find out!
(A clue: it's to do with the Fourth.)
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Ethan Tluszcz, 2, and the newly named, Fred, in front of the Frederick Fudge and Ice Cream Shop. |
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He was generically called Mr. Bear. Now you can call him ... Fred.
Prompted by the number of people who asked, "What's the bear's name?" the ice cream store's owner Mike Winder held a contest to name the mascot.
Of 150 entries, the most popular submission was "Fred." The grand prize winner was chosen from those entries.
Ethan Tluszcz, 2, won a $50 gift certificate. According to his mom, he names every animal Fred.
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| Photo by Cliff Cumber Business Editor Cliff Cumber and reporter Joseph de Leon look over their section's new blog |
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In fact, only 10 percent of papers nationwide -- of any size -- have a blog dedicated to business; more usually online commentary is reserved for sports or politics.
I guess this is the long way of saying we’re not exactly sure what we’re going to do here, or how this space will eventually shape up. But we have a couple of ideas for what we’ll try.
We’re going to try and give you at least one post a day. Each post will be sorted into categories (if the web wizs at the FNP’s sister company Mirame have done their job, you’ll see a list down the page’s right side).
Those categories are like living organisms, they’ll grow.
And you’ll have the opportunity to chime in with your 2 cents in the comments section below. I know the online readers of the FNP have never been shy about speaking up. (We will, however, be assertively applying our terms of service, however, so no verbal beatings, OK?)
As I understand it, we’ll be able to post pictures, maybe even at some point in the future, video. So feel free to send us digital stills if you want, and we’ll consider putting them up. (This one to the right is me writing this blog on Friday. That’s Joseph looking over my shoulder. OK, so it’s a lame excuse to test out the feature.)
We’ll also be running a blogroll, a list of our favorite links. There’s a couple up there now on the right, if you’re interested. (Just come back here, because we need the hits.)
The point is that we want to develop a conversation with you (preferably not a slanging match). You’re out there, you see things. Let us know about them. And welcome again to the latest project of FNP online.
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