“What’s on your mind” is a new feature to the Villager that debuted last week which poses a question to our readers about local issues within the North Pocono and surrounding communities.
Each spring, millions of Americans look forward to receiving a hefty income tax refund. And it truly is "hefty" with the average federal refund in 2010 hovering around $3,000. That's a lot of money to be giving the government through what is essentially a year-long, interest-free loan.
I'm the last person to cast aspersions on anyone who procrastinates, given my own occasional lapses in that area. I'll leave it to the self-help gurus to supply behavior-modification techniques. What I will say, however, is that procrastination can be a very costly habit.
If there was a nearly 90 percent guarantee that one screening could save your life, would you do it? Surprisingly, when it comes to colon cancer and colonoscopies, not enough people are scheduling this very important diagnostic test.
Jacquie Ream has had enough. Between the proliferation of cyberbullying that has been dominating the headlines and the inappropriate communications that cell phones enable between teens, she believes it’s time for parents to set up new rules for their teens regarding the technology that has become an intractable part of their lives.
Chances are you or someone you know have been laid off recently. Being unemployed is difficult enough, but in a cruel twist, the longer you're out of work, the harder it can be to find a job. And, when work does finally materialize, it's often a lower-paying position. This double whammy can damage your finances for years to come.
It used to be that “cramming” was associated with students pulling an all-nighter before a big test in order to digest as much study material as possible. The definition of “cramming” began to change a decade ago when less than scrupulous businesses began to place unauthorized charges on consumer’s phone bills.
Email’s been the whipping boy for all things bad about business communication. That may change soon with help from an unlikely new friend.
Between holiday shopping bills now coming due, increased winter heating bills and the upcoming income tax season, many people are feeling the pinch. Your best bet for getting back on track is probably to trim expenses.
Promises are little more than wishful thinking if you do not act on your good intentions. The new leaf we promise to turn over in the New Year is a great example. Think about it. How many resolutions are repeats from last year? No matter if you intend to lose weight, get physically fit or take control of your finances, without action, resolutions are meaningless.
If someone gave you a $50 bill, you probably wouldn’t just stick it in a drawer and forget it. But that’s essentially what happens to billions of dollars worth of gift cards each year – people either lose or forget about them, or never use up their balances.
Audrey LeGrand is worried less about the unemployed than she is about the underemployed. The phenomenon of underemployment affects nearly twice as many Americans as unemployment, and the underemployment rate for Americans has leapt from just under 10 percent in 2007 to nearly 18 percent in 2010.
Do you remember, as a child, your parents or other adults remarking how fast time had gone by. There would be comments such as “where has the time gone?” Hearing this, you probably thought they were crazy. When you were young, time crawled. The school year was interminable. Time was measured in minutes and hours.
The time period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day seems to arrive sooner each year. Holiday items begin hitting department store shelves. If the prospect of being bombarded by oodles of gadgets and sparkly items you don’t need leaves you with shivers of joyous expectation, then kudos to you; your time has come.
“Black Friday, historically the busiest retail shopping day of the year, starts the holiday shopping season and continues through the end of the year,” says Bud Bradley, Vice President of Shopping Centers at AlliedBarton Security Services, www.alliedbarton.com, the industry’s premier provider of highly trained security personnel with offices across the U.S.
Boy, how time flies when the economy is in the toilet. With Black Friday upon us, the tension of the holiday shopping season is here -- and consumers with low confidence and retailers with low expectations will soon begin limping into the happiest time of the year.
Ahead of Veterans Day, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following column: Thanking Veterans for their Service and Sacrifice.
The League of Women Voters of Lackawanna County and the Political Science Department of The University of Scranton will host debates for state representative races. All events will be held in the University’s Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall on Madison Avenue beginning at 7 p.m. Ken Smith (Dem), incumbent representative in the 112th legislative district will debate challenger Lee Morgan (Rep) on Monday, Oct. 25.
Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced that Social Security is asking members of the public, as well as current and former employees, to help the agency celebrate its 75 years of public service by sharing their personal stories and reflections about how Social Security has touched their lives.
The recent hulaballooby in the form of editorials and articles castigating Janet Evans for confronting the University of Scranton to increase its monetary contribution to the city appears to be a tempest in a teapot.
