DALLAS, May 14, 2013— AT&T’s It Can Wait^® campaign to end texting and driving was significantly bolstered today by the commitment of Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile US, Inc. and more than 200 other organizations to join the movement. Their efforts will support a new national advertising campaign, a nationwide texting-while-driving simulator tour, retail presence in tens of thousands of stores, and outreach to millions of consumers with a special focus throughout the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day—known as the 100 Deadliest Days on the roads for teen drivers.¹ The 2013 campaign drive will culminate on Sept. 19, when efforts turn towards encouraging everyone to get out in their community and advocate involvement on behalf of the movement.  

“Texting while driving is a deadly habit that makes you 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash,” said AT&T Chairman & CEO Randall Stephenson. “Awareness of the dangers of texting and driving has increased, but people are still doing it. With this expanded effort, we hope to change behavior. Together, we can help save lives.”

“The It Can Wait campaign is a meaningful way for Verizon to continue its work on this important issue,” said Verizon Wireless president and chief executive officer Dan Mead. “Texting and driving is a serious social challenge and we look forward to partnering with leading organizations and experts around the world to answer it.”

“As a longstanding advocate of keeping wireless consumers focused on driving, Sprint is proud to participate in the ‘It Can Wait’ campaign,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. “Sprint will continue to promote education of responsible driving behavior through our sponsorship events, social media channels and thousands of retail stores nationwide.”

“Mobile technology connects us in many cool ways, but adults and teens need to put it on hold while behind the wheel,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile US, Inc. “Knowing the risks is not enough. By simply putting the phone down, thousands of tragedies can be prevented every year. It’s time to end texting while driving – for good.”

The campaign kicks off May 20, with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile bringing amulti-million dollar, co-branded advertising campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of texting and driving, and encouraging everyone to immediately take the pledge against it at www.itcanwait.com. The campaign will focus on the stories of people who are living with the consequences of texting while driving. Their stories will be told through various media including TV, radio, digital and social. The first story in the campaign will be of Xzavier Davis-Bilbo, who in 2010 at five-years-old, was struck while crossing the street by a young woman texting while driving—leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Texting while driving is an epidemic, and it’s not isolated to teen drivers. It affects adults as well. A recent AT&T survey shows business commuters know texting while driving is unsafe, but they still engage in these behaviors. In fact:

• They are texting and driving more than they used to.

• Six in 10 commuters said they never texted while driving three years ago.

• Nearly half of commuters admit to texting while driving, which is more than teens.

• 49 percent of commuters self-report texting while driving, compared to 43 percent² of teens.

• Despite knowing the risks.

• 98 percent said sending a text or email while driving isn’t safe.

• For many, it has become a habit.

• More than 40 percent of those who admitted to texting while driving called it a habit.³

USAA will collaborate with AT&T to take the It Can Wait texting-while-driving simulator tour to new audiences, driving the total number of planned simulator events to more than 400 this year. USAA and AT&T will share the It Can Wait message with military audiences in a tour to more than 10 military installations and events across the country.

With prominent presence in AT&T, Verizon, Walmart, Sprint, T-Mobile, Best Buy and RadioShack stores, the It Can Wait message will be in tens of thousands of retail locations throughout the summer campaign period.

Also, government agencies including the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have all committed to help end distracted driving and support the efforts of It Can Wait and others who are working to raise awareness.  

Throughout the campaign, It Can Wait advocates will take the message to their customers, employees and stakeholders in a variety of ways:

• Clear Channel Media and Entertainment will share the It Can Wait message on more than 500 of its radio stations across the nation and plans to activate at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas – a two day, star-studded event that takes place in September.
• DriveTime will feature It Can Wait messaging in communications to its employees and customers in their 100+ used car dealerships across the country.
• Goodyear will incorporate the It Can Wait messaging into its high-resolution aerial sign on its three iconic blimps. The messaging will be displayed as the blimps travel the country and visit high-profile sporting events throughout the year.
• Mobile device makers Pantech, HTC and Samsung are including the AT&T DriveMode^® no-texting-while-driving mobile app preloaded on phones for AT&T customers.
• Balfour is sharing It Can Wait messaging in class meetings with the goal of reaching one million students this school year.
• The National Organizations for Youth Safety is engaging a minimum of 250 schools for Sept. 19 activities.
• The City of Houston has launched an “It Can Wait, Houston” campaign to inform its citizens of the dangers of texting while driving.
• The Texas Department of Transportation has included It Can Wait in its “Talk. Text. Crash.” campaign and on digital highway signs.
• SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) has created a speakers bureau in which youth devoted to ending texting while driving take the message to community events, school assemblies and media interviews to bring the issue to life through teen voices.

Social media have been major drivers of the It Can Wait movement, which has inspired more than 1.5 million personal commitments never to text and drive through pledges made at ItCanWait.com, on Facebook, through text-to-pledge and tweet-to-pledge, and at events. In the past year, more than 310 million unique user accounts have been reached through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alone.

Beginning May 26 and continuing through the 100 Deadliest Days for Teen Drivers ending Sept. 3, It Can Wait advocates will contribute to a social media campaign delivering daily reasons why texting and driving can wait. The messages with pictures and personal accounts will be shared on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and ItCanWait.com.

The highlight of the summer campaign will be a national day of action on Sept. 19. On that day, It Can Wait advocates will reach out in their communities to raise awareness of the risks of texting while driving, encourage everyone to make a personal commitment not to text and drive and recruit others to join the growing ranks of advocates dedicated to saving lives by ending texting while driving.

To take the pledge and see a list of supporters, visit www.ItCanWait.com. For additional information and resources, visit www.att.com/itcanwait.

DETROIT – Fun and drive are two nouns not usually found in the same sentence as Buick.

But that was the first impression of Buick’s 2013 Verano compact sedan equipped with a turbocharged four cylinder engine and a manual transmission.

Now don’t get it twisted. Buick was a premium brand decades ago, before the phrase was even coined in the automotive industry. And of late, the brand has recaptured much of its luster with some top notch products with top notch driving characteristics. But fun to drive?

The Verano Turbo was powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine that made 250 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. It was mated to a six-speed manual transmission and power was put to the pavement through the front wheels.

At 250 horsepower, the engine had more than enough oomph to move the Verano smartly. The car was powerful without being overbearing. The transmission shifted as smooth as any AboutThatCar.com has tested in European luxury sedans with manual transmissions.

And what Buick calls quiet engineering made the Verano dangerous. Not from a safety stand point, but because of speed. At a relatively low 2,000 rpms, the car’s 260 pound-feet of torque meant that from any given point, a standing start, or coming down an expressway entrance, or from 50 mph or from 80 mph, smoothly and quietly the Verano accelerated with authority.

Any number of times, the car easily exceeded the speed limit without effort. Most of the time you can get a sense of the speed by the transmittance of engine sound. But not in the Verano; it was awfully quiet?

The Verano Turbo is a car to remain alert to its capabilities. In other words, the smart driver will be aware of what it is capable of doing. That kind of power and torque in a compact car with a manual transmission means instant speed no matter how smooth and quiet the car. So it was with the Buick Verano Turbo.

Buick engineers did a great job of eliminating torque steer. It was easy to forget that our test car was front-wheel-drive. Not once did the front wheels pull to one side or another because of the power being put to the pavement through the front axle.

The Verano’s ride was smooth, handling was effortless, and the suspension was tuned to be a shade stiffer than soft but a smidge less than firm

This car had an ambience that was lacking in the Buick Verano Turbo with an automatic transmission that was test driven months ago. The interior was different, not in terms of layout but it was different in terms of color. In the automatic the interior was dark, perhaps black. But in the manual Buick called it “cashmere,” It was beige.

The color made for a light airy atmosphere. The bucket front seats were comfortable and heated. The thick heated steering wheel felt good. Although Buick said the car could carry five-people, four adults seated in relative comfort was its reasonable capacity.

One quibble with Buick is that the brand has a penchant for front seats with power seat cushions and manually adjustable backs. How about all or nothing, fully manual or full power front seats, enough of the hybrids?

These days, there’s enough computing power in a car to rival artificial intelligence. The Buick Verano Turbo had ambient interior lighting, a touch screen, a navigation system, satellite radio, Bluetooth, OnStar, CD/MP3 capability, Internet streaming, voice controls, auxiliary and USB jacks.

The test car’s audio system seemingly had a mind of its own. Set the radio station, drive, get to a destination, turn the ignition off and when the Verano Turbo restarted the radio would be on another station. As quickly as this malfunction appeared; it disappeared a few days later.

Still, it did not dampen enthusiasm for the Buick Verano Turbo with the six-speed manual gear box. And what was better was the price; $32,010 as tested for this car was awfully reasonable for a lot of car.

Frank S. Washington can be reached at frank@aboutthatcar.com. Or, snail mail him at P.O. Box 23167, Detroit, MI 48223.

HUD OFFICES TO CLOSE NATIONWIDE ON FRIDAY, MAY 24^TH

Seven furlough days to be paired with holidays & weekends to ease impact 

            WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is notifying the public today that it will close its offices nationwide on Friday, May 24^th as a result of government-wide automatic spending cuts that took effect on March 1, 2013.   Absent any action to overcome these required reductions, the Department anticipates the need to close and suspend operations for an additional six days over the remainder of the current fiscal year.

The closures are expected on:

• Friday, May 24^th
• Friday, June 14th
• Friday, July 5th
• Monday, July 22nd
• Friday, August 2nd
• Friday, August 16th
• Friday, August 30th

Edited by Columbus Post staff

“I believe in you, and I hope you believe in yourselves, too,” Evers-Williams said during a commencement ceremony on the university’s main campus in Oxford. “Soar! Not only for yourselves, nor just for the betterment of Mississippi, but for betterment of all mankind. Soar, and be free.”

Evers-Williams, a Vicksburg native, told graduates to work not only for themselves but also for the betterment of Mississippi and all mankind.

She was presented with the University of Mississippi Humanitarian Award. This was only the third time the award has been given. It went to philanthropists Jim and Sally Barksdale in 2001 and to former Gov. William Winter and his wife, Elise, in 2003.

Evers-Williams’ first husband, Medgar Evers, was denied admission to the University of Mississippi law school in 1954, when the state’s education system was still segregated. He worked as field secretary of the Mississippi NAACP and was assassinated outside the family’s Jackson home in June 1963.

Evers-Williams was national chairwoman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1995 to 1998. In January, she delivered the invocation for President Barack Obama’s inauguration his second term.

According to a university news release, she reflected on the history between the Evers family and Ole Miss, acknowledged that progress has been made in human equality and envisioned further evolution in society’s attitudes.

“You all have the power – power to do what is right, to do what is just,” Evers-Williams said. “I hope that you realize and take seriously the roles you will play in your communities, the state, nation and the world….. I prefer to believe in the good of all humankind, that there are more people of good will than those who do not feel that way.”

During a news conference after the graduation ceremony, Evers-Williams said she was emotional about receiving the Humanitarian Award.

“I deeply appreciate it,” she said. “It speaks to all the emotional feelings I’ve gone through about the University of Mississippi.”

NEW LIFE WORSHIP CENTER, 1533 Brentnell Avenue, Columbus, OH.

The members of the New Life Worship Center would like to invite the faith community to join them in honoring Dr. J. Barnes Hooper’s 5th Pastor’s Anniversary on July 14, 5 p.m.

For more information, call 614-252-5745.
Dr. J. Barnes Hooper, pastor.

MT. OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH, 428 E. Main St., Columbus, OH.

Attention young adults – Save the date of June 28-29 and join the Young Adult Ministry for fun, food and fellowship at the Cherry Valley Lodge in Newark, OH. Transportation will be provided. Contact the church for more information.

Mt. Olivet Clothing Bank team would like to thank everyone who donated during the last request. However, the need is still great in our community.

Suggested items for donation:
• Men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, shoes and socks
• Bedding
• New undergarments
• Hygiene items (soap, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes and razors).

Bagged or boxed items can be left at the HBH fellowship center. For pick up, please contact the church. Receipts are available for tax purposes.

For more information, call 614-221-3446.
Dr. Charles E. Booth, pastor.

NEW SALEM MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, 2956 Cleveland Ave., Columbus, OH.

A Baby Dedication is a ceremony in which believing parents, and sometimes entire families, make a commitment before the Lord to submit a child to God’s will and to raise according to God’s Word and God’s Way.

Christian parents who dedicate a child are making a promise to the Lord to do everything within their power to raise the child in a Godly way, prayerfully until he or she can make a decision on his or her own to follow God. Parents who make this vow of commitment are instructed to raise the child in the ways of God, and not according to their own ways. Some of the responsibilities include teaching and training the child in God’s Word demonstrating an example of Godliness, discipling according to God’s ways, and praying earnestly for the child.

The baby dedications take place every 5th Sunday immediately following the 10:45 Service in the Frank Cleveland Chapel, which is located in the rear of our Sanctuary. Babies need to be one year and younger. The next dates are June 30, September 29 and December 29.

For more information, call 614-930-2242 or visit www.newsalemcares.org/baby_dedications.

Dr. Keith A. Troy, pastor.

 Compiled by Columbus Post staff.

May 16 – 22, 2013

ARIES

The link that you’ve established with your spiritual self will be strengthened by the people who come into your life this week. This week is a week for seriousness about a relationship. Discuss your deepest thoughts with others. They’ll understand and thank you for sharing intimate parts of yourself.

Soul Affirmation: Faith keeps me calm in the storms of life.
Lucky Numbers: 44, 49, 51

TAURUS

You’ve done some of your own love homework. Hopefully you’ve had an opportunity to learn a new way of seeing the world and in that way you’ve found a way of loving that is more natural for you.  The combination of sexiness and joyful focus can create you a wonderful love experience.

Soul Affirmation: I get joy from giving good things.
Lucky Numbers: 11, 17, 37

GEMINI

Share in the glory of your friend who has been recognized for outstanding work. Plan a small get-together to celebrate the occasion. Your time will come, and you will be placed on the pedestal. Your intimacy radar is sensitive. Watch out for a new romance that might come along. Expect the unexpected!  You will be pleasantly surprised!

Soul Affirmation: Love is easier than breathing.
Lucky Numbers: 16, 30, 50

CANCER

You’ve done a lot of things in life that no one has agreed with at the beginning. Finding agreement this week will be difficult, but it should not deter you from moving forward. Feeling sorry for your loneliness will discolor what you are doing. Be happy that you are alone.

Soul Affirmation: I get joy from giving good things.
Lucky Numbers: 2, 10, 31

LEO

Eternal optimist, eternity is now. Get in touch with your hopefulness and be a beacon to others. Try not to be taken in by promises made by others or promises you’ve made to yourself. Concerning your own affairs, avoid contemplating lofty subjects and seeking long ranged solutions.

Soul Affirmation: Time is the greatest peacemaker of them all.
Lucky Numbers: 14, 28, 39

VIRGO

Some say optimism is fantasy. Suppose the good thing you’re optimistic about never comes. This week you’ll know that the joy of anticipating it is joy enough. Just the certainty of coming goodness is present goodness. The joy of tomorrow is available this week.

Soul Affirmation: This week is the week the Lord has made. I rejoice in it.
Lucky Numbers: 22, 36, 38

LIBRA

You might be looking into the buying or selling of a piece of property, and this week seems to be a favorable week for this type of negotiation. Be careful with the intricacies of the matter. Pay attention to details or it could cost you a great deal later.

Soul Affirmation: I care deeply about the feelings of others.
Lucky Numbers: 11, 21, 35

SCORPIO

What a blessed week this will be. Spend it meditating on all that God has given you. This week think hard about some form of worship. Curtis Mayfield wrote a song called “Who Do You Love?” Someone should write one called “How Do You Love?” For your love lesson, the second song would be the one you should sing.

Soul Affirmation: New intuitions create new plans and a new cast of characters.
Lucky Numbers: 7, 16, 25

SAGITTARIUS

Your self-discipline helps you to do more this week. People will be watching as you zip around with style and grace! Broaden your cultural horizons by trying new foods and meeting new people.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Soul Affirmation: I am patient with all that comes my way this week.
Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 14

CAPRICORN

The urge to chase off on a tangent may be strong this week. Take a few minutes to study the big picture and make sure any whims serve the bigger purpose. It’s a good week to do what needs to be done.

Soul Affirmation: Luck is my best friend this week.
Lucky Numbers: 5, 10, 15

AQUARIUS

You’ll be full of good ideas this week, so make sure you write down the ones you don’t have time to put into action. You’ll want to share your thoughts on a grand scale, and your mind will seem truly universal to you. Try to be patient with those who are staggered by your brilliance.

Soul Affirmation: Light from my soul shines in many directions.
Lucky Numbers: 2, 3, 9

PISCES

This week let your gentle spirit shine through. Your rough and tumble side is not appropriate for the relationships that you’ll encounter. Someone will need your understanding and sympathy. Give it with sensitivity.

Soul Affirmation: My life itself is my greatest creation.
Lucky Numbers: 30, 37, 44

]]> http://columbuspost.com/lotto-mania-2/feed/ 0 http://columbuspost.com/open-for-business/ http://columbuspost.com/open-for-business/#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 17:12:56 +0000 Ray Thornton http://columbuspost.com/?p=4625 James Mason, owner of Gene Walker’s Café on Long, relaxes in front of his business hoping more neighborhood residents come out and support community businesses like his on Long Street. Mason stocks his café with locally branded food, art from local artisans and live jazz on the sidewalk most Thursdays.
(Photo by Ray Thornton)

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – When a Baltimore grocery store employee fingered 26-year-old Michael Austin for the murder of a security guard in the spring of 1974, Austin didn’t even match the police sketch. The wanted suspect was less than 6 feet tall and Austin was the size of a small forward in the NBA. The only other evidence linking him to the crime was a business card with the name of an alleged accomplice, a man who was never found.

The store owner, who was positive Austin wasn’t the shooter, was never called to testify during the original trial and Austin’s defense attorney never called a single witness to back up Austin’s alibi that he was at work across town when the crimes were committed. A year later, Austin was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery and sentenced to life in prison on the eyewitness account of the grocery store employee, a college student, according to the prosecution, and a drug addict and high school dropout.

Austin spent half of his life behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit, only gaining freedom through a New Jersey-based lawyers’ group that works to free the wrongfully convicted. The grocery store employee died of an overdose in 1997, but not before he told family members that he lied about what he saw during the murder and sent an innocent man to prison. In December 2001, Austin was granted his freedom. Three years later, Austin won a $1.4 million settlement from the state of Maryland.

Michael Austin’s story was chronicled in The National Registry of Exonerations, a collaborative effort between the University of Michigan law school at Ann Arbor and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at the School of Law at Northwestern University in Chicago. An updated registry of feature stories of the wrongfully convicted was recently released.

According to the report, Blacks accounted for nearly half (47 percent) of all known exonerees in 1989, and Whites made up nearly 39 percent of all known exonerees. When the updated exoneration report was released in April, 57 percent of the known cases that occurred in 2012 involved Blacks.

Samuel Gross, a law professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the editor of The National Registry of Exonerations said the 10 percent increase for Blacks was striking, but it’s too early to draw any firm conclusions. Gross said that he continues to learn about new cases that occurred in 2012. In last year’s report released in June 2012, the registry found that 50 percent of the all known exonerees were Black.

“It’s striking and if it stands up and it repeats in another year or two it will be an important trend,” said Gross.

According to the registry report, 52 percent of the wrongful conviction cases involved perjury or false accusation, 43 percent involved official misconduct and 41 percent involved mistaken eyewitness identification.

The majority (57 percent) of all known exonerations were in homicide cases and 47 percent of those cases involved Black defendants and 37 percent involved Whites. Blacks accounted for 63 percent and Whites 18 percent of those wrongfully convicted of committed robberies.

“Homicide and robbery, sadly to say, are crimes that African Americans are heavily overrepresented in the prison population,” said Gross.

The report found that “African Americans constitute 25 percent of prisoners incarcerated for rape, but 62 percent of those exonerated for such crimes.”

Faulty eyewitness identification continues to drive the high rate of Blacks involved in adult sexual assault exoneration cases. Gross said that this is likely because of problems associated with cross-racial identification.

“White people don’t have the type of experience living with and distinguishing members of other races as minorities do,” said Gross. “There is also a long terrible history of racial discrimination in the prosecution of African Americans for rape when they are accused of raping White women and that may be a factor here, too.”

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, a majority of the cases (52 percent) involve a witness making a false accusation or committing perjury. Forty-one percent of the cases involve faulty eyewitness identification.

“As a group, the defendants had spent nearly 11,000 years in prison for crimes for which they should not have been convicted – an average of more than 10 years each,” stated a report by The National Registry of Exonerations released in April.

These are often the most productive years of a person’s life and the reason why many criminal justice advocates say that seeking compensation for wrongful convictions is the only chance that exonerees have in regaining a foothold in a world that is often much different than how they left it.

“Unfortunately, many of our clients have been in jail for decades and often these were the best years of their life; the years where you can go to school and get an education, years where you can build a career and learn how to do a job,” said Paul Cates, communications director for the Innocence Project. “When they get out after 15 or 20 or 25 years, it’s very difficult to enter the job market without an education and without any marginal skills.”

Cates said that, when the government confines someone for those lengths of time, they definitely deserve to be compensated. Cates added: “It’s particularly true when you consider that they have no way of making a living once they’ve been released.”

Despite the proliferation of crime shows depicting the use of DNA in solving murders and proving innocence or guilt of a suspect, DNA testing is becoming less of a factor in wrongful conviction cases, because it is often initiated before cases go to trial.

“DNA evidence can be very persuasive to courts and to judges and to prosecutors because it’s a very definitive proof of innocence,” said Cates. “But in all these other cases where this evidence is not available, it’s really hard to prove when someone has been wrongfully convicted and the court system doesn’t make that easy.”

That could be changing. According to the registry report, for the first time, law enforcement officials cooperated in the majority of the known cases that freed the wrongfully convicted in 2012.

Revisions to state policies involving post-conviction DNA testing, greater oversight of convictions in prosecutorial offices, and the evolution of law enforcement practices could have contributed to the increase, according to the study.

“It’s pretty clear that we make mistakes as you would expect from any human system and we should acknowledge that and that’s becoming more widely understood and accepted,” said Gross. “The more realistic we are in understanding that we do make mistakes, the better we’ll be at identifying them and preventing them.”