Banquet by MVP 20/30 raises thousands

Banquet by MVP 20/30 raises thousands

YOUNGSTOWN —MVP 20/30 said that it raised $15,000 last year with its 40 Under 40 Awards banquet. The money was donated to the Young Philanthropists Fund, which has raised $41,000 over three years. The club also named these officers for 2008: Brian Laraway, president; Heather McMahon, vice president; Sharon Schroeder, secretary; and Joe Damore, treasurer.

Networking seminar

SHARON, Pa. — The Technology Council of Northwest Pennsylvania has joined with Penn State Shenango to improve the links between industry and the university. The organizations will hold a networking seminar from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Great Hall of the university. Included will be an explanation of the partnership and a presentation by William Shore of the FBI on protecting an organization from technology threats. Reservations may be made through Tuesday at www.techcouncilnwpa.org.

Tax-scam warning

YOUNGSTOWN — The Better Business Bureau is warning area residents to be wary of tax scams at this time of year. Identity thieves and others involved in fraud sometimes pose as officials from the Internal Revenue Service, the BBB said.

It said most tax scams are conducted through e-mail that attempts to trick victims into thinking they are being contacted by the IRS, credit card companies or financial institutions. Known as phishing, these e-mails usually tell the recipient that there’s an issue with their refund, that they are being audited or that there is a problem preventing their taxes from being processed. The fraudulent e-mail will provide a link directing victims to a Web site set up by scammers to collect personal information. The BBB said the IRS normally contacts taxpayers by mail, not e-mail.

Part of HGTV show

BROOKFIELD — Lisa Dickson, President of Decorating in a Day Corp. in Brookfield, was part of the taping of a new television show on HGTV, “The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price.” The show will begin to air in Canada this fall and perhaps in the U.S. later.

Ambrose Price was a finalist on HGTV’s last season of Design SuperStar Challenge, and the producers gave him his own show this coming season. Each week, Price will learn something new on the show, such as real estate staging, cake decorating and high-rise window cleaning. Dickson was invited by Certified Staging Professionals to be part of the taping of Price going through the 30-hour certification process of becoming a CSP. Dickson was among the instructors working with Price and others on achieving their certification.

Poll: Sexual comments increase in workplace

NEW YORK —Women found sexually explicit comments were nearly twice as frequent in the workplace last year as the year before, according to a recent survey. The telephone survey of 546 employees was conducted by International Communications Research for Novations Group. It found that 42 percent said they endured sexually inappropriate comments in 2007, up from 34 percent in 2006. The largest increase was among women, 39 percent of whom reported the most common type of harassment — up from 22 percent the year before.

Vindicator staff and wire reports