| Experian offers credit freeze facility from November 1
Consumer credit reporting bureau Experian has announced that it will be offering its customers in 50 states and the District of Columbia, the chance to freeze their credit histories starting November 1. Experian is the second firm after TransUnion to offer consumers the option of freezing their credit histories. By freezing histories, consumers can block access to their reports by new creditors. The company said that it would be charging $10 every time a consumer wants to freeze his/her history temporarily or permanently. "It will be one option among a broad range of fraud-assistance tools we already provide to consumers so that they may make the choice best suited to their situation," said Kerry Williams, group president of credit services and decision analytics business at Experian. "Now that a national model for file freezing has emerged, Experian is offering this option to help prevent consumer confusion." TransUnion was the first company to offer this option, which will come into effect starting October 15.
Darts & Laurels
Speaking of the boss, we offer a glad-you're-back-because-this-spring-may-be-your-only-chance-to-graduate DART to Bernie Machen for suggesting that summer school may have to be taken away to make up for the $16 million deficit due to state budget cuts. Surely, there are other ways to make up for the shortage.However, despite our usual reluctance, we can't help but offer a they-want-us-to-return-to-a-safer-campus-with-a-system-that-actually-works LAUREL to University of Florida officials for their plans to test the emergency text-messaging system for the first time Tuesday.With LSU's recent glitch, UF made the right choice to avoid similar problems and make sure all students have up-to-date information in case of an emergency.In the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech in April, college officials can't leave much to chance these days.And since most of us are glued to our cell phones anyway (thanks a lot for that iPhone, Steve Jobs - that didn't help), why not send us a message that we'll actually get?Unfortunately, we have no choice but to give an absolutely-no-cutesy-way-to-say-it DART to the staff of the Hilochee Wildlife Management Area for their dense decision to start a controlled burn near I-4 in Winter Haven this week.Their attempt to clear land for a wildlife habitat in one of the state's driest areas turned into a predictably out-of-control wildfire.The resulting smoke-fog mixture over the interstate led to a 70-car pileup that killed four people and hospitalized 38.We shudder to think what could have happened if they had started the fire when we were making the trek back to Gainesville.Finally, we hand over a get-a-free-set-of-handcuffs-this-semester-if-you-don't-have-a-wristband LAUREL to the Gainesville Police Department for stepping up patrols to combat the common occurrence of underage drinking.While we don't wholeheartedly agree that this will stop the baby boozers, we have high hopes that more arrests will keep more of the amateurs at home.
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Universities face crunch in funding
Michigan public universities, already stretched thin after losing a huge monthly payment from the state this summer, may be on the brink of missing another if the government shuts down on Monday. Without the money from their overdue August payment and from their regular October check, the universities' leaders say they may have to turn to students or loans to tide themselves over. "The critical issue in the short term is whether or not we will see that August payment," said Cheryl Roland, spokeswoman for Western Michigan University. "And if it starts to look like the October payment was in jeopardy, too, it's just hard to comprehend how that could be managed." .
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