Chamber certified green; ceremony set
HOLLISTER
– The San Benito County Chamber of Commerce has become the first
nonprofit organization here to get certified as a green business
through the Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program. The chamber
accomplished the recognition by meeting all of the program’s
requirements for conserving resources, pr
eventing pollution and minimizing waste.
Representatives from the Monterey Bay Area Green Business
Program had come out and informed the chamber how its employees
would have to change resources or practices to get green certified,
said Jessica French, the chamber’s president and CEO.
Visitors to next Monday’s 5:30 p.m. Green Ribbon Cutting at the
chamber office, 651 San Benito St., can get information on becoming
green certified. After the event, the Hollister City Council at its
6:30 p.m. meeting is set to recognize the chamber for its
achievement.
As the first nonprofit organization to get certified with the
group, the chamber joins three other businesses with green
certification as well. They include Hansen and Company, Wastewater
Solutions and Vista Notes. For the chamber, meeting the
requirements meant such alterations as changing drinking water and
recycling habits. The chamber also became more aware of light usage
and switched from a monthly, printed newsletter to a monthly
e-newsletter.
According to a chamber press release, members that sign up to be
green certified will get a free flier insert in the e-newsletter.
Once the chamber’s new Web site is done, the nonprofit also plans
to give special recognition to such certified businesses.
IRS warns of new identity theft scams
OAKLAND – The Internal Revenue Service is warning the public against four scams that are being perpetrated by e-mail, fax or phone.
One scam comes in the form of an e-mail that claims to come from the IRS and references the “Making Work Pay” provision of the 2009 economic recovery law. The e-mail tells readers they can get a refundable credit to their bank account if they register their account information with the IRS. The e-mail contains links to register the account and claim the tax refund. According to the IRS, taxpayers are receiving the “Making Work Pay” tax credit as a decreased tax withholding on their paycheck.
Another scam comes in an e-mail that claims to be from the U.S. Department of Treasury notifying recipients that they will receive millions in recovered funds, lottery winnings or a cash consignment if they provide personal information. They are asked to provide personal information, and often in future correspondent are asked to deposit the taxes on the winnings in advance to receive the money. Some people even receiving a phony check to deposit.
In one fraud, the scammers modify an actually IRS form, the W-8BEN, certificate of foreign status of beneficial owner for United States tax withholding, to request detailed personal and financial information. The form is sent as an e-mail, fax or letter. The correspondence claims to be from the IRS and states that the person will face additional taxes if they don’t respond quickly. The actual W-8BEN form is not filed with the IRS, but with financial institutions. It does not request a taxpayer’s passport number, bank account number, security or similar information.
Another scam sends out bogus e-mails that claim to be from the IRS, telling recipients they are eligible for a tax refund. They are asked to click on a link to get the refund, to complete a form that includes personal and financial information. It is the most commons scam seen by the IRS. According to the IRS, taxpayers do not need to complete a special form to obtain a refund. Refunds are based on the tax return they submit to the IRS.
Some clues that an e-mail, letter of fax request may not be legitimate include the following:
– Requests detailed or an unusual amount of personal and/or financial information such as name, social security number, bank or credit card account numbers, or security-related information such as mother’s maiden name.
– Dangles bait to get the recipient to respond to the e-mail, such as mentioning a tax refund or offering to pay for participation in an IRS survey.
– Threatens a consequence for not responding to the e-mail, such as additional taxes or blocking a refund.
– Gets the Internal Revenue Service or other federal agency names wrong.
– Uses incorrect grammar or odd phrasing (many of the e-mail scams originate overseas and are written by non-native English speakers.)
– Uses a really long address in any link contained in the e-mail message or one that does not start with the actual IRS Web site address (www.irs.gov.) To see the actual link address or url, move the mouse over the link included in the text of the e-mail.
Taxpayers can call the IRS are 1-800-829-1040 to determine if the IRS is trying to contact them. They can also forward suspicious e-mails or url addresses to
ph******@ir*.gov
, then delete the e-mail from their inbox.
Chamber certified green; ceremony set
HOLLISTER – The San Benito County Chamber of Commerce has become the first nonprofit organization here to get certified as a green business through the Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program. The chamber accomplished the recognition by meeting all of the program’s requirements for conserving resources, preventing pollution and minimizing waste.
Representatives from the Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program had come out and informed the chamber how its employees would have to change resources or practices to get green certified, said Jessica French, the chamber’s president and CEO.
Visitors to next Monday’s 5:30 p.m. Green Ribbon Cutting at the chamber office, 651 San Benito St., can get information on becoming green certified. After the event, the Hollister City Council at its 6:30 p.m. meeting is set to recognize the chamber for its achievement.
As the first nonprofit organization to get certified with the group, the chamber joins three other businesses with green certification as well. They include Hansen and Company, Wastewater Solutions and Vista Notes. For the chamber, meeting the requirements meant such alterations as changing drinking water and recycling habits. The chamber also became more aware of light usage and switched from a monthly, printed newsletter to a monthly e-newsletter.
According to a chamber press release, members that sign up to be green certified will get a free flier insert in the e-newsletter. Once the chamber’s new Web site is done, the nonprofit also plans to give special recognition to such certified businesses.
Bay-Valley postal service gets there on time
OAKLAND – For the second quarter in a row, the Bay-Valley District has exceeded the national average for three categories used to measure on-time deliveries. The district got a 97 percent for overnight, a 96 percent for two-day deliveries and a 94 percent for three-to-five day delivery.
The national average for the quarter from April 1 to June 30, was 96 percent for overnight, 94 percent for two-day and 93 percent for two-to-three day deliveries.
“Our positive scores for two quarters in a row indicate that service to our customers remain our central focus, said Kim Fernandez, the Bay Valley district manager. “In spite of the severe downturn in our volume that has caused us to make critical cost-cutting decisions, one thing we did not cut is commitment to customer service. Our employees are actively engaged and understand the challenges we face, and they have responded with positive strides in continuous improvement in service performance.”
The district stretches from Napa Valley east to Fairfield, south to King City and to the coast. It has a total of 230 locations that process and deliver 3.5 billion pieces of mail annually.
Since 1990, the Postal Service has contracted with an independent agency to measure First-Class Mail service performance.
