BOSTON - In a court filing, several banks say 94 million accounts were affected by the theft of personal data from the parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores.

The number is more than double what the TJX company has reported.

The retailer is in a legal battle with banks, particularly Cincinnati’s Fifth Third, which handled the credit card transaction for TJX.

The court filing released by the banks to The Boston Globe shows the data breach affected about 65 million Visa account numbers and about 29 million MasterCard numbers. TJX had previously said the hackers who breached its systems compromised at least 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers as far back as 2003.

“Business after Hours” Networking Event

SPONSORED BY

Where: 7940 N. Michigan Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46268

The greatness of a university is measured not in stone and steel but in hearts and minds. Indiana University is a great university because of the greatness of its family of students, faculty, staff and friends. A key measure of that greatness of hearts and minds is the rich diversity of people who are part of our university family.
You are now part of that diversity of people. Welcome.
Indiana University has strived throughout history to expand the frontiers of knowledge while bringing the citizens of this state, this nation and this world together in common purpose. It has provided a home for an extraordinarily diverse population of people from many backgrounds, many countries, many cultures and many religions.
You are invited to explore and sample the richness of the opportunities of learning, service and doing which Indiana University offers. The pages of this website do not cover all the diverse experiences of this university, this campus, but it certainly can give you an excellent first look. Please enjoy yourself while learning and doing within our pages an at Indiana University.
Again, Welcome to Indiana University!
Edwardo Rhodes
Associate Vice President for Academic Support & Diversity

Recent demands by federal officials regarding affirmative action in law school admissions and their impact on corporate America will be the topic of the Valparaiso University School of Law’s annual Indiana Supreme Court Lecture.
Dennis Archer, former mayor of Detroit and chairman of Dickinson Wright, will discuss “The Business Case for Diversity: Actions of the Department of Education and the Civil Rights Commission May Have an Adverse Impact,” at 11 a.m. Oct. 11 in Wesemann Hall on campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Archer served as Detroit’s mayor from 1994 to 2001 and won international respect for his success in improving the city’s image, including being named Public Official of the Year by Governing magazine in 2000. He is chairman of the Detroit-based law firm Dickinson Wright and serves of the boards of Johnson Controls Inc., Compuware Corp. and Masco Corp.
While American businesses and law firms recognize the importance of hiring more women and people of diverse ethnic groups, Archer’s lecture will explore recent actions by the Department of Education and Civil Rights Commission related to constraining affirmative action in law school admissions. Those actions, with the potential to affect colleges and universities across the country, could harm the ongoing efforts of businesses and law firms to hire more diverse workforces, Archer says.
The lecture is co-sponsored by the Valparaiso University School of Law and the Indiana Supreme Court. The annual Indiana Supreme Court Lectures are made possible by the generous support of the Indiana Supreme Court. The court’s current justices include Robert D. Rucker, a graduate of Valparaiso Law.

Hello, Everyone.

A Job Well Done!

On October 22, Officer Malachi West responded to a burglary in progress in the Port O Call Apartments. Suspect information was provided by an eye witness and this information was broadcast to the responding officers. Two male suspects driving a white Ford Crown Victoria were seen leaving the apartment complex. Officer West was enroute to the scene and observed the suspect vehicle enter I-465 in a northbound direction of travel from Rockville Rd. He pursued the vehicle to 10th and Beachway Drive where he was able to bring the vehicle to a stop. The two male subjects inside the vehicle matched the description of the burglary suspects, and further observed a large screen television in the rear seat area of the car. During this investigation, Officer West found that one of the suspects had an extensive criminal history. Assisting Officers responded to the scene of the burglary and confirmed that the apartment has been ransacked and that a television was stolen from the interior of the apartment. Officer West then conducted a show-up line up which resulted in both the suspects being positively identified as the persons responsible for the burglary. Both suspects were arrested for residential burglary. Officer West’s prompt response and outstanding observational skills resulting the apprehension of two burglary suspects. I hope you will join me in congratulating Officer West for a job very well done.

Good Practice to Follow

At the beginning of October, one of our crime watch block captains was responsible for picking up her neighbor’s eight year old son from the school bus stop. The bus driver did not know our Crime Watch captain and stopped her to ask her who she was. She was very polite but stern. The bus driver was not going to let someone she did not know walk away with this child without an explanation. Once she explained who she was and why she was picking up the child, the bus driver continued on her route. We are impressed by the bus driver of School Bus #115 for taking responsibility for the children on her bus. If you see bus #115, please wave a hearty thank you to her. She deserves it.

Roll Calls

I want to thank Meridian Woods and Sungate Neighborhoods for hosting a roll call in their areas. Several neighbors came out and met the officers from Southwest District. This allows both the citizens and police to meet each other. Wayne Library is going to host a roll call on November 12th at 1:30 p m. Please come out and support this event.

Halloween Candy

We will be handing out candy for all the little ghosts and goblins on Halloween night from 5-8 pm here at 551 N. King Avenue. Please stop by for our goodies.

Clothe-A-Child

Every year we host a program I feel is very important. Police officers take these children shopping for socks, underwear, pajamas, an outfit, shoes and a coat. We also buy toys from each child’s wish list. During our program and after the children return to Southwest District for lunch, Santa Clause makes a special visit. During his visit he has each child come and sit on his lap and he hands out the toys we have purchased and wrapped for them. These gifts are sometimes the only gifts they will receive for Christmas. In the past, we have clothed approximately 45-50 children a year since 1984. To help support this program, Southwest District sells poinsettia flowers during November 27th-December 14th. The plants are approximately 18-24” tall and come in five different colors. These plants are beautiful. The cost is only $10 each and all the proceeds go to fund this worthwhile program. We also accept monetary donations in lieu of poinsettias. If you or your organization would like to order any of these beautiful poinsettias, please contact Sgt. Lori Demaree at 327-6436.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What can we do with our leaves and small branches during this fall season?
A: Our City will start collecting your leaves and small branches from November 5-30th. You will be allowed 30 bags of leaves along with your normal trash. Small branches will be picked up as well as long as they are cut in to 3’ lengths and bundled together. Place them beside your trash and they will be picked up along with your trash pickup.

Here are our sensational six phone numbers to remember:

911-Emergency

327-6499-Southwest District Narcotics Hotline

327-4622- Mayor’s Action Center

327-6400-District Front Desk

327-6465- Debbie Armbruster-Crime watch

327-6436-Sgt. Lori Demaree-Community Relations

Sincerely,

Major Brian Mahone

Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose 6.6 percent this year, again outstripping increases in financial aid and pushing students into more borrowing. Community colleges once again did the best job keeping the lid on prices.

In-state students at four-year public schools are paying $6,185 this year, up $381 from last year, according to the nonprofit College Board’s annual survey of college costs, released Monday. At four-year private colleges, tuition and fees rose 6.3 percent to $23,712.

The published price is not the real price for many students. On average, accounting for grants and tax breaks, full-time students are actually paying $2,577 this year to attend four-year public universities. That’s $209 more than last year.

However, even the net price is still rising much faster than overall inflation. The net price at public universities is $560 higher, in 2007 dollars, than a decade ago. The five years have seen prices rise 31 percent above and beyond the general inflation rate for other goods and services — the worst record on college prices of any five-year period covered by the survey dating back 30 years.

Prices at two-year colleges, which educate about half of American college students, rose 4.2 percent to $2,361. Accounting for aid, their average net cost is only $320 per year.

A companion report released on trends in student aid shows that over the last decade, increases in grant aid — money students don’t have to pay back — have covered only about one-third of the increases in private college tuition and half the increases at public four-year schools.

While borrowing from the government is still far bigger, students are footing more and more of the bill with private loans from banks and student loan companies. Undergraduate private borrowing grew 12 percent to $14.5 billion in 2006-2007. The rate of increase in total private borrowing for education has slowed, but borrowing has increased tenfold over the last decade.

Including room and board for students living on campus, charges for public four-year colleges were $13,589, or 5.9 percent higher than last year. At private four-year schools, total charges rose by the same percentage to $32,307. George Washington University in Washington, D.C. recently attracted attention for becoming the first major university with a published price, including room and board, of more than $50,000.

However, the percentage of college-goers who pay such large sums is fairly small. Fewer than 10 percent even attend colleges with tuition and fees higher than $30,000, according to the College Board, and many of those students receive financial aid. About 56 percent of students at four-year colleges attend schools listing a price under $10,000, and about one-third attend schools charging under $6,000.

SAN DIEGO - The wind-fueled fires that have burned more than 700 homes and chased away 265,000 residents may be only the start of the destruction in Southern California, where Tuesday’s forecast called for hotter temperatures and more explosive gusts.

The blazes bedeviled firefighters as walls of flame whipped from mountain passes to the edges of the state’s celebrated coastline, spreading so quickly that even hotels serving as temporary shelters for evacuees had to be evacuated.

Wanda Tomkinson, 79, fled the Doubletree hotel in Del Mar with her husband and their Boston Terrier after employees called each room to tell customers they had to leave. The couple, carrying medication, clothes, tax records and a dog bowl, said they were relying on a family friend to take them in.

If not, Tomkinson added, “the Lord’ll take care of us.”

With some 245,957 acres, or 384 square miles, ablaze, President Bush declared a federal emergency for seven Southern California counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts.

The wildfires claimed one life, in San Diego County, and injured 42. At least 16 of the injured were firefighters.

Fire crews and fleeing residents described desperate conditions that were sure to get worse. Temperatures across Southern California were about 10 degrees above average and were expected to approach 100 degrees Tuesday in Orange and San Diego counties.

“We are getting very strong northeast winds. They are very erratic, causing us to modify our procedures,” said Capt. Don Camp, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fires were exploding and shooting embers in all directions, preventing crews from forming traditional fire lines and severely limiting aerial bombardment, he said.

“Lifesaving is our priority. Getting people out from in front of the fire - those have been our priorities,” Camp said.

Thousands of residents sought shelter at fairgrounds, schools and community centers. The largest gathering was at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, where evacuees anxiously watched the stadium’s television sets, hoping for a glimpse of their neighborhood on the local news.

San Diego County was ablaze from its rural north to its border region with Mexico, where the wildfires that started Sunday claimed their only fatality to date: Thomas Varshock, 52, of Tecate, a town on the U.S. side of the border southeast of San Diego. His body was found Sunday afternoon, the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office said, although no other details were released.

At least 250,000 residents in San Diego County alone were ordered to evacuate. Public schools were closed, as were campuses at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University.

In the northern part of the county, 500 homes and 100 businesses had been destroyed as a wildfire exploded to 145,000 acres and marched toward the Pacific Coast enclave of Del Mar, forcing a partial evacuation.

The scope of the infernos was immense and was reminiscent of the blazes that tore through Southern California four years ago this month, killing 22 and destroying 3,640 homes.

The fires that started Sunday were whipped by ferocious winds, generating walls of flame that bore down on housing developments in a wide swath.

Homes burned from the beaches of Malibu to the mountain retreats east of Los Angeles and south through Orange and San Diego counties to Mexico.

East of Los Angeles, a two-front fire destroyed at least 160 homes in the Lake Arrowhead area, the same mountain resort community where hundreds of homes were lost four years earlier.

As the fires spread, most out of control, smaller blazes were merging into larger, more fearsome ones. Evacuations were being announced in one community after another as firefighters found themselves overwhelmed by gale-force Santa Ana winds, some gusting to 70 mph.

The winds - which sweep through Southern California’s canyons in fall and winter - are stronger than normal, turning already parched scrubland into tinder.

The Department of Defense agreed to send six Air Force and Air National Guard water- or retardant-dropping planes Tuesday to aide the massive firefighting effort after a request by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Touring an evacuee camp at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the governor pledged to do everything in his power to assist the firefighting effort and help those who have lost their homes.

“I will be relentless all the way through this,” Schwarzenegger said

Emilio Gonzalez has been named vice president - strategic alliances for Verizon, effective November 1.

Gonzalez will head Verizon’s Strategic Alliances Group, which is responsible for public policy development and outreach to civil rights groups, multicultural and education organizations, and senior citizen and disabled constituencies throughout the United States. He will assume the position previously held by B. Keith Fulton, who has been named state president - Verizon West Virginia.

Gonzalez joined Verizon in 2003 as director of strategic alliances. He has served as lead federal lobbyist for Hispanic-American members of Congress, managed key aspects of Hispanic, education and Asian-American affairs, and directed national advocacy campaigns in key policy areas impacting telecommunications.

Prior to joining Verizon, Gonzalez was a senior advisor with a Washington, D.C., government relations firm, Mickey Ibarra & Associates, where he developed Hispanic marketing campaigns and political strategy. He also served as a senior associate at another Washington-based government relations firm, Cartwright & Riley.

Before that, he held positions at the U.S. departments of Education and Commerce and the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment. He worked extensively on the federal government’s programs on educational technology, the e-rate and global information society initiatives.

The IMF is projecting growth in the Latin American region at 5 pct this year and 4.25 pct next year, said Western Hemisphere department director Anoop Singh at a press conference at the opening of the Fund’s annual meeting here this morning.

The region “has weathered the financial market turbulence rather well so far,” said Singh. Stock prices, having taken an initial hit, had recovered to exceed pre-turbulence levels in some countries, and currencies have also “generally” readjusted to pre-turmoil levels.

Singh credited “strengthening economic fundamentals” in most of the region and a consensus on preserving stability for the positive response.

However, he acknowledged that inflation, while low by historic standards, has been edging up in some countries and “bears close watching”, that many Latin American countries have been sustained by the recent high commodity prices, and that “the full effects” of the US housing market decline are still unknown.

Future challenges include containing real growth in primary spending, ensuring strong financial supervision, and improving medium term investment and productivity, said Singh.

The IMF’s full regional outlook is due to be presented in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Nov 9.

Fearing another presidential cliff-hanger, Florida’s Republican leaders are amping up their outreach to minority voters who they believe could provide the muscle to put a GOP White House contender over the top.

To win Florida’s coveted 27 electoral votes in 2008, the state party is making a concentrated effort to reach out to black and Hispanic voters.

It’s not a new strategy. Former Gov. Jeb Bush made inroads in the black community when he first won election in 1998, but then quickly alienated many of those supporters a year later when he used his executive powers to eliminate affirmative action in state hiring and university admissions.

Florida’s Hispanics, conflicted over the immigration battle that continues to rage in Washington and across the nation, are becoming a more diverse group. As more Puerto Ricans and Latin Americans move into the state, they are countering the voting clout of Cuban Americans, who tend to register and vote Republican.

Of the state’s 1.1 million Hispanic voters registered to vote in Florida’s 2006 governor’s race, nearly one-in-three was registered without a party affiliation. Among the rest, 369,902 registered as Democrats and 414,185 were Republican.

There are more than 1.2 million registered black voters. But while 1 million are declared Democrats, in 2006 many of them stayed home. An unprecedented 18 percent voted for Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, a key element in his election victory.

Now Crist and Jim Greer, his hand-picked leader of the state Republican Party, are making a concentrated effort to preach diversity.

“Minority voters are being recognized as the future success of our party,” Greer told a roomful of delegates to Presidency IV during the party’s first state convention panel discussion on Hispanic issues.

Julian Lago, of Palm Beach Gardens, said Palm Beach County has become a melting pot of Hispanic immigrants, many of them small-business owners who have migrated to the Republican Party because of its stand on social and tax issues.

“Their issues go beyond immigration,” said Lago, whose family left Cuba before he was born.

While few black delegates attended the weekend gathering of party activists, Frances Rice of Sarasota said that isn’t a true reflection of support. Many, she said, are fearful of publicly showing their allegiance to the GOP.

“I’ve been called a sell-out, an Aunt Jemima, you name it,” said Rice, chairwoman of the National Republican Association. “We’re denigrated and that’s why people don’t like to get involved. But Martin Luther King was a Republican.”

Crist himself may be the best weapon in the GOP’s arsenal.

Since his inauguration in January, he has worked on several issues critical to black voters, including restoration of civil rights for felons who have completed their sentences, pushing for a paper record of all votes and supporting a $5 million claims bill for the family of a black teenager who died after being beaten in a Panhandle boot camp.

“We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, who reached out to and helped people. But we can always do better,” Crist said this weekend. “It’s incredibly important for us to reach out, build the base and move forward.”