Radio Disney AM 590 Atlanta and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia Announce Winners of the 'Get Active Get Fit!' School Challenge

/PRNewswire/ -- Radio Disney AM 590 Atlanta, part of the number one radio network for kids, tweens and families, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia (BCBSGa) announce the winners of the "Get Active Get Fit!" School Challenge. The 20 Georgia schools with the highest percentage of participation in the program have won a special dance party hosted by Radio Disney AM 590. In addition, five schools were awarded new gym equipment valued at $500 for being the first to sign up and complete the program.

The "Get Active Get Fit!" School Challenge was designed to motivate kids and families to achieve fitness together by engaging in fun activities. The program has been implemented in more than 150 elementary schools in 127 districts throughout the Fall 2010, furthering a commitment to encourage a healthy and active lifestyle among 61,000 of Georgia's school-age children.

The winning schools with the highest percentage of participation are:

Adrian School of Performing Arts	Emanuel County
Bacon County Elementary	Bacon County
Brookview Elementary	Fulton County
Burnette Elementary	Gwinnett County
Cusseta Road Elementary	Muscogee County
Edgewood Elementary	Muscogee County
Glen Haven Elementary	Dekalb County
Hannah Academy	Muscogee County
Hubbard Elementary	Monroe County
Lake Oconee Academy	Greene County
Lamar County Primary School	Lamar County
Marlow Elementary	Effingham County
Social Circle Elementary	Social Circle City
Social Circle Primary	Social Circle City
South Dodge Elementary	Dodge County
Stonewall Tell Elementary	Fulton County
Tolbert Elementary	Gordon County
Venetian Hills Elementary	Atl Public Schools
Whitesburg Elementary	Carroll County
Whitlow Elementary	Forsyth County

The schools awarded new gym equipment are:

Lamar County Primary School	Lamar County
Social Circle Primary	Social Circle City
South Dodge Elementary	Dodge County
Stonewall Tell Elementary	Fulton County
Venetian Hills Elementary	Atl Public Schools

"It is truly amazing to see how many schools participated in this challenge," said Morgan Kendrick, President, BCBSGa. "They are all winners and we couldn't be more thrilled with the incredible success that Radio Disney's 'Get Active Get Fit!' program has experienced in engaging Georgia's children in healthy fitness activities."

Nearly 500,000 students nationwide signed up to participate in the "Get Active Get Fit!" School Challenge in states including California, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, Upstate New York, Virginia, and Wisconsin. For Radio Disney, the network's involvement in the program demonstrates its commitment to inspiring healthier lifestyles for kids and families supporting Disney's Magic of Healthy Living effort.

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The Top 20 Most Frugal Cities of 2010 Revealed

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Attention, shoppers: Atlanta residents are saving more money than you are. When it comes to whittling down that grocery bill and tackling rising food prices, Atlantans are doing it best by using coupons.

“Especially in the South and Midwest, shoppers know how to keep their pennies in their pockets, racking up substantial savings throughout the year.”

For the second year in a row, Atlanta takes the top spot on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list, according to the 2010 Savings Index1 released today by Coupons.com, the premiere Web destination for coupons and savings. On average, regular users of Coupons.com in Atlanta printed more than $1000.00 dollars in coupon savings from the site in 2010. That is almost twice as much as during 2009, when they printed $531 in savings.

Tampa cashed in with coupons and maintained its position as the city with the second most savings. On average, regular users of Coupons.com in Tampa printed $863.00 in savings. Following on the savings heels of Atlanta and Tampa are, in order, Cincinnati, Saint Louis and Minneapolis, according to the Index.

“Across the country Americans are incorporating couponing into their shopping routine to alleviate rising food costs and keep their grocery bill in check,” said Jeanette Pavini, Coupons.com household savings expert. “Especially in the South and Midwest, shoppers know how to keep their pennies in their pockets, racking up substantial savings throughout the year.”

The South is a mega-saver: more than one-third of the top 20 frugal cities are in the Southern region of the United States. In addition to Atlanta and Tampa, other Southland cities on the list include Charlotte (#6), Nashville (#7), Raleigh (#10), Oklahoma City (#13), Miami (#13) and Dallas (#14).

Once again, Ohio is the country’s most frugal state. The Buckeye state is represented three times on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list – Cincinnati (#3), Cleveland (#8) and Columbus (#19).

North Carolina is Ohio’s biggest challenger, climbing the penny-pinching ladder with two cities in the top 10: Charlotte and Raleigh.

For the first time it was raining green in the Pacific Northwest as Seattle (#18) joined the list. Seattle is the only city on the West Coast that made the cut.

In 2010, regular users of Coupons.com hailing from the top 20 most frugal cities printed or added more than $1023.00 in savings to their store loyalty cards, which is almost twice the amount from 2009 of $535.00. Nationwide, more than $1.2 billion in savings was printed or saved to loyalty cards from Coupons.com and the Coupons.com network during 2009.

The Top 20 couponing cities are below.

2010 Rank			Change Since 2009			City			State			Savings Index
1			—			Atlanta			GA			997
2			—			Tampa			FL			569
3			—			Cincinnati			OH			497
4			—			Saint Louis			MO			420
5			—			Minneapolis			MN			329
6			↑ 1			Charlotte			NC			303
7			↓ 1			Nashville			TN			291
8			—			Cleveland			OH			289
9			—			Pittsburgh			PA			250
10			↑ 1			Raleigh			NC			235
11			↓ 1			Kansas City			MO			233
12			↑ 3			Washington			DC			207
13			↓ 1			Miami			FL			202
14			↑ 4			Dallas			TX			198
15			↓ 2			Oklahoma City			OK			198
16			↓ 4			Boston			MA			192
17			—			Denver			CO			170
18			↑ 5			Seattle			WA			153
19			↑ 1			Columbus			OH			147
20			↓ 1			Wichita			KS			146

Table 1: Top 20 Frugal U.S. Cities

Most On-the-Go Frugal U.S. Cities

Super-savers are tapping into savings via mobile apps for their cell phones, including Coupons.com’s Grocery iQ and the Coupons.com mobile apps.

When it comes to saving on-the-go, the citizens of Atlanta have the most frugal fingertips, based on use of the Coupons.com apps according to the Index2, which is reflected in the city’s top position on the Most On-the-Go Frugal Cities list in Table 2. The rest of the South is also smart when it comes to cellular savings. In fact, the South is home to 10 cities represented on the top 20 cities using mobile apps to access, browse, print and save coupons.

“More and more, people are taking advantage of coupons using mobile devices,” comments Pavini. “People are not just clicking for coupons from their computer, they are accessing them on-the-go and even at the supermarket.”

Some cities have a higher propensity to access coupons via mobile phones. For instance, savers in Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Philadelphia are quick to look to their mobile device to maximize savings and advance on the On-the-Go list relative to their position on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list.

While they’re on the couponing wagon, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Seattle missed the mobile train: these cities ranked high on ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list, but each moved down several pegs on the On-the-Go list.

Top 20 Most On-the-Go Frugal Coupon Cities are below.

2010 Rank			City			State			Savings Index
1			Atlanta			GA			906
2			Tampa			FL			531
3			Saint Louis			MO			490
4			Cincinnati			OH			374
5			Oklahoma City			OK			363
6			Dallas			TX			282
7			Charlotte			NC			280
8			Pittsburgh			PA			246
9			Tulsa			OK			241
10			Miami			FL			238
11			Minneapolis			MN			235
12			Washington			DC			232
13			Nashville			TN			226
14			Raleigh			NC			222
15			Wichita			KS			219
16			Kansas City			MO			214
17			New Orleans			LA			198
18			Cleveland			OH			196
19			Denver			CO			177
20			Memphis			TN			165

Table 2: Top Frugal U.S. Cities - Mobile

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GeoVax Labs CSO Dr. Harriet L. Robinson to be Honored at 2011 Georgia Bio (GaBio) Community Awards Ceremony

/PRNewswire/ -- Harriet L. Robinson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at GeoVax Labs, Inc. (OTCQB/OTC Bulletin Board: GOVX), a biotechnology company that creates, develops and tests innovative HIV/AIDS vaccines, is one of three recipients of the 2011 Georgia Bio (GaBio) Community Awards. Dr. Robinson will be honored at the GaBio Annual Awards Dinner to be held Thursday, January 20 at Atlanta's Fox Theater.

Dr. Robinson is the developer of GeoVax's HIV-1 AIDS vaccine technology. One of the world's leaders in AIDS vaccine research, she was Chief of the Division of Microbiology and Immunology at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Emory University before joining GeoVax, of which she is a co-founder.

Dr. Robinson's early work with HIV vaccines demonstrated that DNA alone would likely not be sufficient to raise protective immunity for HIV. She combined DNA with protein boosters or live viral-vectored boosters to show that effective control might be achieved through a combination of DNA prime and viral-vectored boosters. It is these vaccines that GeoVax licensed for commercial development and now has in Phase 2 clinical trials. Dr. Robinson received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her PhD in Microbiology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Commenting on the award, Robert T. McNally, Ph.D., President and CEO of GeoVax, said, "We are delighted that Georgia Bio has seen fit to honor Harriet this year. We at GeoVax have long been aware of her extraordinary talents, and we are lucky to have her on staff as we continue to pursue the development of our preventative and therapeutic HIV vaccines."

Each year, Georgia Bio recognizes individuals, companies or institutions for significant contributions to Georgia's life sciences industry with its GaBio Community Awards. Georgia Bio (www.gabio.org) is a private, non-profit association representing nearly 300 pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, medical centers, universities, research institutes, medical centers, government groups and other business organizations involved in the development of products that improve health and well-being of people animals and the environment.

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Jim Lientz Honored for Service in Governor’s Office

Former state Chief Operating Officer Jim Lientz has been named a 2010 Purpose Prize Fellow by Civic Ventures. Lientz was recognized as a social entrepreneur over 60 who, in his encore career, used his experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on society’s biggest challenges. Now in its fifth year, the six-year, $17 million Purpose Prize program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Lientz was named a Fellow due to his time serving as Georgia’s COO, where he helped Governor Sonny Perdue create a customer friendly, people-oriented state government through the leadership, management, and supervision of state departments, agencies, and their respective boards and commissions. Lientz was instrumental in Georgia’s growth as a best managed state including recognition from the Pew Center on the States and Governing magazine.

“Purpose Prize Fellows show what’s possible in our communities – and the world – when experienced adults apply their passion and skill to improve the lives of others.” said Alexandra Céspedes Kent, Director of The Purpose Prize. “Imagine the potential for society if tens of thousands of adults focused their know-how on the social causes they are most passionate about – it’s a tremendous opportunity.”

The 46 Purpose Prize Fellows of 2010 were honored at the Purpose Prize Summit in November in Philadelphia.

“I am honored that my passion towards building a more customer-focused, forward-thinking Georgia has earned me such recognition,” said Lientz. “I dedicated my life to success in the private sector and it was important to me to continue striving for results-oriented solutions in a public role.” The Purpose Prize, funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation, is a program of Civic Ventures’ Encore Careers campaign (www.encore.org), which aims to engage millions of baby boomers in encore careers combining social impact, personal meaning and continued income in the second half of life. For more information, visit: www.encore.org/prize.
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The Office Depot Foundation Honors Mark Dobosz with Listen, Learn, Care Award

The Office Depot Foundation presented the Listen, Learn, Care Award to Mark Dobosz, Executive Director of The SCORE Foundation and Vice President of Development at SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business”, for his outstanding creativity, innovation and achievement in serving the community of mankind.

Mark Dobosz received the Listen, Learn, Care Award at the Fourth Annual Office Depot Foundation Tropical Holiday Celebration on December 10, 2010. This annual event celebrated the outstanding work of the Office Depot Foundation and featured the presentation of the annual Listen, Learn, Care Award to five exceptional individuals.

Mark Dobosz has spent more than 26 years working in a variety of leadership roles and areas for non-profit organizations. He has been responsible for developing new fundraising programs as well as expanding several annual giving, planned giving and special event programs. Mark has helped raise more than $27 million for the organizations he has served.

SCORE CEO Ken Yancey says, “Mark Dobosz has demonstrated foresight and vision for SCORE’s future through his commitment to SCORE fundraising. He has tirelessly worked to ensure that the message of securing outside support becomes widespread across SCORE”. Yancey adds, “Mark has been integral to SCORE’s effort to expand its mission of serving small businesses across America and building the economic strength of local communities.”

Tift County 4-H declared national poultry judging champions

On Nov. 19, the local sheriff’s department escorted four Tift County teenagers into Tifton, Ga. It might sound like a parent’s nightmare, but the escort actually made parents proud. The reason for the eventful arrival: poultry.

The Tift County 4-H Poultry Judging Team was named the national champion at the National 4-H Poultry & Egg Conference in Louisville, Ky., Nov. 18. The high school seniors were greeted with sirens and police cars on their homecoming.

'Cool' win

“It was pretty cool. People pulled off on the side of the road. It was an honor to have that much attention,” said Sarah Harrison, one of the team’s members.

Harrison received the highest individual score in the national contest, and her twin sister, Rachel, came close behind in second place. Other members of the team included T.J. Chestnut, who placed seventh, and Michael Corbin, who ranked in the top 25.

Not a first

Coached by Brian Tankersley, Andrea Milton, and George Lee, this was Tift County 4-H’s sixth national championship in poultry judging. Tift County teams won the national championship in 1988, 1991, 1992, 2003 and 2005, too. The team placed second in 2008. Georgia teams have won at least eight times in the history of the competition.

“They have really fallen in love with poultry judging here, they do well with it,” Tankersley said.
He attributes the county’s continued success to experience. Between the members, this year’s winning team carried 25 years of experience to the national competition. Offering multiple teams allows Tift County youth to begin participating in poultry judging as early as sixth grade and continue their involvement all the way through their senior year of high school.

Sarah Harrison began her poultry judging experience when she was in the sixth grade. “I was very active in many different 4-H activities, but poultry judging just happened to be something that I enjoyed and also was really good at,” she said.

Practice, practice and more practice

Starting the poultry team in 1987 with little experience in poultry, Tankersley has gained his knowledge by working with specialists and attending 4-H trainings. He says that their teams begin practicing for the local and state competitions in March with two practices each week through May.

Practices include simulated contests with eggs donated by United Egg in Blackshear, Ga. If a team qualifies for the national competition, then they take a break from May to September, when they begin six weeks of heavy practice before the national competition in November. Competition is keen, as teams come from all over the country including California, New York and Florida. This year’s competition included teams from 19 states.

Not just about chickens

Awards are not the only benefit of poultry judging. The event is designed to sharpen communication, leadership and decision-making skills. It spurs an interest in science, agriculture and nutrition. Alumni from Tift County’s poultry judging teams include two doctors, multiple veterinarians, many teachers and a few engineers.

Poultry judging competitions consist of three categories: production hens, market poultry and market eggs. All team members judge each division, and the three highest scores for each category are used to rank the team. This year the Tift County team won all three divisions.

Will Walker, who won the National Egg Preparation Contest, and Scott Walters, who placed seventh in chicken barbeque, also represented Georgia at the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference. Walker and Walters are from Turner County and were accompanied by Lynn Davis, the 4-H agent in that county.

To learn more about 4-H in your county, contact your local UGA Cooperative Extension office at 1-800-ASK-UGA1.

By Kristin Strickland

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Channel 2 WSB-TV Announces Angel Poventud as Atlanta's 2010 Cox Conserves Hero

/PRNewswire/ -- Channel 2 WSB-TV and The Trust for Public Land (TPL) have announced that Angel Poventud is Atlanta's 2010 Cox Conserves Hero. He was nominated for the program, selected as a finalist by local environmental leaders and ultimately named as the Hero after receiving the most votes in an online public poll. Poventud has selected Trees Atlanta to receive the $5,000 award.

He was nominated for his volunteer work within Atlanta's environmental community. Poventud's weekends are spent planting and mulching with Trees Atlanta. He also frequently volunteers for BeltLine clean-up projects and helps the group convert abandoned rail corridors into parks.

"I started volunteering to plant trees, and I quickly realized it's the most rewarding thing I can do in the city," said Poventud. "It's important to utilize vacant lots. When you do, trees start getting planted and birds start chirping. Before you know it, nature happens."

Poventud was named Atlanta's 2010 Cox Conserves Hero at a reception held at and sponsored by the Hotel Palomar. Each of the other four finalists received $1,250 to donate to their environmental nonprofits of choice:

* Bryan Holloway (Revive Atlanta)
* James King (Keeping It Wild)
* Bruce Morton (Park Pride)
* Kit Sutherland (Historic Fourth Ward Park Conservancy)


This is the second year Cox Conserves Heroes has taken place in Atlanta. Don Wells - an advocate for conserving and enjoying the open spaces of the North Georgia Mountains – was named Atlanta's 2009 Cox Conserves Hero. As Wells' environmental nonprofit of choice, Mountain Stewards received $5,000 that was used to build new public trails and connect students with nature through outdoor classrooms.

The Cox Conserves Heroes program was created through a partnership between The Trust for Public Land and Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Channel 2 WSB-TV, to honor everyday conservationists. The program also runs in New Orleans, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. For more information, visit www.CoxConservesHeroes.com or find us on Facebook.

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