Halloween Safety - This is a page from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention warns that roughly 4 times as many children are killed on Halloween night than any other night of the year. This page has a lot of good safety tips for Halloween for what children should do, what adults and parents should do, who is affected and links to other safety resources.

National Electrical Safety Foundation - May was National Electrical Safety Month, but as they say on the site - Electrical safety is a 24/7 issue. At the site you can get the "Home Electrical Safety Checklist Brochure", find information under home safety, work safety and school safety as well as find links to other safety related sites on the web. NESF is a non-profit organization, which was formed in 1994 with the belief that, through its efforts, electrical-related incidents can be prevented and lives saved.

Munisource - One of the largest collections of municipal government information. Includes links to over 5,000 official Municipal sites in 45 countries. This is a great time-saver if you are trying to find web sites for your local government or to stay on top of what is going on in your community.

Insurance Institute of Highway Safety - The Institute of Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute have combined web sites and bring you all the information you need when it comes to the safety of your car. See how your car rates in a variety of crashes/accidents or simply read up on safety facts about children, airbags, aftermarket parts, teenagers and other issues. This is a great resource to see how your car is doing or the car that you are thinking about buying.

Safety Facts on Kids and Car Safety - This page maintained by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has information about fatality facts, child restraints/belt laws, kids & airbags and vehicles with built-in child restraints.

Child Passenger Safety - You'll find a lot of different articles on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations web site. Anything from buying a safer car, 14 tips on child transportation to detailed information about car seats and booster seats and how to install them correctly.

When Belting Kids Follow the Rules - This article on the Healthscout.org web site discusses the risk to kids who are not using seat belts correctly, why parents sometimes don't (often they don't know) and what the correct way of restraining your child in the car is. 

Thinking of Buying a Business Opportunity? - Business opportunity scams are rampant. This site is provided by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and it covers many fraudulent opportunity topics like vending machine and display routes, medical billing, multi-level marketing scams, worth building, net based and work at home schemes. Each topic has examples of the scams used. Find out what your State and Federal rights involving business opportunity fraud and how to spot and avoid the many scams that exist. You can also file a complaint if you think you've been a victim of a business opportunity scam. So if you've ever thought of going into business for yourself or working from your home, you should take a look at this site.

GetNetWise - A resource for families and caregivers to help kids have safe, educational, and entertaining online experiences. You will find a glossary of Internet terms, a guide to online safety, directions for reporting online trouble, a directory of online safety tools, and great sites for kids to visit. 

How safe is your car? -  Crashtest.com is a source for insurance information detailing how safe your next vehicle purchase may be. They have discovered NHTSA crash-test data going back to the seventies. Every new and used car, truck, van, and sport utility vehicle (SUV) that can be found at your local dealer or in your paper's classified section has been rated. Using the compare feature, two models from two different manufacturers can be viewed at the same time to see how their safety statistics measure up to one another.

Y2k Scams - Scam artists are taking advantage of the Year 2000 bug. Scams are popping up everywhere. Credit card and bank account fraud, survival kits outrageously priced, illegitimate insurance and other scams are rampant. Read PCWorld's quick read article on the scams that you should be looking out.

Melissa - A Macro Virus Alert - I'm sure that by now you have all heard of Melissa. Who is Melissa you say? Who does it affect? Well it is a macro virus that affects Microsoft products. It spread around the globe in a matter of a couple of days. What is it? What is the "Papa" virus (which is also affecting computers around the world), how to insure not to be infected and what to do if you think you've been infected? You can find the answers to the above and more on Microsofts site. There are a plenty of sites out there with editorials, advice and resources for this problem, but I chose the Microsoft site, because they are to the point, they tell you exactly what you need to do and it will save you time from trying to weed through all the information on the Net about the issue.

Holiday Safety Tips - This page is maintained by the Polk Township Volunteer Fire Department and has great holiday safety tips. Each year fires associated with the holiday season injure 1,200 individuals and cause over $25 million in damage (According to the United States Fire Administration - USFA). This site will give you safety tips on picking a Christmas tree, checking your holiday lights, candle care and disposing of wrappings. Quick and easy read that could be a life saver.

How to Make Adoption an Affordable Option - How to make Adoption an Affordable Option. This site is for people who would like to consider adoption but are reluctant because they believe that the process is too expensive. Here you'll find out about expenses common to most adoptions, as well as those unique to the adoption of waiting children, to independent adoptions, and to international adoptions. You'll also learn about financial assistance and tax breaks available to adoptive parents.

Monitor a Child's access to the Internet and the Web - We've discussed this topic before: Monitoring a Child’s Internet and/or web access. We found an article by PC Magazine where they looked at filtering software products. Their test involved trying to access extensive lists of URLs, words, and phrases while using each of the products. They tried to access well-known pornography sites as well as less obviously objectionable sites, some of which made no reference to sex.

National Council on Fireworks Safety, Inc. - Well, it isn't 4th of July without fireworks, and the site of The National Council on Fireworks Safety comes in handy to teach us about Fireworks safety. The organization is a non-profit dedicated to the safe enjoyment of fireworks in the United States. You can read their safety tips, state laws on fireworks, injury data. There's even a parent's corner featuring a safety quiz to find out how much you really know about fireworks safety.

Baby/Child Safety - We have compiled a list of resources for you with information on recalls, safety issues concerning furniture, tips for baby safety, a government children's consumer safety page with links to kids sites, health and immunization, nutrition, safety and accident prevention and more.

The Congressional Email Directory - Want to know how to get a hold of your congress person? Thought of calling or faxing in the past, but didn't know how to contact congress? Don't know who your representative are? The Congressional Email Directory makes it easy. What is easier than to email your congressional representative? It will only take you a minute. Pick your state from a list or search for your favorite Congressperson within this directory. They will even give you the address to send them snail mail incase they don't have email yet.
This site is definitely worth a visit or a bookmark.

Scholarship scams - This week we're featuring an article about scholarship scams by the federal government's mega-consumer site. Unfortunately, in their efforts to pay the bills, many students and their families are falling prey to scholarship scams. The FTC cautions students to look for tell tale lines and to check with your school guidance counselor or local librarian for free information about current scholarships. The article includes 6 signs that a scholarship search could be a scam and links to other resources on the web.

Your Privacy on the Internet - How private is private? This page will take you were you might not want to go, to the cold, honest truth about your privacy on the Internet. You will be surprised to find how easy it actually is to find out what your social security number is, listings of your address and that of your neighbors, your voting-registration information, what assets you have and much more. Though what you will find might scare you and you might want to start lobbying for more protection, don't throw out the good with the bad. Keep in mind what a great resource the Internet is and by no means do we want to get rid of the good with the bad.

Department of Justice for Kids and Youth - Here you will find Internet Do's and Don'ts, FBI's kids and youth page, history of the FBI, civil rights, child abduction information and much more. There are also sections for Parents and Teachers.

Consumer Protection - We've all been there, done business with less than satisfactory results. A mechanic that didn't fix your car correctly, a product that didn't live up to its promises, a service that didn't deliver. Here we have some links for you to find some sites on the web where you can file your complaints, find out information, tips and archives of companies with complaints filed against them. The sites below will get you started on protecting yourself off and on the Net.

Year 2000 Bug, how will it affect You? - Ever heard of the year 2000 bug? Basically it refers to the fact that at the turn of the century, your computer and/or software will interpret the date wrong, which could cause serious problems if it isn't dealt with. How serious is the Year 2000 bug? Will it affect you? Well, if you are like the majority of us, then yes it could. If
you have a credit card, if you file taxes or pay on a mortgage, if you expect a paycheck you could be affected.

Halogen Lamps are very popular these day, but be extra careful with your torchiere-style floor lamps (of which I have 4 in my home). These lamps have contributed to fires and even some deaths. Most of the fires happened when materials such as curtains or clothing touched the bulb, which gets quite hot. To help protect against fires, retail stores all over the country are distributing free wire guards to place on your lamps. The guard fits over the glass bulb shield and works with bulbs of 300 watts or less. You can get the free guard from stores such as Target, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and many more. To find a distributor or to order a guard, call 800-985-2220.

Investor Alert: Cold Calling - The North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc. and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, have an article on the web warning about the dangers of cold callers. It is geared toward cold calling intended to get you to invest money, but a lot of their tips on how to deal with a cold callers applies to all kinds of cold calling.

Automotive & Home Inspection and Safety Guide - An Automotive and home checklist information, compiled by the National Safety Campaign, in cooperation with the expert home and automotive repair facilities, 1-800-REPAIRS, the Consumer Information Center, the United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). Impressive resume, but really this list will help you find potentially dangerous areas on your car and around your home.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - An independent Federal regulatory agency. Here you can find information on recall notices. They also feature a section for kids to teach them about safety, they have a library of past issues and some other good information.

National Crime Prevention Council - Here you can find 10 things you can do to cut down on crime, 10 things your community can do and a page for children with links to games and activities. They also feature a teenager section.

Best Safe-Surfing Software - This site has a great comparison of several different parental control packages.

Parental Guidance & Kids' Safety Clearinghouse - Reviews of parental control
software to the latest headlines on Internet safety legislation.

Safe Surf - An organization trying to make the Internet safe for children without censorship by rating sites. The SafeSurf Rating Standard is a voluntary rating system designed to protect children, as well as the first amendment rights of their parents.