It's proving to be a good year for consumers who are fed up with being hit from all sides by spam - marketing messages they neither asked for nor want. The latest "leave me alone" tool to come our way are new regulations - effective from Wednesday - which make it compulsory for companies which send SMSes within South Africa to give consumers an easy opt-out. All you have to do is hit reply, enter the word "Stop" and then send. Standard SMS rates will apply. The regulations have been introduced by industry regulator the Wireless Applications Service Provider Association (Waspa), to spare consumers having to go through the process of lodging complaints on the Waspa website. .

CATA Named #1 Transit System in North America

The Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA) has been named the best transit system of its size in North America by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

CATA was ranked #1 in the competitive 4-30 million passenger trips category. This category includes 106 transit systems. APTA gives out the Outstanding Transportation System Achievement Award annually to honor transit systems demonstrating exceptional efficiency and effectiveness. Transit systems are judged on services and programs, safety, operations, customer service, financial management, attendance and employee costs, advancement of minorities and women, marketing, policy and administration, and community relations.

'ASR Records Adds to Team

'ASR Records formally announced the addition of Roxann Stout and Jahmal Brown to the label staff. Ms. Stout will direct and develop initiatives related to the label's Booking Department. Mr. Brown will provide the label with specialized Internet Technologies skills related to the label's online portal.

Roxann Stout will be working with qualified talent buyers toward booking 'ASR Records Artists at festivals and events worldwide. She is a trained musician, studying classical piano for 12 years, classical voice, and saxophone for 7 years. She was a state champion vocalist and won the Women's Federated Competition for 2 straight years. Her promise as a vocalist was so impressive that Ms. Stout was awarded a vocal scholarship from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

AlphaGraphics seeks investors to open stores in EP

Salt Lake City-based franchising company AlphaGraphics is in the midst of a major expansion effort and has its sights set on El Paso.

The company, which provides marketing and visual communications solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses, plans to open its first El Paso location in the next six months to a year, said Art Coley, senior director of franchise development.

The company hopes to have three to four El Paso stores, all of which will be franchises, within three years, he added.

"The shortest and simplest way (to describe us) is we are a solution provider," Coley said. "We provide marketing and visual communications for small- and medium-sized businesses. What does that mean? Everything from Web sites, e-mail campaigns, direct mailing, printing services for business cards and letterheads.

Sustainable Ballard hears about legislative environmental record

Local non-profit Sustainable Ballard celebrated its fourth birthday recently by reviewing several energy and environmental successes of the past state legislative session.Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, was the key speaker at the event held at the Sunset Hill Community Club. She applauded the organization for its grassroots efforts in promoting a more sustainable community.Though Kohl-Welles hasn't served on any environmental committees since the mid-1990s, she said it was still an issue she paid a lot of attention to."I'm not an authority on this," she warned the audience, "but I love these issues. I feel passionate about the environment in this state, country and the world and I want to do everything I can."When Democrats took over the majority in the House last November, it did more than anything else to advance environmental legislation, Kohl-Welles said.