NEW YORK: In its continuing efforts to build awareness about climate change, Deutsche Bank unveiled The Carbon Counter, a 70-foot high digital billboard located near New York's Madison Square Garden that tracks the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases in real time.

TORRANCE, CA: Toyota and Michigan-based Gas Station TV (GSTV) recently partnered to launch "Prius Neighborhood," a social media initiative to promote Toyota's new Prius and GSTV's cause-related efforts.

NEW YORK: Ketchum, seeking to expand its footprint in Europe, is absorbing Germany-based Pleon into its brand. The firms, which both operate under the Omnicom Group umbrella, expect the merger to be complete by January 1, 2010.

VIENNA, VA: Sage Communications acquired JDG Communications, an agency specializing in work for government entities, the agency announced today.

NEW YORK: The New York Observer and the Personal Democracy Forum, a conference and Web site on technology, politics, and society, launched the New York Future Initiative (NYFi) site on June 2 to engage consumers about New York City's development in the 21st century.

Earlier this year, PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division began to reposition its Lay's Potato Chips brand around a new emotional theme, "Happiness is Simple," in hopes that it would connect with Americans nationwide.

As a new president and Democratic Congress took control this January, companies in already highly regulated industries prepared for an onslaught of government attention.

Chevron recently produced a video to tell its side of a $27 billion lawsuit it is facing in Ecuador.

Kitty Morgan, executive editor of Better Homes and Gardens (BHG) since 2006, oversees content planning and creation for the magazine. She spoke with PRWeek about why BHG is so popular and the best ways to reach women readers.

Bob Buderi is editor-in-chief and founder of Xconomy, a Cambridge, MA-based news site, with bureaus in San Diego and Seattle. The site covers the IT, life sciences, energy, and venture capitalist industries.