Panel wants fuel taxes hiked to fund highways
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal commission created by Congress is recommending a 50-percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes as a way to finance highway construction and repair.
The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing is the second group in a year to call for higher fuel taxes.
In a report expected later this month, members of the commission say they will urge Congress to raise the gas tax, now 18.4 cents a gallon, by 10 cents and the diesel fuel tax, now 24.4 cents a gallon, by 12 to 15 cents. At the same time, the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation.
A tax increase of this magnitude would be politically treacherous for Democratic leaders in Congress. President-elect Barack Obama has expressed concern about raising gas taxes in the current economic climate. But commission members say the government must find the money somewhere.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Posted: 1:57pm EST January 1, 2009
GMAC loosens credit to make vehicles easier to buy
NEW YORK (AP) -- Some of that $700 billion financial industry bailout fund will help loosen credit for car buyers.
The financing arm of General Motors says it will use part of the money to make cars and trucks more affordable to a larger pool of customers.
That word comes after the GM financing arm got $5 billion in federal aid. It's the first time a financial institution has said it will use bailout money to offer more affordable credit to consumers.
GM says it's offering car buyers financing as low as zero percent over the next week for several 2008 and 2009 models in a big year-end sales push.
The move gives some relief to auto dealers, who were blaming the industry's steep drop in sales partly on a lack of affordable credit.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Posted: 3:50pm EST December 30, 2008
Toll express lanes ease traffic on urban highways
MIAMI (AP) -- Would weary commuters pay cash to get home, say, a half-hour earlier?
In gridlocked cities like Miami and Houston and Salt Lake City, the answer is turning out to be yes. That's what High Occupancy Toll lanes -- or HOT lanes -- are all about. Drivers pay extra to zip past traffic stuck in the slower "local" lanes.
One Miami-area commuter used to spend several hours a week stuck in traffic on Interstate 95. Now he and his fellow drivers can pay anywhere from 25 cents to as much as $6.20 to use a new express lane at or above 45 to 50 miles per hour, guaranteed.
The lanes have been criticized by some as "Lexus Lanes" because of the cost. But in Miami and elsewhere, the lanes are free for carpoolers, motorcyclists, hybrid owners and buses.
A U.S. Department of Transportation official says HOT lanes are hot. He says every major city with traffic congestion either has a HOT lane or is getting one in five years.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Posted: 9:54am EST December 30, 2008
Fallout begins after dismal holiday season
NEW YORK (AP) -- It's been a terrible holiday season for retailers -- and the fallout is beginning.
Parent Co., the operator of etoys.com, has filed for bankruptcy protection and says it will consider selling some or all of its operations.
It's just the latest company hit by the most dramatic pullback in consumer spending in decades. Experts don't see things turning around anytime soon.
The managing director of the consulting firm Strategic Resource Group says about 160,000 stores will have closed this year and 200,000 more could shutter next year. That would be the industry's biggest contraction in 35 years.
Some stores didn't even make it to Christmas. Circuit City and KB Toys filed for bankruptcy protection in the weeks prior to the holiday.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Posted: 1:31am EST December 30, 2008
Postal Service unveils next year's stamps
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Postal Service's 2009 lineup ranges from tributes to civil rights legends to flashbacks from TV classics.
Civil rights pioneers featured include Medgar Evers, the Mississippi NAACP official assassinated in 1963. There's also writer and lecturer Mary Church Terrell and Joel Elias Spingarn, who endowed the Spingarn Medal awarded by the NAACP for outstanding achievement by a black American.
The Early TV Memories set features a stamp recalling the quiz show "You Bet Your Life," with Groucho Marx. Another shows Lucy and Ethel from "I Love Lucy" as they struggle with a candy assembly line.
Other shows included in the 20-stamp set are "Dragnet," the "George Burns & Gracie Allen Show," "The Honeymooners," "The Lone Ranger," "Perry Mason" and "The Twilight Zone."
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Posted: 4:25pm EST December 29, 2008
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