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Secret
- Rudy
Giuliani
- Cops
- Car
- Family
- Travel
- Gas
- Account
- New
York
- Pennsylvania
- Christmas
- 2008
Election - "City
taxpayers picked up tab for Judith Giuliani's visit to kin in Pennsylvania."
... "In the fall of 2001, [New York City, New York] city cops chauffeured
[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's then-mistress,
Judith Nathan, to her parents' Pennsylvania home 130 miles away on the
taxpayers' dime." ... "Records show that city cops refueled at an ExxonMobil
station down the road from Nathan's childhood home in Hazleton on Oct.
20, 2001, while Giuliani stayed behind in New York attending 9/11 funerals."
... "A similar receipt pops up at a different Hazleton gas station two
months later, when Nathan apparently went home for a pre-Christmas visit
with her parents." ... "The records show that - in addition to using [New
York] City Hall funds to take Giuliani and Nathan to 11 secret trysts in
the Hamptons, as has been previously reported - taxpayers were paying to
ferry Nathan on long-distance trips without Giuliani, now a Republican
contender for President." ... "The expenses were all paid with a City Hall
American Express card funded with money from mayoral office units that
had nothing to do with travel or security." -By Michael
Saul and David Saltonstall -NYDailyNews.com
Business
- Government
- Politics
- 2008
Election - Family
- Health
- Safety
- Environment
- Air
- Water
- Soil
- Labor
- Animal
- Farmers
- Energy
- Transportation
- Automakers
- Consumer
- History
- "Business
Lobby Presses Agenda Before 08 Vote." ... "Business
lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next years elections,
are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety,
labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals
from the [Republican President] Bush administration than from its successor."
... "Hoping to lock in policies backed by a pro-business administration,
poultry farmers are seeking an exemption for the smelly fumes produced
by tons of chicken manure. Businesses are lobbying the Bush administration
to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and
medical problems. And electric power companies are pushing the government
to relax pollution-control requirements." ... "The Federal Register typically
grows fat with regulations churned out in the final weeks of any administration.
But the push for such rules has become unusually intense because of the
possibility that Democrats in 2009 may consolidate control of the White
House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in
14 years." ... "At the Transportation Department, trucking companies are
trying to get final approval for a rule increasing the maximum number of
hours commercial truck drivers can work. And automakers are trying to persuade
officials to set new standards for the strength of car roofs standards
far less stringent than what consumer advocates say is needed to protect
riders in a rollover." ... "At the Interior Department, coal companies
are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt
from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." ...
"Some of the biggest battles now involve rules affecting the quality of
air, water and soil." (1, 2)
-By Robert Pear -NYTimes
Secret
- Rudy
Giuliani
- Police
- Car
- Accounting
- Politics
- New
York
- 2008
Election - "NYPD
Chief Casts Doubt on Giuliani Expense Story." ...
"New questions were raised today about [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's explanation for submitting police security
expenses to obscure city agencies while he was mayor of New York [City,
New York] and carried on a secret affair with his mistress, who also was
given use of a police driver and city car." ... "Giuliani said Thursday
the unusual billing practice was not intended to hide anything but instead
to speed payment of American Express credit card bills." ... "But the current
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today he knew of no problems
with the delay of payments before Giuliani was mayor, when Kelly served
under Mayor David Dinkins, or since." -By Brian Ross
and Richard Esposito -ABCNEWS.com
Secret
- Rudolph
Giuliani
- New
York
- Police
- Car
- Transport
- Traveling
- Politics
- 2008
Election - "Giuliani's
Mistress Used N.Y. Police as Taxi Service." ... "Well
before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor
[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani provided
a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior
city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com." ... ""She used the PD
[Police Department] as her personal taxi service," said one former city
official who worked for Giuliani." ... "New York papers reported in 2000
that the city had provided a security detail for Nathan, who became Giuliani's
third wife after his divorce from Donna Hanover, who also had her own police
security detail at the same time." ... "The former officials told ABCNews.com
the extra costs involved overtime and per diem costs for officers traveling
with Giuliani to secret weekend rendezvous with Nathan in the fashionable
Hamptons resort area on Long Island." -By Richard
Esposito -ABCNEWS.com
California
- Air
- Environment
- Enforcement
- Government
- Auto
- Makers
- Global
- Planet
- Climate
- "California
sues EPA over emissions: The state seeks to force
the agency to move more quickly on its request to enforce tough regulations."
... "California sued the federal government today, demanding that the [Republican
President Bush led] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency act now to give
the states the power to enforce tough regulations on automakers in the
fight against global warming." ... "The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the
way last summer for the EPA to approve state regulations to limit emissions
of greenhouse gas from automobile tailpipes. But no action has been forthcoming."
... "The EPA has said it will act on the state's request by year's end,
but today's move was a major assault on the federal government's perceived
lack of action on what many national and world leaders consider the No.
1 threat to the planet." -By Marc Lifsher
-LAtimes
Religious
- University
- Home
- Remodeling
- Jet
- Trip
- Autos
- Clothes
- Money
- Political
- Family
- Oklahoma
- Texas
- California
- "Scandal
brewing at Oral Roberts." ... "[Televangelist Oral
Roberts son and Oklahoma's Oral Roberts University President] Richard Roberts
is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish
spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects,
use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas,
and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay."
... "She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes,
awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending
scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described
in the lawsuit as "underage males."" ... "San Antonio [Texas] televangelist
John Hagee, a member of the ORU board of regents, said the university's
executive board "is conducting a full and thorough investigation."" ...
"The university reported nearly $76 million in revenue in 2005, according
to the IRS." ... "Oral Roberts is 89 and lives in California." ... "Richard
Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use his students
and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa [Oklahoma]
mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of
the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have
worked on the campaign." -By Justin Juozapavicius
-AP via -Yahoo
Transportation
- Auto
- Industry
- Environmental
- Air
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- Los
Angeles - CA
- "E-mails
show DOT chief fought state on emissions: Official
lobbied against letting California enforce own standard for tailpipe exhaust."
... "U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, with the knowledge of
the [Repuublican President Bush] White House, directed a behind-the-scenes
effort to block California's request for its own, more stringent tailpipe
emission standard, according to documents released Monday by a congressional
committee." ... "A trail of e-mails show Peters prodding her staff this
spring to persuade members of Congress and state governors to oppose California's
request, now pending with the Environmental Protection Agency, to enforce
its own standards. To contact members, DOT staffers used a list of congressional
districts with auto facilities provided by the auto industry." ... "Secretary
Peters "asked that we develop some ideas A.S.A.P. about facilitating a
pushback from governors (esp. D's) and others opposed to piecemeal regulation
of emissions, as per CA's waiver petition," Jeff Shane, Peters' undersecretary
for policy, told staffers in a May 22 e-mail about the California request.
"Esp. D's" meant "especially Democrats."" ... "In another e-mail, a DOT
staffer told Peters' chief of staff that Marty Hall, chief of staff at
the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was "OK with (the secretary)
making calls" to lobby Congress." ... "The e-mails were released Monday
by [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of
the House Oversight Committee. Waxman, a Los Angeles [California] Democrat,
said the documents, along with interviews with Hall and other staffers,
showed that "the administration is trying to stack the deck against California's
efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles" and that
"political considerations not the merits of the issue" will determine
EPA's decision." ... "California is allowed under the Clean Air Act to
set its own emissions standards if it secures a waiver from the EPA. At
least 11 other states are waiting to adopt the California standard, designed
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from new models in 2016,
which has made this a major environmental issue." -By
Frank Davies -MNG
via -MercuryNews
Government
- Electronic
- Surveillance
- Data
- Travelers
- Flying
- Driving
- Reading
- People
- Civil
Liberties - US
- International
- San
Francisco - California
- Alaska
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Law
- "Collecting
of Details on Travelers Documented: U.S. Effort More
Extensive Than Previously Known." ... "The U.S. government is collecting
electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly,
drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they
travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys,
and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents
obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government
officials." ... "The personal travel records are meant to be stored for
as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort
to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country.
Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated
Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists
from innocent people entering the country." ... "Officials yesterday defended
the retention of highly personal data on travelers not involved in or linked
to any violations of the law. But civil liberties advocates have alleged
that the type of information preserved by the department raises alarms
about the government's ability to intrude into the lives of ordinary people.
The millions of travelers whose records are kept by the government are
generally unaware of what their records say, and the government has not
created an effective mechanism for reviewing the data and correcting any
errors, activists said." ... "The activists alleged that the data collection
effort, as carried out now, violates the Privacy Act, which bars the gathering
of data related to Americans' exercise of their First Amendment rights,
such as their choice of reading material or persons with whom to associate.
They also expressed concern that such personal data could one day be used
to impede their right to travel." ... ""The federal government is trying
to build a surveillance society," said John Gilmore, a civil liberties
activist in San Francisco whose records were requested by the Identity
Project, an ad-hoc group of privacy advocates in California and Alaska.
The government, he said, "may be doing it with the best or worst of intentions.
. . . But the job of building a surveillance database and populating it
with information about us is happening largely without our awareness and
without our consent."" (1, 2)
-By Ellen Nakashima with contributions by Julie Tate
-WashingtonPost
Mexico
- US
- Truck
- Safety
- Transportation
- Union
- Business
- Politics
- "Mexico's
trucks get OK to roll in U.S. next week." ... "Mexican
truckers can begin hauling goods over the border into the U.S. as soon
as Thursday after a federal appeals court on Friday refused a request from
the Teamsters union and others to block the vehicles." ... ""This is the
wrong decision for American working men and women. We will now proceed
to litigate this case on the merits," Teamsters General President James
Hoffa said in a statement. "We believe this program clearly breaks the
law. We will continue to fight for safety and national security in the
courts and in Congress."" -By Karen Gullo
-Bloomberg via -Chron
US
- China
- New
Jersey - Company
- Manufacturer
- Transportation
- Vehicles
- Safety
- "Importer
Recalls 255,000 Chinese Light-Truck Tires." ... "Foreign
Tire Sales, a New Jersey importer, said yesterday that it would recall
about 255,000 light-truck tires made to order by a Chinese company." ...
"The tires are steel-belted radial models sold under the brand names Westlake,
Compass and YKS. They were produced from 2004 to 2006 for pickup trucks,
sport utility vehicles and vans, Foreign Tire said. The company has reported
two deaths in a rollover accident involving the tires." ... "[The Chinese
manufacturer,] Hangzhou Zhongce said it was cooperating with the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which enforces federal motor vehicle
safety standards." -Bloomberg
via -NYTimes
Minnesota
- I-35W
Bridge Collapse - Car
- Transportation
- Water
- "Driver
makes dramatic underwater escape after bridge collapses."
... "Alicia Babatz was on her way to pick up her 2-year-old daughter Wednesday
when she felt the [Minneapolis, Minnesota I-35W] bridge give way beneath
her." ... "She said she thought she was going to die as her car crashed
into the concrete and plunged into the water. Buckled in behind the wheel,
she watched the water rise above her." ... "Fighting what she called "excruciating
pain," Babatz, 22, escaped through a window and swam to the rubble of the
collapsed bridge." ... ""I was crying for help, but there were cries for
help all around me," she said." ... "It took Babatz about 30 minutes to
get out of the water. She said she looked back, and her car was gone."
-CNN
Minnesota
- I-35W
Bridge Collapse - Disaster
- Vehicles
- Transportation
- Construction
- Technology
- Politics
- Government
- River
- "Minn.
bridge problems uncovered in 1990." ... "Minnesota
officials were warned as early as 1990 that the [Minneapolis, Minnesota
I-35W] bridge that plummeted into the Mississippi River was "structurally
deficient," yet they relied on a strategy of patchwork fixes and stepped-up
inspections." ... "In 1990, the federal government gave the I-35W bridge
a rating of "structurally deficient," citing significant corrosion in its
bearings. The bridge is one of 77,000 bridges in that category nationwide,
1,160 in Minnesota alone." ... "[Bridge engineer Dan] Dorgan said the bearings
could not have been repaired without jacking up the entire deck of the
bridge. Because the bearings were not sliding, inspectors concluded the
corrosion was not a major issue." ... "During the 1990s, later inspections
found fatigue cracks and corrosion in the steel around the bridge's joints.
Those problems were repaired. Starting in 1993, the state said, the bridge
was inspected annually instead of every other year." ... "A 2005 federal
inspection also rated the bridge structurally deficient, giving it a 50
on scale of 100 for structural stability." ... "The eight-lane Interstate
35W bridge was Minnesota's busiest bridge, carrying 141,000 vehicles a
day. It was in the midst of mostly repaving repairs when it buckled during
the evening rush hour. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into
the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus
sat on the angled concrete." -By Sharon Cohen and
Brian Bakst with contributions by Seth Borenstein, Martiga Lohn, Ryan Foley
and Jon Krawczynski -AP
via -Yahoo
US
- Iraq
- Military
- People
- Vehicles
- Safety
- Technology
- Money
- Politics
- Manufacturing
- History
- South
Africa - "Pentagon
balked at pleas from officers in field for safer vehicles:
Iraqi troops got MRAPs; Americans waited." ... "Years before the war began,
Pentagon officials knew of the effectiveness of another type of vehicle
that better shielded troops from bombs like those that have killed [25
year old Pfc. Aaron] Kincaid and 1,500 other soldiers and Marines. But
military officials repeatedly balked at appeals from commanders on the
battlefield and from the Pentagon's own staff to provide the lifesaving
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, or MRAP, for patrols and combat
missions, USA TODAY found." ... "As early as December 2003, when the Marines
requested their first 27 MRAPs for explosives-disposal teams, Pentagon
analysts sent detailed information about the superiority of the vehicles
to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, e-mails obtained by USA TODAY show. Later
pleas came from Iraq, where commanders saw that the approach the Joint
Chiefs embraced adding armor to the sides of Humvees, the standard vehicles
in the war zone did little to protect against blasts beneath the vehicles."
... "Why the issue never received more of a hearing from top officials
early in the war remains a mystery, given the chorus of concern. One Pentagon
analyst complained in an April 29, 2004, e-mail to colleagues, for instance,
that it was "frustrating to see the pictures of burning Humvees while knowing
that there are other vehicles out there that would provide more protection.""
... "The analyst was referring to the MRAP, whose V-shaped hull puts the
crew more than 3 feet off the ground and deflects explosions. It was designed
to withstand the underbelly bombs that cripple the lower-riding Humvees.
Pentagon officials, civilians and military alike, had been searching for
technologies to guard against improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The
makeshift bombs are the No. 1 killer of U.S. forces." ... "The MRAP was
not new to the Pentagon. The technology had been developed in South Africa
and Rhodesia in the 1970s, making it older than Kincaid and most of the
other troops killed by homemade bombs. The Pentagon had tested MRAPs in
2000, purchased fewer than two dozen and sent some to Iraq. They were used
primarily to protect explosive ordnance disposal teams, not to transport
troops or to chase Iraqi insurgents." ... "Even as the Pentagon balked
at buying MRAPs for U.S. troops, USA TODAY found that the military pushed
to buy them for a different fighting force: the Iraqi army." ... "On Dec.
22, 2004 two weeks after [Republican] President Bush told families of
servicemembers that "we're doing everything we possibly can to protect
your loved ones" a U.S. Army general solicited ideas for an armored vehicle
for the Iraqis." ... "One reason officials put off buying MRAPs in significant
quantities: They never expected the war to last this long. Bush set the
tone on May 1, 2003, six weeks after the U.S. invasion, when he declared
on board the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln that "major combat operations
in Iraq have ended."" -By Peter Eisler, Blake Morrison
and Tom Vanden Brook -USATODAY
US- Iraq
- Military
- Vehicles
- Manufacturers
- "Pentagon
Criticized for Armor Contracts." ... "The Defense
Department put U.S. troops in Iraq at risk by awarding contracts for badly
needed armored vehicles to companies that failed to deliver them on schedule,
according to a review by the Pentagon's inspector general." ... "The June
27 report, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, examined 15 contracts
worth $2.2 billion dollars awarded since 2000 to Force Protection, Inc.,
and Armor Holdings, Inc." ... "The auditors found several contracts issued
by the Marine Corps on a sole-source basis to Force Protection even though
it knew there were other manufacturers that might have supplied the vehicles
in a more timely fashion." -By Richard Lardner and
Anne Flaherty -AP
via -Chron
US
- Massachusetts
- Canada
- Car
- Travel
- Pet
- Animal
- Mitt
Romney- 2008
Election - "Romney
Accused of Mistreating Family Dog." ... "[2008 election
Presidential candidate Mitt] Romney placed his family dog, an Irish setter
named Seamus, into a kennel lashed to the top of his station wagon for
a 12-hour family trip from Boston [Massachusetts] to Ontario [Canada] in
1983. Despite being shielded by a wind screen the former Massachusetts
governor erected, Seamus expressed his discomfort with a diarrhea attack."
-By Glen Johnson -AP
via -SFGate.com
Mitt
Romney
- Jay
Garrity
- Police
- Politics
- 2008
Election - Reporter
- Car
- Surveillance
- New
Hampshire - Massachusetts
- "Fortune
reporter: Garrity pulled me over, too." ... "After
New York Times reporter Mark Leibovitch reported
on June 16 that an aide to [2008 election Republican Presidential candidate]
Mitt Romney -- later identified as Jay Garrity, Romney's director of operations
-- had ordered him to stop following Romney's car on a campaign trip to
New Hampshire, Romney's campaign denied that Leibovitch's car was ever
pulled over." ... "Now another reporter is saying she had an experience
similar to Leibovitch's account. Marcia Vickers, a senior writer with Fortune
magazine, said that while trailing Romney in New Hampshire on Memorial
Day for a forthcoming magazine piece, Garrity instructed her at one point
to stop tailing Romney's car." ... "The incident with Leibovitch, in which
Garrity, by Leibovitch's account, also told him he had run his license
plate number, has prompted an investigation by the New Hampshire attorney
general's office. State law prohibits private citizens from accessing license
plate databases or pulling over fellow citizens. Garrity is now on paid
leave amid an investigation by Massachusetts State Police into whether
he impersonated
a state trooper in a May 13 phone call to a Wilmington [Massachusetts]
company." -By Scott Helman
-Boston/Globe
Mitt
Romney
- 2008
Election - Jay
Garrity
- Police
- Car
- Politics
- Massachusetts
- "Romney
aide, targeted in probe, takes leave of absence."
... "[2008 election Republican Presidential candidate] Mitt Romney's director
of operations is taking a leave of absence from the presidential campaign
after becoming the focus of an investigation into allegations that he posed
as a state trooper in a recorded
phone call [transcript] complaining about a company's driver, the campaign
announced today." ... "During the phone call, a recording of which was
made by the answering service and obtained by the Globe, a man calling
himself "Trooper Garrity of the Massachusetts State Police" threatens to
cite the driver he says he saw speeding and cutting off cars in the Ted
Williams Tunnel." -By Stephanie Ebbert-Boston/Globe
Mitt
Romney
- Jay
Garrity
- Police
- Car
- Politics
- Massachusetts
- Mother's-Day
- 2008
Election - "Romney
aide takes leave amid probes." ... "An ever-present
aide to [2008 election] Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney took
a leave of absence Friday after he became the subject of investigations
in two states for allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer. His
attorney denied the charges." ... "Jay Garrity, who serves as director
of operations and is constantly at the side of the former Massachusetts
governor, is accused of leaving a lengthy message with the answering service
of a plumbing company on Mother's Day, identifying himself as "Trooper
Garrity" of the Massachusetts State Police and complaining about erratic
driving by a company driver." ... "In 2004, Garrity was cited and fined
by Massachusetts officials after a Ford Crown Victoria registered to him
was found to have lights, a siren, radios and other law enforcement equipment
-- including a baton -- after it was parked illegally in Boston's North
End." -By Glen Johnson -AP
via -BostonGlobe
Mitt
Romney
- Jay
Garrity
- Political
- Police
- Car
- Massachusetts
- Company
- New
Hampshire - Databases
- Reporter
- Privacy
- 2008
Election - "Romney
aide is the focus of probe: Allegedly acted as State
Police trooper." ... "State Police are investigating one of [2008 election
Republican Presidential candidate] Mitt Romney's top campaign aides for
allegedly impersonating a trooper by calling a Wilmington [Massachusetts]
company and threatening to cite the driver of a company van for erratic
driving, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the probe."
... "Jay Garrity, who is director of operations on Romney's presidential
campaign and a constant presence at his side, became the primary target
of the investigation, according to one of the sources, after authorities
traced the cellphone used to make the call back to him" ... "The New Hampshire
attorney general, according to the Associated Press, has also opened an
investigation into a report that a Romney aide, later identified as Garrity,
pulled over a New York Times reporter in New Hampshire and said he had
run his license plate." ... "New Hampshire law prohibits private citizens
from accessing license plate databases or pulling over fellow citizens."
... "In 2004, the Globe reported, Garrity was cited and fined for driving
a Crown Victoria with red and blue lights mounted in the grill, a siren,
a PA system, and strobe lights; and for having a nightstick and identification
showing a State Police patch that read "Official Business."" -By
Stephanie Ebbert and Scott Helman with contributions by Suzanne Smalley,
Andrea Estes, and Jonathan Saltzman -Boston/Globe
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Money
- People
- Transport
- Vehicles
- Police
- Intelligence
- Construction
- Politics
- "Iraq
Contractors Face Growing Parallel War: As Security
Work Increases, So Do Casualties." ... "Private security companies, funded
by billions of dollars in U.S. military and State Department contracts,
are fighting insurgents on a widening scale in Iraq, enduring daily attacks,
returning fire and taking hundreds of casualties that have been underreported
and sometimes concealed, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and company
representatives." ... "While the military has built up troops in an ongoing
campaign to secure Baghdad [Iraq's capital], the security companies, out
of public view, have been engaged in a parallel surge, boosting manpower,
adding expensive armor and stepping up evasive action as attacks increase,
the officials and company representatives said. One in seven supply convoys
protected by private forces has come under attack this year, according
to previously unreleased statistics; one security company reported nearly
300 "hostile actions" in the first four months." ... "The security industry's
enormous growth has been facilitated by the U.S. military, which uses the
20,000 to 30,000 contractors to offset chronic troop shortages. Armed contractors
protect all convoys transporting reconstruction materiel, including vehicles,
weapons and ammunition for the Iraqi army and police. They guard key U.S.
military installations and provide personal security for at least three
commanding generals, including Air Force Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Scott, who
oversees U.S. military contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan." ... "The military
plans to outsource at least $1.5 billion in security operations this year,
including the three largest security contracts in Iraq: a "theaterwide"
contract to protect U.S. bases that is worth up to $480 million, according
to Scott; a contract for up to $475 million to provide intelligence for
the Army and personal security for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and
a contract for up to $450 million to protect reconstruction convoys. The
Army has also tested a plan to use private security on military convoys
for the first time, a shift that would significantly increase the presence
of armed contractors on Iraq's dangerous roads." (1, 2,
3,
4,
5)
-By Steve Fainaru with contributions by Julie Tate
-WashingtonPost
20070604
US
- Iraq
- Vehicles
- "14
More American Servicemen Are Killed in Iraq, Most of Them by Makeshift
Bombs." ... "The pace of American troop deaths increased
this weekend as 14 more servicemen were reported killed in Iraq, all but
one from makeshift bombs that insurgents have been employing with greater
lethality against American soldiers and armored vehicles. Twenty-one soldiers
and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded." ... "The makeshift bomb blasts
were part of a brazen series of attacks throughout the country by Sunni
Arab insurgents, Shiite fighters of the Mahdi Army and other gunmen using
rifles, rockets, huge bombs and chlorine canisters. American forces suffered
heavy casualties in and around Baghdad and in Sunni insurgent enclaves
further north, while Iraqi and American forces took the offensive in Mahdi
Army strongholds in Baghdad and southern Iraq." ... "At least 15 American
servicemen were killed in the first three days of June, a pace that exceeds
the daily fatality rate in May, when 127 troops were killed. May was the
deadliest month since the invasion of Falluja in November 2004." ... "Thirty-one
[Iraqi] bodies were found scattered about the capital, where sectarian
murders are once again on the rise." ... "The biggest killers [of American
military troops] are roadside bombs, responsible for four of every five
American deaths in combat during the past three months." -By
Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Khalid W. Hassan with contributions by Muhanad
Seloom -NYTimes
20070529
British
- US
- Canada
- Iraq
- Finance
- Police
- Vehicles
- Terrorism
- Religion
- "Five
Britons abducted in Baghdad: Five Britons have been
kidnapped from Iraq's finance ministry in Baghdad, the British government
has confirmed." ... "They included four bodyguards and a finance expert."
... "Witnesses and sources told the BBC that the kidnappers wore police
uniforms and arrived in up to 40 police vehicles." ... "Also on Tuesday,
Baghdad was shaken by a bus explosion which killed at least 23 people and
injured about 55, and a car bomb which killed at least 17 people, hurt
at least 36 and destroyed a Shia mosque." ... "The US military also announced
that 10 of its soldiers were killed in Iraq on Monday, including two in
a helicopter crash." ... "At least 112 US troops have been killed so far
in May, making it the deadliest month this year." ... "The missing security
guards are all believed to have been working for the GardaWorld security
agency - a Canadian-owned firm largely staffed by British former service
personnel." ... "GardaWorld is one of the biggest suppliers of private
security in Iraq, and is thought to have hundreds of staff in the country."
-BBC/News
20070522
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Vehicles
- Technology
- Money
- Politics
- "Military
Dragged Feet on Bomb-Proof Vehicles (Updated Again)."
... "The Marine Corps waited over a year before acting on an "priority
1 urgent" request to send blast-resistant vehicles to Iraq, [Wired.com's]
DANGER
ROOM has learned." ... "According to a Marine Corps document
[PDF] provided to DANGER ROOM, the request for over 1,000 Mine Resistant
Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles came in February, 2005. A formal
call to fulfill that order did not emerge until November, 2006.
"There is an immediate need for an MRAP vehicle capability to increase
survivability and mobility of Marines operating in a hazardous fire area
against known threats," the 2005 "universal need statement" notes." ...
"Back then -- as now -- improvised explosive devices, or IEDs -- represented
the deadliest threat to American troops in the region. "The
expanded use" of these bombs "requires a more robust family of vehicle
capable of surviving the IED... threat," the document adds. "MRAP-designed
vehicles represent a significant increase in their survivability baseline
over existing motor vehicle equipment and will mitigate... casualties resulting
from IED[s]."" ... ""The [Marines] cannot continue to lose... serious
and grave casualties to IED[s]... when a commercial off the shelf capability
exists to mititgate [against] these threats," the request continues." ...
"Despite the stark language, however, that request was not acted upon.
Instead, the Marine Corps waited until November,
2006 to issue a formal request for proposals to buy approximately 1,200
MRAPs." -By Sharon Weinberger
-Wired
20070508
Kansas
- Greensburg
- Tornado
- Vehicles
- Police
- "Kansas
Tornado Death Toll Rises: 11 Deaths Now Reported
After Injured Police Officer Taken Off Life Support." ... "Search and rescue
operations continued Tuesday in Greensburg [Kansas], where emergency responders
have struggled to determined if any of its 1,600 residents are missing
because many are staying with friends or relatives rather than in shelters."
... "The 1.7-mile-wide, Category F-5 enhanced tornado, with wind estimated
at 205 mph, destroyed about 95 percent of this farming town Friday." ...
"The government's response to the disaster was
undermined by ongoing National Guard deployments to the Middle East,
[Kansas Democratic Governor] Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said." ... ""I don't
think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters
that the response is going to be slower," Sebelius said. "The real victims
here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be
at a slower pace."" -AP
via -CBSNews
20070507
US
- Iraq
- Kansas
- National
Guard - Disaster
- Vehicles
- "Wartime
Shortages Hamper National Guard: Iraq Deployments
Are Leading To A Lack Of Equipment At The State Level." ... "Kansas' governor
says tornado cleanup efforts are being hamstrung because the state National
Guard is on a mission in Iraq." ... "But the Kansas National Guard isn't
alone with its equipment shortages. According to the chief of the National
Guard, it's a national epidemic." ... "Listen to what he told a Senate
committee last month about the state of a Guard unit that had just returned
stateside from Iraq." ... ""He doesn't have a problem of old equipment.
He has a problem of no equipment," Lt. General H. Steven Blum said. "His
unit, when it came back in November, came back to two Humvees that were
left because they were not good enough to go to war not suitable to go
to war and that's the equipment that he has in his unit today."" ...
"The rest of the Humvees were either destroyed, damaged or left behind
in Iraq." ... ""You name it, we are short of this is meat-and-potatoes
basic items," Blum said. "I'm talking about 'dozers, graders, loaders,
backhoes, dump trucks."" -CBSNews
20070420
Fuel
- Food
- Poor
- People
- Auto
- Environment
- Economy
- US
- Venezuela
- Mexico
- "Ethanol
policy divides Latin America: US efforts to promote
ethanol have raised food prices in the region." ... "Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez calls the boom in ethanol the equivalent of starving
the poor "to feed automobiles."" ... "Ethanol, which is derived from crops
such as corn or sugar, is seen by some as a green alternative, a rising
star on the path toward reducing independence on foreign petroleum. But
it's not just Mr. Chávez who is questioning whether the benefits
outweigh the unintended consequences." ... "Now poultry industry executives,
who have seen the price of feedstock has gone up; Mexican consumers, facing
a 60 percent jump in the cost of tortillas; and even environmentalists,
who look at the amount of fertilizer that will be needed to grow extra
crops, are wondering aloud whether ethanol will help or hurt Latin American
economies." ... ""I think people worry that rich Americans are trying to
fuel cars at the expense of hungry people in poorer countries," says Janet
Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute in Washington.
"This increased push for ethanol production could be an incredible foreign
policy blunder."" (1, 2)
-By Sara Miller Llana and Daniel Cancels
-CSMonitor
20070212
US
- Iraq
- Iran
- Afghanistan
- Politics
- Auto
- Tech
- Money
- "Thousands
of Army Humvees Lack Armor Upgrade." ... "The Army
is working to fill a shortfall in Iraq of thousands of advanced Humvee
armor kits designed to reduce U.S. troop deaths from roadside bombs --
including a rising threat from particularly lethal weapons linked to Iran
and known as "explosively formed penetrators" (EFP) -- that are now inflicting
70 percent of the American casualties in the country, according to U.S.
military and civilian officials." ... "The additional protection is needed
for thousands of U.S. reinforcement troops flowing into Baghdad, where
these devastating weapons -- used primarily by Shiite fighters -- are particularly
prevalent, the officials said." ... "U.S. Army units in Iraq and Afghanistan
lack more than 4,000 of the latest Humvee armor kit, known as FRAG Kit
5, according to U.S. officials. The Army has ramped up production of the
armor, giving priority to troops in Baghdad, but the upgrade is not scheduled
to be completed until this summer, Army officials said. That is well into
the timeline for major operations launched last week to quell violence
by Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias, which the U.S. military now views
as the top security threat in Iraq." ... "The Army began the Iraq war with
an estimated $56 billion equipment shortage and has struggled to keep up
with demands for new armor to protect against increasingly deadly bombs."
(1, 2)
-By Ann Scott Tyson with contributions by Julie Tate
-WashingtonPost
20061222
Noteworthy
- Japan- US
- World
- Auto
- Technology
- Workers
- Politics
- History
- Fuel
- "Toyotas
Sales Projections Show It Surpassing G.M.." ... "Toyota
Motor said today it plans to sell 9.34 million vehicles next year, a figure
that analysts said would put it ahead of troubled General Motors as the
worlds largest auto company." ... "Toyota reported global group sales
this year of 8.8 million cars and trucks, below G.M.s 2006 sales forecast
of 9.2 million vehicles. But the figures released today showed the two
rival car giants on starkly different trajectories, with Toyota expecting
to add a half million vehicle sales next year, at a time when G.M. is shuttering
plants and laying off workers." ... "Surpassing G.M. would be a crowning
achievement for Toyota, a company that got its start in the 1930s by reverse-engineering
G.M. and Ford cars, and that spent decades catching up with Detroit. It
would also end G.M.s 81-year reign over the global auto industry, and
mark another step in the rise of Asian carmakers." ... "Analysts also said
reaching the top would not exhaust Toyotas opportunities for growth. They
said Toyota will continue to gain in the American market, where higher
gas prices have increased the popularity of smaller, more fuel-efficient
vehicles." ... "Toyotas rise would also prove a victory of sorts for its
unique corporate culture, the so-called Toyota Way, which is rooted in
an obsession with craftsmanship and constant improvement, or kaizen."
-By Martin Fackler -NYTimes
20061205
US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Government
- Military
- Technology
- Money
- Politics
- People
- Flying
- Vehicles
- Alabama
- "U.S.
Army Battling To Save Equipment: Gear Piles Up at
Depots, Awaiting Repair." ... "Field upon field of more than 1,000 battered
M1 tanks, howitzers and other armored vehicles sit amid weeds here at the
15,000-acre Anniston Army Depot [Alabama] -- the idle, hulking formations
symbolic of an Army that is wearing out faster than it is being rebuilt."
... "The Army and Marine Corps have sunk more than 40 percent of their
ground combat equipment into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according
to government data. An estimated $17 billion-plus worth of military equipment
is destroyed or worn out each year, blasted by bombs, ground down by desert
sand and used up to nine times the rate in times of peace. The gear is
piling up at depots such as Anniston, waiting to be repaired." ... "The
depletion of major equipment such as tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles,
and especially helicopters and armored Humvees has left many military units
in the United States without adequate training gear, officials say. Partly
as a result of the shortages, many U.S. units are rated "unready" to deploy,
officials say, raising alarm in Congress and concern among military leaders
at a time when Iraq strategy is under review by the White House and the
bipartisan Iraq Study Group." ... "Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army's
chief of staff, is lobbying hard for more money to repair what he calls
the "holes" in his force, saying current war funding is inadequate to make
the Army "well." Asked in a congressional hearing this past summer whether
he was comfortable with the readiness levels of non-deployed Army units,
Schoomaker replied: "No."" ... "Despite the work piling up, the Army's
depots have been operating at about half their capacity because of a lack
of funding for repairs." -By Ann Scott Tyson
-WashingtonPost
20060530
US
- Afghanistan
- Auto
- "Traffic
accident involving U.S. troops sparks rioting in Kabul."
... "Violent anti-foreigner protests raged across the [Afghanistan] capital
Monday after a U.S. military truck crashed into traffic, touching off the
worst rioting since the Taliban's ouster. At least eight people died and
107 were injured before Kabul's streets calmed." ... "Chanting "Death to
America," rioters stoned the U.S. convoy involved in the accident then
headed to the center of town, ransacking offices of international aid groups
and searching for foreigners in a display of rising resentment over civilian
deaths in the war against insurgents." ... "The U.S.-backed Afghan government
decreed a nighttime curfew and the city quieted before sunset." ... "Patience
with the 23,000 U.S. soldiers and other foreign troops in Afghanistan is
fraying over recent deaths of civilians, including at least 16 people killed
by an airstrike targeting Taliban fighters in a village last week."
-AP via -USATODAY
20060516
Saudi
Arabia - Religious
- Media
- Free
Speech - Women
- Law
- Politics
- Drive
- "Saudis
nix pictures of women in newspapers." ... "King Abdullah
has told Saudi editors to stop publishing pictures of women as they could
make young men go astray, newspapers reported Tuesday." ... "In recent
months, newspapers have published pictures of women - always wearing the
traditional Muslim headscarf - to illustrate stories with increasing regularity.
Usually the stories have had to do with women's issues. The papers have
also started publishing a range of views on causes that are not generally
accepted in Saudi Arabia - such as women having the right to drive and
vote." ... "The country adheres to a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Women are not allowed to vote and stand in municipal elections - the only
type of election permitted in the kingdom." ... "The king also called on
editors to stop printing stories that portray the country in a negative
light." ... "All media in Saudi Arabia are either state owned or state
guided." -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20060505
Gas
- Car
- Company
- Environment
- Alaska
- Water
- "Conflicting
Loyalties as Republicans Confront High Gas Prices."
... "Under pressure to deal with high gasoline prices, President Bush and
Republican leaders in Congress are struggling to marry a newfound zeal
for energy conservation with their traditional loyalty to big cars and
Big Oil." ... "Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are also renewing their
wish list for the oil industry opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
[Alaska] for exploration and drilling, as well as millions of additional
acres in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast. They are also
blocking calls for a windfall profits tax on the major oil companies."
... "The political pressures created by soaring gasoline prices have pulled
Republicans in Congress and the administration in different directions.
While blocking higher taxes on the oil industry, for example, the While
House and Senate Republicans are likely to try to eliminate or at least
cut back on $2 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas drilling that
Congress passed less than a year ago." ... "At the same time, unlike Democrats,
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly defeated proposals for higher fuel-economy
requirements on passenger cars. Indeed, in the 2004 presidential election,
they ridiculed such proposals as job-losing Democratic ideas." ... "In
five years, House Republicans have defeated three bills to raise the average
fuel efficiency of cars to 33 miles a gallon, from 27.5." -By
Edmund L. Andrews -NYTimes
20051230
Auto
- Company
- Retiree
- History
- Government
- "How
Bedrock Promises Of Security Have Fractured Across America:
Companies are discarding traditional pensions -- or making government foot
the bill. Delphi workers struggle with the changing landscape." ... "[Oct.
8,] That's when Delphi Chief Executive Robert S. "Steve" Miller, citing
global competition and crippling "legacy costs," ushered the $28.6 billion-a-year
company into one of the largest industrial bankruptcies in U.S. history.
In short order, Miller called for slashing workers' compensation by almost
two-thirds, threatened to void the company's union contracts, and hinted
broadly that he would follow the playbook he had used elsewhere of pushing
responsibility for paying the firm's pensions to the federal government
and dumping its retiree health benefits altogether." ... "Delphi is at
the cutting edge of a crisis that's engulfing the U.S. auto industry, much
as it did steel and airlines. Its actions are adding to a gathering trend,
a shift of economic risks once largely borne by business and government
to the backs of working families." ... "Before the trouble is over, some
believe, a corporate icon such as Ford Motor Co. or GM could be swept from
the American landscape. So too could much of what remains of the already
frayed relationship between millions of working people and their employers."
-By Peter G. Gosselin
-LAtimes
20051229
Military
- Auto
- Airplane
- "Corps
pays $100K for retooled jeep." ... "The Marine Corps
is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped Vietnam-era jeep as part of its
program to outfit the hybrid airplane-helicopter V-22 Osprey, Pentagon
records show." ... "That's seven times what a deluxe commercial version
of the vehicle costs. It's also three times what U.S. Export-Import Bank
records show the Dominican Republic paid four years ago for a military
version of the vehicle, called the Growler, a recycled version of the M151
jeep." -By Steven Komarow
-USATODAY
20051209
UK
- Auto
- Transportation
- "End
of the road for the traditional London bus." ...
"The "London bus" - the iconic, ever-popular double-decker with its half-cab,
old-fashioned bell, conductor and open rear platform, the star of postcards,
guide book covers and film - will run for the last time today on a mainstream
route." ... "When the number 159 rolls into Brixton garage in south London,
an era will have ended for the Routemaster, as it is known. It also marks
the end of the road for the bus conductor in London." -By
Simon Briscoe -FT.com
20051121
US
- Canada
- Tennessee
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Oklahoma
- Ohio
- Auto
- Business
- "GM
to Close 12 North American Sites, Cut 30,000 Jobs (Update8)."
... "General Motors Corp., weighed down by its biggest losses in more than
a decade, will close 12 North American operations and purge 30,000 jobs
in its deepest round of cuts since 1991." ... "Chief Executive Rick Wagoner
said today he will idle five auto plants, four parts factories and three
non-manufacturing complexes. Among them is a Saturn plant opened 15 years
ago as an answer to the small-car threat from Asia." ... "In addition to
one of the Saturn plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, GM will close assembly
plants in Doraville, Georgia; Lansing, Michigan; Oklahoma City [Oklahoma];
and Oshawa, Ontario [Canada]. The automaker will shut down engine plants
in St. Catharines, Ontario [Canada], and Flint, Michigan. GM will also
reduce shifts at assembly plants in Moraine, Ohio, and a second car plant
in Oshawa." -Jeff Green and John Lippert -Bloomberg
20051106
France
- Cars
- "French
Police Arrest 186; Paris Riots Continue for 10th Night."
... "French police arrested 186 people overnight as gangs burned cars and
buildings for the 10th consecutive night in Paris suburbs, other cities
around France, and, for the first time, within the city of Paris itself.
More than 900 vehicles were set ablaze across the nation." ... "More than
550 people have been arrested and more than 2,100 vehicles have been torched
since Oct. 27." -By Alan Katz
-Bloomberg
Nevada- MIL
- Autos
- Transportation
- Robots
- "Driverless
Volkswagen wins $2 million US in Pentagon's robot race."
... "A driverless Volkswagen won a $2-million race across the rugged Nevada
desert Sunday, beating four other robot-guided vehicles that completed
a Pentagon-sponsored contest aimed at making warfare safer for humans."
... "The race displayed major technological leaps since last year's inaugural
race, when none of the self-driving vehicles crossed the finish line."
... "Stanley the VW Touareg, designed by Stanford University, zipped through
the 212-kilometre Mojave Desert course in six hours and 53 minutes Saturday,
using only its computer brain and sensors to navigate rough and twisting
desert and mountain trails." -AP
via -CBC.ca
20050929
US
- Sweden
- Canada
- Japan
- Germany
- Auto
- "Ford
to Cut Half of Suppliers to Improve Technology (Update4)."
... "Ford Motor Co. will cut half of its suppliers and sign long-term contracts
with the rest to reduce costs and improve technology as the world's third-largest
carmaker struggles to reverse declining profit and shrinking sales." ...
"Ford will announce agreements today with Sweden's Autoliv Inc., Delphi
Corp., Johnson Controls Inc., Lear Corp., Canada's Magna International
Inc., Visteon Corp. and Japan's Yazaki Corp., said Gabriele Gutscher, a
spokeswoman for Ford in Cologne, Germany." -By Alan
Katz -Bloomberg
20050928
US
- Canada
- Auto
- Business
- "GM,
Canadian Union Avoid Strike With Labor Accord (Update1)."
... "General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, averted a strike
by reaching a three-year contract agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers
union." ... "The union, which has 17,100 members at GM, announced the accord
last night in Toronto. Union President Buzz Hargrove said more than 1,000
jobs will be cut, with many done through attrition, he said. The union
agreed to similar job cuts in deals with Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler
AG's Chrysler unit." ... "The agreement wraps up talks in which the three
U.S.-based automakers pressed for job cuts and efficiency improvements.
The union was able to secure investment in some Canadian plants while accepting
reduced employment." -By Bill Koenig
-Bloomberg
20050926
Hurricane
Katrina - Flood
- Cars
- Business
- "Damaged
cars could end up being resold." ... "One of the
enduring images from Hurricane Katrina is of cars, trucks, even school
buses submerged up to their roofs in slimy, oily floodwaters." ... "Consumers
are being warned to watch out for flood-damaged cars ending up on the used
car market, but insurance experts working in the area say the cars are
so far gone that it will be hard for scam artists to hide the flood damage."
-By Sharon Silke Carty
-USATODAY
20050923
Hurricane
Rita - Texas
- Louisiana
- Auto- Transportation
- Oil
- "Spinning
Rita, weakening, threatens oil refineries." ... "More
than 3 million people along the Texas and Louisiana coasts were urged to
get out of the way of Rita, setting off an unprecedented exodus that brought
traffic to a standstill across the Houston metropolitan area. Cars overheated
and ran out of gas in 10- and 12-hour traffic jams. Some drivers gave up
and turned around and went home." ... "By Friday morning, the freeways
within Houston had cleared out, but traffic was still bumper-to-bumper
from the outskirts of the city toward Austin and Dallas. The state escorted
tanker trucks full of gas to empty stations in small towns along the way.
And National Guard trucks delivered gasoline to drivers who ran out." ...
"Dozens of chemical plants are situated along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf
Coast in the nation's biggest concentration of oil refineries, and damage
and disruptions caused by Rita could cause already-rising oil and gasoline
prices to go even higher." -USATODAY
20050922
Texas
- Louisiana
- Hurricane
Rita - Auto
- Transportation
- Hurricane
Katrina - "Texans
fleeing Rita stalled by traffic." ... "The storm's
march toward land sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the nation's
fourth-largest city in a frustratingly slow, bumper-to-bumper exodus."
... ""This is the worst planning I've ever seen," said Judie Anderson,
who covered just 45 miles in 12 hours after setting out from her home in
the Houston suburb of LaPorte. "They say we've learned a lot from Hurricane
Katrina. Well, you couldn't prove it by me."" ... "In all, nearly 2 million
people along the Texas and Louisiana coasts were urged to get out of the
way of Rita, a 400-mile-wide storm that weakened Thursday from a top-of-the-scale
Category 5 hurricane to a Category 4 as it swirled across the Gulf of Mexico."
-By Mike Graczyk -AP
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
20050912
New
Jersey - Autos
- "Ford
to Sell Hertz to Clayton, Carlyle for $15 Bln (Update1)."
... "Ford Motor Co. agreed to sell Hertz Corp., the largest U.S. car-rental
company, to investors Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc., Carlyle Group
and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s buyout unit for about $15 billion." ... "The
buyers will pay $5.6 billion for Hertz and assume about $9.4 billion of
debt, Ford said in a statement today. It's the largest leveraged buyout
announced since Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. paid $31 billion for
RJR Nabisco Inc. in 1989." ... "Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker, is selling
Park Ridge, New Jersey-based Hertz to raise cash as it loses market share
to rivals led by Toyota Motor Corp. Ford's North American business has
been unprofitable for three of the past four quarters. Chief Executive
Officer William Clay Ford Jr. has promised to increase earnings." -Brett
Cole and Bill Koenig -Bloomberg
20050907
Autos
-
- "Ford
recalling 3.8 million vehicles: Trucks and SUVs recalled
for cruise control switch that could cause fires." ... "Ford Motor Co.
is recalling about 3.8 million trucks and SUVs to fix a cruise control
switch that could overheat and burn even when the vehicles are not running."
... "The vehicles included in the recall are 1994-2002 Ford F-150s, 1997-2002
Ford Expeditions, 1998-2002 Lincoln Navigators and 1994-1996 Ford Broncos
equipped with factory-installed speed control."
-CNN
20050808
-
-
- Autos
-
-
-
- Homes
- "Bush
Signs Massive Energy Bill Into Law." ... "In the
near term, the new legislation will extend daylight-saving time, give tax
breaks to drivers who buy cars with fuel-efficient technologies and try
to jump-start the construction of new nuclear power plants." ... "Environmental
groups and other opponents say the bill amounts to a gift to energy companies
that does nothing new to promote renewable energy." ... "The measure funnels
billions of dollars to energy companies, including tax breaks and loan
guarantees for new nuclear power plants, clean coal technology and wind
energy." ... "For consumers, the bill would provide tax credits for buying
hybrid gasoline-electric cars and making energy-conservation improvements
with better windows and appliances in new and existing homes." -By
Nedra Pickler -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
20050705
Autos
- "Update
3: Ford Jumps on Employee-Discount Bandwagon." ...
"Ford Motor Co. jumped on the employee-discount bandwagon Tuesday, announcing
it will join GM and Chrysler in allowing customers to buy vehicles at employee
rates." ... "Ford's decision follows a huge sales surge General Motors
Corp. saw last month because of the heavily promoted discount, which drove
monthly sales to their highest total in nearly 19 years. Chrysler said
Friday it also would match such programs."-AP
via -Forbes
20050608
Autos
- "Kerkorian
Boosts Stake in GM to 7.2%, Short of Goal (Update3)."
... "Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian will boost his share in General Motors
Corp. to about 7.2 percent, short of his goal of 8.8 percent, after buying
an additional 18.9 million shares." ... "Kerkorian's purchase puts more
scrutiny on GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, 52, who is trying to return
the company to profit after a $1.1 billion first-quarter loss and a 6.7
percent decline in U.S. auto sales this year." -By
Jeff Green and Barbara Powell -Bloomberg
20050607
-
- Autos
- "GM
Plans to Cut 25,000 U.S. Jobs by 2008." ... "General
Motors Corp. plans to eliminate 25,000 jobs in the United States by 2008
and to close plants as part of a strategy to revive its struggling North
American operations." ... "Speaking to shareholders at GM's 96th annual
shareholder meeting in Delaware Tuesday morning, Chairman and Chief Executive
Rick Wagoner said the capacity and job cuts will generate annual savings
of roughly $2.5 billion." ... "He noted that the company's current $1,500
per worker health-care expense puts GM at a "significant disadvantage versus
foreign-based competitors," and said GM has conducted "intense discussions"
with the unions about how to reduce health-care costs." -By John Porreto
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20050509
-
- Autos
- Transportation
- "Traffic
jams delay drivers millions of hours." ... "The annual
amount of time the average urban commuter spent in traffic delays increased
from 16 hours in 1982 to 47 in 2003." ... "The annual Urban Mobility Report
from the Texas Transportation Institute, a part of Texas A&M University,
found that, despite the slow economy of two years ago, congestion caused
3.7 billion hours of travel delay and 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel
an increase of 79 million hours and 69 million gallons over 2002. The
total cost of congestion in the 85 urban areas studied: $63.1 billion."
... "The Urban Mobility Report notes that major transportation projects
that reduce congestion can take 10-15 years to complete." -By
Larry Copeland -USATODAY
20050504
- Autos
- "Investors
Betting on Kerkorian's General Motors Bid." ... "Investors
were betting Wednesday that 87-year-old Los Angeles [California] billionaire
Kirk Kerkorian's surprise proposal to acquire a large stake in struggling
General Motors Corp. could be a catalyst for a turnaround at the world's
largest automaker. Kerkorian, who shook up Chrysler Corp. with a hostile
takeover bid a decade ago, said Wednesday that his Tracinda Corp. plans
to spend $868 million to double its previously undisclosed GM stake to
8.8 percent. The announcement drove up GM's stock 18 percent, its biggest
one-day gain in decades." ... "Kerkorian's involvement comes as GM Chief
Executive Rick Wagoner is trying to end a prolonged slump that led to the
company's smallest U.S. market share in almost 80 years. GM, which last
month reported a $1.1 billion first-quarter loss, is trying to shore up
its finances in part by winning large health-care concessions from union
workers." -By John O'Dell and Tom Petruno with contributions
by Thomas S. Mulligan-LAtimes
20050425
- Autos
- "GM
to recall 2 million-plus vehicles." ... "General
Motors, at a time when it's in dire need of good news, said Monday that
it will recall more than 2 million vehicles, including some of its most
popular cars and trucks." ... "Of the overall total, about 1.5 million
full-size sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks mostly sold in the United
States, are being called back to the shop to fix the seat belt positioning
in the rear seats." -By Shawn Langlois
-MarketWatch
20050418
-
- Autos
- "Economy
wobbles under cost of oil: Energy prices clip consumer
buying and corporate earnings, sending stock market down, but recoveries
often hit soft spots." ... "Higher energy prices are starting to slow the
US economy." ... "While economists have predicted such an effect for months,
it's finally here - evident in lower retail sales, growing inventories
of cars, and fewer new jobs." ... "Since March 4, the Standard & Poor's
500 index is down almost 6 percent. Last Friday, the stock market was particularly
battered, with the S&P index off 19.43 or 1.67 percent and the Dow
Jones Industrial Average down 191.24. For the week, Wall Street suffered
its worst loss in two years." -By Ron Scherer
-CSMonitor
20050415
-
-
- Autos
- "MG
Rover's collapse jolts British election: Britain's
last major carmaker filed for a type of bankruptcy last week, putting pressure
on Blair." ... "No sooner had Prime Minister Tony Blair called Britain's
election than the country was shaken by the dramatic collapse of one of
its biggest industrial names." ... "The victim was MG Rover, which filed
for bankruptcy last week after a takeover bid from a Chinese automaker
foundered. The demise of Britain's last major domestic carmaker is a blow
to its once-proud automobile sector, which has suffered assembly plant
closures and surrendered major marques like Jaguar and Rolls Royce to overseas
giants in recent years." ... "In political terms, it's as if General Motors
went bust less than a month before a US presidential election." -By
Mark Rice-Oxley -CSMonitor
20050412
-
- Autos
- "The
wrong and winding road." ... "After proud decades
of production, the MG Rover car plant in Longbridge, in the English Midlands,
is silent. Rover's workers have been told to stay at home, the company
is in administration and its suppliers are not sending parts for fear that
they will not be paid. All that keeps Britain's last volume carmaker alive
is an emergency drip feed of funds from the government, which is paying
almost £1m ($1.9m, €1.4m) a day to keep Rover going." ... "To
what end? Officials say they have not given up hope that takeover talks
with Shanghai Automotive, the Chinese carmaker, can be revived. But Shanghai
Automotive does not want to resume talks. Some critics believe the government
is simply trying to postpone Rover's final collapse until after the UK's
general election on May 5. It is the final absurdity in a long history
of failed UK industrial policy." -By Krishna Guha,
Jonathan Guthrie, John Griffiths and Jean Eaglesham
-FT.com
20050404
-
- Autos
- "Oil
Is Steady After Reaching Record on U.S. Motor-Fuel Supply."
... "U.S. motorists used 2.2 percent more gasoline in the first quarter
compared with a year ago, according to Energy Department figures. Increased
OPEC production has failed to halt the [oil] rally as global consumption
grows." ... "Oil surged to $58.28 a barrel, the highest since trading began
in 1983. Prices are 66 percent higher than a year ago." -By
Mark Shenk and ed. by Robert Dieterich -Bloomberg
20050330
-
-
- Autos
- "GM
in fuel cell deal with government: Auto manufacturer
says it has inked $88M pact to build fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
by 2009." ... "General Motors Corp. Wednesday said it signed an $88 million
deal with the Department of Energy to build a fleet of 40 hydrogen fuel
cell vehicles and further develop the technology."
-Reuters via -CNN
20050321
-
- "Report:
Chrysler wins health savings: UAW agrees to deductibles
for 35,000 employees, retirees, saving Chrysler tens of millions: report."
... "Chrysler Group has won changes from the United Auto Workers union
that will save it tens of millions of dollars in health costs, while costing
employees and their family up to $1,000 in health care deductibles, according
to a published report." -CNN
/Money
20050320
- "Job
cuts loom at GM? WSJ: Automaker plans to eliminate
white-collar workers in wake of 2005 earnings warning." ... "General Motors
Corp. plans to cut its North American white-collar work force, the Wall
Street Journal reported on its Web site Sunday, less than a week after
the automaker warned that 2005 earnings would fall short of its target."
-Reuters
via-CNN /Money
20050213
-
-
-
-
-
- "No
Mullah Left Behind." ... "By adamantly refusing to
do anything to improve energy conservation in America, or to phase in a
$1-a-gallon gasoline tax on American drivers, or to demand increased mileage
from Detroit's automakers, or to develop a crash program for renewable
sources of energy, the Bush team is - as others have noted - financing
both sides of the war on terrorism. We are financing the U.S. armed forces
with our tax dollars, and, through our profligate use of energy, we are
generating huge windfall profits for Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan, where
the cash is used to insulate the regimes from any pressure to open up their
economies, liberate their women or modernize their schools, and where it
ends up instead financing madrassas, mosques and militants fundamentally
opposed to the progressive, pluralistic agenda America is trying to promote.
Now how smart is that?" -By Thomas L. Friedman
-NYTimes
20040422
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Saudi
envoy: Oil policy standard, not a deal: Calls U.S.
politics: 'Your seasonal tribal warfare'." ... "Saudi Arabia's ambassador
to the United States stood firm that his country made no secret deals with
the White House to try to drive down gas prices to help re-elect President
Bush and sought to reassure Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry." ...
""I really don't see what is the big deal," Prince Bandar bin Sultan told
reporters Wednesday after a White House meeting with national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice." ... ""Unless somebody would like to see the
oil prices stay high, then nobody should complain."" -By
John King -CNN
20040420
-
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Kerry
hits alleged Bush-Saudi deal: Seizes on account in
journalist's book." ... "The latest inside account of the Bush administration
has provided fresh fodder for John F. Kerry's campaign, with the presumptive
Democratic nominee yesterday condemning the president for reportedly allowing
the Saudis to maintain high gasoline prices until just before the fall
election, when they would be cut to boost the US economy." ... "Kerry said
the deal, reported in "Plan of Attack," the new book by Washington Post
editor Bob Woodward, and mentioned in his appearance Sunday on the CBS
program "60 Minutes," was "fundamentally wrong" and "outrageous and unacceptable
to the American people." A day earlier, the Massachusetts senator condemned
Bush for withholding details about Iraqi war planning from Secretary of
State Colin L. Powell, again relying on Woodward's account of the administration's
war planning." -By Glen Johnson -Boston/Globe
20040309
- -
"Prices
at the pump vault toward all-time high: Early hikes
in gas prices across the US could affect everything from flower delivery
to vacation plans." ... "Later this month, gas prices will almost certainly
eclipse the record for the highest average price-per-gallon in US history.
Then, if analysts are right, they will go even higher." ... "Ominously,
some experts suggest that the energy outlook hasn't looked so bleak since
the last days of Mr. Carter. Not that the country would be as severely
affected as it was in the 1970s. For one, today's prices are still well
below 1970s levels, when adjusted for inflation. In addition, many US power
plants have since shifted to natural gas and coal, and manufacturing is
now a smaller share of the economy. As a result, America is less dependent
on oil for its well-being." -By Mark Sappenfield
-CSMonitor
20040125
-
- "Toyota
surpasses Ford as No. 2 automaker." ... "Toyota confirmed
the tally it gave last Friday for worldwide sales for 2003 of 6.78 million
vehicles, up 9.9 percent from 6.17 million the previous year. Last week,
Ford said its 2003 sales slipped to 6.72 million vehicles, down 3.6 percent
from 6.97 million the year before." -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20030616
-
- "Clean
air at the Internet truck stop cafe: Hookup
lets drivers turn off engine, go online at night." ... "Trucks pull into
bays that feature long, flexible tubes hanging from the roof. Each tube
ends in a control panel and vents for heated or cooled air. Drivers pull
the apparatus into their window and fasten it there. A touch- sensitive
screen on the control panel will let them set the thermostat, check maps
of the area or surf the Internet." ... "Basic services cost $1.25 per hour
for truck owners or fleets that have signed agreements with IdleAire, with
fees payable through a credit-card reader above a computer screen." ...
"The fees should be cheaper than idling a truck. Because federal law requires
long-haul truckers to take eight hours off for every 10 spent on the road,
most drivers will pay about $10 per day with the IdleAire system, Everhart
said. Without it, they spend about $15 to $20 per day on diesel burned
while the truck is idling, he said." -By David R.
Baker -SFGate.com
20020118
- Sacramento
- Autos
- "Lemon
Lawsuits: Litigation over bad cars, including
class actions, is on the rise across the U.S.." ... "Rosemary
Shahan, founder and president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety,
a Sacramento, Calif.-based group working to improve lemon laws, says the
Fresno case is "the largest verdict she had heard of for lemon laundering"
-- the general term used in the industry to describe the practice of hiding
the background of vehicles with major problems. She says that even if the
award is knocked down on appeal, it "gets the manufacturers' attention.""
-By Alan Fisk -Law.com