| Gas costs forcing drivers to cut back
Inveterate drivers are carpooling, combining errands to eliminate trips, trying mass transit, and even walking. As a result, gasoline consumption, which grew steadily in recent years as prices passed $2, $2.50, and $3 a gallon, has flattened and even declined, according to the US Energy Department. Average daily gasoline consumption in the United States has decreased in each of the past four weeks from a year ago, according to recent data. In the past six months, average daily consumption slipped two-tenths of a percent from a year earlier, after growing 2.5 percent in the previous year. In the Northeast, gasoline demand has dropped as much as 3 percent, after growing 1 to 2 percent annually in recent years, said Joe Petrowski, chief executive of Gulf Oil LP, a Newton wholesaler and distributor that supplies about 10 percent of the region's gas stations.
N.Y. official wants gays in St Patrick's Day parade
The truth is, the parade is stuck, and it's stuck and mired in a controversy that takes away from what the parade has been and what the parade could be," Quinn told New York public radio's "Brian Lehrer Show" on Tuesday. Representatives of the order could not be reached for comment. Quinn, an Irish-American, is the city's top-ranking openly gay official and may run for mayor in 2009. Last year she refused to march, instead participating in Dublin's parade. The New York parade, which will be held on March 17, is a private event, so Quinn has no authority as a city official to decide who can attend. Paisley and McGuinness brokered a power-sharing agreement that brought together Northern Ireland's Protestants and Roman Catholics into the same provincial government in May, helping bring stability to the British province.
L.A. to count most votes by independents
Los Angeles County's top voting official said Tuesday he's confident he can count the majority of 50,000 "double-bubble" ballots that went uncounted on Super Tuesday before the deadline to certify the election next week. Based on advice from the County Counsel's Office and the Secretary of State's Office, acting Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan said he plans to count most of the ballots cast by 50,000 independent voters who did not fill out a party box at the top of the ballot along with a choice for president. The "double-bubble" ballot required nonpartisan and decline-to-state voters to fill out a party box at the top of the ballot along with their choice for president in order for their vote to be counted. Due to a ballot design flaw, those ballots were not counted previously.
Mail halted after feisty feline wounds postie
Oreo is one tough cookie. In fact, Darlene Carlin's 15-year-old cat scared Canada Post so much that it stopped delivering the mail. The postal problem started on Jan. 2, when a postie delivered the mail to Carlin's Richmond home. .
Parking deck planned for Chastain Park
The Atlanta City Council's community development/human resources committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a master plan for the city's largest park and one of the region's most popular concert venues. About 1 million users visit Chastain each year, park management officials say. The plan will likely go before the entire City Council on Monday for a vote. The deck —likely three levels— would be located next to the park gymnasium, about a quarter-mile south of the ampitheater. Chastain Park Conservancy leaders said the proposed deck would be covered by trees, which they say has allayed some concerns when the plan was presented to each of the city's 26 neighborhood planning units in recent months. "Some wondered why [build a deck] and others said 'Have you been there?' " said Mark Root, the conservancy's executive director.
London Fashion Week: Armand Basi / Nicole Farhi / House of Holland
You have heard about the bicycle built for two. But how about the dress built for two, or even three? There was not a hint of size zero as the Armand Basi collection took to the catwalk in the Banqueting Rooms at Whitehall, during London Fashion Week yesterday. .
Be heard tonight on artificial reef rules
Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are crafting a plan for future artificial reef projects, both public and private, and you have a chance to share your input on this matter with Robert Turpin, chief of the Escambia County Marine Resources Division.Turpin has been presented with the initial layout from the FWC and will be presenting his rebuttal today at 6 p.m. at the Reef Fish Restoration Association at 1007 Pine St., Pensacola. All interested parties charter boat captains, recreational anglers and divers, commercial fisherman and those with general concern about the future of our fisheries are encouraged to attend.The initial draft by the Corps is alarming. It calls for drastic changes to the program and could effectively shut down private artificial reef production.Items in the draft call for the minimum weight of reefs to jump from 150 pounds to 500 a weight that would be virtually impossible for a private reef maker to deploy.Changes also are recommended for the size of materials used in artificial reefs.
Gearing up for spring? Some fish are already biting
The calendar is inching toward that day when the weather and opportunity come together for the first fishing trip of 2008. In the meantime, we sort through the news bits that have crossed my desk in recent days. Here's something interesting. The saugers are reported to be biting down on the Ohio River. Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife communications officer Jamey Graham e-mailed an advisory from her Akron office indicating the action was outstanding. “Anglers are hammering sauger," she said. White jig are recommended. Tim Stevens, the division's field officer in Jefferson County, reported that the action has been good around the New Cumberland and Pike Island locks and dams, as well as creek mouths' murky-to-clear-water breaks. Stevens said that in addition to the saugers, some nice walleyes also are hitting.
PART-1: Performance for current year
A historic increase of 17 per cent was registered in both freight earnings and gross traffic earnings up to December. Based on the growth registered so far, the revised estimates for Passenger, Other coaching, Freight and Gross Traffic Earnings have been kept at Rs.17,400, 1,726, 42,299 and 63,120 cr respectively. Gross Traffic Earnings are likely to go up by 16 per cent in comparison with last year and exceed Budget Estimates by 5.5 per cent. 4 Ordinary Working Expenses have been contained in spite of increase in the price of diesel and payment of bonus at higher rates by effecting economy in expenditure. Under the accounting reforms process, losses on operation of strategic lines, receiveable as a subsidy from the Ministry of Finance, have been reflected as a deduction from Ordinary Working Expenses.
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