| Extra! UIdaho Student Found Shot to Death
Even what little projects are left will REQUIRE tax increases in the future. The Idaho Transporation Department has been gutted. Idaho's entire transportation system has been uprooted and set back years because of this disaster known as GARVEE. What the Legislature should do tomorrow is tell Idaho they made a mistake 2 years ago that has cost too much. They need to gut it completely and ask Governor Otter and ITD to spend the next few months getting things back on track, making transporation the issue of 2008. Meanwhile, the "consultants" who were the beneficiaries of these so-called GARVEE bonds (the people got nothing--NOTHING--from this deal, even though millions have been spent!) can go back to the drawing table. Shame on the Legislature 2 years ago for letting this thing happen when they were put into a corner by our then governor at the last minute, without sufficient information! It was such a scam! Shame on them.
German carmakers lead in reducing CO2 emissions
BMW AG, Volkswagen AG and other German carmakers cut carbon-dioxide emissions more than European rivals last year as they struggle to reach planned European Union targets. German brands sold domestically had 2 percent lower CO2 output last year, a greater reduction than French and Japanese models sold in Europe's largest economy, said Matthias Wissmann, president of the VDA German automobile manufacturers' association, at a briefing today in Berlin. The European Union plans a cap on carmakers that will force them to reduce CO2 emissions, a gas linked with global warming. The draft proposal, which is being negotiated this year among European lawmakers, will reduce the carbon emissions to an average 130 grams per kilometer (0.6 mile) for a manufacturer's fleet by 2012, with an additional 10 grams coming from improvements in tires, air conditioning and other vehicle parts.
Crims' jail time trimmed
SERIOUS criminal offenders will receive shorter jail sentences because of record prison overcrowding, a judge has warned. District Court Judge Marie Shaw said jail terms were being reduced in Britain because of similar problems with prison overcrowding, sparking a political storm last night. "In England, what's happening with overcrowding is that the Court of Appeal has handed down a decision that means that, because there isn't suitable housing for prisoners, prisoners get shorter sentences and are being released," Judge Shaw said. She made her remarks on Monday during a bail hearing for a convicted sex offender who had spent almost four weeks in the City Watchhouse in conditions described by his lawyer as "inhumane". The Advertiser previously has reported how the Department for Correctional Services has used the facility since February to hold up to 37 male and female remand prisoners because the state's prisons were full.
Bush Proposes Social Security System that Tilts Toward Poorest ...
Although still lacking details, tonight the President said he would favor a system that tilted Social Security benefit payments in the future toward the lowest income retirees. He suggested this might be the bottom 30 percent. (Below is the text of the speech and question and answer session with Social Security highlighted in yellow) "If you work hard and pay into Social Security your entire life, you will not retire into poverty," he said. According to the Associated Press, while Bush was still speaking White House officials handed out written material saying the type of change he had in mind could be accomplished with a "sliding scale benefit formula." That would mean lower payments for future retirees of middle and upper incomes than they are currently guaranteed a fact Bush himself did not mention in his 60-minute session with reporters.
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