| The 'eroding' gas tax
In offering a way to balance a state budget bleeding billions in red ink, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill last week brought up a subject that has been taboo for a while: The notion that it is time to raise the state gas tax.In a decade that has seen prices at the pump more than double, the idea is not likely to sit well with commuters who have watched helplessly as the rising cost of fuel has taken increasingly larger bites out of their pocketbooks. But Hill maintained it is long overdue. .
The House Is Looking for a Few Good Men and Women
The $5 million initiative advanced Monday when a retired marine, Patricia Orsini, was named director of the House of Representatives' Wounded Warrior Program. The program first was announced last November, on the eve of Veterans Day, by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers. Pelosi, joined by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Rep. Robert Brady, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said she knows from visiting wounded servicemen and -women that they have the right stuff. They "possess a wide range of valuable skills and experiences, as well as enthusiasm for hard work, which would be enormously valuable to any employer," the lawmakers said in a letter to Daniel Beard, the chief administrative officer for the House. The aim is to bring 25 people on board by the end of September and 50 more in the following year, according to Beard.
Jim Pfeil Joins Edge Composites
ODGEN, UT (BRAIN)Jim Pfeil joins Edge Composites as the companys general manager. Previously, Pfeil was the founder and president of Reynolds Composites. Jim has a proven track record of building a strong team and creating an environment for them to excel, said Jason Schiers, Edge Composites president. Jim brings the vision and management style that fits right into our company. He will free me up to focus on product development." After selling Reynolds Composites to MacLean in 2002, Pfeil stayed on as brand manager for two more years and then left the industry. Prior to his work with Reynolds, Pfeil was the vice president of operations at Cobra Golf. I am excited to be back in the bicycle industry, especially with guys I have worked with it the past, Pfeil said. Jason has put together a great team of engineers, including Kevin Nelson, who was at GT, Specialized, Easton, Reynolds, and Carl Turner who was at MacLean.
A New Moment? The Grassroots and the Party, 1964 and 2008
The past offers some hard-knocks lessons worth thinking about. Give this long primary season credit: It has, at least, turned that overused word "change" from a bumper slogan pooh-poohed by all knowledgeable pundits into a fact-based phenomenon. In the closest thing the nation has seen to a countrywide primary, first term Senator Barack Obama overcame Hillary Clinton's double-digit leads in major states and national polls to win a majority of states on February 5th and draw into a tight battle over the delegate count. The two candidates closed out the evening with their spinmeisters already talking up Beltway Tuesday — the next catch-phrase friendly multiple-primary day — while promising more debates. Now, their operatives are off to Ohio for a March 4th primary that everyone assumes will be crucial.
Cyclist recovering after crash
A woman injured while riding a bicycle in Cooper City Monday night is recovering in the hospital, the Broward Sheriff's Office said. Rui Qi Ge, 60, suffered head injuries after a Ford F-150 pickup truck hit her at the intersection of Stirling Road and Southwest 106th Avenue. The driver of the pickup, Patricia Heng, 44, was making a left turn when she hit the bicyclist at 8:34 p.m. Heng remained at the scene of the crash. She was not injured. Ge was airlifted to Memorial Regional Hospital, where she remains, BSO spokeswoman Alesia Russell said. She is expected to survive. No charges will be filed. .
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