The Pendleton Panther

Oil Leak Workers

On May 5, 2010 the smallest of the three oil leaks on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico was sealed off.  A U.S. Coast Guard official said that it was sealed off by robot submarines which will not reduce the amount of oil that is spilling but will make it easier to seal off the leak in the near future.  The small leak — the one furthest from the well head –was sealed off with a valve sometime between 6 p.m. CDT Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Brandon Blackwell said. But the two more substantial leaks, which are farther down a collapsed riser, or pipe, that had originally connected the wellhead with the drilling rig, continue to gush oil, and the overall rate of the spill is likely the same.  “It’s kind of like a garden hose with three leaks in it — you cut off this leak but you still have two more,” Blackwell said.  The oil company BP has began a 125 ton collection device that is similar to a big box.  The company plans to lower the device over one of the two leaks by this weekend.

The Emirates Plane

On Wednesday May 5, 2010 the government tightened their no-fly rules due to the suspicions having to do with the failed car bombing in Times Square last week.  There are still questions as to how a Pakistani-American man was allowed to board a plane after being linked to the bomb attempt.  An administration official said that airlines must now check the roster of passengers prohibited from boarding aircraft within two hours of being notified by the government that a new name has been added to the list on an expedited basis.  Previously under the old rules, airlines had to re-check the list within 24 hours.  That was enough of a gap to allow a suspect of the Times Square attack to proceed unstopped through airport security and board a plane going to Dubai.  The suspect, Faisal Shazad, was arrested before the plane took flight.  Though Mr. Shahzad was stopped before he could fly away, there were at least two significant lapses in the security response of the government and the airline that allowed him to come close to making his escape, officials of the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies said on Tuesday.

Times Square

The police and F.B.I. investigators have tracked down the owner of the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that contained the makings of a crude car bomb discovered in Times Square over the weekend, but that person is not considered a suspect, the police said on Monday. “We’ve identified and spoken to the registered owner,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, who stressed that the police had not yet identified a suspect or a motive. Nonetheless, the resolution of the vehicle’s provenance is a significant advancement in the 38-hour-old investigation.  Investigators are still reviewing security cameras from Saturday evening when the car was found.  The tapes showed a white man, appeared to be in his 40’s, who looked over his shoulder and removed a layer of clothing.  Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr seemed optimistic in comments he made Monday morning. “I think that we have made really substantial progress,” Mr. Holder told reporters in Washington. “We have some good leads.”

Soda

Are Americans ready for a tax on sodas to fight obesity?  That is one of the current questions floating around that could help with the obesity problem in the United States.  Some public health advocates say it’s time for bold new steps to cut down on the foods and drinks contributing to calorie overload.  Taxing sugary beverages and fatty junk food has been getting a ton of attention lately in policy circles.  Many people are convinced that this idea would help with the problem.  Their reasoning is because studies show that hiking taxes on cigarettes has helped cut smoking rates.  Its a similar scenario.  The only question left is would American support taxing these items?  Well just over half — 51 percent — of more than 3,000 people surveyed either strongly opposed or opposed taxes on carbonated, sugary soft drinks. But, 33 percent of those surveyed favor such a tax; 22 percent strongly so. The rest — 16 percent — had no opinion.  There was less support for taxes on snack foods: 27 percent in favor and 54 percent against. Similarly, 28 percent of those surveyed supported a tax on fast food and 53 percent were against the idea.

Discovery

At Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space shuttle Discovery successfully landed on April 20th, 2010.  They were completing a complex space station resupply mission and returned to earth with a fiery plunge across the heartland of america.  The shuttle was running a day late because of cloudy weather.  Capt. Alan G. Poindexter of the Navy took over manual control at an altitude of about 50,000 feet above the spaceport, guiding the shuttle through a right overhead sweeping turn to line up on Runway 33.  Captain Poindexter pulled the Discovery’s nose up just before the threshold of the runway after its steep descent, while Col. James P. Dutton Jr. of the Air Force deployed the landing gear.  Their tire smoking touchdown occurred at 9:08 AM eastern time.  “Houston, Discovery, wheels stopped,” Captain Poindexter radioed to mission control at the Johnson Space Center.  “Roger, wheels stopped, Discovery. Welcome home,” Frederick W. Sturckow, an astronaut and retired Marine colonel, replied from mission control. “Dex, congratulations to you and the crew on an outstanding mission.”

Lexus GX 460

The sales of the new 2010 Lexus GX 460 SUV abruptly came to a halt on Tuesday.  Apparently Consumer Reports Magazine warned buyers that the vehicle had a dangerous handling problem that that could lead to a rollover and possibly “serious injury or death”. The handling problem arises if the driver of a Lexus GX 460 S.U.V. eases off the gas pedal while driving quickly through a sharp turn. That causes the rear end of the vehicle to slide toward the outside of the turn, a condition known as trailing throttle or lift-throttle oversteer.  Just hours after the warning was issued Lexus pulled the vehicle off the line. “We are taking the situation with the GX 460 very seriously and are determined to identify and correct the issue Consumer Reports identified,” Mark S. Templin, the Lexus group vice president and general manager said in a statement.  Lexus fell just short of voluntarily recalling the vehicle.  The car company said that they would provide a loaner car to any concerned customers until the problem is solved.   Allison Takahashi, a Lexus spokeswoman, said the automaker was not aware of any “accidents or incidents related to this condition.”

Health Care

Florida’s attorney general announced on Monday that ten states plan on filing a federal lawsuit challenging the new health care reforms constitutionality.  Republican Gov. Charlie Christ along with fellow Republican attorney general Bill McCollum said that the lawsuit would be filed once President Obama files the bill into a law.  McCollum said the lawsuit would challenge the bill’s provision requiring people to purchase health insurance, along with provisions that will force state government to spend more on health care services.  The ten states include Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington.  In all of the ten states listed, the attorney generals are republican.  McCollum said that the lawsuit would be about the law and not politics.  Also on Monday, the state of Virginia’s Republican attorney general said that the state would file its own lawsuit challenging the health care reform bill.  It is unknown if the state will handle this on its own or join the other ten states.

New 2010 Quarter Program Designs

The US Mint recently added a new section to their website with some information about the upcoming quarter series slated to begin in 2010. The designs will feature National Parks or National Sites from each of the 50 US States, 5 US Territories, and the District of Columbia.  The designs for the coins will be presented in the order they were first designated as national landmarks by the federal government.  The first quarter in the series will be the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.  It will be released on April 19th followed by four additional coins in 2010.  The other 51 coins will roll out periodically through the year 2021 and Alabama’s Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site will complete the series.  On December 23, 2008, Americas Beautiful national parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act was signed.  Now the US Mint has a plan and will begin the series next month.  Obviously the portrait of George Washington will remain on the front of the coin, but the back will be different for the “New 2010 Quarter Program”.

Toyota Crash

A terrible car crash in August of 2009 was the starting point for all of the Toyota recalls.  Three family members along with relatives of a California Highway Patrol were killed and now Toyota Motor Corporation is being blamed for their deaths.  John Saylor (off duty CHP), his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law died on August 28th, 2009.  They were all in a 2009 Lexus ES350 when it took off at full speed, reaching 120 miles per hour in rush hour traffic in suburban San Diego, CA.  The brother of Saylor’s wife called in the emergency and told the emergency dispatcher that the accelerator pedal was stuck and Saylor was unable to slow down. “We’re in trouble. . . . There’s no brakes. End freeway half-mile,” Christopher Lastrella said during the recorded conversation. Saylor, 45, his wife, Cleofe, daughter Mahala and Lastrella were killed instantly.  Immediately after the crash Toyota recalled millions of cars for the same reason, sticking accelerator because of a floor mat jam.  Toyota officials said they do not discuss the pending litigation.

General Motors

General Motors surged to the top for the countries top-selling automaker in the month of February.  The biggest beneficiary was by far Ford Motor Company with a 43% sales increase for the previous month.  Ford barely topped G.M. by 471 vehicles, which is only six-hundredths of a market share or percentage point.  In the year 2009, G.M. outsold Ford every month by an average of 33,000 vehicles every month.  A year ago, Fords market share increased from 14.4 to 18.2 percent according to MotorIntelligence.com.  G.M’s sales grew 12 percent over the last year, and 32 percent for all four brands of vehicles (Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, GMC).  With the Toyota recalls, Toyota’s sales fell 9 percent in February and are down 12 percent for the year 2010.  They have recalled more than 8 million vehicles, 6 million of them being in the United States. “With all the publicity out there, people are thinking twice before automatically just getting a new Toyota,” said Ron Pinelli, president of MotorIntelligence.com. “Toyota was almost the gold standard for quality for so many years that people just thought Toyota was a safe bet and they really didn’t consider other brands.”

General Motors

Toyota

Toyota auto sales dropped 16% in the month of January because they had to recall millions of vehicles and halted sales of a few models.  While Toyota was suffering, other car companies were benefiting.  January is normally a high selling month for the Japanese automaker but this year it was a great month for US auto sales.  Due to higher crossover and fleet vehicle sales, General Motors January sales rose 14%.  Ford Motor saw sales rise 25% on higher fleet sales, and due to higher demand for sedans Nissan’s sales increased 16%.  Last week, General Motors offered a zero percent financing and other incentives to Toyota drivers.  Mike DiGiovanni, GM’s top sales analyst stated that there are enough signs of recovery for the company to raise its estimates for total U.S. sales.  “We are slightly more optimistic,” DiGiovanni said.  In January General Motors predicted the 2010 sales to be from 11 to 12 million, but on Tuesday they raised the low end to 11.5 million.  Also, General Motors market share is 21% which solidified its lead over Ford and Toyota.

Charlie Wilson

Former Texas Representative, Charlie Wilson, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 76.  The former U.S. Congressman was the man chronicled in the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War”.  Wilson began having breathing difficulty while attending a meeting in the town where he lived in eastern Texas.  The preliminary cause was declared to be cardiopulmonary arrest, and Charlie was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.  His nickname while he was in Washington was “Good Time Charlie” and he represented the 2nd district in east Texas in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1996.  The actor Tom Hanks portrayed Charlie Wilson in the 2007 movie about Wilson’s war efforts to help arm mujahedeen during the war against the Soviet Union.  Wilson helped secure money for weapons when he was a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “Charlie was perfect as a congressman, perfect as a state representative, perfect as a state senator. He was a perfect reflection of the people he represented. If there was anything wrong with Charlie, I never did know what it was,” said Wilson’s chief of staff in Washington, Charles Schnabel Jr.

Toyota Corolla's

Toyota made a shocking decision yesterday and halted the sales of eight different models.  They stopped the sales for recall because the accelerators were sticking on some of the vehicles.  Even some of Toyota’s most popular cars such as the Camry and Corolla have been having this problem  Toyota is telling customers that it is safe to continue to drive their cars as long as they haven’t noticed any signs of it having a sticking accelerator.  This is what Toyota told the public a few days ago, “As part of the recall, we are obliged to suspend sales until there is a remedy.”  The Toyota spokesman, Mike Michels, told Drive On “recalls happen all the time where owners continue to drive their cars.”  This is true, but there are few recalls that can cause such a severe problem as this one that has killed some Toyota and Lexus drivers.  Toyota has already attempted to take precautions by telling the owners to remove the floor mats because they could jam under the accelerator pedals.  The latest news though is that the gas pedals can jam on their own.  Toyota owners, use caution and do not operate your vehicle if you are experiencing any strange problems with your car.