The poll is closed on the question “Do you support the Supreme Court’s decision on voter IDs?” 66% of you agree with the Supreme Court ruling. That was not a surprise because other larger opinion polls that I reviewed were running higher percentages in support of the court ruling. The next poll question is “Do you think the we should investigate the oil traders on Wall Street.” I ask that question because I lived in California during the electricity shortage which was the result of energy traders, manipulating the system to drive the price up. Interestingly enough, several companies that were caught in this scandal had to pay fines but still continue to do business with the State. They even managed to save outrageous contracts that were signed during the electricity crisis. California consumers continue to pay higher rates to pay off the debt incurred during this time. Are we watching Wall Street close enough on this issue?
By JOHN GITTELSOHN
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Mike Shneider spent $304 for half a tank in his dump truck, almost half the money he was being paid to deliver the day's load of gravel.
"With fuel prices the way they are, I almost can't afford to work," said Shneider, 37, an independent truck owner-operator from Orange. "It's a Catch-22."
Car owners shocked by high gasoline prices should be thankful they're not running on diesel. The average cost of a gallon of diesel pushed through the $4.50-a-gallon barrier in Orange County last week – 63 cents more than a gallon of regular.
In Orange County, a gallon of diesel averages $1.33 more than a year ago. Regular gasoline rose 47 cents.
Californians buy about one gallon of diesel for every five gallons of gasoline. But while statewide gasoline consumption dipped 1 percent last year and 4.5 percent in January – a drop propelled by soaring pump prices – diesel sales jumped 4.5 percent as the state's population and commerce continued to grow.
Diesel used to be cheaper than regular. Why is it so expensive? Why do people keep buying it? And what's the impact of high diesel cost on the economy?
By DAN CHILDS
ABC News Medical Unit
How dirty is your Qwerty? It turns out that your computer keyboard could put a host of potentially harmful bacteria -- including E. coli and staph -- quite literally at your fingertips. Sure, it may sound like a hypochondriac's excuse to stay away from the office. But a growing body of research suggests that computer mice and keyboards are, in fact, prime real estate for germs. It's a phenomenon most recently illustrated by tests at a typical office environment in the United Kingdom. A consumer advocacy group commissioned the tests in which British microbiologist James Francis took a swab to 33 keyboards, a toilet seat and a toilet door handle at the publication's London office in January. Francis then tested the swabs to see what nasty germs he managed to pick up. He found that four of the keyboards tested were potential health hazards -- and one had levels of germs five times higher than that found on the toilet seat.
