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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — What was once a joyous fall rite in Alaska has become another thing for people to bicker about — the amount of money residents receive from the state’s oil wealth. Checks of $1,114 are expected to be paid to about 643,000 Alaskans, beginning this week. People use the money in different ways, including for vacations, electronics, savings or college funds or necessities. In places like rural Alaska, the money can help with the high costs of fuel and food. Joe Manning, who manages the Alaskan Kush Co., a marijuana business, also is planning sales and hoping...

Moscow (AFP) - Russia is ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and the United States to cut oil production, President Vladimir Putin said Friday. Putin said Russia was willing to make agreements within the framework of the OPEC+ group and that "we are ready for cooperation with the United States of America on this issue," according to a statement published by the Kremlin. "I believe that it is necessary to combine efforts in order to balance the market and reduce production." Oil prices have tumbled in recent weeks in the face of a drop in demand and global economic uncertainty...

NEW YORK - At two gasoline stations in Scarsdale, a wealthy suburb of New York City not far from one of the nation’s worst outbreaks of coronavirus, attendants whiled away the minutes on a rainy Friday morning at what would normally be their busiest time of day. “We’ve had one or two customers - that’s it,” said Julio Barrios as he sat under an umbrella at the full-service Shell station in downtown Scarsdale. “For more than a week, business has been slow.” The coronavirus has infected at least 138,000 people worldwide and killed more than 5,000, rocking the global economy....

DUBAI/MOSCOW - Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it would boost its oil supplies to a record high in April, raising the stakes in a standoff with Russia and effectively rebuffing Moscow’s suggestion for new talks. The clash of oil titans Saudi Arabia and Russia sparked a 25% slump in crude prices on Monday, triggering panic selling on Wall Street and other equity markets that have already been badly hit by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Oil prices LCOc1 recovered some ground on Tuesday, but were still 40% down on the start of the year. U.S. President Donald Trump spoke...

Oil prices crashed in Asia on Monday by around 30% in what analysts are calling the start of a price war. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia slashed its oil prices at the weekend after it failed to convince Russia on Friday to back sharp production cuts. Oil cartel Opec and its ally Russia had previously worked together on production curbs. The benchmark Brent oil futures plunged to a low of $31.02 a barrel on Monday, in volatile energy markets. Oil prices have tumbled since Friday, when Opec's 14 members led by Saudi Arabia met with its allies Russia and other...

NEW YORK - Oil prices crashed on Monday, suffering their biggest daily rout since the 1991 Gulf War, after the collapse of an OPEC+ supply agreement that now threatens to overwhelm the world with oil, inciting panic throughout the energy sector. After failing to come to an agreement to cut supply, Saudi Arabia and Russia over the weekend pledged instead to ramp up production, which could quickly flood global markets with oil at a time when demand has already weakened substantially. The market’s reaction has been furious, with crude futures plunging by nearly 20%, while energy stocks collapse as shale...

VIENNA - A three-year honeymoon between OPEC and Russia ended in acrimony on Friday after Moscow refused to support deeper oil cuts to cope with the outbreak of coronavirus and OPEC responded by removing all limits on its own production. Oil prices plunged 10% as the development revived fears of a 2014 price crash, when Saudi Arabia and Russia fought for market share with U.S. shale oil producers, which have never participated in output limiting pacts. Brent has lost about a third of its value this year, tumbling towards $45 a barrel, its lowest since 2017, putting oil-dependent nations and...

Your iPad doesn’t mix well with the outdoors. Even if you keep it away from water and grit, you still have to contend with the lack of internet and electricity in the backcountry. That’s where Earl comes in. This new backcountry survival Android tablet works where your smartphone or iPad would fail. The rugged tablet can forecast the weather, determine your location, elevation, and let you communicate with folks back home. About the size of an iPad mini, Earl is one tough gadget. It’s waterproof, dustproof, shockproof, and it will work in temperatures from 32 degrees to 122 degrees Fahrenheit....

Drinking Earl Grey tea could help guard against heart disease, it has emerged, after a study found that bergamot extract - a key ingredient in the hot drink - is just as effective as statins at controlling cholesterol. Scientists believe bergamot, a fragrant Mediterranean citrus fruit which gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive flavour, can significantly lower cholesterol. They say it contains enzymes known as HMGF (hydroxy methyl glutaryl flavonones) which can attack proteins in the body known to cause heart disease. The study found bergamot could even be as effective as statins, used to control cholesterol but which can...

Legendary banjo picker Earl Scruggs, one of the pioneering figures of bluegrass music, has died at 88. "The Essential Earl Scruggs"Scruggs reached his highest level of fame in the 1960s when he and partner Lester Flatt recording the theme song for The Beverly Hillbillies, which became a beloved weekly staple in living rooms that wouldn't think of ever putting on a bluegrass record, as well as a No. 1 smash on the not usually so rootsy Billboard country chart. But his stardom continued to give him a healthy touring career to the very end, especially at roots-music gatherings like the...

Gasoline prices are killing the pockets of Americans as the rise continues with no sign of letting up. In Orlando, Florida today it showed prices of a startling $5.69 a gallon! It was at that Suncoast Energys stations near the Orlando International Airport that the high price was seen and left customers reeling in disbelief. The price is considered the highest in the U.S., according to the website gasbuddy.com which monitors the prices of gasoline nationwide.

It appears that North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue went to the Rahm Emanuel school of governing because hurricane Earl was a "crisis" that was "too good to waste." Perdue used hurricane Earl as an excuse to claim that the North Carolina was in a "state of emergency" and this proclamation opens the door for an "emergency" gun ban. On Sept. 1 as Earl was bearing down on the coast, Perdue signed Executive Order 62 in which she claimed that the state was officially in a state of emergency and that EO sets in motion statute 14-288.7 -- titled "Transporting dangerous...

"State of emergency declared in North Carolina," the WECT News 6 headline informs us. "Governor Bev Perdue has declared a State of Emergency for North Carolina in anticipation of Hurricane Earl's arrival." From blogger John Jacob H: "Upon Governor Beverly Perdue’s declaration of a State Of Emergency on September 1, 2010 Dove Hunters, Concealed Carry Handgun Licensees, Target Shooters and all other gunowners cannot possess, transport or use firearms off their personal property as per N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-288.7" Here's what the statute says... But time's up for North Carolina gun owners. They can either obey the law, and...

Upon Governor Beverly Perdue’s declaration of a State Of Emergency on September 1, 2010 Dove Hunters, Concealed Carry Handgun Licensees, Target Shooters and all other gunowners cannot possess, transport or use firearms off their personal property as per N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-288.7

Large and dangerous Hurricane Earl is nearing the U.S. East coast. Hurricane and Tropical Storm Warnings and Watches have been issued from North Carolina to Nova Scotia. Even if the center of Earl remains offshore, hurricane force winds are expected to occur on the Outer Banks by Thursday night. Currently, hurricane force winds extend outward 90 miles, and tropical storm force winds 230 miles from the center of the storm. Tropical-storm-force winds will likely reach the coast from Virginia northward to New Jersey by late Thursday night or early Friday. A gradual weakening is expected to start later Thursday, but...

A live thread to update the arrival of Hurricane Earl, a Category 4 storm headed for the Mid Atlantic.

officials are ordering tourists and residents to leave a barrier island accessible only by ferries as powerful Hurricane Earl heads toward the U.S. coast. Hyde County emergency management officials plan a Wednesday morning evacuation of Ocracoke Island. The decision came late Tuesday, as the hurricane whipped across the Caribbean with winds of up to 135 mph.

BULLETIN HURRICANE EARL ADVISORY NUMBER 21 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072010 1100 AM AST MON AUG 30 2010 ...EARL BECOMES A MAJOR HURRICANE... SUMMARY OF 1100 AM AST...1500 UTC...INFORMATION ----------------------------------------------- LOCATION...18.7N 63.6W ABOUT 95 MI...150 KM ENE OF ST. THOMAS ABOUT 165 MI...265 KM E OF SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...120 MPH...195 KM/HR PRESENT MOVEMENT...WNW OR 285 DEGREES AT 15 MPH...24 KM/HR MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...960 MB...28.35 INCHES WATCHES AND WARNINGS -------------------- CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY... A HURRICANE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE PUERTO RICAN ISLANDS OF CULEBRA AND VIEQUES. THE GOVERNMENT OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA...

Tropical Storm Earl was upgraded to hurricane status Sunday morning. Hurricane Warnings have been issued for the Leeward Islands. Puerto Rico is currently under a Hurricane Watch. The five day extended forecast cone of uncertainty currently includes Eastern North Carolina. Public AdvisoryDiscussionForecast ModelsBuoy Data: Caribbean Western Atlantic Florida SE U.S.Satellite Images and Loops (Tropical Floater #2) Puerto Rico Radar (Out of Service 8/28/2010 until further notice) NWS Local Hurricane Weather Statement-Puerto RicoIbiseye Interactive TrackingStormPulse.com

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – The Obama appointee managing BP's oil spill disaster fund said there's "not enough money in the world" to pay all claims and suggested home owners with plunging property values could lose out. The warning from prominent US lawyer Kenneth Feinberg came as Hurricane Alex disrupted clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico and pushed oil deeper into fragile coastal wetlands and once-pristine beaches. Feinberg, who Obama named to administer the 20-billion-dollar claims fund, insisted that BP will "pay every eligible claim," but cautioned that many perceived damages may not qualify. "I use that famous example...