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WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — Nearly 100 drunken-driving suspects in this southern Ohio town avoided convictions or jail time last year after making voluntary $1,000 donations to the police department, county records show. More than a third of the drunken-driving cases filed by Waverly police in Pike County Court last year were dismissed, according to a report published Sunday in The Columbus Dispatch.

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker House of Representatives United States Capitol Dear Speaker Pelosi: I am writing concerning the Select Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007, established by the House on August 3, 2007 to investigate the circumstances surrounding the overturned 215-213 vote on a Republican measure that sought to add language to the Agriculture Appropriations bill prohibiting illegal immigrants from receiving taxpayer-funded benefits. Now that you and I have appointed six distinguished Members of the House to serve on the panel, I hope you will join me in ensuring that the select committee is provided...

Hutchison files bill in response to TXDot's actions 9/5/2007 7:20 PM By: Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has filed a bill designed to block Texas officials efforts to turn some state's highways into toll roads. The Republican Senator filed the bill Wednesday after days of clamor in the state. The Texas Department of Transportation wants to be allowed to "buy back" parts of existing interstates and add toll lanes. It also has proposed tax breaks for private company investment involved in the projects. As proposed, Hutchison's bill would prohibit collection of tolls on any part of federal...

Levies increase despite decline in home values. Residential property taxes rose an average of $161 in cities and towns across the state in the past fiscal year, as home assessments hit historic highs despite declining market values. The average property tax bill for a single-family home hit $3,962, up 4.2 percent from the previous year. Taxes climbed 7 percent or higher in more than 65 communities, according to data from the state Department of Revenue. Since 2000, property taxes have shot up nearly 50 percent, from $2,679, far outpacing gains in wages, which climbed 30 percent statewide over the same...

Bloomberg's Plan To Charge $8 Still Very Much Alive (CBS/AP) WASHINGTON -- New York's plan to reduce traffic by charging tolls to drivers entering the busiest part of Manhattan will get a major boost from the government, which has agreed to fund the pilot project, congressional aides said Monday. If implemented, the congestion pricing scheme proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg would be the first of its kind in the nation. London and Singapore have similar toll programs. For weeks, New York officials haggled over whether to approve the mayor's idea in time to qualify for a share of $1.2 billion...

SAN ANTONIO — A sheriff's deputy accused of threatening Mexican motorists with detention if they didn't pay him off has pleaded not guilty to extortion. Deputy Henry James Jr., 45, was arrested after he stopped two FBI agents late last month. The agents were posing as Mexican motorists after several drivers claimed they had been stopped by law enforcement and ordered to pay. The agents, pulled over by James for disregarding a stop sign, recorded the deputy telling them that because they were Mexican, they had to pay him $150 or be detained until a judge could see them, according...

FRONT ROYAL, Va. — This small Shenandoah Valley town must wait to become a battleground for the growing public debate about whether the General Assembly overreached in assessing high fees for Virginia drivers who break the law. The Town Council last night postponed a decision on whether to stop its 36-officer police force from enforcing most "abuser fees" laws for motorists. "It seems to me it may be appealing in a kind of small guy versus big guy way, but I'm not sure that is the answer here," said council member Stanley W. Brooks Jr., who proposed postponing the vote....

The Indiana Department of Transportation to collect work zone speeding ticket revenue beginning July 1. Maximum citation increased to $1000. Governor Mitch DanielsThe Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will soon be the direct beneficiary of speeding ticket revenue under a bill recently signed by Governor Mitch Daniels (R). The measure gives INDOT the power to decrease speed limits "without conducting an engineering study and investigation" in highway work zones. INDOT can direct police to enforce this lowered limit, regardless of whether workers are actually present. The law also mandates that no work zone speed limit exceed 45 MPH. As of...

New tools this year include increased fines, loss of license and photo enforcement CHICAGO—The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) joined with the State Police and Illinois Tollway to remind motorists construction season is about to kick in to gear and warn that tough new laws are on the books that target drivers who flout work zone speed limits and endanger the lives of construction workers and other drivers. “Next week is Work Zone Safety Week and the traditional beginning to highway construction season. We want to send a message to motorists now to slow down in work zones,” IDOT Secretary...

Remember the public debate last year over whether the state should raise the gasoline tax or tolls to pay for the rotten roads around here? Well, the debate’s over. There’s been a compromise. We’re going to raise both the tolls and the gasoline tax. Or so says the Mass. Transportation Finance Commission. They haven’t officially come out and said they want higher gas taxes and tolls. First they’re going to have the traditional “public hearings.” Of course it’s all a complete bag job. Just look at the tell-tale phrases in the news stories about the “shocking” conditions of the state’s...

Billions in Highway Taxes Diverted to General SpendingOnly one-third of fees collected by state and local government from motorists goes directly to road construction and maintenance. Billions of dollars collected from motorists from gasoline taxes, tolls, and registration fees are being diverted by state and local governments into uses that have nothing to do with roads and highways. According to the latest figures from the Federal Highway Administration, motorists gave state and local government $40.3 billion in 2005 for the ability to drive and own a vehicle. Gasoline taxes accounted for $20.5 billion in revenue while registration fees and miscellaneous...

Two men traveling south on Interstate 85 southwest of Lexington Tuesday told Davidson County sheriff's deputies that the $88,000 in cash they had hidden in their car was to buy a house in Atlanta. Officers with the sheriff office's Interstate Criminal Enforcement unit didn't believe the story after a drug-sniffing dog found a strong odor of narcotics inside the car. No drugs were found, and the two men weren't charged with a crime, but officers did keep the money, citing a federal drug assets seizure and forfeiture law. Deputies first stopped the car for following too closely to another vehicle,...

The young woman's brow visibly tensed as she recalled the flashing lights on the New Milford police car that caused her to pull her vehicle to the side of the road on Route 109 some months ago. "I explained to the officer [that] I was a single mother and I was late to work because my daughter had been sick. It was just after morning rush," said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. "I was extremely grateful that he was able to bump it down to a warning. It was very kind of him." A new policy at the...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke yesterday at the annual conference of the Western Governors Association in Sedona, Arizona, where he pushed three resolutions on alternative energy and global warming. “We should fundamentally change our approach to energy,” he declared. “We've all seen the pictures of melting glaciers. We know the dangers of climate change. How the oceans are getting warmer, how they're rising. How agriculture can be threatened.” "We are long past the time when we can just talk about this problem," said the former action superstar, who is being challenged for re-election by Democrat Phil Angelides. "We must take action."...

CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman.

In Union County, NC, there is a bypass project being considered in the northern corridor of the county connecting I-485 to the eastern portion of Union County. However, certain individuals feel the need for a toll road. Any recommendations from anyone that lives with a toll road in the neighborhood? Thanks.

<p>Tucked within an analysis of this year's state budget by the California Legislative Analyst's Office are some facts that will hardly surprise most California drivers. Between 1998 and 2004, the state government reduced pavement-maintenance spending (adjusted for inflation) by 39 percent. Caltrans repaved only 1,000 lane miles this budget year, compared to 3,850 lane miles in 2000-01.</p>

Jim Robinson is taking his supporters for a huge ride. Even though he's using this ancient perl/CGI format(that has changed 3 times in 6 years), there's no way in hell it costs $260,000 a year to run FreeRepublic unless Robinson is paying himself and his family at least $225,000 a year. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/budget Monthly Expenses Bandwidth $2,700 Technical Services 4,000 Administrative 7,500 Legal Expenses 3,000 Estimated Bank Fees, Insurance, Office Expenses, Maintenance and Repairs, Supplies, Travel, misc. 2,200 $2700 a month for bandwidth? What, he has his own dedicated T1/T3 lines? $48,000 a year for "Technical Services?" You could hire three...

<p>LIQUID Gold: According to local beer industry sources, the Mets' and Yanks' concessionaires purchase half-kegs in bulk for approximately $29 per half-keg, roughly half the cost charged to bars and restaurants. Each half-keg holds 1,984 ounces, or 124 16-ounce servings. So, if the teams sell 16-ounce servings for about $6.50, which they do, the profit over the initial purchase price of each half-keg begins when the fifth beer is sold and that profit, per half-keg, is nearly $800.</p>

"....The higher cost of refining gasoline to meet stricter regulations, coupled with higher crude oil prices, pushed the average nationwide cost to $1.5841 per gallon Friday, analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday...."