Free Republic

Gas stations have not historically inspired confidence as palate pleasers. Day-old (or longer) doughnuts or hot dogs rolling (and rolling) on a spinner grill come to mind. But across the Washington region, there are at least a dozen eateries serving delectable, sometimes organic, fare near the pump. There’s Korean bibimbap in Wheaton, authentic Mexican in Jessup, Thai in Leesburg and Latin American in the District. Corned Beef King cooks its meat for 11 hours. Gas station cuisine is partly being driven by popular food truck operators — Corned Beef King started as a truck in 2011 — seeking permanent locations...

Two state lawmakers say new laws are needed after last weekend's rare autumn snow storm that would require electric generators at gas stations and senior housing. State Rep. Zeke Zalaski, a Democrat from Southington, said Thursday that many of his constituents in need of gas for vehicles and generators were unable to find stations with the power to sell fuel. He said the few that were open had long lines and created traffic jams. Zalaski's bill would also require generators at senior housing complexes. Rep. Matthew Lesser, a Democrat from Middletown, is suggesting a new system in which the state...

There has been a debate going on for some time over efforts by supporters of ethanol based fuel to get a waiver from the EPA which would allow gasoline to be blended with 15% ethanol (E-15) rather than the current limit of 10%. As recently as last December the EPA has held off on such a decision at the request of groups such as the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Their chief concern was that more time was needed to do long term testing of cars currently in the fleet to ensure that the higher rated mixture would not adversely affect...

Greek fuel supplies run dry as strike over harsh austerity measures bites Published Date: 20 February 2010 By MARGARET NEIGHBOUR PETROL stations ran dry in Greece yesterday as a customs strike over government austerity measures began to bite. Customs staff initially walked out for three days on Tuesday over salary freezes and cuts in bonuses. But their union announced on Thursday three 48-hour rolling strikes that will keep customs offices shut until next Wednesday, when all workers are being asked to join a general strike. The customs walkout has hampered imports and exports, but the supply of fuel has been...

A third man charged in a plot to attack Southern California military sites and other targets pleaded guilty Monday to a terrorism conspiracy charge. Gregory Vernon Patterson, 23, entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana to one count of conspiring to levy war against the U.S. government through terrorism. He also pleaded guilty to conspiring to use a firearm during that offense. Patterson could face up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 14, prosecutors said. Two other men - Kevin James, 31, and Levar Haley Washington, 28 - pleaded guilty in the...

WASHINGTON, Aug 3: Five years after her mysterious disappearance in Karachi, the FBI has finally conceded that an MIT-trained Pakistani neuroscientist is alive and is in US custody in Afghanistan. Aafia Siddiqui, 36, disappeared with her three children while visiting her parents’ home in Karachi in March 2003, around the same time the FBI announced that it wanted to question her over her alleged links to Al Qaeda. Her family’s lawyer Elaine Whitfield Sharp said she believed recent media reports about Mrs Siddiqui’s incarceration increased pressure on the US and Pakistani authorities to divulge more information. “I don’t believe that...

Although gas prices are staying near $3 a gallon these days, service station owners aren't making much on the gas they sell, according to a representative for Arizona's petroleum marketers. "As gas prices go up, retailers actually make less money," said Andrea Martincic, spokeswoman for the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, during a visit Friday to Yuma. "Like the consumer, they are hurting too. It's a very hard business for them to be in." Martincic explained that crude oil price increases drive up the cost of refining it into gasoline, which ultimately cuts into the retailer's profits. While the retailer does...

March 3 — Suspected Sept. 11 planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is believed to command a global network of al Qaeda terrorists, but in the three days since his arrest he has refused to tell interrogators anything about planned attacks, instead reciting the Koran to himself, U.S. officials told ABCNEWS. Mohammed was questioned for a third day by U.S. and Pakistani agents today. Analysts said interrogators were seeking details of any planned al Qaeda attacks and leads on the whereabouts of the world's most-wanted man, Osama bin Laden. Though the arrest of Mohammed in Pakistan on Saturday has been described as...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pakistani convicted of supporting an al Qaeda plot to blow up U.S. gas stations was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday in a case Washington has called a victory in its war on terror. Uzair Paracha, 26, has said he falsely confessed under the pressure of three days of interrogation by the FBI, but U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein said Paracha "knew what he was doing" in lending support to al Qaeda. Paracha remained calm after the sentence was read and waved to relatives as he left the courtroom wearing a blue...

TV 8 News has learned the FBI and local law enforcement authorities are conducting a statewide raid of service stations and businesses owned by Middle Easterners. Agents executed search warrants today at businesses from Tallulah to Ruston and in Monroe. The FBI says the raids are part of "an ongoing criminal investigation." Police sources tell TV 8 News the raids target possible money laundering and counterfeiting in connection with suspected domestic terrorist activity and homeland security. TV 8 News will have details at 5, 6,and 10.

My advice: pay cash. Here's why--TWICE within the last 3 months (at different gas stations in the northeast--one in Westchester County, NY and one in Morris County, NJ) I was charged a second time on my credit card. The one in Westchester charged the 34 dollar fill-up twice and the Jersey one added a dollar as a separate charge to the gas charge (I imagine the dude was giving himself a tip). Has this ever happened to anyone else? Or was this a remarkable coinkydink? Probably also a coinkydink that neither of the gas pumpers was born in the USA......

WELLINGTON, Fla. (AP) -- An Army sergeant who left his Georgia post six months ago was tracked down at his parents' home after a notebook with anti-American and anti-Semitic writings was found in his discarded backpack. Karim Iraq, 25, was arrested as a deserter and is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail, sheriff's officials said. His father said the soldier fled Fort Stewart after the Army extended his enlistment because he had soured on the U.S. military mission in Iraq. The father said the soldier was also harassed over his Palestinian heritage. "He was feeling rejected...

Osama bin Laden tried to purchase the world's largest pearl, the Pearl of Allah, as a gift to Saddam Hussein "to unite the Arab cultures," and Hussein was prepared to accept, according to the pearl's owner. Victor Barbish, who owns sixty-six percent of the pearl on behalf of his daughter, told WorldNetDaily he received an offer in 1999 from individuals who said they were "from bin Laden's group" to purchase the pearl for $60 million to give to Hussein as an overture of unity between al-Qaida and the Iraqi government.

The Cable news networks are reporting 4 explosions that just happened in Madrid, after apparent Basque threats this morning

This looks like a merger of ETA and Al Qaeda to me

A top Al Qaeda operative plotted to smuggle weapons into New York Harbor in the shipping containers of a Garment District firm, the Daily News has learned. Days before he was captured in Pakistan in March, suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed met in Karachi with the owner of a W. 35th St. clothing importing company and his son, law enforcement sources said. Al Qaeda's No. 3 man offered to invest $200,000 in International Management Group in exchange, federal authorities now believe, for access to IMG's Port Newark-bound shipping containers, sources say. Mohammed "is obsessed with attacking the United States,...

Man attempts to hijack fuel tanker Chris Proffitt/Eyewitness News Clermont, March 24 - The FBI has released a sketch of a man wanted for questioning in conection with what may have been a hijack attempt of a gasoline tanker trucker hauling 10,000 gallons of fuel. "We find it very unusual that somebody would be trying to pull over a gasoline tanker," says Indiana State Police Trooper Jackie Taylor. It happened Monday morning not far from Martinsville on State Road 37. According to federal law enforcement officials, the truck belongs to a Clermont transportation company. Its driver was hauling the gasoline...

<p>SAN DIEGO(AP) - Jack in the Box has announced it will open a string of convenience stores and gas stations nationwide to accompany a number of its full-size, fast-food restaurants.</p> <p>The Quick Stuff stores will feature ATMs, fuel dispensers and pay-at-the-pump credit-card readers, along with traditional convenience store fare such as candy bars, lottery tickets and cigarettes.</p>

Sorry for the vanity, but I had this thought recently, and don't know if it has been brought up yet. Doesn't it seem odd that many of the people being picked off by the sniper terrorist(s) are at gas stations. Am I the only one who thinks that that indicates Middle Eastern people who are upset because they think that we are taking on Iraq because of oil? This angle really stuck out to me, but I wonder if any of the "expert profilers" have considered it.

Pumped about history, museum offers drivers a service-station primer By Paysha Stockton Seattle Times staff reporter Seattle's first gas station, which opened in 1907 on South Holgate Street near Alaskan Way, was little more than a 30-gallon barrel attached to a hose atop a wooden post. But it was one of the first gas stations, if not the first, in the country. The brainchild of John McLean, a manager for Standard Oil of California, the "filling station" paved the way for today's stations and mini-marts. McLean's station — with its "no smoking" sign and display shelf for grease and oil...