Friday, December 30, 2011

AAA "Tipsy Tow" NOT available in all areas! 800-222-4357

No excuses, folks. Don't drink and drive-and don't ride with anybody who does.Tipsy Tow offered by AAA: You don't have to be a AAA member, from 6pm-6am on New Year's Eve/Day they will take your drunk self and your car home for FREE. Save this number... 1-800-222-4357. Save a life, it could be yours or someone you love! Please re-post this if you don't mind.....

The following AAA Clubs currently offer Tipsy Tow programs:

AAA Alabama (Statewide. Program is called “Tow-for-Life”)
AAA Arizona (Statewide)
AAA Auto Club South (Statewide in Florida, Georgia, West and Middle Tennessee. Program is called “Tow-to-Go”)
AAA Hawaii (Islands of Kaui, Maui, Oahu and Hawaii only)
AAA Merrimack Valley (Program is called “TOWEDD.” From December 16th-January 1st.)
AAA Montana (Missoula, Bozeman, Helena and Billings)
AAA New Mexico (Statewide)
AAA Nevada (Statewide)
AAA Northern and Southern California (Statewide)
AAA Oklahoma (Metro Tulsa, Metro Oklahoma City, Shawnee, Bartlesville, Enid, Muskogee and Lawton)
AAA South Dakota (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, Mitchell and Yankton only)
AAA Texas (Statewide)
AAA Tidewater Virginia (Greater Hampton Roads area including Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, Yorktown, and Williamsburg. Program is called ‘Tow-to-Go”)
AAA Utah (Statewide)
New Jersey Automobile Club (Morris, Essex and Union counties only)

Taxi Ride Programs

AAA Mid-Atlantic is a key part of the “TipsyTaxi” program in the Baltimore area only. This program offers cab rides home to members and non-members who have had too much to drink.

For a comprehensive list of other community programs listed state by state, please visit AAA’s DUI Justice Link Website.

Sober Ride

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has created a listing of sober/safe ride programs across the country. Find one in your area, and save the number in your cell phone so you always have it on you. CLICK HERE

Utility Gets Go-Ahead To Purchase Cape Wind Power

WGBH News: Utility Gets Go-Ahead To Purchase Cape Wind Power

News update from WGBH

By Sean Corcoran

Wind One, a turbine in Falmouth, Mass., near the proposed location of Cape Wind. (Jess Bidgood/WGBH)

WOODS HOLE, Mass. — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has no problem with the state-sanctioned power purchase agreement (PPA) between Cape Wind and the utility National Grid.

In a 34-page ruling, Justice Margot Botsford wrote that the PPA to buy Cape Wind power is consistent with state law, and that the state's Department of Public Utilities did a "thorough" review of the agreement. And just like the DPU, the SJC determined there is evidence that the deal is in the public interest. (Read case information from the Mass. SJC.)

"This decision provides a big boost for creating up to 1,000 jobs and providing Massachusetts with cleaner air, greater energy independence and a leadership position in offshore wind power," Cape Wind president Jim Gordon said in a statement.

The PPA has National Grid purchase 50 percent of Cape Wind's anticipated electricity output beginning in 2013. It has been controversial, mostly because of the cost. The agreement sets a rate of 18.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, which would increase 3.5 percent each year for the 15-year term of the contract.

Nationally, last year, the average retail price for electricity was 9.88 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, although prices vary greatly by state. National Grid estimates that the cost will translate to a total monthly bill increase of $1.59 for a typical residential customer.

Cape Wind multimedia resources from WCAI/WGBH

Opponents of Cape Wind say the agreed-upon price is too high, and that National Grid should have expanded its search to find cheaper sources of renewable energy in other states in order to meet Massachusetts’ renewable energy requirements.

In a statement, Audra Parker, president of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Cape Wind's primary opposition group, called the court decision "moot," because Cape Wind still lacks a key permit from the Federal Aviation Administration, it has been denied federal loan guarantees and it still does not have a second utility on board to buy the remaining 50 percent of the anticipated power.

Listen to the WGBH/WCAI series: “The Falmouth Experience,” about one town’s life under the blades of a wind turbine

"Today's ruling is a blow to ratepayers, businesses and municipalities," Parker wrote, "who are being asked to bear billions of dollars in new electricity costs when other green energy alternatives are available at a fraction of the cost. The good news is the increasingly clear reality that Cape Wind will never be built."

For several years Cape Wind was on a winning streak, garnering permit approvals and positive court decisions. But lately the effort to construct 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound has experienced some setbacks.

Read reporter Sean Corcoran’s Cape Wind blog.

As Parker alluded, a key FAA permit recently was struck down by the federal courts, requiring the FAA to go back and reexamine how the turbines would affect aviation between Cape Cod and the Islands. Also, without a buyer for the remaining 50 percent of Cape Wind electricity, the project developers will have trouble attracting construction financing.

That said, after nearly a decade of negotiating the regulatory process, Cape Wind officials have given no indication that they're willing to give up the fight.

No Business Like Snow Business

New Island Forms from a Volcanic Eruption in the Red Sea

MODIS image from NASA's satellites shows a new island and a volcanic plume in the Red Sea on Dec. 23, 2011. Photo from NASA's Earth Observatory.

MODIS image from NASA's satellites shows the same area of the Red Sea on Oct. 24, 2007. Photo from NASA's Earth Observatory.

A volcano eruption in the Red Sea that gave birth to a new island was recently captured by satellite images.

The Yemen Observer reported that fisherman observed a volcano eruption near Saba Island in the Red Sea on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. Lava was reportedly expelled 20-30 meters into the air.

Satellite imagery from NASA had been capturing the ash plume from the submarine volcanic eruption for days before the MODIS image from Dec. 23 revealed the new island.

According to NASA's Earth Observatory, "the image from December 2011 shows an apparent island where there had previously been an unbroken water surface. A thick plume (of ash) rises from the island, dark near the bottom and light near the top, perhaps a mixture of volcanic ash and water vapor."

The island is the latest in the Zubair Group, a chain of 10 islands in the Red Sea. It is located between the Haycock and Rugged islands.

All of the islands of Zubair Group have been formed by submarine volcanic eruptions from a shallow platform in the Red Sea.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Sears Announces Closure Of 79 Stores, Including 2 In NH « CBS Boston

Sears Announces Closure Of 79 Stores, Including 2 In NH « CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) –Two outlet stores in New Hampshire are among the first 79 Sears and Kmart stores to close after lower-than-expected holiday sales.

“Grant/Essentials” Sears stores in Nashua and Keene will close at some point, the company announced Thursday.

Sears didn’t list the number of employees that would be affected, but did say each store set to close employs between 40 and 80 people.

No Massachusetts stores were included in the first round of store cuts.

Sears plans to close 21-41 more stores nationwide. Complete PDF:

Verizon Wireless To Charge $2 Fee For Some Bill Payments « CBS Boston

Verizon Wireless To Charge $2 Fee For Some Bill Payments « CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) –Verizon Wireless plans to starting charging its subscribers $2 every time they pay their wireless bills online or directly over the phone.

The new “convenience fee” will start January 15.

Verizon issued a statement explaining the move on its website Thursday.

“The fee will help allow us to continue to support these single bill payment options in these channels and is designed to address costs incurred by us for only those customers who choose to make single bill payments in alternate payment channels (online, mobile, telephone). It is waived for those who pay by electronic check or enroll in AutoPay —