Automakers are asking congress for help modernizing American assembly plants. They want congress to provide up to 50 billion dollars in low-interest loans to help with the upgrades and develop next-generation fuel-efficient vehicles. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama both support the loan program.
Investigators are trying to figure out what caused a helicopter crash on an eastern Pennsylvania golf course yesterday. Both the pilot and co-pilot were taken to the hospital, but it's not clear how seriously they were hurt. The two were supposed to do a golf ball drop for a charity event there in Schuylkill County, which is about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The F.A.A. is expected to be on the scene to begin investigating the crash later this morning.
People in the upper Gulf Coast of Florida are bracing for heavy rain from Tropical Storm Fay. The tropical storm is back in the Sunshine State for a record fourth time. It's the first storm in recorded history to hit the state with such intensity four different times. Fay crossed over the central Florida panhandle early this morning.
Local law enforcement agencies are beefing up patrols ahead of Labor Day weekend. Last night Sylvania Township and Ohio State Troopers set up a checkpoint on Central Avenue between Reynolds and Holland-Sylvania. It was the first checkpoint in the "Over the Limit Under Arrest campaign." The idea of course is to get drunk drivers off the road. Last night officers arrested four drivers for O.V.I. A total of 568 vehicles went through the checkpoint.
Deadbeat parents shouldn't go to jail. That's the word from the state prisons director. Instead, he says parents who don't pay child-support should be sent to halfway houses. That way they'd be able to work and earn money for those payments. Director Terry Collins says he supports a bill introduced into the state senate yesterday. It would urge judges to keep offenders out of prison.
