Watch Toyota President Akio Toyoda testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
WASHINGTON — The budding economic recovery isn’t getting much help from the home-building industry, which normally creates jobs and drives growth when a recession ends.
Uncertainty over whether a homebuyer tax credit would be extended weighed down construction last month — a sign of how much the fledgling recovery depends on government support.
Home building unexpectedly plunged to its lowest point since April, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The figures show that builders fear there aren’t enough buyers to soak up the glut of unsold homes already on the market — a supply magnified by record-high foreclosures.
For the complete story, see today’s business section of The Daily Journal.
Today is the Great American Smokeout, one of those media-anointed days designed to nag people into doing the right thing. It’s an annual event set up by the American Cancer Society. For a wealth of good information on why you should quit and some help in doing so, log in to www.cancer.org.
Yet on the eve of the smokeout, a national survey by the Center for Disease Control found that smoking actually ticked upward for the first time in 15 years.
The gain (really, a loss) was relatively infinitesimal. The overall figure still shows that about one out of every five Americans smokes.
See tomorrow’s paper for the complete editorial.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Officials are searching for a gunman who opened fire in a downtown office building just minutes ago. At least eight people are hurt.
• Former Manteno firefighter/paramedic Michael Trost was recently sentenced to 30 months probation after he pleaded guilty to 3 felony charges for Internet solicitation of sex with a someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
• After nearly four decades on the sidelines, longtime local high school football coach Dean Cappel is calling it quits. Cappel spent 32 years as a head coach at five high schools, including Herscher, Quincy, Bradley-Bourbonnais Central and, most recently, Reed-Custer.
• A reduction in nighttime ambulance staffing by the Iroquois Memorial Hospital Ambulance Service has Watseka Fire Chief Dave Mayotte researching the costs of providing backup emergency medical service.
NEW YORK (AP) — Dow Jones industrial average trades above 10,000 for the first time in a year.
John J. Wilking, 60, of Chebanse, died at 12:30 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 26, 2009) at the Merkle-Knipprath Nursing Home in Clifton.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The world’s major countries are pledging to develop goals to fix destabilizing global economic imbalances that helped bring about the worst recession since the Great Depression. (more…)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appellate court panel has overturned campaign finance rules that limited how nonprofits spent money in political campaigns. (more…)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House votes to admonish Rep. Wilson over “You lie’ comment to Obama.
