| Dallas area new-vehicle sales rise 4.5% in 2007
Contrary to national trends, new car and truck sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area rose 4.5 percent last year. The data from the Freeman Metroplex Recap includes retail sales as well as sales to car rental agencies and fleets. And the increase "portends well for business this year," said Drew Campbell, president of the New Car Dealers Association of Metropolitan Dallas. "I think it's very exciting," he said Wednesday. "We are in the center of the United States. Because of that, we're not having the ups and downs of the West Coast and East Coast." If new vehicle sales here continue to grow, they'll be bucking some considerable economic headwinds. New car and truck sales in the U.S. dropped 2.5 percent last year and are expected to fall by at least that much this year. Dealers in the four-county Dallas-Fort Worth area sold 383,939 new vehicles last year, compared with 367,381 in 2006, according to the Metroplex Recap.
Jaime Castillo: Car rental industry backs off promise to try to ...
After previously threatening to spend $1 million to fight the upcoming venue-tax election, the car rental industry has decided to sit it out after all. "We're not going to fight, in any kind of public sense, the referendum," said Patrick Farrell, a St. Louis-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car spokesman who commented Monday on behalf of a coalition of national rental car tax opponents. The news is a major boost to the efforts of Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who is leading an establishment push to extend the tax on hotel rooms and car rentals that was used to build the AT&T Center. If approved by voters on May 10, the $415 million package of four referendums would pay for various public projects. They would include amateur sports fields, a performing arts center, river enhancements and future improvements at the AT&T Center.
Edmund Tijerina: Public hearing might be a good show
There's a pretty good chance that this morning's public hearing at Commissioners Court could be entertaining. Commissioners will hear a couple of presentations from groups that want a chunk of cash from the pile of money that would come from extending the county's tax on hotel rooms and rental cars. One presentation will come from the Briscoe Western Art Museum, and the other will come from the Alameda National Center for Latino Arts and Culture for the Alameda Theater. Then the public hearing on the venue tax takes place. You gotta figure that with an estimated $400 million potentially at stake with the tax, things could heat up. If you're interested, catch the hearings on a live webcast on the county's site: www.co.bexar.tx.us.
In Jubilee Park, $6M gift is reason for hope
The billionaire oilman's donation last week will pay for a new community building. It will build a resource center with space for police and other government services. It will provide cash to buy and clear dilapidated property. It is the latest, and perhaps most uplifting, move for a long-troubled area of South Dallas – one showing signs of reversing a deadening spiral of drugs, violence, crime and blight. Work begun by a Dallas church 10 years ago keeps gaining ground. Unofficially covering 62 blocks between Fair Park, Interstate 30 and East Grand Avenue, the Jubilee Park area was home to more than 1,600 mostly low-income residents in 2000. That year, 60 percent of the residents were Hispanic and 35 percent African-American.
What gives? New series 'Oprah's Big Give'
The new ABC reality series doesn't just push emotional buttons, it pummels them and doesn't let up for one second of the hour. Attaching Oprah's name, the most revered brand in TV, and having her make cameo appearances in addition to the push she'll give it on her daytime program, is overkill.
Think Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with a dash of The Apprentice. Ten people, broken into two-person teams in the pilot, scatter about the country helping worthy people in dire need. Every one of the hearts-and-flowers sagas is designed to bring tears to your eyes. This show could sell more tissues than flu season.
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The Edwards Campaign: What Went Wrong?
No campaign ever fails for just one reason. Some say the frightened corporate media torpedoed Edwards. Some say Edwards, a sleek rich cat himself, was the wrong messenger. He just wasn't believable. His populist message seemed invented out of thin air to save a failing election bid. All true — but perhaps not crucial. In the past, wealthy politicians have invented populist messages and done quite well, despite media opposition. I suspect the critical failing in the Edwards campaign was the way they framed their message. In their frame, America was divided into a small elite of winners and a vast populace of losers. Now it was time for the losers to fight back and even the score. That frame was a huge gamble. It depended on voters seeing themselves not just as ordinary little guys but as losers: insignificant forgotten people, pushed to the margins of society, neglected by the people who really matter.
Building activity falls as rates rise
HIGHER interest rates and a further deterioration in housing affordability are blamed for a slump in apartment and house building. Figures released today show that while the construction industry as a whole continued to expand last month, house and apartment building activity actually contracted. Both engineering and commercial construction activity, however, maintained solid growth in February with the commercial sector posting its highest rate of increase in the past five months. The disparity between the sectors amounts to a 4.4 point fall in the Australian Industry Group-Housing Industry Association Performance of Construction Index (PCI). The index fell to 53.9 points last month, although it remains above the key 50 point level that separates expansion from contraction.
WENDY: DID SHE LIE?
The list confirms a £950 donation had been made from Green, states his full Jersey address for the "purpose" of Electoral Commission registration, but questions its legality by stating: "Permissible?" Days later, Alexander's campaign told the Electoral Commission that the donation had been made from a company called Combined Property Services, a claim that proved to be false. The MSP who organised the donation, Charlie Gordon, resigned last week. In another extraordinary development, the Sunday Herald can reveal an apparent attempt by the Alexander campaign to mislead the commission by "switching" the name of another individual listed as a donor. The list names Moir Lockhead, the chief executive of transport giant First Group, in the "donor" section with a contribution of £995.
Flipping for pizza
New York: Crust may be tossed. Crust must be thin enough to fold in half before eating. Diehards look for a trail of yellow oil (from whole milk mozzarella) from hand to elbow. Thin sauce instead of fresh tomatoes. Few toppings. Examples: White Pizza or Meatball Pizza. Chicago: Deep-dish. Cornmeal is added to dough. Biscuit-like crust. Dough is pressed into pan. Filled with cheese, then toppings, then sauce. Need fork and knife to eat it. Originated in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno, which is still open. Sausage and spinach flavours most popular. At Uno, the server says this combo made them famous: cheese, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, green peppers. It is as thick as a quiche and as heavy as a doorstop. California: "Gourmet" pizzas. Non-traditional ingredients, such as barbecued chicken, or pineapple and ham.
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