By RAD SALLEE
A federal panel today recommended a steep increase in motor fuel taxes and an increased emphasis on mass transit to meet the nation's transportation needs and repair its deteriorating infrastructure.
In its report, the 12-member National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, appointed by Congress in 2005, recommended increasing the federal gasoline tax by as much as 40 cents a gallon, at a rate of 5 to 8 cents per year.
The current federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon and the state tax is 20 cents. The price of a gallon of regular gasoline has hovered near $3 for months.
The report, Transportation for Tomorrow, also recommends congestion pricing — tolls that increase with the volume or speed of traffic — in metropolitan areas.
Other tactics suggested include "a freight fee for freight projects and ticket taxes for passenger rail improvements," according to the commission's announcement.
Three of the commission members, including the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters, dissented from the conclusions.
"Raising gas taxes won't improve traffic congestion. It will only perpetuate our ineffective reliance on fossil-based fuels," Peters said in a prepared statement.
"A better way forward is to provide incentives to ...   more »

'Current way to elect president no longer serves America well'
A second state has approved a plan that would bypass the U.S. electoral college, giving the presidency to the winner of a national popular vote.
The move came this weekend when New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed legislation that specifies the state's 15 electoral college votes would go to the winner of the popular vote.
Maryland, with its 10 electoral college votes, earlier approved a similar plan. Both are contingent on enough other states approving the plan to provide absolute control over presidential elections.
Another state plan also is headed for the desk of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich after lawmakers approved it just days ago.
Opponents say the plan threatens the nation's republican form of government and would give unstoppable control over the White House to any coalition the major population centers would choose to create.
It would allow New York City to outvote much of the Midwest; Los Angeles could determine the course of a national agenda for the Pacific Northwest.
Several other state plans are in various stages of legislative progress, with dozens of other proposals beginning the review process, according to the group National Popular Vote, which ...   more »

GIRLS in Britain are starting to hit puberty at the age of three.
Shocked doctors blame hormones in food and water for some toddlers showing signs of breast growth, The Sun reports.
Other pre-school youngsters even experience periods that normally start in their teens – and have temper tantrums just like adolescents.
The phenomenon is feared to have become more common since the 1990s – with doctors having to give increasing numbers of tots jabs to keep puberty at bay.
The mum of one girl, who at three was found to have the “bone age” of a nine-year-old, told how she was stunned when her daughter began acting like a ratty teen.
Hayley Holden said: “She used to slam doors and try and hit me. We’d go to supermarkets and she’d lie on the floor screaming.
“At the time, I just thought I had an ‘Omen’ child.”
She was stunned when medics told her Ellie-May – now eight – needed hormone injections to stave off puberty.
Harley Tedds, now ten, also has the painful jabs. Her mother Bernie said: “At five-years-old Harley was shaving her armpits and legs.
“Her face and hands were appearing puffy – the nurse noticed she ...   more »