"The Pulse", the Citizens League issue scan looks at topics of interest to members of the Citizens League (www.citizensleague.net)

 
Energy, Environment and Transportation. Hybrid Cars Attract More Buyers. Sholnn Freeman wrote on hybrid car sales for the March 13, 2003 Wall Street Journal. Sales have increased to about 5,000 per month that is a miniscule part of the annual 16 million-vehicle market. Production is below demand currently. (Source: Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2003, p. D3) (346)
posted by Lyle at 5:04 PM

 
Energy and Environment. Iowa Governor Wants Money for Wind Power. As reported in the March 11, 2003 Des Moines Register, despite grim state budgets Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack on Monday called for $50 million to be spent on wind power. Of the $50 million, $10 million would be for schools to use wind technology, $5 million for the Iowa Energy Center, $10 million for biomass-powered electrical systems, $5 million for purchasing and installing anaerobic digestive systems, $10 million for grants and loans to develop transmission and distribution systems for wind energy, and $10 million for constructing wind generation facilities. The full story may be found at: http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4780934/20702234.html. (345)
posted by Lyle at 11:51 AM

 
Public Services: Getting Budgets to Focus on Longer Term Issues. The Governmental Accounting Office (GAO) has issued a report entitled: "Fiscal Exposures: Improving the Budgetary Focus on Long-Term Costs and Uncertainties" that has a number of suggestions for focusing on so-called "tails" for public expenditures and better risk assessment methods. The abstract and link to the full report may be found at: http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-03-213. (344)
posted by Lyle at 9:31 PM