Since January, General Motors has made 48 recalls covering some 21 million vehicles in North America, an unprecedented wave of safety defect repairs by a major automaker. And although GM has vowed to fix as many vehicles as possible, history shows many will never be properly fixed, and some will likely stay on the road with an open recall for years to come.

To help shovel through the recall blizzard, we've created a table listing every recall GM's announced this year, which we'll update as new recalls come this year. If you see your vehicle on this list, and you haven't received a letter from GM, you should call your nearby GM dealer and verify if your vehicle has any open recalls using its VIN code. Even if there is an open recall, it could be several weeks before a replacement part will be available; the dealer should have instructions on what to do until then, like taking heavy items off your keychain.

And when the repair time comes, don't be afraid to ask for a loaner.


https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/has-my-gm-vehicle-been-recalled--check-the-full-list-here-151617785.html

Source: ABC News

Former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr., a moderate Republican known as the politician who inquired what President Richard Nixon knew during the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings, has died. He was 88.

Baker, who served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 2001 until early 2005, died Thursday at his home, according to an email distributed at the law firm where Baker was senior counsel. He died as a result of complications from a stroke suffered Saturday, the email said.

The scion of a political family, Baker served 18 years in the Senate, winning widespread respect from Republicans and Democrats alike and rising to the post of majority leader.

<snip>

But it was his instantly famous question — "What did the president know and when did he know it?" — that made him an enduring household name. It instantly focused the nation's attention on the cover-up that perhaps more than the Watergate break-in itself eventually brought down Nixon's presidency.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-sen-howard-baker-jr-dies-24318528

---

Berkeley, long a vanguard of environmental activism, could become the first city in the nation to require warning labels on gas pumps that inform consumers of the potential impact of burning fossil fuels.

The city’s Community Environmental Advisory Commission, a panel made up of citizens, passed a motion last week requesting that the City Manager draft an ordinance within the next three months that would require climate change warning labels on gas pumps at filling stations throughout the city.

The idea, first floated earlier this year, comes from 350.org Bay Area, the local chapter of a national advocacy group fighting against climate change.

The stickers would remind drivers of the link between driving and global warming, said Jamie Brooks, who is managing the “Beyond the Pump” campaign for 350.org.

http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/06/19/berkeley-may-put-climate-warnings-on-gas-pumps/?cmpid=hp-hc-bayarea

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s highest court is expected to decide by the Fourth of July whether municipalities can use local zoning laws to ban shale gas development using hydraulic fracturing within their borders.

The seven-member Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Tuesday in two cases where a midlevel appellate court unanimously concluded last year that state oil and gas law doesn’t trump the authority of local governments to control land use.

The challenges have been closely watched by an industry hoping to drill in New York’s piece of the Marcellus Shale formation and by environmentalists who fear drilling could threaten water supplies and public health.

The industry argues that allowing local bans will create a patchwork of regulation that will prevent effective extraction of gas resources.


http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/06/04/ny-top-court-considers-local-bans-on-gas-drilling/