Sherman A1
Sherman A1's Journal2 Wheel Car of the Future?
In a nondescript building on the grittier side of downtown San Francisco, the future of personal transportation is being born — at least according to this baby's Dr. Frankenstein, an affable 33-year-old named Daniel Kim. Sitting in the glare of a few spotlights is the LIT Motors C1, an enclosed two-wheeler that combines the flexibility and fuel efficiency of an electric motorcycle with the safety, comfort and storage space of a small automobile.
But there's a true innovation at work: the C1 has two powerful on-board gyroscopes generating 1,300 ft-lbs of torque that keep the two-wheeler upright even when struck by a larger vehicle. "It would take an elephant to knock this thing over," says Kim.
To prove the point, Kim has lashed the C1 to the bumper of his completely rebuilt Land Rover (a pet project of the Portland, Ore., native the preceded a degree at Rhode Island School of Design) and stepped on the gas. The C1 got slightly airborne, but never fell over.
"I think (LIT has) a chance of making it for two reasons," says Kim. "One, after traveling the world I saw that a huge percentage of motorists travel alone, and in the developing world most of them are on two wheels. And two, I don't have to hire anyone to design, because I do it all myself. I like to think I'm de-risking the company that way."
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/lit-c1-bets-future-driving-gyro-balanced-two-212825259.html
Public Service Commission Approves 10% Electric Rate Increase
The Missouri Public Service Commission voted 3-1 Wednesday to approve a 10-percent, $260.2 million rate increase for the St. Louis-based utility, making it that more expensive for consumers to run their air conditioners, watch television and wash clothes.
The increase is expected to take effect Jan. 2. On average, electric bills for the typical Ameren residential customer will rise by about $10 a month. The calculation is based on average usage of 1,100 kilowatt-hours a month. Amounts will vary by customer according to actual usage.
Ameren filed for a $376 million, 15-percent increase in February, arguing the increase was necessary to cover higher fuel costs, pay for improvements to the local electric grid and to implement energy efficiency programs.
Wednesday's decision marks the fifth electric rate increase for Ameren Missouri since May 2007. Those increases total more than $800 million, not including interim rate adjustments for changes in prices of fuel and purchased power.
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/your-ameren-bill-is-about-to-go-up-by-a/article_6797e018-cbd6-540e-9773-5ea3c401f5aa.html
Great because we all got a 10% raise in wages or salaries this year.... 
Oh, wait.... we didn't.
Survey: State Responsible For Access To Health Care
Most Missourians support Medicaid expansion and believe the state government has a responsibility to ensure access to affordable health care, according to a new survey by the Missouri Foundation for Health.
What's particularly noteworthy about this survey is that a majority of the responders agreed this is a responsibility that must be met, even if it means raising taxes. 55 percent of responders say Missouri's state government must act to do so, while 34 percent say we can't afford it.
"We see voters ready to take some pretty drastic action, even if it costs them a little something," Brian Nienaber said. Nienaber is vice president of the Tarrance Group, who helped conduct the survey. "They are willing to see the state legislature take a bold action to ensure that voters get affordable health insurance."
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/missourians-survey-state-responsible-access-health-care
Something you can do to support Michigan Workers
Write their Department of Tourism and let them know that Michigan is no longer considered a place where you will visit or vacation due to the passage of this Right to Starve legislation.
http://www.michigan.org/contact-us/question/
Menards blames Obama for pulling out of plans for O'Fallon, Mo location
O’FALLON, Mo (KMOV.com) -- The city of O’Fallon Missouri will lose potential tax revenue after the home mprovement store Menards pulled out of plans to establish a location in the area. The company is blaming the Obama administration for the project’s failure.
Menards, which is based in Wisconsin, is moving into the St. Louis market with stores opening in Manchester, O’Fallon Illinois and St. Peters in the next six months.
A Menards spokesperson says the company no longer plans on adding a store in O’Fallon, Missouri because of the President’s economic policies.
“We are on schedule to open our new stores in O’Fallon, IL and St. Peters, MO this Spring, 2013. For O’Fallon, MO, I’m very sorry, but we are a family owned business and with the Obama Administration scaring the dickens out of all small businesses in the USA at present, we have decided not to risk expansion until things are more settled. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Menards-blames-Obama-for-pulling-out-of-plans-for-OFallon-Mo-location-182906641.html
Reading the comments posted with the article are rather "enlightening". I suspect that Menards did themselves no favor with this statement.
x-post from Missouri Group. http://www.democraticunderground.com/1061560
Menards blames Obama for pulling out of plans for O'Fallon, Mo location
O’FALLON, Mo (KMOV.com) -- The city of O’Fallon Missouri will lose potential tax revenue after the home mprovement store Menards pulled out of plans to establish a location in the area. The company is blaming the Obama administration for the project’s failure.
Menards, which is based in Wisconsin, is moving into the St. Louis market with stores opening in Manchester, O’Fallon Illinois and St. Peters in the next six months.
A Menards spokesperson says the company no longer plans on adding a store in O’Fallon, Missouri because of the President’s economic policies.
“We are on schedule to open our new stores in O’Fallon, IL and St. Peters, MO this Spring, 2013. For O’Fallon, MO, I’m very sorry, but we are a family owned business and with the Obama Administration scaring the dickens out of all small businesses in the USA at present, we have decided not to risk expansion until things are more settled. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Menards-blames-Obama-for-pulling-out-of-plans-for-OFallon-Mo-location-182906641.html
Reading the comments posted with the article are rather "enlightening". I suspect that Menards did themselves no favor with this statement.
Water Piped to Denver Could Ease Stress on River
The federal government has come up with dozens of ways to enhance the diminishing flow of the Colorado River, which has long struggled to keep seven states and roughly 25 million people hydrated.
Among the proposals in a report by the Bureau of Reclamation, parts of which leaked out in advance of its expected release this week, are traditional solutions to water shortages, like decreasing demand through conservation and increasing supply through reuse or desalination projects.
But also in the mix, and expected to remain in the final draft of the report, is a more extreme and contentious approach. It calls for building a pipeline from the Missouri River to Denver, nearly 600 miles to the west. Water would be doled out as needed along the route in Kansas, with the rest ultimately stored in reservoirs in the Denver area.
Experts say the plan is reminiscent of those proposed in the middle of the last century, when grand and exorbitant federal water projects were commonplace — and not, with the benefit of hindsight, always advisable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/science/earth/federal-plans-for-colorado-river-include-pipeline.html?_r=1&
December 8, 1930 Mother Jones, is buried in Illinois cemetery
MOUNT OLIVE, Ill.?•?The mahogany casket was flanked by union banners and candles. On the wall were photographs of four miners killed during a strike 32 years before.
Mourners passed reverently, trailed by children “strangely hushed by the solemnity of the occasion,” scribbled a Post-Dispatch reporter. Hundreds more quietly waited outside the Odd Fellows Temple to view the body of Mary Harris Jones, whom they knew as “Mother.” Jones called the union men “my boys.”
Mother Jones was buried in the Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive on Dec. 8, 1930, one week after she died at a friend’s home in Silver Spring, Md. She claimed to have been 100 years old.
Even if she was only 93, as her baptism records in Ireland suggest, Jones spent four decades as a sharp-tongued and relentless agitator for workers, firing up strikers from Pennsylvania to Colorado. She called John D. Rockefeller a “high-class burglar,” derided unsympathetic judges as “scabs” and exhorted workers everywhere: “Join the union.”
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/e4952673-d87a-5e19-8b29-ef808cfd670e.html
Advocates of Medicaid Expansion Face Uphill Battle With Skeptical Lawmakers
For the Missouri Hospital Association, the key to getting legislators on board with a push to expand Medicaid is making a pitch about the move’s economic opportunity — and the practical consequences of inaction.
"It isn't the matter that 'we should expand Medicaid because it's the right thing to do, although that is certainly still a strong argument,'" said MHA spokesman Dave Dillion. "Not only could we accomplish that, but we could create an economic engine by doing that."
But state Sen. Rob Schaaf, for one, is unmoved so far by what he's heard from proponents of the expansion. That includes the association and their advocate in the Capitol, Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.
In fact, Schaaf, a St. Joseph Republican and a physician, literally takes an opposite view to the push for the expansion.
https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/28317/legislative_medicaid_expansion_analysis?coverpage=2268
Wind Energy Credit In Jeopardy, Supports 2,000 Jobs In Missouri
The federal wind Production Tax Credit supports nearly 2,000 Missouri jobs, but is set to expire at the end of the year. If Congress doesn’t act to renew the subsidy that could change, which has some Missouri policy-makers worried.
State Senator-elect Scott Sifton of St. Louis joined representatives from Environment Missouri, a non-profit environmental advocacy organization, on Wednesday to call for Congress to approve the incentive.
The tax credit will likely pass the U.S. Senate, where Democrats hold a majority of the seats. Where it will be contentious is the House, where Republicans have control.
But Sifton says the credit shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
http://www.news.stlpublicradio.org/post/sifton-environmental-group-congress-pass-credit-wind-energy
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