CSBJ Daily

Mayor Lionel Rivera has signed a proclamation declaring June 29 – July 5 as Wildfire Awareness Week – a time when at least a half dozen major fireworks displays are planned.
The city has experienced 117 grass or brush fires, which fire officials say is an 89 percent increase from the same time period last year […]

Bank of America Corp.’s $4.1 billion acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. is estimated to result in at least 7,500 initial layoffs, but even after the reduction, the combined company will employ more than 250,000 people.
At one time, Colorado Springs was home to five Countrywide Home Loan offices. Today there is one […]

The Governor’s Energy Office is accepting grant applicants for $350,000 in incentives for solar innovation projects.
The Solar Innovation Grant can be used to support programs that can overcome financial, educational and technical barriers and lead to greater solar electric and solar thermal technologies in the residential and commercial sectors.
The GEO will […]

The Associated Press
WASHINGTON – President Bush signed legislation today to pay for the war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of his presidency and beyond, hailing the $162 billion plan as a rare product of bipartisan cooperation.
“This bill shows the American people that even in an election year, Republicans […]

The U.S. Senate failed to pass legislation yesterday to halt reimbursement fees to physicians.
Without the legislation, rates will fall 10 percent July 1 for Medicare, TriCare and some commercial reimbursement fees. The bill would have increased fee reimbursement by 1.1 percent.
Health care analysts also expressed disappointment with yesterday’s vote.
“Yesterday was […]

The Internal Revenue Service has increased the optional standard mileage rate to 58.5 cents a mile for deductible costs of driving for business purposes.
The rate will increase to for all business miles driven from July 1, through Dec. 31.
This is an eight-cent increase from the 50.5 cent rate in effect for […]

Manufacturing activity declined during June for the 10th Federal Reserve District – Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, northern New Mexico and western Missouri.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City issued a report yesterday showing that 13 percent fewer firms had month-over-month increases in production. Production fell at both durable- and non-durable-goods […]

The Associated Press
NEW YORK – The online hangout Facebook is getting more serious about grammar. No more should users see jarringly incorrect declarations such as “Debbie changed their profile picture.”
Users who haven’t specified their gender in their Facebook profiles will be asked to do so in the coming weeks. That way, Facebook […]

AAA projects that 10.48 million people in the western states, including Colorado, will travel 50 or more miles away from home for the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
This is a decrease of only .8 percent from the 10.57 million who traveled in 2007.
Nationally, AAA projects 40.45 million Americans will travel during […]

The Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices’ first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.
The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under […]