| Rental Cars Won't Need Transponders to Travel Through Sunpass Lanes
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 27 -- Many rental car customers traveling on Florida's toll roads and bridges are now able to utilize 'SunPass Only' lanes to pay their tolls, even without a SunPass transponder, thanks to a pair of innovative programs announced by Turnpike officials this week. Rental car customers in Central Florida also can use the EPass lanes on toll roads operated by the Orlando- Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA), and will soon be able to use the LeeWay toll lanes in Lee County. Florida's Turnpike Enterprise has entered into contractual agreements with American Traffic Solutions and Rent A Toll, Ltd. to administer a program which utilizes license plate information to identify rental vehicles and electronically collect the toll. American Traffic Solutions is currently offering its PlatePass(R) cashless toll payment service to rental car customers using vehicles rented from Avis, Budget, and Hertz.
Drug cartels running rampant, says UN
Interpol estimates that 200-300 tonnes of cocaine from Latin America pass through countries such as Benin, Cape Verde, Mauritania and Senegal every year, from where it is smuggled into Spain, Portugal and the UK. Cocaine seizures in Portugal, already at a high level, have almost doubled. Ships, yachts and private planes are used to evade detection. "Cocaine traffickers frequently change the airports from which they depart and their routes," the report observes. Around 40% of cocaine reaching Europe is shipped through longer-established routes via the Caribbean. In 2006, Colombia accounted for 50% of the world's coca cultivation, Peru 33% and Bolivia 17%. The illicit cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan has continued to increase "at an alarming level," says the report.
Sununu discusses economy at Hampton Rotary meeting
Weve got a real credit crisis, Sununu said, in speaking of mortgage and credit finance. Sununu, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, co-sponsored the Housing Modernization bill for keeping homes out of foreclosure. He said legislation is needed to help the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority work to avoid foreclosures, creating opportunity to refinance. Sununu also said he feels there is no need to raise taxes. He said as the tax laws expire, the rate goes up. This is simply wrong, he said. (There is) no reason we cant keep these in place. Sununu said steps should be taken to make sure there is a tax code that is permanent. Asked about the issue of earmarks, Sununu talked of the need to fix the process and to limit earmarks. He said all earmarks should be publicly available 48 hours prior to floor consideration, and a ruling should be passed that earmarks including direct spending and limited tax benefits and tariffs should go through both the Senate and House, and require that it is written into the legislative package.
Tacoma jury finds Waters guilty on two counts of arson
TACOMA, Wash. -- A federal jury has found a woman guilty of two counts of arson for being the lookout in the 2001 burning of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture by members of the radical Earth Liberation Front. U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess declared the jury deadlocked on three other counts Thursday against Briana Waters, including conspiracy, possessing an unregistered destructive device and, the most significant count, using a destructive device during a crime of violence. The final charge would have carried a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bartlett said his office would decide within a week whether to retry her on the deadlocked counts. "She was an integral part of one of the most significant arsons ever to occur in this district," Bartlett said in court Thursday.
MPs fear Terror Bill switches power from Scots to English courts
A constitutional row was brewing last night over the UK Government's planned Counter-Terrorism Bill, which, it is claimed, will drive a "coach and horses" through 300 years of Scotland's independent legal system if passed unchanged. The bill, which among other things includes the controversial plan to increase pre-detention without charge and toughen up sentencing, states that proceedings for an alleged offence "may be taken at any place in the United Kingdom", raising worries that cases, which should be heard in Scotland, will be heard in England under a different legal system. Concerned parties, including the Law Society of Scotland, fear, if unamended, the proposal will undermine the position of the Lord Advocate, whose prosecutorial independence is guaranteed by the 1998 Scotland Act, and the position of the High Court, which is protected by the 1707 Act of Union.
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