Wash. considers extra fee on electric cars
SEATTLE, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Drivers of electric vehicles in Washington state won't be paying gas taxes, so the state wants some of the lost money back by means of an annual $100 fee.
Under a bill introduced in the Legislature, electric-car owners would pay a special $100 fee each year over and above any other required fees and taxes, The Seattle Times reported Monday.
Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen said it's an issue of fairness.
"Electric cars will be driving on the highways right along with all the other cars. One of our biggest issues is preservation and maintenance of our existing highways," Haugen, lead sponsor of the bill, said. "We believe they should be paying their fair share."
The Washington Department of Transportation estimates an owner of a gasoline-powered car who drives 12,000 miles per year pays an average $204 in state gas taxes.
The state gas tax is 37.5 cents per gallon.
One anti-tax activist said he doesn't think what's in Haugen's bill is a fee at all.
"That's a tax. It's no fee," Tim Eyman said.
Automaker Nissan, which sells the all-electric Leaf sedan in the state, is neutral on the measure, company spokeswoman Katherine Zachary said.
"Whenever new technology is being introduced, we'd like to see as few barriers to entry as possible. However, we recognize the need for all drivers to contribute to road-maintenance funds," the company said in a statement provided by Zachary.
Poll: Republicans want winning candidate
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Seventy percent of U.S. Republicans want a winning presidential candidate more than someone they agree with, a poll released Tuesday indicated.
The CNN/Opinion Research Poll also found there is no front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination. The three potential candidates at the top are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the choice of 21 percent of those surveyed, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with 19 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 18 percent.
Keating Holland, CNN's polling director, said name recognition is a big factor in polls taken while the first primaries are still a year away.
"Keep in mind that Joe Lieberman and Rudy Giuliani -- both relatively famous when they decided to run for president -- were ahead in polls conducted in 2003 and 2007," Holland said. "Neither man won a single primary or caucus once the voting started."
A majority of Republicans are in agreement that the party should oust President Obama in 2012, with only 29 percent saying ideology is more important than electability. About 70 percent say they would prefer someone with a good chance of victory to someone they agree with on most important issues.
The poll found most Democrats expect Obama to be their candidate. About one-quarter of all those surveyed say they plan to vote for Obama, one-third say they will not vote for him and the rest are undecided.
The poll was conducted Jan. 21-23, with 1,012 adults surveyed by telephone. The group included 479 people who identified themselves as Republican or leaning to the Republicans and 441 Democrats or leaning to the party. The margin of error is 3 percentage points for questions involving the full sample.
School bus, truck crash in Miss. kills 3
CALHOUN CITY, Miss., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A collision Tuesday between a school bus and a semi-tractor trailer killed both drivers and a teacher, authorities said.
The head-on crash occurred at 2 p.m. near Calhoun City, 120 miles north of Jackson, the (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger reported. The bus was carrying seniors at Ackerman High School in Choctaw County who were returning from a field trip to the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
Calhoun County Coroner Jerry Fleming said the truck driver sideswiped a school bus before hitting a second one head on. He did not release the names of the dead but said the teacher was a woman and the bus driver was also an assistant football coach at Ackerman.
Ray Hall, a state trooper, said several students were injured but most were not severely hurt. One was taken by helicopter to North Mississippi Medical Center.
Mom charged with leaving newborn in toilet
GREENVILLE, S.C., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A South Carolina woman who already has a 4-year-old has been charged with abandoning a newborn in an arena toilet, police said Tuesday.
Greenville Police Chief Terri Wilfong said Jessica Ann Blackham, 24, of Easley, was arrested when she came in for questioning, WSPA-TV in Spartanburg reported. She said Blackham was quickly identified as the mother because she got medical treatment after apparently giving birth at the Bi-Lo Center.
Blackham is married, Wilfong said. The chief described her family as cooperative with investigators.
Blackham allegedly delivered a full-term boy after going to the circus with a relative Friday night. Doctors said the boy was about 90 minutes old when he was found by janitors.
She has been charged with felony child abuse. Solicitor Walt Wilkins said there is no proof Blackham showed the "depraved heart" required for an attempted-murder charge.
The boy has been in Greenville Memorial Hospital since Friday. His condition was moved up to stable Tuesday.
