The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is up more than 50 percent from a year ago.
New rules allow the irradiation of raw beef, pork and lamb to kill deadly bacteria.
Like a speeding locomotive, the U.S. economy surged ahead at the fastest pace in more than three years as 1999 ended. But the sizzling 6.9 percent rate of growth reported by the government Friday only added to Wall Street's fears about higher interest rates. In the new technology-based national economy, state governments must reinvent themselves to keep skilled workers, entrepreneurs and private investment within state borders, a new report to the nation's governors says. So far, no luck. It wasn't pretty.