Arizona has approved the rules that will cut greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and other passenger vehicles. According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, vehicles produce roughly 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Arizona. The Clean Car Rule will reduce GHG emissions from passenger cars and light trucks by 37 percent by 2016 by requiring automobile manufacturers to meet certain specifications for the vehicles that are driven here. According to supporters of the measure, the technology already exists to produce cleaner vehicles.

Arizona has the fastest rate of growth of GHG emissions in the country. Between 1990 and 2005 Arizona’s GHG emissions grew by nearly 56 percent, roughly two-and-a-half times the national average. If Arizona’s growth continues on its current path, emissions are projected to grow by 140 percent over 1990 levels by the year 2020 and get even worse after that.

Arizona joins 13 other states, including California and New Mexico, that have adopted the Clean Car standards. Other states are also gradually coming on board with the rules. In Arizona, Clean Car rules will apply to vehicles beginning with the 2012 model year, pending EPA approval of the program.

You Might Also Be Interested In....

• Finding Cheap Gas in Phoenix
• Arizona Auto Show
• Maricopa County Home Show

Phoenix pretty much made everyone's list of one of the most affected areas of the real estate crunch. That shouldn't come as a surprise, since we were also in the top few locales in the nation a couple of years ago with respect to increasing home values, speculation and house-flipping.

March showed signs of a continuing weak real estate market. Even though the number of home sales improved over the February numbers, sales were significantly below last year’s numbers. Actually, March 2008 had the lowest number of home sales since March 1996. Ouch! In Maricopa County, 39% of the resale homes sold for more than $300,000 in March 2007. It was 27% in March 2008. Homes selling for under $200,000 have increased from last year’s 16% to a current 40% of the local resale housing market.

Don't forget that home prices vary widely from place to place in Maricopa County. Some parts of town have experienced more price suppression than others. You can check on the median prices of both new and resale homes as recorded in the first quarter of 2008 here and compare those to what the prices were at the same time last year.

Even though they lost this weekend's series -- the first time that's happened since the first series of the season -- the Arizona Diamondbacks have had a great start to the season. We had a terrific time at Saturday's game, where Augie Ojeda was the shining star.

This was our first time to see the new state-of-the-art scoreboard. Wow! There's almost too much information! By the time I digested all the stats and details on the playing field, I had to be careful not to miss the action on the field! By the way, for those of you that are learning to do box scores, you'll see the correct notation on the screen after every play.

In his blog about the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jim McClennan sheds some light on why he thinks Chase Field was ranked only 25 out of 30 major league baseball parks in the country by Sports Illustrated. I don't know why we don't get much respect here. Is it because it is a relatively new franchise? Is it because everyone here is a transplant and we always have lots of fans that are rooting for the visiting team? I think Chase Field is a great place to see a game. There are some tickets that are pricey, but you can always find special deals if you don't mind sitting in the upper deck or in the outfield. For instance, on Family Fridays just $15 gets you a ticket to the D-backs game, a medium Pepsi, a Diamondback Dog, the post-game fireworks show, and a free pass to the Phoenix Zoo.

I received an email. It is despicable. I am writing this to warn you -- if you receive an email like this DO NOT RESPOND! Here is what the person write in the email:

From Brother Frank Williams

Dear Beloved in Christ,

Greetings in! the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus! May the Lord's favour and peace be multiplied to you,see Numbers 6:24-26;2 Peter 1:2.The word of God also says,"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run,and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint."Isaiah 40:31. It is a priviledge to share this great testimony with you,to God be thy glory. I am Brother Frank Williams, Happilly married to my wife with Four children.During a prayer and fasting session in our church i asked God Almighty to direct me to an honest person that will use this Fund righteously to reach the needy, the less priviledge and lost souls.

For the word of God says, "what shall it profict a man if he gains the whole world, and loss his soul". The bible also says, "the blessi! ng of God comes supernaturally and it is through Divine favour".

The amount involved, is $6.5m US dollar (SIX million,five hundred US dollars) This said fund was aquired,when i was working with an International Oil Firm in my Country, I was the field operational Manager of Exporting of CRUDE OIL in my Company when i was in the world. I gave my life to God Almighty after my predicaments in the world and God really touched my life.

Read more...

Brooke White, who was raised in Mesa, made it to the final five on American Idol but she won't be going on. On April 30th she was voted off American Idol. I'll be honest. After her false start during last week's performance, I had already written this blog, ready for her to be eliminated when, surprisingly, she was given a reprieve and Carly was voted off. In March I predicted who the top 4 would be and I included Brooke in that group. I think that Brooke's style didn't really grab the voting public; there wasn't quite enough versatility to her vocals and her performance skills weren't as striking as some of the other contestants. Still, it's clear that Brooke White is immensely talented, and I'm certain she'll have a wonderful singing career. Arizona is proud of you, Brooke!

On other local American Idol news, did you hear that Jordin Sparks had to cut short her national tour with Alicia Keyes to recover from a vocal hemorrhage? That doesn't sound good, but with rest, she says it is not career-threatening. We hope that's true.

© Judy Hedding

See more Wordless Wednesday images.

I've been writing about Phoenix for many years, and it is rare that I get a question from a reader that I haven't seen before.

I’ve scoured the about.com site and either its not there, or I’m an idiot! I’ve got the equivalent of a ream of paper that I’d like to shred but it would take days with my personal shredder! Do you know of a place that offers free shredding for small homeowner amounts of paper? North Phoenix would be my first choice as I live near I-17 and Happy Valley. Thanks so much!

Well, you are definitely not an idiot. You couldn't find it because it wasn't there --no one ever asked me before! I have a pretty big shredder (Compare Prices) at home, because I shred all my mail when I am done with it, and at the end of the year I shred all my noncritical records and receipts, like phone bills and water bills, that I don't need for tax purposes. People who have a small shredder can do a few items at a time, like deposit slips, but if you have several pounds or a ream of paper, or you are cleaning out a house or shredding papers from your home business, a personal shredder may take too long. Here's what I found out about your question. Read more...

Have you noticed? I reacted with a strange sadness when I noticed that our license plates have now gone to seven characters instead of six. A sign of progress, I suppose. Where all our standard issue license plates used to be three numbers / three letters or three letters / three numbers (there used to be a little saguaro cactus in between them when the plates were red) now they are three letters and four numbers. I started seeing the plates beginning with AA a couple of months ago. I've already seen some AB plates.

The red plates were replaced by the Arizona landscape design in 1995. It took 13 years to run out of configurations. On a related topic, I received an email from Jeffrey:

After having my first choice declined (?) for reasons undetermined, I received my plate about a month ago and it is not embossed-the letters are not raised! Is this the standard now? I feel a little ripped off.

Yes, that was another change. According to my friends at the Arizona Department of Transportation, "A new flat-style environmentally-friendly license plate is now being issued as our current embossed plate inventories are depleted. The new digital imagining process provides some key improvements over the traditional plate manufacturing process. The system is capable of producing full-color plates, but the elimination of solvent-based inks means there is no longer any hazardous waste or environmental emissions from the process. Eliminating inks also saves energy because digital plates do not require a special drying process in gas-fueled ovens. Digital plates also use lighter gauge aluminum."

I agree with you, Jeffrey, that they look somewhat cardboard-ish, but I suppose I can get over it knowing that they are greener, and probably cheaper to make. As for your personalized plate request, you can request an appeal of the denial as long as the plate you requested isn't on their standard decline list. We can probably imagine some of the items on that list.

Speaking of personalized plates, here's another 25 that I've seen recently.

I received an email from a concerned reader in reaction to an account that was submitted to me by an About.com regular. Trent sent in these comments:

I can't believe you passed on such misinformation. To put it plainly Mr. Pat Moss was just damn lucky to not have not died from his ignorance. Near as I can tell the only thing he did that was correct was to get to a hospital but then even screwed that up by first not getting there immediately, and then by leaving AMA. Now here's where he went terribly wrong. Picking up a rattlesnake with a trashcan lid is extremely dangerous and he was lucky to not have been bitten a second time in the process of that. Next, to operate a vehicle after a snakebite is a very bad idea because one of the common effects of venom is distorted vision and/or temporary blindness. So he unnecessarilly put himself and others at risk , albiet unknowingly. And worst of all for him, he wasted precious time showing off his bite and the snake. The best advise given by doctors and Herpetologists alike is to keep the snakebite victim calm, if possible elevate the bite area above the heart and get to the hospital as soon as possible. Ice applied to the bite area has not shown to be of any use. At the hospital the staff can not only administer antivenen, but also keep fluids flushing through the system via intervenous injection and monitor symptoms and act accordingly should they worsen. To really show how lucky Pat was I am attaching this link which shows why it is so important to get proper medical care in the event of a venomous snake bite. And the last bit of advise I can give is to be educated. Contact local herpetological societies, zoos and hospitals to get advise on prevention as well as first aid for a snake bite. Also know what species of snakes are indigenous to your area and learn how to identify them. I pray this advise does not go unheeded because many lives may be at stake if they follow Mr. Moss's example.

The story to which he refers is this one: Snakebite! One Man's Story of a Rattler Bite, and the Remedies That Helped Him. Here's my reaction to Trent's email. Read more...