Striving for balance: Campaign to Fix the Debt, a national nonpartisan coalition of more than 340,000 business leaders, elected officials, community leaders and concerned individuals, has opened a new chapter in Louisiana. It joined chapters in Arizona, Indiana, Minnesota, Utah and Virginia in launching last week, bringing the total number of state chapters to 23. Learn more about the group at its website here.
Higher and higher: Domestic airfares have been climbing steadily since 2009, and there was no letup last year. But as the Los Angeles Times reports, the uptick in ticket prices was not as steep as in the last few years. Domestic airfares increased 4.2% in 2012, compared with the previous year, to an average of $427 per ticket, according to Airlines Reporting Corp., an Arlington, Va., company that completes the financial transactions between 16,000 travel agents and 187 airlines. More details are in the full story here.
High-pressure situation: In response to criticism from both the oil industry and environmentalists, the Obama administration is scrapping a 2012 plan to impose tough new mandates governing drilling on public lands, The Houston Chronicle reports. The decision to replace last year’s proposal with an entirely new draft rule—and take public comment on the initiative—forces a major delay in the final regulations, which are set to be the first major federal rules governing the hydraulic fracturing process, which is key to unlocking oil and gas nationwide. The full story can be found here.
Today’s poll question: As President Barack Obama begins his second term, do you have higher or lower expectations of his performance compared to when he was entering his first term?
