Weekend warriors: Southern Living wants its readers to rank the South’s top 20 collegiate tailgating experiences, and LSU is among five schools up for “The Most Spirited” award, which recognizes schools that, as the magazine puts it, “turn ‘fan’ into ‘fanatic.’ ” University of Florida, Grambling State, McDaniel College and Mississippi State are up against LSU, which many locals would likely argue deserves to be competing with “The Powerhouses” listed by the magazine: Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee—teams placed in this category by number of bowl victories, the magazine notes. Check it all out here, and cast your vote before the Oct. 1 deadline.
Balancing the books: The best way to reduce the federal deficit is through a combination of higher taxes and spending cuts, according to a group of economists. The 236 members of the National Association for Business Economics recently surveyed say the country needs more fiscal stimulus through 2013, but by 2014 it should be time to throttle back. The reason for the delay: the sluggish nature of the country’s economic recovery. A majority of the economists favor extending payroll tax cuts, current marginal income tax rates, and current tax rates for dividends and capital gains for most or all taxpayers through 2013. The Associated Press has the full story here.
Ring it up: Apple says it has sold more than 5 million units of the new iPhone 5 in the three days since its launch, fewer than analysts had expected. The iPhone 5, the most eagerly awaited phone of the year, went on sale Friday in the United States, Germany, France, Japan and five other countries. When it launched the iPhone 4S a year ago, Apple sold 4 million in the first three days. Apple had been expected to sell 6 to 6.5 million units of the new phone in the first three days. The phone will go on sale in 22 more countries this Friday and in more than 100 countries by the end of the year.
