Friday, December 30, 2011
Sears releases partial list of closings
YOUNGSTOWN
Sears has issued a list of the first 79 of the 100-120 Kmart and Sears stores that will close in 2012 — and area stores are not on that list.
The closest store to the Valley to be closed is a Kmart in Chagrin Falls.
Other Ohio stores to close include Kmarts in Springfield, Medina, Columbus and two in Toledo.
Pennsylvania stores to close include Sears stores in Upper Darby and Pottstown.
“Additional updates will be posted to www.searsmedia.com as they become available,” the company said on its website.
Change in gas rates
YOUNGSTOWN
Rates have changed for those Dominion East Ohio customers under the Standard Choice Offer and Standard Service Offer. Effective January 12, 2012, the SCO/SSO rates will be $4.084 per thousand cubic feet, which is $1.332, or 24.6 percent, lower than the January 2011 SCO/SSO price of $5.416 per mcf.
Under the new filing, the average SCO/SSO residential customer’s bill for the month of January 2012 would be $119.06, down $47.20, or 28.4 percent, from $166.26 in January 2011.
All Dominion East Ohio residential customers also pay a basic monthly fixed charge of $20.37, which includes $2.22 for the pipeline infrastructure replacement cost recovery charge and 57 cents for the automated meter-reading recovery charge. Residential customers also pay applicable riders totaling $1.12 per mcf.
SSO and SCO rates change monthly, based on national natural-gas market prices.
Judge blocks Calif. low-carbon rules
FRESNO, Calif.
A federal judge blocked California from enforcing its first-in-the-nation mandate for cleaner, low-carbon fuels Thursday, saying the rules favor biofuels produced in the state.
The lawsuit challenging the state regulations, which were adopted as part of California’s landmark 2006 global-warming law, was filed in federal court last year by a coalition that includes the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association and the Consumer Energy Alliance.
Fresno-based U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence O’Neill’s written ruling Thursday said the low-carbon fuel rules violated the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause by discriminating against crude oil and biofuels producers located outside California.
Court approves telecom immunity
SAN FRANCISCO
A federal appeals court on Thursday said a 2008 law that granted telecommunications companies legal immunity for helping the National Security Agency with an email- and telephone-eavesdropping program is constitutional.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that found the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, passed constitutional muster.
Vindicator staff/wire reports