Collectors road show in final day in Valley

Collectors road show in final day in Valley

AUSTINTOWN

The Ohio Valley Refinery & Roadshow’s final day in the Mahoning Valley is today.

Today’s events last from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Best Western Meander Inn, 870 N. Canfield-Niles Road.

Collectors have set aside nearly $300,000 to purchase vintage jewelry, war items, sports memorabilia, pocket watches and other collectible items.

Recent Ohio shows have discovered items such as a letter from Abraham Lincoln that fetched $25,000, according to THR & Associates, which oversees the road show.

White House plan sought Chu ouster

WASHINGTON

Top officials at the White House circulated a plan calling for the ouster of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other top Energy Department officials as the administration braced for a political storm brewing over the failing solar-energy company Solyndra.

An email from a clean-energy activist and former official in President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign said Chu, a Nobel Prize- winning physicist, was a brilliant man but “not perfect” for other critical DOE missions, including creating jobs. The Feb. 25 email from Dan Carol, a former issues adviser in Obama’s campaign, was circulated by then-Chief of Staff Peter Rouse and seen by more than a dozen senior White House officials, including senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and then-energy adviser Carol Browner.

The emails were released late Friday by the government in response to a subpoena by House Republicans, who are investigating a $528 million federal loan received by Solyndra Inc. of Fremont, Calif. The firm later went bankrupt and laid off its 1,100 workers.

Obama heads to Asia-Pacific region

CORONADO, Calif.

President Barack Obama is jetting away from Washington’s political and budget battles just as crucial decisions and deadlines approach, focusing instead on Asia-Pacific nations and trying to convince voters at home the distant region is essential to American jobs and security.

Obama departed Friday for summits in Hawaii and Indonesia and a visit to Australia in between.

For nine days, the president will be as many as 10,000 miles from home at a time when jobs, the frail economy and other domestic concerns matter most to the U.S. electorate. But Asia and the Pacific region are crucial to America’s future, the White House insists.

US fuel exports hit all-time highs

LOS ANGELES

U.S. exports of refined fuels, particularly diesel, have surged to fresh all-time highs, helping to keep the prices of gasoline and diesel in this country at record levels for this time of year.

In August, the latest month for which Energy Department data are available, U.S. refiners exported a record average of 895,000 barrels a day of refined fuels, compared with 730,000 barrels a day during the first half of the year. Most went to Central and South America.

Vindicator staff/wire reports