Tuesday, July 29, 2008

AMERICA'S HOSTS: Renee Montagne and Deborah Amos; NEWSCASTS: Carl Kasell, Jean Cochran
CALIFORNIA/NEVADA HOST: Donna Apidone; NEWSCASTS: Steve Shadley

Here are some highlights of today's show:

Tuesday is the day for Sacramento StoryCorps.  Today we'll hear from two women, once ruled by addiction, who turned around their lives.  Series Curator Paul Conley has the story at 6:35 and 8:35.

Maryland has a new law calling for a 15 percent reduction in per-capita electricity use over the next seven years. NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris lives in Maryland and decided to find out what would be needed at his house to cut electric use by 15 percent. He found it's quite do-able -- as long as he's willing to invest some money up front. This is the first part of our series on the opportunities -- and barriers – for saving energy. We'll hear from him at 6:21 and 8:21.

Americans are not driving as much because of higher gas prices. A drop in gas consumption is hurting gas tax revenues, which pay for roads, bridges and mass transit projects. Transportation officials say they need to rethink the way they collect and dispense money for transportation.  They say the current system of relying on the federal gas tax is unsustainable.  That's at 5:35 and 7:35.

Thanks for listening.