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A new survey of customer satisfaction in the United States shows the gap between the ´Big Three´ automakers and imported car brands has stretched to its widest point in five years. The 2013 American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) finds GM, Ford and Chrysler have an average score of 82 (on a scale between 0 and 100) which is below the industry average of 83. Asian brands have an average score of just over 84, slightly behind European brands which lead the ACSI with an average just under 85. Overall, satisfaction with 20 different auto brands fell 1.2 percent. The ACSI

Rubrene crystal raises hope for the use of organic semiconductors and cheaper, more efficient solar cells Rutgers University physicists have found new properties within a material that could lead to the production of less expensive and more efficient plastic solar cells. Vitaly Podzorov, co-author of the study and assistant professor of physics at Rutgers University, along with his research team have discovered that organic semiconductors allow energy-carrying particles -- which are created by "packets" of light -- to journey a thousand times farther than researchers previously thought. "Organic semiconductors are promising for solar cells and other uses, such as video displays, because they can be...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 -- Nearly five years after America “awoke to a nightmare attack” on Sept. 11, 2001, the nation is thankful that terrorists haven’t succeeded in launching another attack on U.S. soil, but recognizes that it’s not for the terrorists’ lack of trying, President Bush said at the White House today. “Nineteen men, armed with box cutters, took control of airplanes and turned them into missiles,” Bush said of the Sept. 11 attacks. “They used them to kill nearly 3,000 innocent people. We watched the Twin Towers collapse before our eyes -- and it became instantly clear that...

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2006 – About 3,500 active-duty soldiers who were slated to begin their deployment to Iraq in the coming days will remain at their base in Schweinfurt, Germany, until further notice, defense officials announced today. Members of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, were officially notified within recent days that they won't deploy early this month, as scheduled, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved the adjustment, which was recommended by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq, Whitman said. Whitman emphasized that the decision doesn't signal the start...

County supervisors are at odds with their pension board over a closed-door decision to give former employees who are rehired credit for previous service – a move that would substantially boost the workers' benefits. Details are sketchy because all but one of the discussions to let former employees count their past years of county employment have been in separate closed meetings by the retirement board and the Board of Supervisors. Both cited threatened litigation as the reason for meeting privately, which is allowed under the state open-meeting law. The retirement board's decision in January to improve benefits for rehired employees...

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WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of senators wants Republican leaders to consider extending three of President Bush (news - web sites)'s most popular tax cuts without forcing the federal budget deeper into red ink. The group plans to propose extending tax cuts for wage earners, married couples and parents for a year. They would cover the $30 billion cost of preserving those tax cuts by ending abusive tax shelters and extending customs service fees, aides to the senators said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the senators planned to announce their proposal later Monday. President Bush asked Congress to...