Hybrid Cars Going Mainstream?

SEATTLE - Another sign hybrid cars may be going mainstream. General Motors is planning to offer a variety of the gas-and-electric powered vehicles over the next four years. The plan includes hybrid models for cars, pickups and sports utility vehicles. Hybrids draw power from two different energy sources, typically a gas or diesel engine combined with an electric motor. While environmentally friendly and fuel efficient, their higher price tag has prevented them from finding more than a niche market. Right now, the only versions available in the United States are small cars made by Toyota and Honda. Later this year, GM will offer hybrid options on the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups for use in commercial fleets. The company says hybrid versions of the trucks will increase fuel economy by ten to 12 percent.

More cutbacks at United Airlines. The latest cost cutting move: cutting back food service on many flights within the US. Starting Tuesday, passengers on morning flights under three and a half hours will get a snack mix instead of a hot breakfast sandwich. According to USA Today, the minimal meal service includes first class passengers. On some flights, first class fliers will have to settle for a snack instead of a steak dinner. The paper says United is also replacing hot lunches and dinners in first and business class with deli-plates or salads.

Thousands of angry General Electric employees vow to strike to protest rising health insurance costs. GE employees are protesting the company's decision to increase co-payments for health insurance that would cost the average employee about $200 a year. Union officials say the strike could involve at least 20,000 workers in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York and Kentucky. This would be the conglomerate's first national strike in more than 30 years.

Could media baron Rupert Murdoch be ready to sell the Los Angeles Dodgers? An Australian news report says Murdoch's News Corporation might put his baseball team up for sale within the next six months. The sale would be to raise cash before bidding on the satellite television service DirecTV. A Dodgers' spokesman says the club could be sold if the right offer comes along. But officials for both the Dodgers and News Corporation have told reporters no sale is imminent.

The weak economy is putting the squeeze on a lot of people, including those job recruiters and consultants who used to command big salaries to fill slots that have now dried up. Analysts say the stalled economy has sapped the recruiting industry, replacing the double-digit revenues it enjoyed through much of the 1990s with double-digit losses, layoffs and lost firms. Overall, analysts estimate the industry lost $3 billion in the past two years and as many as one-out-of-three firms have shut down.