Ohio Woman Sends Michigan Bill for Gas Wasted in Traffic

Drivers were recently stuck on Michigan’s I-275 for 50 minutes and Carol Greenberg, well, she ain’t happy. The Ohio woman sent the Michigan Department of Transportation a bill for $16 to compensate for the estimated gas she burned while waiting for the traffic jam to open.

Most noteworthy was this paragraph:

Mrs. Greenberg said in an interview that the delay was doubly unpleasant for her Maine coon cat, Sammy, who howled through the entire experience in a pet carrier in the back seat.

Man, that is one irritated kitty. But you can glean that just by looking at the article’s photo. I’d imagine he was later quoted as saying:

"I’m just a little fired up right now,"  Sammy stated, while bathing himself. "I was in Michigan to test for allergies, so I wasn’t feeling too terrific with all this grass flying around. Then I have to deal with traffic when all I want to do is get home and scratch my post … Oh, and ‘meow.’ Is that what you wanted? You wanted me to say something cat-like for you so you can be all cute and put it in the paper? Well I won’t dance for you people anymore. You know what, this interview is over. Get that recorder out of my face (hiss)! Carol, show Bob Woodward here the door."

Moral of the story: Gas prices are creating even more of an impetus for states to ensure that drivers — and their passengers — can move along interstates in an efficient manner.

Utah First to Move to Four-Day Work Week

The land of pioneers, Sundance, and enough salt to callously murder millions of slugs has now become the first state government to move to a 10-hour, four-day work week (to take effect in August).

Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. recently made the declaration as an effort to cut heating and cooling costs and to reduce gas consumption.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Huntsman says 16,000 to 17,000 state employees will be affected when the change is implemented. He acknowledges some of those workers will have problems because of child care or transportation issues, but agency heads will be asked to spend the month of July working through those issues. 

"The energy efficiencies are significant that we can achieve," Huntsman said. "When you look at the totality of the needs, this is a good policy moving forward."