Report shows lower food & gas prices, more hiring

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER and MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics

Wholesale food prices fell last month by the most in nearly a year, and gas prices keep dropping after peaking in May. A separate survey suggests CEOs are feeling more optimistic and will hire more in the second half of this year.
Food prices at the wholesale level fell 1.4 percent, the Labor Department said. It was the largest drop since last June. About 40 percent of that decline resulted from steep declines in vegetable and fruit prices.

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Stimulus: Urban Forestry Success in Historic African American Neighborhood

Volunteers have planted 185 trees in the historic Berkley Square neighborhood in Las Vegas as part of a U.S. Forest Service Recovery Act-funded Nevada forest revitalization project. The Berkley Square Tree Planting Project was one of the largest volunteer supported activities ever held in Berkley Square which is part of Las Vegas’ Ward 5.

The project is part of a larger urban forestry effort to retain and create jobs in Clark County, which has been devastated by the current economic recession, while helping reduce urban heat island effects and improving community aesthetics within neighborhoods.

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California Receives over $4.2 Million from DOE for R&D of Next-Generation Energy-Efficient Lighting

Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that three California-based organizations will receive more than $4.2 million to research and develop high-efficiency lighting in an effort to deploy solid-state lighting that is cost-effective, high-performing and commercially viable.

The award is part of nearly $15 million nationally to support eight new research and development projects that will accelerate the development and deployment of high-efficiency solid-state lighting technologies like light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and OLEDs. Solid-state lighting has the potential to be ten times more energy-efficient than conventional incandescent lighting and can last up to 25 times as long.

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