Four dragged through IraqOn March 31, the bodies of four American civilians were dragged through the strees of Fallujah, Iraq. Two of the bodies were also hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. The bodies have been identified as Jerry Zovko of Ohio, Michael Teague of Tennessee, Scott Helvenston of California, and Wesley John Kealoha Batalona of Hawaii. The men were employees of Blackwater USA, a consulting firm based out of Moyock, NC. Fallujah religious leaders later issued an edict condemning the mutilation of the bodies.

Gas prices rising

National gas prices recently hit highest-ever levels at $1.758 per gallon. Gas prices were only higher during the oil crises of the late ’70s, when gas prices peaked at just under $3 per gallon (2004 U.S. dollars) in 1981. Californians now pay the most for gas at $2.15 for a gallon of regular unleaded, and prices nationwide are expected to continue to climb.
Bush outlines new job training initiative

On April 5, President Bush began promoting a job training initiative created to help make up job losses in U.S. manufacturing. The initiative’s outline was delivered from Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, appropriate since North Carolina has lost over 160,000 manufacturing jobs in the last four years. Bush’s goal is to double the number of Americans receiving skill-training each year as part of program established under the Labor Department’s 1998 Workers Investment Act.
17 year insects to emerge in May on East Coast

Billions of cicadas will swarm the Eastern Coast of the U.S. in May. Once every 17 years this strain of cicadas surface at night when soil temperatures are approximately 64 degrees, feeding underground on tree roots. The insects will climb trees or other upright items to molt, mate, lay eggs, and die. The newly hatched cicadas will burrow back into the ground to feed until 2021. Male cicadas are the loudest insects in the world.