The Daily Progress from Charlottesville, Virginia • 15

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Some financial Srv planning is in order B2 Ps INSIDE WSJ SUNDAY EDITORIAL Bl B4 JL JL The Daily Progress Sunday April 27 2008 ENERGY Oil prices up as US fires on Iranian boats Oil prices rose sharply riday on news that a ship under contract to the US Defense Department fired warning shots at two boats in the Persian Gulf Retail gas prices as expected rose further into record territory nearing $360 a gallon Crude prices rose on initial reports that a US ship had fired on two Iranian boats the news raised concerns that a conflict between US and Iranian forces could cut oil supplies from the region A Navy spokeswoman said the origin of the boats was unclear The news was enough to send light sweet crude for June delivery upto $1 1955 before the contract retreat ed to settle up $246 at $11852 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange STIMULUS Bush says rebates will boost economy President Bush said tax re bates will start going out Monday earlier than previ ously announced and should help Americans cope with rising gasoline and food prices as well as aid a slumping economy Democrats said they were glad the re bate checks were about to go out but suggested that multina tional oil com panies were not among the businesses the stimulus package was originally designed to help Those first rebates will be directly deposited into peo ple's bank accountsThe Internal Revenue Service had been saying direct de posits wouldn't start until next riday Bush said paper checks would begin going out on May 9 a week earlier than previously announced Bush's emphasis on fuel and food prices differed from other comments he's made since signing the economic stimulus legislation intended to aid the economy by boosting overall consumer spending which accounts for roughly two thirds of the nation's economic activity Bush tw I i' INRINGEMENT US targets Russia China on copyrights The Bush administration is accusing China Russia and seven other nations of fail ing to protect American producers of movies com puter software and other copyrighted material from The Daily ProgressAndrew Shurtleff Cameraman Tray Clayborne controls the new high has converted Its entire operation to dlgltlal tech definition camera used for broadcasts from the nology ahead of the nationwide switch from analog NBC29 studio The Charlottesville television studio to digital TV signals next ebruary NBC29 broadcasts now clearly defined By McGregor McCance cmccanceda7yprogresscom 1 978 7283 WVIR TV NBC29 is now producing local news programs in high definition format becoming one of the first Virginia TV stations to make the up grade The change represents another step forward for HDTV in the region but both NBC29 and its rival Gray Charlottesville group downplay the notion that HD local news gives much of a com petitive advantage attracting more newscast viewers really expect ratings to rise said Harold Wright vice president and general manag er at NBC29 pretty high At Newsplex Vice President and General Manager Roger Burchett congratulated NBC29 for getting HD local news first but said the competi tion is about news stories news is and has always been about con Burchett said think still two very clear Recent Nielsen ratings show the long estab lished WVIR with a commanding lead in viewers for morning evening and late night newscasts local operations include WCAV CBS19 WVAW ABC 16 and WAHU OX27 The growth of HD is part of the larger march in the industry toward all digital broadcasting Television stations nationwide must switch fromanalog signals to all digital signals in'ebruary Burchett said Gray will be ready for the transi tion: Wright said NBC29 already has converted its entire operation to digital technology 3 or viewers the shift to digital will bring sharp er pictures as digital technology has more clarity than analog High definition represents the sharpest flavor of digital TV once they watch any programming in HD they go back to standard Wright said The transition also may mean some owners of older TV sets that digital ready may have to buy converter set top boxes to process the digital signal Most cable company and satellite service boxes will handle the conversion automatically HDTV meanwhile is the most sophisticated form of digital television It displays pictures in a widescreen format with picture clarity that can be nor digital switch I IjV a I By Seth Sutel AP Business Writer i Qi I've heard that TV broadcasts are going all digital next ebruary is that the same thing as high definition? A Not exactly High definition television or HDTV refers both to a high quality broadcastmg standard as well as the class of TV that you need in order watch those shows in their full resolution not going to change next ebruary when all major US TV stations will stop broad casting traditional analog signals and continue only with digital broadcasts HDTV broadcasts are one kind of digital broadcast but there are others that as high end Like today many TV shows will still be broadcast in following the end of analog broadcasting on eb 17 2009 Still even standard definition digital broad casts will provide way better pictures than stan dard definition analog broadcasts because digital transmissions are more efficient than analog and better able to strip out shadow images static and interference Know See DIGITAL on B6 dramatically better than analog or standard digi tal Seeing the picture in HD though requires a set capable of processing or displaying high definition Both local TV station companies already offer viewers programming in standard digital defini tion as well as a more limited but growing collec tion of network programs in high definition HD shows are available over the air and through Comcast cable HD programming is See HD on B6 lammable weed has fire officials worried Associated Press COLUMBIA SC Cogon grass can seem harmless even beautiful but forestry ex perts in South Carolina Georgia lorida and Alabama warn a killer The invasive weed already has infested more than 1 million acres nationwide and experts say the drought makes the highly flam mable intruder more threatening than ever Cogon grass known for its fluffy silvery white seed heads has coaxed its way into gardens forests and high way medians Control and eradi cation programs are underway AT A GLANCE Cogon grass a native of southeastern Asia ar rived in Alabama as packing material decades ago It has now infested more than 1 mil lion acres nationwide buy it dig it up plant it and just let some body know if you see said Laurie Reid forest health specialist for the South Carolina orestry Commission Now in its flowering stage cogon grass can bum all year When it catches fire experts say it burns higher and hotter than regular grass dur ing wildfires most flammable in colder months when it appears as a tall thick mass of brown colored grass But drought conditions in the Southeast have kept the weed dry and increased its risk as a fire hazard this spring experts say think anything more flammable in our landscape I know any thing that bums as hot in our ecosystem as cogon said Jim Miller a regional invasive plant scientist with the federal Agriculture Department A native of southeastern Asia cogon grass was once used as packing material that arrived in Mobile Ala on ships in 1912 It chokes all compet ing vegetation it kills off pine seedlings in forests See COGON on B6 Associated Press wMMI Intiil Congon grass an invasive weed now widespread across the Southeast Is highly flammable and es pecially dangerous in times of drought widespread piracy The administration on riday placed the nine coun tries on a "priority watch list" that will subject them to ex tra scrutiny and could even tually lead to economic sanc tions if the administration decides to pursue com plaints before the World Trade Organization In addition to China and Russia the other seven coun tries targeted were Argentina Chile India Israel Pakistan Thailand and Venezuela The administration named another 31 countries to a lower level watch list indi cating it has concerns about copyright violations in those nations but they don't warrant the highest level of scrutiny Associated Press Parents should review 529 college savings accounts Associated Press NEW YORK The stock market been kind to investors in recent months and that could be taking a toll on the Section 529 col lege savings accounts that many parents have set up for their kids But families need to think carefully before tin kering too much with these tax favored plans A key thing to determine experts say is whether a good program that has mere ly hit a rough patch or whether basically flawed with high fees and poor in vestment options The 529 savings plans which take their name from a section of the US tax code On the Money bond funds But some of the state sponsored 529 programs still offer a lot of investment options Simansky said Some for example allow families to set aside money for college costs in cluding tuition fees books and room and board Although contributions are not deductible on federal tax returns the balances grow tax deferred and distribu tions for a college costs are tax free Some states offer tax breaks as well like upfront de ductions for contributions or tax free withdrawals often tar geted to their own residents Harold Simansky head of Simansky Investments in Brookline Mass and author of Costs How The Workbook to Help You Save for recommends parents review their 529 ac counts once a year you see poor per formance there can be many Simansky said fees could be very high the first place to look Or maybe not properly In some cases investors can rebalance their holdings perhaps shifting money into better performing stock or included much international stock which is a category that has done extremely well in the past few years he noted Or they may not have any bond offerings making it hard to provide a counterbalance to stock holdings Savers who happy with the options in their cur rent 529 plans may want to look at the 529 offerings in other states Morningstar Inc an inde pendent investment re search firm based in Chicago recently released its annual review of 529 plans It looked at fees the quality of the underlying funds the strength of the managers and the long term track record Its plans were the Illinois Bright Start col lege savings program man aged by Oppenheimerunds Inc college in vestment plan managed by Rowe Price the Virginia CollegeAmerica 529 savings plan with American unds and the Virginia education savings trust with a variety of investment options including real estate trusts and infla tion protected securities and the Colorado scholars choice college savings program with See SAVINGS on B6 ') UT A i i i I.