About Sangamon County, IL

Some increditble clips of the Dude Perfect popularity

Summer Camp Edition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4giMyqv0qc

Worlds Longest Basketball Shot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W77uk1ejcpY

Ranch Edition Amazing Basketball Shots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJBmQsIJjx8

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP

In Philadelphia, they've got the blues. In Cincinnati, they've got - well - the reds.

• Cincinnati is the top market for red cars in the U.S., while Philly buyers prefer blue, according to sales data released Tuesday by Ford Motor Co.

  Sometimes, color preferences are logical. Buyers in hot cities, like Phoenix and Dallas, like white cars, while buyers in colder cities, like Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, are partial to red, according to Ford's internal data. No-nonsense New Yorkers like black and gray.

  Sometimes, the preferences are a puzzle. Boston is the top market for both brown and green cars, for example, while San Franciscans like silver. In Florida, they like gold.

  Silver remained the most popular color in the U.S. this year for the ninth year in a row, according to data released this month by Pittsburgh-based paint maker PPG Industries Inc. Twenty percent of U.S. cars are silver. White finished second and black was third.

  Ford also found that Boston was the top market for its four-cylinder engines, while Houston, the top market for pickup trucks, gets its vroom from V8s. San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles are the top markets for hybrids.

  It may seem trivial, but the information is critical to the company and its dealers. Ford said it analyzes the data carefully to figure out which vehicle configurations will be the top sellers in any region.

  Ford said the correct vehicle mix results in better sales for dealers and better customer service, since customers can find the vehicles they want more quickly.

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."?

He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform." Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 - Decemb... He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform."

Norman Mattoon Thomas
(November 20, 1884 - December 19, 1968)
Was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.

Biography of N.M.Thomas;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Mattoon_Thomas
(more)

By Anita Stienstra

Welcome autumn this weekend at Lincoln Memorial Garden's Indian Summer Festival. The ambience starts as you tuck your car between two trees in the woods. Then stroll out of the forest into the clearing where musicians, food, craft vendors and activities galore immerse you in the sights, sounds and smells of harvest time. The kids can make Abe and Mary clothespin dolls, Lincoln log cabins, plant acorns and visit Mr. Lincoln the hammer maker and so much more. Entertainment starts at 11 a.m. each day.

Indian Summer Festival
Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 10-11
10am-4pm
Lincoln Memorial Garden
2301 East Lake Shore Dr.
529-1111
$3, $10 family

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed U.S. home loans fell for the second consecutive week, pushing borrowing costs to near record lows.

The average U.S. 30-year rate dropped to 4.87 percent from 4.94 percent last week. The 15-year rate was 4.33 percent, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac of McLean, Virginia, said today in a statement.

Falling rates helped boost home-loan applications last week to the highest level since May. The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of applications to purchase a home or refinance rose 16 percent. Rates around 5 percent, slumping home prices and a government tax credit for first-time homebuyers are bolstering demand for housing.

"We're not expecting the housing market to come roaring back to anything close to what it was during the boom," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. "It's going to be a long, gradual recovery."

The Federal Reserve set out last year to encourage lower mortgage rates by pledging to buy bonds backed by home loans. It increased the size of the program to $1.25 trillion in March.

The purchases from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae brought down yields on mortgage-backed securities and allowed lenders to reduce rates on new loans while still selling the securities backed by them at a profit. The plan helped drive home loan rates to a record low of 4.78 percent twice in April.

Applications Rise

Mortgage applications to buy a home climbed 13 percent in the week ended Oct. 2 and the refinancing gauge surged 18 percent.

Recent data indicate the housing industry is emerging from its worst recession since the 1930s. The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home sales, jumped 6.4 percent in August, a seventh consecutive gain, the National Association of Realtors said on Oct. 1.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Louis in Chicago at blouis1@bloomberg.net.