– A bill to allow specialty license plates for golfers in Wisconsin is on the green and waiting for Gov. Jim Doyle to knock it into the hole. The plates would cost motorists an additional $25 annually on top of the $55 fee for passenger cars and $48.50 to $77.50 for light trucks. After the state Department of Transportation recovers its costs, 75 percent of the money raised by the plates would go to junior golf programs and the rest to the Department of Tourism.
– Kia Motors of South Korea will open an assembly plant in West Point, Ga., near Atlanta, to open in 2009. Kia says the plant will be able to produce 300,000 cars and utility vehicles, but it was not specific about the models.
– The Chrysler Group is re-entering the U.S. heavy-duty commercial truck market to shield itself from stagnant U.S. light-truck and car sales. Chrysler has introduced a Dodge Ram 3500 Chassis Cab, categorized by weight as a Class 3 vehicle, will be followed by heavier Class 4 and 5 dodge trucks in 2007. Class 3-5 vehicles are those whose maximum weight fully loaded is 10,001 to 19,500 pounds.
– The American Family Association, which has boycotted Target for using the word “holiday” instead of “Christmas,” has reinstated a boycott trying to force Ford to stop advertising in publications aimed at gay readers. Ford has given no indication it would back off its decision to continue advertising in gay media though it has changed its stance on the issue in the past.
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Quick Trips are compiled from the notebooks of Jim Mateja and Rick Popely, and from Tribune news services.
