Autos
*Base prices for General Motors’ full-size hybrid sport-utility vehicles are $49,590 for the Chevrolet Tahoe and $50,045 for the GMC Yukon, for rear-wheel-drive models. The four-wheel-drive versions start at $52,395 for Tahoe and $52,885 for Yukon. The prices do not include the $900 destination charge. Sales begin in late December for the Tahoe and Yukon hybrids, the first vehicles to use GM’s two-mode system that returns EPA estimates of 21 m.p.g. city and 22 highway with 2WD and 20/20 with 4WD.
FYI
*The first significant snowfall of the season offers a reminder that Chicago’s winter parking restrictions are in effect. Parking is prohibited on 107 miles of main routes from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. daily through April 1 regardless of weather conditions. Violators face a minimum $150 towing fee plus a $50 ticket. Parking on another 500 miles of streets is banned when at least 2 inches of snow falls.
*The speed limit has been reduced to 40 m.p.h. on North Lake Shore Drive to protect plants and trees in the median from road salt damage. The 45-m.p.h. limit will resume April 1.
*Indiana will nearly double its network of rail-trail corridors with the purchase of more than 150 miles of abandoned Penn Central Rail Line, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources says.
*A plan to raise tolls on the Mackinac Bridge faces stiff opposition in St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, the towns on either side of the five-mile-long span that links Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsulas. Hikes to $3 or $4 from $2.50 for cars, with similar increases for trucks and trailers, are being considered.
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Quick Trips are compiled from the notebook of Rick Popely and from Tribune news services.
