Mohave Daily News: State

Arizona could go blue in November

PHOENIX (AP) - Gov. Janet Napolitano says Barack Obama's selection of a vice presidential running mate will help him affect change in Washington.

Napolitano spoke Sunday on CNN in an interview with Wolf Blitzer.

Blitzer played a clip from a Democratic primary debate in which Obama's choice of running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, said that he stood by his statement that Obama wasn't ready to be president.

Napolitano says all that shows is that Obama has a strong sense of self to choose a running mate who has criticized him.

Napolitano says Biden's three decades in the Senate will help accomplish the change that Obama says he will bring if elected.

About Arizona, Napolitano says she believes Obama can win over John McCain's home state.

Plane launched in Ariz. breaks record

LONDON (AP) - An ultra-lightweight plane built from carbon fiber and powered using paper-thin solar panels has broken the world record for longest-lasting unmanned flight, its manufacturer claimed Sunday.

QinetiQ Group PLC said its propeller-driven ‘‘Zephyr'' aircraft flew for 83 hours and 37 minutes, more than doubling the official world record set by Northrop Grumman's ‘‘Global Hawk'' in 2001.

However both the Zephyr's reported flight times are likely to remain unofficial because they did not meet criteria laid down by the world's air sports federation, the body responsible for measuring and verifying air and space records, QinetiQ spokesman Douglas Millard said.

The 66-pound (30 kilogram-) plane was launched by hand on July 28 in the Arizona desert in the U.S. and flown by autopilot and via satellite to an altitude of more 60,000 feet (18,000 meters), QinetiQ said. Drawing on the power of the sun during the day, the plane stayed aloft at night using rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries.

ASU stops paying bus fare for its workers

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona State University has stopped paying full fare for its workers to ride the bus to and from work - a move that comes amid the school's sustainability initiative, rising campus parking fees and high gasoline prices.

ASU reduced the subsidy of bus passes for its 12,000 faculty and staffers at its four campuses as of July 1. The university now pays half the cost of the monthly bus passes, which range from $45 for local buses to $68 for express and rapid buses.

Starting Dec. 27, the monthly passes and all-day bus passes will also entitle riders to board light-rail trains along a 20-mile starter line.

Many public employers, including Maricopa County and the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, Chandler and Peoria, subsidize their employees' entire bus fares. So do many private employers, including Honeywell, State Farm Insurance and UPS.

Mesa making bicycling safe, attractive

MESA, Ariz. (AP) - Transportation officials in Mesa have begun an extensive study into what bicyclists want and how to make their rides safer.

An online survey of bicyclists is under way, and a second is planned to find out what they want and need from the city of Mesa.

The idea is to create a plan to improve bike routes through 2020.

City planner Ken Hall says the plan will include more bike lanes and routes, paved paths, and bicycle stations and storage. He says the plan should be completed by the end of 2009.

The city is among area municipalities that have received accolades for being bike-friendly.