| Automakers suffer February double whammy
DETROIT — Automakers got hit where it hurts in February, with U.S. sales of their most profitable vehicles — trucks, sport utilities and large sedans — plunging as consumers reacted to high gas prices and the possible recession. General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. announced second-quarter production cuts in the face of the falling sales. GM reported a sales decline of almost 13 percent for the month while Ford's sales slumped 7 percent, Chrysler's tumbled 14 percent and Toyota's fell 3 percent. It was expected to be a difficult month for automakers as consumer confidence continued to slide. Declines in home construction also have significantly weakened truck sales. Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president for North American sales and marketing, said tightening automotive credit standards may also be hurting sales.
Chat during Championship Week
Welcome to The Show! On Thursday, we'll bring you right down to the courts during Championship Week. Our reporters are on the sidelines for many of this week's tournaments and we'll have them checking in all week to let you know what's going on. Plus, we'll also mix in some of Joe Lunardi and Andy Glockner to let you know what the wins mean for the Bracketology and those teams on the Bubble Watch. So, keep up on the games all day by chatting with our reporters, who will be here from noon-6:30 p.m. ET! Schedule of chatters (and the tournament they're covering):
Noon: Joe Lunardi, Bracketology
12:30pm: Chris Low, C-USA tournament
1pm: Dana O'Neil, Big East tournament
1:30pm: Heather Dinich, A-10 tournament
2pm: Andy Katz, Pac-10 tournament
2:30pm: Pat Forde, Big Ten tournament
3pm: Mark Schlabach, SEC tournament
3:30pm: Tim Griffin, Big 12 tournament
4pm: Andy Glockner, Bubble Watch
4:30pm: Kyle Whelliston, A-10 tournament
5pm: Adam Rittenberg
5:30pm: Ted Miller
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Championship Week | Men's College BB | SportsNation Index Joe Lunardi: Startiing once again with the national anthem.
Police have U-Haul records, but have 'moved on'
Palo Alto police knew about the link to a U-Haul rental van and obtained rental records for the van, rented from the Amigo Market in East Palo Alto last summer, police Chief Lynne Johnson said Monday. Thus they had no need to question the market's owner or U-Haul officials, she said. The Weekly reported March 7 that a young couple driving a U-Haul van was arrested in late June for using traveler's checks stolen from the Children's Theatre in mid-June. In August, a man who rented a U-Haul van, also from the now-closed Amigo Market, reported discovering traveler's checks in the back. The market's owner, Ghalib Younef, and a corporate U-Haul spokeswoman Joanne Fried told the Weekly they had not talked to police. Johnson, the sole spokesperson for the case, was out of town last week and could not be reached.
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