Gulf oil - But we, the United States, are the world’s largest users of oil, with China coming along at a rapid clip. China’s demand for oil and its relentless pursuit of it will be a major impact on the whole world in the near future, not in the distant times. Right there is just one more reason for gasoline prices to remain high. More here 

Fighting Hunger - Through the Backpack Program, 200 students at Dunbar Elementary and Theron Jones Early Literacy Center will be able to take home easy-to-prepare meals to help keep nutritious food on the table through the weekend. Students will be provided enough food for themselves and their siblings. The program begins Sept. 15. more here

Time to take a new approach to health insurance - USA Today reported that the U. S. Census Bureau recently released estimates that 46. 6 million people in the United States lacked health insurance in 2005. It also stated that the percentage of people who received their health insurance through their jobs decreased to 59. 8 percent, the lowest level since 1993. Reasons cited for the decline in job-based coverage included people losing jobs, employers not offering insurance and workers choosing not to enroll. more here

Where was God on 9/11? - “Almost everyone has a moment,” she says, “when they feel lost in darkness: a loved one snatched away, disease, natural disaster, human cruelty. Almost everyone at some point asks the question, ‘Why me ? Why her ? Why, God ?”’ more here

Jonesboro MSA lags in income growth - Growth of personal income in the Jonesboro Metropolitan Statistical Area is lagging behind the national rate as well as most other Arkansas MSAs. That’s the bad news in a new report issued this week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. more here