As gas prices rise, more consumers are turning to hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius. Find out how hybrid cars work, which ones are the most efficient, the potential risks to the owner and to pedestrians, and the future of hybrid cars -- especially the 100mpg hybrid plug-in vehicles. John Voelcker is an auto journalist, and Brad Berman is the editor of hybridcars.com . Weigh in: We’d like to hear from recent converts to hybrids. How has your experience been? Have you noticed significant savings in fuel costs?
Jonathan Miller directs a new production of Domenico Cimarosa's comic opera treasure Il matrimonio segreto (1792) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It’s staged in its original 18th century setting, and runs through June 4. For more information about showtimes and tickets, go here . Miller was knighted in 2002 for his contributions to the arts, which have included TV, theater, opera, and writing.
Wendy Perrin , consumer news editor at Condé Nast Traveler , joins us every Thursday this May as part of our month-long series on travel. Today's topic: weak-dollar travel strategies. French Riviera too expensive? Consider laying your towel on a Croatian beach! Have any questions for Wendy? Comment below! Travel was the #1 suggestion in our Word of Wisdom segment.
Oregon holds its primary on May 20. Find out which issues matter most to voters in the Beaver State, how Senator Gordon Smith’s re-election campaign is going, and why the candidates in one House race are using personal attacks against each other. Also: why some are already saying that Oregon will be a battleground state in the fall campaign. David Steves is political reporter for The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore. He works in the paper’s Salem bureau and also writes a blog . States of the Union fact of the week: Oregon is one of four major world hazelnut growing regions. It produces 95% of the domestic hazelnuts in the United States.