Cars

Chris Paine is a filmmaker whose documentaries include "Who Killed the Electric Car?" ,"Charge" and "Revenge of the Electric Car. " The troubles of electric-car-maker Fisker Automotive have fueled another round of debate about whether plug-ins can live up to their promises. The California start-up, which had already halted production and laid off most of its employees, missed a federal loan payment Monday and told a congressional hearing on Wednesday that bankruptcy may be unavoidable . This is likely the end of the road...

RICHMOND, Va. — A nonprofit organization is launching a program to provide low- to moderate-income Richmond families loans to assist in the purchase or repair of used cars. The program was announced Wednesday by Presbyterian Homes and Family Alliance. The Ways to Work program also has an office in Lynchburg. The program is aimed at families in need of a reliable vehicle but whose credit rating does not allow them to get a traditional loan, or only one with high interest rates.

CLEVELAND — The families of three women who spent years in captivity inside a Cleveland home celebrated on Tuesday their remarkable rescue, as questions began emerging about why police were called to the house at least twice in recent years yet never went inside. The women — Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight — vanished separately a decade ago while in their teens and early 20s only blocks from the eight-room house where they were found Monday night. Their rescue came when Berry,...

MEXICO CITY — A driver who tried to escape arrest by claiming political connections was charged with manslaughter Tuesday after the woman she hit with her Porsche last week in Mexico City died of her injuries. Mexico is experiencing a backlash against the common practice of wealthy or well-connected people trying to browbeat police and businesses, after a series of such incidents were pilloried on social networking sites. On Thursday, suspect Dalia Ortega lost control of the Porsche...

Street Address A : A big tan house in North Kingstown, Rhode Island; the corner lot of a woody cul de sac near a bike path populated by joggers in Lululemon. Quiet and country charming, a well-landscaped American achievement. This is the house where Katherine Russell grew up, with her parents and two sisters. Street Address Z : An apartment in a rowhouse in Cambridge, Mass., the most run-down structure on an otherwise cheerful block. A building with cracked window panes on the second floor and a...

T here I was, in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, looking down at the Colorado River. Animal tracks in the snow made a dotted line beside the water. But where, I wondered, were the bighorn sheep? The black bears? I pressed my nose to the glass and followed the tracks carefully, expecting — any second now — to see wildlife. I was in my 40th hour aboard Amtrak , nearly 2,000 miles into a 3,218-mile cross-country adventure. I'd packed five books, my laptop, several movies and hours of music,...

RHINEBECK, N.Y. — It was a motorized celebration of the lightness of being, driving U.S. Route 9 through New Jersey and New York, stopping long enough in this pretty Duchess County village by the Hudson River to enjoy burgers and great cookies prepared by Sam and Joann Cohen, proprietors of the aptly named Matchbox Cafe. It is a tiny stone building along Route 9, "no bigger than a matchbox," said Joann, who was working double duty as cook and server on the Sunday of our arrival.

In his Feb. 19 op-ed column [" Will Detroit Get Totaled? "] E.J. Dionne Jr. mentioned his new 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. He said it is "one of GM's comeback cars, and reviewers say it is thoroughly competitive with the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. " Well, my Honda Accord was recently in the body shop for a week, and I rented a 2009 Malibu. Compared with my Accord, the Malibu felt like a tank. It had uninspired styling, small, narrow windows that restricted vision, lousy gas mileage, an irritating flashing dashboard display, cryptic...

The District is ending its safety inspection program for most private cars Oct 1., leading some people to worry that area roads will soon be flooded with unsafe cars that could cause more accidents. Emissions inspections will still be required every two years for all cars and trucks, as required by federal regulations, but motor vehicles that are not used for commercial purposes will no longer have to prove that they are road-worthy. The Fenty administration and the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles persuaded the D.C. Council...

SAO PAULO — The cars roll endlessly off the local assembly lines of the industry's biggest automakers, more than 10,000 a day, into the eager hands of Brazil's new middle class. The shiny new Fords, Fiats, and Chevrolets tell the tale of an economy in full bloom that now boasts the fourth largest auto market in the world. What happens once those vehicles hit the streets, however, is shaping up as a national tragedy, experts say, with thousands of Brazilians dying every year in auto...

CINCINNATI — Honda's new version of its Acura NSX sports car will be produced at a new plant inside one of the automaker's former facilities in central Ohio, Honda said Tuesday. The new $70 million plant, called the Performance Manufacturing Center, will be inside the former North American Logistics facility and adjacent to Honda's existing factory in Marysville. The new factory is expected to employ about 100 skilled workers drawn from existing Ohio operations, with mass production expected to begin in 2015.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Zak Brown has turned down an offer to join the IndyCar Series, choosing instead to remain with the motorsports marketing company he founded. Brown told The Associated Press on Tuesday he informed Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles of his decision not to take a job with IndyCar. He'll instead relocate in July to England to continue the growth of his Zionsville, Ind.-based agency, Just Marketing International. "I'm a huge fan of IndyCar, it's a great...

DETROIT — U.S. auto safety officials are investigating complaints that doors won't close properly on more than 39,000 cars made by Mazda. The probe affects Mazda 6 cars from the 2009 model year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has received four complaints that the doors wouldn't latch. In one case, a passenger door opened while a car was being driven. The agency says the owners complained that some of the door-latch mounting screws were...

DETROIT — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints that the engines can stall without warning in three Chrysler and Dodge brand cars. The probe covers more than 192,000 Chrysler 300C luxury cars, Dodge Charger muscle cars and Dodge Magnum wagons from the 2006 model year. The cars have 5.7-liter or 6.1-liter V-8 engines. The agency says it has 54 complaints from owners that engines stalled while the cars were being driven. In all cases the...

COLUMBIA, Md. — Police say a North Carolina man is a suspect in the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend in Maryland. Howard County police announced Monday that 43-year-old Ryan Matthias of Charlotte, N.C., was arrested over the weekend. They say he is a suspect in the death of Deborah Castellano, who was found shot to death in her car near her new home in Columbia, Md., on May 4. She had recently moved from Ilion, N.Y. Police say investigators learned that after the pair...

ANKARA, Turkey — Four more people have been detained in connection with two car bomb attacks that killed dozens in a Turkish town near the Syrian border, bringing the number of suspects in custody to 13, Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday. Syria again rejected Turkey's contention it was involved, condemning the attacks and offering to conduct a joint investigation of an attack it has blamed on Turkey. Police were still searching for six other wanted suspects,...

Cars are among the final frontiers for consumer technology. While there are several models with built-in GPS and other features, the idea of the truly connected car still eludes automakers. Ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Mercedes-Benz was pushing its connected car software, the mbrace 2, which brings apps, cloud computing and Web browsing right into its vehicles. The mbrace system also connects to drivers' smartphones to allow them to lock, unlock and find your car with their mobile device.

Two locomotive cars traveling through the District derailed this morning in Southeast Washington. No injuries were reported. The derailment took place about 11:15 a.m. near the 200 block of 33rd Street SE, near Anacostia Park, officials said. It's not yet clear why the cars derailed, said William Hayes, a spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Some fuel and oil spilled in the accident, and fire crews are working to contain the spill, Hayes said.

INDIANAPOLIS — IndyCar drivers and owners have always considered Derrick Walker to be a beacon of leadership. Now he's switching to what Walker calls the "dark" side. The well-respected former team owner was hired Monday as IndyCar's new head of competition, ending the worst-kept secret in Indianapolis. Speculation that the 68-year-old Scotsman would lead the competition department kicked into high gear last week when four-time series champ Dario Franchitti, also a Scot, said Walker had been hired.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Authorities in western Colorado say a human skeleton found in a partially buried car belongs to a man who was reported missing 26 years ago. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/13VWmIK ) the Mesa County Coroner's Office identified the man on Monday as 65-year-old Ronald Vasey. He went missing in 1987. The sheriff's department says someone hiking near John Brown Canyon Road, near Gateway, called 911 at about 6 p.m....