There’s good news and then there’s the bad news.
The good news is Missouri was one of only two states in the country with gasoline under $3 a gallon Monday afternoon, according to Mike Right, vice president of public affairs for AAA.
The bad news is that it probably won’t last much longer.
The dark view of gasoline’s future is based on both crude oil and diesel prices hitting record highs Monday.
According to Right, the same barrel of crude oil that cost Americans $60 last year, cost $103 Monday. That’s an 80 percent increase. Diesel prices hit a record high $3.67 a gallon national average.
“Diesel looks like it’s headed for $4 a gallon,” Right said Monday. “Nobody can really predict gasoline prices, but they could get there too.”
The high price for regular unleaded gasoline was $3.22 a gallon last May. The average price in Missouri was $2.98 and $2.95 in the Joplin-area, but Right said fuel prices typically hit their highest point in the spring when oil producers switch from winter to spring fuel, so the worst could still be on its way.
Local News
<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/business.gif " Border=0> 3:56 p.m. Missouri one of two states with gasoline under $3 a gallon
- Local News
-
-
City wants to buy weather radios for those without
Phil Jones had been working on a construction project outside his house all day on May 22 and was unaware that a tornado watch had been issued. Once he was inside, though, his weather radio went off, and he learned that a warning had been issued.
-
Architects present preliminary JHS plans at community meeting
Reaction appeared mostly supportive Thursday night among the roughly 50 people who attended a community meeting at which architects presented their preliminary site plans for the future combined Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center.
-
Confessed shooter testifies against co-defendants in Pittsburg murder case
Rickey Smith testified Thursday that as he came in the back door of Ryan Bailey’s home in Pittsburg with a 9 mm pistol in his hand, Bailey looked up from the couch in his living room.
-
School district’s proposed street-closing plan questioned
Plans to close some streets near the proposed Joplin High School drew questions, including a challenge from a former Joplin mayor, during a public hearing this week.
-
Neosho council approves new golf cart contract
The purchase of golf carts was back on the agenda this week for the Neosho City Council. City Attorney Steve Hays said there were errors in the financing terms that were part of a bid approved last month for the purchase of 55 gas-powered carts from E-Z-Go for $144,195, so the purchase of a new fleet was rebid.
-
Mike Pound: Spirit of competition evident during double-overtime game
When I played basketball in high school, I played in several very close games.
Now, some people who may have known me in high school are probably laughing right now and saying, “What Mike meant to say is that when he was in high school, he came very close to playing in some games.” -
Mo. optometrist filed $40 million refund claim
A southwest Missouri optometrist who filed a tax return claiming a $40 million refund has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison.
-
Okla. receives waiver from No Child Left Behind
Oklahoma’s top education official reacted with glee Thursday with the announcement that the state is one of 10 states being granted a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law that requires students be proficient in reading and math by 2014 — but focused on getting students to “just pass the tests.”
-
Kan. House approves bipartisan redistricting bill
Power in the Kansas House is likely to shift next year from rural parts of the state to the Kansas City area after members overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill Thursday for redrawing their districts.
-
Fugitive in 1993 British heist arrested in Ozark
A man suspected of stealing about $1.5 million from a security van in England in 1993 has been arrested in southwest Missouri.
- More Local News Headlines
-






