As Back-To-School Shopping Begins, Consumers May Turn Frugal

As August begins, retailers are stepping up sales promotions to attract back-to-school shoppers. And several states are offering tax-free shopping to encourage purchases.

But most economists say this year's sales will be slower than last summer's because consumers have been coping with more expensive gasoline and higher payroll taxes.

"This year's back-to-school shopping season appears slightly weaker than last year," economist Chris Christopher, with IHS Global Insight, said of the retail period that ranks second only to the holiday shopping season.

To get consumers in the mood to shop, many retailers started back-to-school advertising and sale pricing weeks ago. The data aren't in yet to show the final impact of those early promotions on July sales.

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/01/205809594/as-back-to-school-shopping-begins-consumers-may-turn-frugal

August 1, 1801 – The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca, Tripoli

The Action of 1 August 1801 was a single-ship action of the First Barbary War fought between the American schooner USS Enterprise and the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli off the coast of modern-day Libya.

As part of Commodore Richard Dale's Mediterranean Squadron, Enterprise had been deployed with the American force blockading the Vilayet of Tripoli. Enterprise, under the command of Lieutenant Andrew Sterett, had been sent by Commodore Dale to gather supplies at Malta. While cruising towards Malta, Enterprise engaged the Tripoli, commanded by Admiral Rais Mahomet Rous. Tripoli put up a stubborn fight, and the engagement lasted for three hours before the polacca was finally captured by the Americans.

Although the Americans had taken the vessel, Sterett had no orders to take prizes and so was obliged to release her. Enterprise completed her journey to Malta, and received honor and praise from the squadron's Commodore on her return to the fleet. The success of the battle boosted morale in the United States, since it was that country's first victory in the war against the Tripolitans. The opposite occurred in Tripoli, where morale sank heavily upon learning of Tripoli's defeat. Despite Enterprise's triumph, the war continued indecisively for another four years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_1_August_1801

August 1, 1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.

Colorado (i/kɒləˈrædoʊ/,[6]) is a U.S. state encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, and the Mountain States. Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 22nd most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,187,582 on July 1, 2012, an increase of +3.15% since the 2010 United States Census.[1]

The state was named for the Colorado River, which early Spanish explorers named the Río Colorado for the red colored (Spanish: colorado) silt the river carried from the mountains. On August 1, 1876, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as the 38th state. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it was admitted to the Union in 1876, the centennial year of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Colorado is bordered by the northwest state of Wyoming to the north, the Midwest states of Nebraska and Kansas to the northeast and east, on the south by New Mexico and Oklahoma, on the west by Utah, and Arizona to the southwest. The four states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona meet at one common point known as the Four Corners, which is known as the heart of the American Southwest.

Colorado is noted for its vivid landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers, and desert lands.

Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado. Residents of the state are properly known as "Coloradans", although the term "Coloradoan" is still used

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado

August 1: India Pale Ale Day

U-Gas adding solar power at Wentzville stations

Syndicated Solar is adding solar panel systems to two of U-Gas’s 20 locations. Plans are in the works for additional solar power systems to be installed in several more U-Gas gas station facilities in the near future.

The first project was completed in February at the U-Gas at 1235 Wentzville Parkway. A second installation is planned in mid-August at the U-Gas at 1197 Highway Z in Wentzville.

U-Gas expects to save thousands of dollars over time through gained energy efficiency, rebates from Ameren, and federal solar power grants or tax credits. These incentives are calculated to offset U-Gas’s initial solar power system investment by 80 percent.

The U-Gas Wentzville location has a system investment of $103,709 and is a 24.99 kW system size. With the Ameren rebate of $49,980 and federal solar tax credits totaling $31,113, the total net system investment, after the rebates and grants, is $22,616.

http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/news/u-gas-adding-solar-power-at-wentzville-stations/article_6cbd81e9-6318-5b85-9f7f-d555198a5abb.html