--Captain Huey Thornton has issued a reminder concerning the use and sale of fireworks for the 4th of July weekend. Police will be in full force over the Independence Day holidays to enforce laws and ordinances concerning fireworks.

--While industry sales reports will have many car manufacturers reaching for antacids today, Hyundai employees will be enjoying ice cream and cake after the company had U.S. sales of 50,000 vehicles in one month. Overall, U.S. car sales fell 18.3 percent, according to Autodata Corp. It was the worst June for the industry in 17 years, said Jesse Torpak, chief industry analyst for auto information site Edmunds.com.

--Governor Bob Riley and Department of Human Resources Commissioner Page Walley today announced that the state will receive a $1.7 million bonus from the federal government for the superior performance of Alabama’s Food Stamp Program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the nation’s food assistance programs and is awarding the bonus, has released performance ratings for 2007 that show Alabama’s negative error rate among the four lowest in the nation.