Imagine a compact turbocharged hatchback with 285 horsepower, American muscle Dodge looks and a price tag under $23,000. You'd be thinking of the all-new 2008 Caliber SRT4.The exterior design portrays an aggressive attitude, but the menacing appearance is not just window-dressing, the styling is functional. The beefy look of this compact is designed to functionally handle the prowess of the Caliber SRT4.The SRT4 houses the "World Engine" built in Dundee, Mich., at the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance plant, co-developed by Chrysler, Hyundai and Mitsubishi.Under the hood is an all-new 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that puts out an incredible 265 lb.-ft. of torque at 2,000 rpm. Coupled to a Getrag six-speed manual transmission the turbocharged four delivers 285 horsepower at 5,700 rpm.

Security Practicum: Essential Home Wireless Security Practices

802.11b networks are proliferating like mad. Even though faster wireless networks are now available, 802.11b offers users what they want at a reasonably low price. While the high throughput of other technologies is attractive to large Local Area Networks (LANs) and people wanting to use wireless for high-end home entertainment purposes, 802.11b's 11Mbit/sec is more than enough to hook up a handful of clients in your home to the Wide Area Network (WAN), which in most cases is simply the Internet.

However, as we have seen in War Flying San Diego and War Flying Silicon Valley, many users are not taking adequate steps to secure their 802.11b networks. This guide is going to give a practical overview of the methods you can use to lock down your network as tightly as possible without purchasing additional software or setting up Virtual Private Network (VPN) support.

The state of the union for iPhone apps

There's also a Search program, for searching your calendar and contacts. A web search front-end, which greatly simplifies searching various web sites: instead of having to load the site, find its search engine, and then entering your search, you run WebSearch, pick the site to search (you can customize the list), and enter the search term in a pop-up window. WebSearch then sends the search request to the chosen site, and loads Safari to display the results. Much faster.

There's a dictionary application with a number of different dictionaries, encyclopedias, and thesauri; CameraPro adds more features (burst mode, self timer, silent shutter, digital zoom, auto rotation) to the iPhone's camera; there's even an app that does nothing more than add a Contacts icon to your iPhone's screen—without this, you have to go through the Phone interface to browse your contacts.

Veteran, Reservist Small Business Bill Signed

For our country's 24 million veterans and 1.1 million reservists President Bush's signature on this hard fought piece of legislation is more than just ink on a piece of paper, it means they will have access to real tools to help them start or grow a small business," said Senator Kerry. "Our veterans who put their lives on the line for our national security deserve economic opportunity when they come home, and this bipartisan achievement is one small way we can repay them for their hard work and sacrifice."Specifically, the legislation signed by the President will:-- Increase the authorization of appropriations for the Small Business Administration's Office of Veteran Business Development;-- Create an Interagency Taskforce on Veteran Small Business to focus on increasing veterans' small business success, procurement and franchising opportunities, and access to capital;-- Make permanent the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs;-- Allow the SBA Administrator to offer loans up to $50,000 without requiring collateral from a loan applicant;-- Improve the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan program by providing a longer application deadline; creating a pre-deployment loan approval process; expanding outreach and technical assistance;-- Require a Government Accountability Office report on the needs of service-disabled veterans and a separate report on how to improve relations between employers and reservist employees;-- Create a loan participation program in which veterans can receive 7(a) loans while paying 50 percent of the fees;-- Require Veteran Business Outreach Centers to increase their participation in the Transition Assistance Program;-- Create a grant program to improve Small Business Development Centers' outreach to the veteran community; and-- Require the Office of Veterans Business Development to create and disseminate information aimed at informing women veterans about the resources available to them.

Daily Report

Poll: Most say ethics session was a success Daily Report readers say the recently concluded special session on ethics reform was a success. Forty-nine percent of the people who responded to an online survey say the Legislature enacted some much needed reforms that were pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. Thirty-eight percent say the session wasn't a success because the ethics measures didn't go far enough, while 13% say they didn't know. More than 1,325 people participated in the survey. Louisiana has already shot up to the top of Center for Public Integrity's list of the states with the best financial disclosures for officials.

Concealed carry law should be very limited

Ms. Pettie's letter advocating a concealed carry gun law (``NIU shooting shows need for concealed carry law,'' YourViews Feb. 21) offered a few valid points, as do most letters on either side of this debate. I won't argue too hard against her opinions because I share some of them.At the risk of alienating 50 percent of my friends, I offer my own thoughts:A person who cares not if they live or die will not be deterred by an armed population. If they are so sick that they don't care about taking precious human life, then no law or lack thereof will stop them.Any person who plans such a heinous crime in advance will have the element of surprise on their side and will have great advantage against their victims.If you ``get the drop'' on someone you will win the fight. Ask any law enforcement official or military veteran.Besides, most of these sorry souls take their own lives soon after their carnage is complete.Unless a person has extensive training in the use of firearms via law enforcement or military experience, they have no idea how to react to such a situation and should not be carrying a weapon.Imagine this: If 10 of those students or professors in the room at Northern Illinois University were armed when the gunman attacked, is it too far fetched to think that in the confusion and panic that some of those 10 armed citizens would have begun to fire their weapons and that some of those who began to fire might mistake those who are firing as attackers?I have come to believe that the only private citizens who could possibly be qualified to carry guns are current or retired law enforcement and military personnel and they should all have to pass established mental health requirements on a yearly basis.Russ ManuelHudson .

International Women’s Week examining migration and borders

Tickets for the Vagina Monologues cost $6.00 and are available at the door.

A free concert presented by Amelia Rising featuring EVE-olution on Saturday, March 8 at Algonquin Ecole Secondarie at 7 p.m.