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What would it take to get you into an electric car today? Forced by state regulators to sell more zero-emission vehicles, automakers are tripping over each other to offer consumers rock-bottom lease deals. For the first time, electric vehicles are penciling out cheaper than their gas-powered counterparts. Honda joined the price war this week by dropping the lease on its Fit EV from $389 to $259 a month. It threw in collision and vehicle theft coverage, maintenance, roadside assistance - even a charging station at your house.

When Walt Arfons first strapped a jet engine onto a hot rod, experts thought the car would melt, explode or spin wildly out of control. They were wrong. Working in his family's old feed mill and hardware store on Pickle Road in Akron, Ohio, Arfons in the late 1950s created the world's first jet dragster. In 1963, he built the Wingfoot Express, a sleek jet-powered race car that hit an average speed of 413.2 mph and became the fastest vehicle on Earth - for three days. That's when Art Arfons, Walt's half-brother and longtime bitter rival, hauled his own jet-powered race car onto Utah's desolate Bonneville Salt Flats and, whipping along at 434.03 mph, snagged the record.

Nevada State Sen. Don Gustavson knows how long and boring some of those drives across the Silver State can be. So he wants to speed things up a bit. On Monday, he introduced a bill that paves the way for Nevada to increase the maximum speed limit to 85 mph in those areas where state transportation officials determine that speed is safe. If enacted, the new speed limit would match the one in Texas for the nation's fastest. “I drive on rural roads a lot here in northern Nevada -- my district is huge,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

A fastball that touches 96 mph combined with pinpoint control could lead to right-hander Phil Bickford of Westlake Village Oaks Christian becoming a top-10 selection when the first 73 picks of Major League Baseball's amateur draft are made Thursday in Secaucus, N.J. Rounds 3 through 10 will take place Friday, followed by Rounds 11 through 40 on Saturday. The draft begins at 4 p.m. PDT. The Houston Astros have the No. 1 pick, followed by the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies. The Dodgers have the 18th pick; the Angels' first choice comes at No. 59. The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Bickford has momentum entering the draft after striking out 18 batters, including 11 in a row, Saturday night when Oaks Christian won the Southern Section Division 4 championship with a 4-0 victory over Pico Rivera El Rancho.

Lumbering Hurricane Isaac's speed dropped to 7 mph by midnight Tuesday but maintained its 80-mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said.  The 350-mile-wide Category 1 storm came ashore  in southeastern Louisiana at 6:45 p.m., moving northwest. Its slow speed means it is likely to hover over at least three states -- Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama -- dumping rain for days. "Isaac [is] moving slowly along the coast of southeast Louisiana and producing a dangerous storm surge," the hurricane center said.

The National Weather Service has extended wind warnings into Tuesday morning, warning of gusts topping 80 mph. The winds have reduced visibility in desert areas because of dust, and there have been reports of scattered power outages, including in Ventura County and the Palm Springs area. Fire officials were responding to a small brush fire in Saugus near Bouquet Canyon Road and Esquerra Road . A SigAlert was issued on California 14 in Rosamond in Kern County because blowing dust was causing low visibility.

Brittany Force put aside her first-day stumble and made a successful debut run in the NHRA's top-fuel division Friday in Pomona. The 26-year-old daughter of drag-racing legend John Force raced down the 1,000-foot drag strip in 3.845 seconds at a speed of 293.22 mph in the second day of qualifying at the National Hot Rod Assn.'s season-opening Winternationals. "Got it down the track," a smiling and no doubt relieved Brittany Force said after she climbed out of her dragster on a balmy day at Auto Club Raceway.

While driving through Missouri and Kansas on a cross-country trip, I noticed that the truck drivers were obeying the 55 m.p.h. speed limit. I discovered that I could set my cruise control to 55 m.p.h. and have little fear of being tailgated. I also discovered that I passed more trucks than trucks passed me. Perhaps Missouri and Kansas have discovered that if they enforce the speed limit for truck drivers, more of the other drivers would find it safe to obey the speed limit. As it is now, I don't feel safe driving California freeways at 55 m.p.h.

So now the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans want to increase the speed limits! So what's the big deal? Ninety percent of all freeway motorists drive over 55 anyway and the Highway Patrol is unable to control this current speed limit, so the only solution is to turn them loose. Forget the fact that records prove 2,000 to 4,000 lives were saved each year, and more than 167,000 barrels of oil were also saved every day under the 55-m.p.h. limit. The strong advocates of a higher speed limit and their lobbyists apparently have decided this was the time to force the issue.

If you want to feel like a goodwill ambassador, take a street-legal golf cart for a spin. You'll get plenty of waves, smiles and ride-along offers from wannabe passengers. You'll also get lots of incredulous stares, questions and requests from concerned friends that you call them upon arriving home. At least that was my experience in the week I commuted to work in the Club Car Villager 2+2. The four-passenger Villager is the first consumer-oriented low-speed vehicle, or LSV, from Club Car, the world's largest manufacturer of small, plug-in electric vehicles.

The National Weather Service upgraded the power of the tornado that cut through Oklahoma on Monday, saying it had carried wind stronger than 200 miles an hour in some areas. The agency said on its website Tuesday that its damage survey teams had looked at the path of the tornado and had given it a preliminary rating of EF-5, the top designation. The agency originally gave the storm, which has claimed at least 24 lives, a preliminary rating of EF-4 as measured on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

About 30,000 commuters in Connecticut and New York braced for a sluggish trek to work on Monday -- and for the rest of the week -- as officials continued to investigate why two trains slammed into each other in Bridgeport, Conn., on Friday evening. An eastbound Metro-North commuter train derailed and struck a westbound train, injuring at least 76 people. National Transportation Safety Board officials said Sunday the trains appeared to have been traveling 70 mph right before the collisions, which is in compliance with the speed limit in that area.  One victim remained in critical condition Sunday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said at a news conference.

Several drivers neared the 230-mph mark Friday on the eve of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. E.J. Viso, a Venezuelan driving for the Andretti Autosport team, ran the fastest lap of 229.537 mph at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway before afternoon rain shortened the practice session. Next fastest were his teammates Marco Andretti at 228.754 mph and rookie Carlos Munoz at 228.520 mph. Australian Will Power, Californian J.R. Hildebrand and five other drivers each topped 227 mph. Qualifying to determine the pole-sitter for the May 26 race, along with the next 23 spots in the 33-car field, is scheduled Saturday.

Now in their sixth day of practice, drivers preparing for the Indianapolis 500 are turning laps in excess of 220 mph at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Memorial Day weekend classic is May 26, and qualifying to set the 33-car field is this weekend. J.R. Hildebrand of Sausalito topped the speed charts early in Thursday's practice with a lap of 224.075 mph around the 2.5-mile speedway. Hildebrand nearly won the Indy 500 in 2011 but crashed on the final lap. He was followed Thursday by reigning Izod IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay at 223.899 mph and A.J. Allmendinger at 223.378 mph. Conor Daly, a 21-year-old rookie driving for A.J. Foyt's team, crashed during the session but was unhurt.

Swing, batter, batter! In less time than it takes to say that phrase, Major League Baseball sluggers have their bat across the plate, and the best of them are golfing the shot over the outfield wall. How does the brain "know" when to swing? Researchers at UC Berkeley believe they've found the internal architecture that lets a batter get ahead of the fastball, and allows the rest of us to pour a beer and find our seat in the stands. They pinpointed a region of the brain's middle temporal complex that can "predict" spatial position ahead of its actual location in the real world.

A lightning-quick experimental aircraft made history when it sped more than 3,000 mph above the Pacific Ocean in a test flight, reigniting decades-long efforts to develop a vehicle that could travel faster than a speeding bullet. The unmanned X-51A WaveRider, which resembles a shark-nosed missile, was launched midair Wednesday off the coast near Point Mugu. It sped westward for 240 seconds, reaching Mach 5.1, or more than five times the speed of sound, before plunging into the ocean as planned.

ST. LOUIS - The Budweiser was flowing all over town. The champagne was on ice in the clubhouse. The St. Louis Cardinals were one victory from the World Series, and all that stood between them and a wild civic celebration was a pitcher a decade removed from his glory days. Barry William Zito could not reach back for a 94 mph-fastball. He is not equipped with those any more. But he could reach back into his memory for a double shot of confidence and precision, and that was good enough to breathe new life into the San Francisco Giants.

The tires on Vaughn Gittin Jr.'s Ford Mustang are shrieking as he jerks his car sideways at nearly 90 mph on this serpentine race track in Long Beach. Walls are closing in on either side, leaving no room for mistakes. As the next turn nears, Gittin pumps the clutch and yanks a neon green hand brake. The rear wheels lose traction, sending the car into a power slide and unleashing a torrent of smoke into the packed grandstands. The move brings nearly 15,000 spectators to their feet.