We were impressed when we heard that Chuck Scarborough, main anchor since 1974 of New York City's WNBC-4's Live at 5 (he's also an author and aviator, and a 28-Emmy award winner, and co-anchor with Sue Simmons of the 6PM and 11PM news), wanted to come to San Francisco for the sole purpose of seeing our PRIUS+ and learning more about CalCars. (We urged him to visit EDrive, but he couldn't spare two days.)

He came out July 21. His 6-minute story aired in New York Monday night, and was then broadcast on the MSNBC network as well. It's more than a simple news report; it's a highly-produced segment (i.e., includes related footage, etc.). In addition to Tech Lead Ron Gremban and me, Scarborough also interviews PHEV advocate Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., founder and president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., who was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy under Pres. Reagan.

http://msnbc.msn.com/­id/­8930811/­ scroll down to the pop-up link, sit through a brief ad for "The New Hybrid" If you're on Windows, it may require you to use Internet Explorer rather than Firefox or Netscape browsers. MSN Video does not support Macintosh. Next week, we hope we'll have a version for you to see at http://www.calcars.org/­kudos.html

Flexible-fuel plug-in hybrids again led the list of top priority items for American energy policy at today's second Oil Shockwave simulation event, this one in Torrance, in Southern CA (see http://www.secure
energy.org/shockwave_overview.php and http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/­group/­calcars-news/­message/­76 for info on the first one in June in Washington, presented by Securing America's Future Energy and the National Commission on Energy Policy

The first Washingtonians to get rides in EDrive's converted Prius were scenario participants:

• Securing America's Future Energy founder Robbie Diamond
• James Woolsey, former CIA Director and Co-Chair with George Schultz of the Committee on the Present Danger (Schultz drove CalCars' PRIUS+ last week)
• Rand Beers, President of the Coalition for American Leadership and Security, former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Combating Terrorism on the National Security Staff from 2002-2003 and later national security advisor for the Kerry Edwards Campaign

Rep. Jane Harman, who represents the 36th Congressional District (the Los Angeles County coast from Venice to San Pedro), Ranking Member on the Intelligence Committee and Member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, sponsored the event; she got an introduction to the car, a raincheck for a ride, and spoke very enthusiastically about the need for new federal programs to encourage plug-in hybrids.

Other scenario participants who spoke favorably about PHEVs were:

• Matt Peterson, President and CEO of Global Green USA
• Mary Nichols, director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment, just appointed to the Board of LA Department of Water and Power, and former US Environmental Protection Agency, former chair of the California Air Resources Board

Scenario participants who got a good introduction to PHEVs were:

• Pete Wilson, former CA Governor and US Senator
• Robert E. Grady, Managing Parnter, Carlyle Venture Partners and former Deputy Assistant to President George Bush
• Dr. Steven Spiegel, Director of the UCLA burkle Center Mideast Regional Security Program.

Media inquiries, articles and broadcasts are continuing to grow (sorry if we're behind in answering email)...