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CBS News
27-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Michigan gas prices inch up 3 cents a gallon from last week
Michigan's gas prices inched up slightly this week, with motorists paying an average 3 cents more for a gallon of unleaded regular gas. AAA-The Auto Club provided that information in its weekly gas price report issued Tuesday. The state average is now $3.20 a gallon, which is 16 cents more than this time last month but still 46 cents less than this time last year. "Drivers in Michigan saw higher prices at the pump over Memorial Day weekend," said Adrienne Woodland, spokesperson, AAA-The Auto Club Group. Metro Detroit's current average is $3.16 per gallon, about 5 cents more than last week's average but still 47 cents less than this same time last year. Benton Harbor, Lansing and Grand Rapids have the highest average gas prices in Michigan this week; Traverse City, Marquette and Metro Detroit have the lowest.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Auto Club: SoCal gas prices dip ahead of Memorial Day weekend
Southern California drivers are seeing some relief at the pump just in time for Memorial Day weekend, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's latest Weekend Gas Watch. The latest report, published on Thursday, shows that gas prices dipped despite earlier reports that Californians wouldn't see relief at the pump during the holiday weekend. 'Southern Californians will be paying the lowest pump prices since 2021 to fill up for their Memorial Day getaways, which they will be taking in record numbers,' Auto Club spokesperson Doug Shupe said in a statement. 'Gas prices are backing off from a price spike earlier this month caused by a Northern California refinery fire and some unplanned refinery outages. According to Oil Price Information Service, those supply issues have been resolved, and refineries have increased their gasoline production.' Southern California AAA shares the best times to travel ahead of Memorial Day weekend In the Los Angeles-Long Beach region, prices dipped by two cents to $4.80 per gallon, while San Diego drivers are also paying $4.80, down three cents from last week. The Central Coast saw the biggest weekly decline, with average prices falling seven cents to $4.72 per gallon — a 45-cent drop from last year. Riverside drivers now pay an average of $4.66 per gallon, three cents less than last week and 38 cents below 2024 prices. In Bakersfield, the average is $4.73, a two-cent decrease from last week and 46 cents below last year's figure. As of Friday morning, the average price of gasoline in California stands at $4.84, while the national average is $3.19. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Los Angeles Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
5 fascinating facts about motels, from murders and movies to Magic Fingers
Life, death, crime, kitsch, nostalgia, immigrant aspirations and witty design — all of these elements converge in the world of motels, which didn't exist before 1925. Here are five facts and phenomena from the century of history. From the late 1950s into the '80s, thousands of motels proudly advertised their Magic Fingers — a little collection of vibrating electric nodes under your mattress that would give you a 15-minute 'massage' for 25 cents, inspiring creators from Kurt Vonnegut to Frank Zappa. Alas, their moment passed. But not everywhere. Morro Bay's Sundown Inn, which gets two diamonds from the Auto Club and charges about $70 and up per night, is one of the last motels in the West that still features working Magic Fingers, offered (at the original price) in most of its 17 rooms. 'We've owned the hotel for 41 years, and the Magic Fingers was here when we started. We just kept them,' said co-owner Ann Lin. Ann's mother- and father-in-law immigrated from Taiwan and bought the property in 1983. Many motels and small hotels are longtime family operations. Sometimes it's the original owner's family, and quite often it's a family named Patel with roots in India's Gujarat state. A recent study by the Asian American Hotel Owners Assn. found that 60% of U.S. hotels — and 61% of those in California — are owned by Asian Americans. By one estimate, people named Patel own 80% to 90% of the motels in small-town America. The beginnings of this trend aren't certain, but many believe that one of the first Indians to acquire a hotel in the U.S. was Kanjibhai Desai, buyer of the Goldfield Hotel in downtown San Francisco in the early 1940s. There's no escaping the motel in American pop culture. Humbert Humbert, the deeply creepy narrator of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel 'Lolita,' road-tripped from motel to motel with his under-age victim. Edward Hopper gave us the disquieting 1957 oil painting 'Western Motel.' In the film 'Psycho' (1960), Alfred Hitchcock brought to life the murderous motel manager Norman Bates. When Frank Zappa made a movie about the squalid misadventures of a rock band on tour, he called it '200 Motels' (1971). When the writers of TV's 'Schitt's Creek' (2015-2020) wanted to disrupt a rich, cosmopolitan family, they came up with the Rosebud Motel and its blue brick interior walls. And when executives at A&E went looking for a true-crime series in 2024, they came up with 'Murder at the Motel,' which covered a killing at a different motel in every episode. The 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made the Lorraine Motel in Memphis globally notorious. But before and after that day, the Lorraine played a very different role. Built as a small hotel in 1925 and segregated in its early years, the property sold to Black businessman Walter Bailey in 1945. He expanded it to become a motel, attracting many prominent African American guests. In the 1950s and '60s, the Lorraine was known for housing guests such as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Roy Campanella, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Aretha Franklin, Lionel Hampton, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and the Staples Singers. After King's assassination, the motel struggled, closed, then reemerged in 1991 as the National Civil Rights Museum, now widely praised. Guests follow civil rights history through the building, ending at Room 306 and its balcony where King was standing when he was shot. In 1980, a Colorado motel owner named Gerald Foos confided to journalist Gay Talese that he had installed fake ceiling vents in the Manor House Motel in Aurora, Colo., and for years had been peeping from the attic at guests in bed. The man had started this in the 1960s and continued into the '90s. Finally, in 2016, Talese spun the story into a New Yorker article and a book, 'The Voyeur's Motel,' sparking many charges that he had violated journalistic ethics.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Michigan gas prices drop 15 cents a gallon ahead of Memorial Day travel surge
In the ups and downs of Michigan gas prices, this week they were down 15 cents a gallon, offering some much-desired relief at the pump for drivers concerned about inflation and recession warnings. "Michigan drivers are seeing lower prices at the pump this week," said Adrienne Woodland, a spokeswoman for the Auto Club. "If demand stays low, alongside increasing gasoline stocks, motorists could continue to see gas prices decline." Michiganders were paying an average of $3.06 a gallon on Sunday for regular unleaded, according to AAA. That was 6 cents a gallon less than a month ago and 59 cents less than a year ago. In Michigan, the cities with the least expensive gas price averages were in Traverse City, $2.94 a gallon; Jackson, $2.95 and Flint, $2.98; and the most, in metro Detroit, $3.09; Marquette, $3.10, and Ann Arbor, $3.11. The lower gas prices track with lower crude oil prices. However, in terms of economic benefits, the two may offset each other. Lower gas prices mean people are saving a few dollars and likely pay slightly less in the transportation costs of goods. The low oil prices will mean oil producers likely will be curbing spending and hiring, which would have a negative ripple effect on the economy. What's more, gas prices also are nowhere near President Donald Trump's repeated, misleading claims of $1.98 a gallon — which is closer to what could be considered a wholesale price, a portion of the retail price — not what Americans are paying at the pump. More: Gas in Michigan jumps 17 cents a gallon in a week, despite falling oil prices Whether gas prices will continue to decline or edge up closer to Memorial Day likely depends on oil prices and demand. Gasoline demand had decreased from 9.09 million barrels a day to 8.71 million barrels a day. Total domestic gasoline supply slightly increased from 225.5 million barrels to 225.7 million, according to the Energy Information Administration. West Texas Intermediate, a grade of crude oil and one of the pricing benchmarks, has been trading below $60 a barrel, down from about $85 a barrel a year ago. Lower oil prices, combined with a slumping economy, often lead to reduced production. AAA expects 1.3 million Michiganders will travel at least 50 miles from home during Memorial Day weekend, most of them by car, which would be an increase of 37,000 compared to last year — and the second highest on record. Of those, 1.2 million will be going by car and 70,000 by plane. Debbie Haas, a AAA vice president, said despite uncertainty, travel is a priority. Nationally, AAA predicts more than 45 million will be traveling during the holiday weekend, which usually starts on Thursday and ends Monday, a day off from work for many. The overwhelming majority of travelers, 39.4 million, are expected to drive. On Sunday, the average national gas price was $3.14 a gallon. The lowest state average for gas was $2.63 a gallon in Mississippi and the highest, $4.89 in California. However a report by a University of Southern California professor is forecasting it could reach $8 a gallon by 2026, based on the upcoming closures of regional refineries. Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan gas prices drop ahead of Memorial Day weekend travel surge
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Gas in California is $1.65 more than the national average. See the rise in gas prices
Near-record low inventories and a refinery fire in northern California at the start of February have led to an increase in gas prices in Southern California, according to the Auto Club's Weekend Gas Watch. 'California refinery production of gasoline was already low when a major fire at the Martinez PBF refinery on Feb. 1 took it offline indefinitely, creating a surge in wholesale gasoline prices,' said Auto Club spokesperson Doug Shupe in the news release. 'Although Southern California does not receive gasoline from the affected refinery, some supply from our area may be shifting to cover shortfalls in Northern California, which is experiencing even steeper pump price increases.' These factors have caused Southern California's average gas prices to increase by more than two cents a day over the past week in most areas, said the auto club's gas watch. But the increase in gas prices isn't just being felt in California. Arizona has also seen prices creep up partially due to the fire at Martinez Refining Company in Contra Costa County as well, the Arizona Republic reported. The average gas price in California is $4.82 on Friday at 10 a.m., according to AAA's fuel prices. That's about a 27-cent increase from a week ago and a 44-cent increase from a month ago. Last year, the average cost of gas in California was $4.63. The auto club's gas watch compiled the average gas price for select California areas. See the average price of gas throughout California as of 9 a.m. on Thursday: San Diego: $4.76, a 16-cent increase from a week ago Ventura: $4.76, a 14-cent increase from a week ago Los Angeles-Long Beach: $4.75, a 16-cent increase from a week ago Orange County: $4.73, a 18-cent increase from a week ago Santa Barbara: $4.71, a 15-cent increase from a week ago San Bernardino: $4.63, a 17-cent increase from a week ago Riverside: $4.62, a 17-cent increase from a week ago Bakersfield: $4.61, a 23-cent increase from a week ago The average cost of gas nationally is about $3.17 as of Friday at 10 a.m., according to AAA fuel prices. It's about three cents higher than a week ago and $1.65 less than California's average. GasBuddy is one option if you're looking for more affordable gas near you. According to GasBuddy, gas is less than $3.80 at various gas stations across the state, from San Jacinto in Southern California to Lemoore in central California. You can search by major areas or counties to see where users find lower gas prices. For example, one user recorded that gas was $3.89 at the Horizon Fuel Center in Valley Center in San Diego County. Paris Barraza is a trending reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at pbarraza@ This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: How much did gas prices go up in California? See the average cost
