Ny Safidinao

Raleigh, N.C. — New rankings of the states and major cities with the most adults volunteering place both North Carolina and the Triangle metro area in the bottom third of their respective categories. North Carolina's volunteer rate of 27.3 percent ranked 32nd among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., while the Triangle's rate of 26.7 percent garnered the 35th spot among the country's 50 largest metropolitan areas. The Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal agency, released a study of volunteerism from 2002 to 2007. The rankings count the volunteer rate from 2007. The average 225.7 million hours put in annually by North Carolina's 1.8 million volunteers, though, add up: to an estimated economic contribution $4.4 billion. The Triangle's 223,000 volunteers contribute an average of $516 million to the economy by donating 25.4 million hours, on average, each year. Religious groups received the greatest share of hours from North Carolina vo

WASHINGTON — John McCain and Barack Obama are approaching August birthdays that will highlight the biggest-ever age gap between major American presidential candidates. Obama will be 47 on Aug. 4. McCain will be 72 on Aug. 29. Their 25-year gap, and the questions it inherently raises about experience and vitality, is part of a powerful generational subtext of the 2008 campaign. This is the first presidential contest to substantially involve the emerging "millennials," a generation that some political and social scientists predict will be the most politically active and powerful of any since the "GI Generation" that won World War II. McCain comes from what social scientists call the "Silent Generation," those tucked between the "GI Generation" and the baby boomers that followed the war. McCain's generation fought in Korea and Vietnam and has been split over baby boomer politics since the 1960s. FIND MORE STORIES IN: George W Bush | Europe | Mid

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it is raising the U.S. suggested retail price of its Prius hybrid by $500 for the 2009 model. The new price is a 2.2 percent increase over the current models. Prices will range from $22,000 for the standard Prius to $24,270 for a touring model, the company's U.S. sales unit said. Bill Kwong, spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., said the growing cost of commodities is the main reason behind the increases. He ticked off a list of commodities-based raw materials that have seen a price run-up in the last year. "Almost everything is made out of petroleum," he said. "Rubber, plastic, transportation (costs), glass, things like that." "We try to absorb the costs by making things more efficient and cutting back where we could, but we also don't want to cheat the customer on the quality of the product," he said. U.S. Prius sales have recently declined because the company has been unable to keep up with demand as gas price