Ford launches biggest SUV ever DETROIT (AP) - Environmental groups are already using Ford Motor Co.'s newest sport utility vehicle as the poster truck for their anti-SUV campaign - and it won't be in showrooms for months. The Sierra Club has dubbed the 19-foot, gasoline-thirsty SUV a "suburban assault vehicle" that "will guzzle enough gas to make Saddam Hussein smile." The organization even ran a contest to give the big truck a name and advertising slogan. The winner: "The Ford Valdez. Have you driven a tanker lately?" The nine-seat, 3.5-ton Ford Excursion is nearly a foot longer than the current biggest SUV, the Chevrolet/GMC Suburban, which will be the Excursion's primary competition when it goes on sale next fall as a 2000 model. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558585142-e4a> Lawsuit focuses on turtle deaths HONOLULU (AP) - The National Marine Fisheries Service is fostering the extinction of endangered sea turtles by allowing them to die on hooks baited for Pacific swordfish, according to a federal lawsuit. The fisheries service is violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing the turtle deaths and other laws by failing to accurately assess fishing's impact on turtle populations, according the lawsuit filed Wednesday. The action by the Center for Marine Conservation and the Turtle Island Restoration Network wants the federal agency to take whatever action is necessary to save the turtles from extinction. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558587986-807>
