Cash-Strapped Cities Ditch Fireworks

Some 50 US cities are so strapped for money that they're ditching their July 4th fireworks displays, reports the Los Angeles Times. "It came down to this: Did we want to spend $150,000 on something that would be over in a few hours?" asked the mayor of a small Ohio town. "Or did we want to use that money to keep city workers employed?" The move is hitting many residents hard.

"Good times, bad times, there's always been fireworks," said an unemployed worker who heads the now-fizzled fireworks committee in Abington, Mass. "This is one more blow in a year of blow after blow,"

(More fireworks stories.)