A small but growing number of Bolivians are trading their fossil fuel-powered vehicles for electric ones. This comes as fuel costs in Bolivia have doubled after subsidies ended under President Rodrigo Paz. The country has faced fuel shortages with long lines at gas stations and complaints about poor quality gasoline. Electric vehicle numbers have surged from 500 to 3,352 in five years. They are mostly imported from China. Experts predict this trend will continue and will create new opportunities for electricians and mechanics.

Cuba's pocket-size government ration book has been circulating for more than six decades. It once offered a bounty of products that have dwindled as the island's economic crises deepen. A growing number of Cubans depend on state grocery stores in the socialist country of nearly 10 million people. But the shelves remain largely empty in the state stores that have been diminished by a lack of government resources. Cuba imports up to 80% of its food and prices have soared for basic goods that increasingly are sold in U.S. dollars. Ration books are shrinking quickly as Cubans struggle to subsist on meager salaries and pensions.

President Donald Trump has taken a shine to the government taking stakes in the private sector. But his administration took a pass on bailing out troubled Spirit Airlines. The discount carrier ceased operations Saturday. Trump had said the government was interested in a stake in the carrier “if it's a good deal.” Under Trump, the government earlier invested in Intel and U.S. Steel and had made other deals that go against the traditional Republican position about Washington picking winners and losers. Critics say Trump's deals reflect his transactional nature. Others see some logic in competing against heavily subsidized Chinese manufacturers.

A political bribery scandal in Ohio is shadowing Jon Husted this election year. The Republican senator has never been charged or accused of any crime, and he's said he wasn't aware of any criminal activity. But the case has created a record of Husted's dealings with key players indicted or imprisoned in a scandal that revolved around a billion dollar bailout for Ohio's two nuclear power plants. A retrial is scheduled to begin Sept. 28. That means the former lieutenant governor and Ohio secretary of state could be back on the witness stand a week before early voting begins in the Senate race. Husted is expected to face Democrat Sherrod Brown, a former senator.

The Associated Press and Grist have collaborated on a project to analyze how federal policy changes on energy are affecting farmers. They found that two programs critical for renewable energy growth have been sharply rolled back. One is a rural-focused initiative called REAP. The other is a clean energy tax credit. The news organizations found that in the fiscal year that started Oct. 1, the Department of Agriculture hasn’t awarded a single dollar in rural energy grants or loan guarantees. Its loan guarantee program has remained open, but the analysis found that the agency has awarded no new agreements this fiscal year.