News In Brief

I CAN HARDLY HEAR YOU

Their team went on to lose, 28-19, last Sunday, but not because fans of the National Football League's Denver Broncos forgot to cheer. In fact, the 75,684 folks in Mile High Stadium broke the mark in the Guinness Book of World Records for the loudest roar ever recorded. Here's how: At halftime, while monitors from Guinness were measuring the sound levels inside the stadium, a local radio personality whipped the crowd noise to a reading of 128.7 decibels over a 10-second period. The previous record was 125.4, set last year at a soccer game in Dublin, Ireland. When confirmation of the new record was announced over the DiamondVision scoreboard, guess what happened? Right, another roar. Said the Broncos marketing director: "We're very proud."

Cars rated best at mixing mileage and fuel efficiency

For the second year, a hybrid gas/electric-powered vehicle - the Honda Insight - topped the Environmental Protection Agency's ranking of fuel-efficient automobiles. Its list for 2001 models, with each vehicle's mileage per gallon in the city, followed by that on the highway:

Honda Insight (electric/gas hybrid) 61/68

Toyota Prius (electric/gas hybrid) 52/45

Volkswagen Golf (diesel with manual transmission) 42/49

(tie) Volkswagen Jetta (diesel/ manual transmission) 42/49

(tie) Volkswagen New Beetle (diesel/manual transmission) 42/49

Honda Civic HX (manual) 36/44

Suzuki Swift 36/42

Honda Civic HX (automatic) 35/40

Volkswagen Jetta (diesel/automatic transmission) 34/45

(tie) Volkswagen Golf (diesel/ automatic transmission) 34/45

(tie) Volkswagen New Beetle (diesel/automatic transmission) 34/45

Toyota Echo 34/41

Chevrolet Prizm 32/41

(tie) Toyota Corolla 32/41

Honda Civic 32/39

- Associated Press

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society