The survey found that half of the drivers in Miami will have the experience of having a parking place stolen from them. One-fourth of all drivers surveyed said that they see drivers run red lights every day.

The other cities cited as the worst for road rage were Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles and Boston.

The city with the most courteous drivers in the country, according to the survey, is Minneapolis. Other cities that fared well were Nashville, Tenn., St. Louis, Seattle and Atlanta.

More than 2,000 adult drivers who regularly commute in 20 major metropolitan areas were asked to rate road rage and rude driving in telephone surveys between January and March.

The survey conducted by Prince Market Research has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Authorities say the 16-year-old boy (Alif Chowdhury) from Garden City, Long Island was with his father (Ehsan Chowdhury) waiting outside a terminal prior to their flight to J-F-K Airport.

Passers-by became suspicious of the youth's behavior and alerted airport police. The teen -- who was dressed in a white robe-like garment -- became agitated while officers questioned his father.

Officials say he said he wasn't afraid to die and tried to pull something out of his backpack.

The officers subdued the youth, who was carrying cell phones in the backpack but nothing dangerous.

The teen was taken to a Buffalo hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

"There's a massive movement going on in people under 30 and how they spend their media time," said Bolt President Lou Kerner, who once upon a time was a cable analyst on Wall Street before leaving to run TV.com and then Bolt. "Our audience spends lots of time on net, creating their own media."

He shrugs off the idea that the poll, because it was based on Bolt members who tend to be heavy online users, wasn't of value. He charges the results are representative of teens who go on sites like Bolt or YouTube -- exactly the kinds of rabid media consumers sophisticated marketers are interested in reaching.

"We're finally at an inflection point where advertisers are tired of spending more and more and getting less and less, particularly as it relates to youth," he said. "You're going to see a much broader embracement of the Internet as a distribution mechanism to get their shows out there."

Viral marketing

He criticized NBC's decision to pull the "Saturday Night Live" "Lazy Sunday" clip off of YouTube and praised Fox for its viral marketing of "Family Guy," which went on to be a cash cow in DVD sales. Mr. Kerner's advice to the networks as they look to build buzz for the new fall season?

"Take your clips and put them out there on these different sites. Let the kids take the codes and put them into their social media profiles so they can show their friends and their friends can collect that as well," he said. "That viral marketing is best possible thing they can do to drive more people to the broadcast channel or their own dot-com site."

Shortly after, the electricity was turned back on.

"All of this for one penny," said Williams, who went to the state Department of Human Services for help in April and was told the agency would pay most of the bill.

But she was still short more than $500.

Williams, a Social Security recipient, went to the Salvation Army, where she received $430.67, and Consumers agreed to match $430.66 toward the bill.

However, she was still one cent short.

A Consumers Energy spokesman said that the utility had no choice in the matter, though he was not aware of any similar incidents where service was stopped for one cent.

"This was the first one I've heard about," said Terry DeDoes. He said the company has many programs to help people who fall behind in their utility bills.

Williams said she doesn't want to find herself in the same situation again.

"I'm praying to God I stay on top of my bills," she said.

Baggage handlers and ramp workers rejected their own pay-cut offer from Northwest, forcing the Eagan-based airline back to the bargaining table. And flight attendants will vote later this summer on whether to switch unions. Those two events may have some flight attendants hoping they can get a better deal.

The airline said that won't happen.

Northwest "does not have the luxury of returning to the bargaining table" if the contract is rejected, the airline wrote in a letter to flight attendants on Friday. "The implementation of labor cost reductions must begin immediately."

If flight attendants reject the contract, Northwest said it would assign 30 percent of international flying to foreigners - an idea that enraged flight attendants when Northwest proposed it last year. The airline also said it would drop an offer to pay severance of up to $27,000 and reduce or eliminate labor protections in case of a merger.

Northwest said in its letter that it was trying to provide "complete and accurate information as you carefully consider the alternatives."

But Guy Meek, president of the Professional Flight Attendants Association, wrote his own letter, blasting Northwest's letter as "a blatant scare tactic meant to intimidate our members."

"Be confident that PFAA will not stand by and allow you to break the law by way of a unilateral abrogation," he wrote.

PFAA leaders have made no recommendation on how members should vote.

The contract vote comes at a tumultuous time for Northwest flight attendants. They will vote June 8 through July 6 on whether to drop the independent PFAA and join the larger Association of Flight Attendants. And they are also due to vote this summer on whether to have PFAA become a local of the Transport Workers Union.

Bankruptcy law requires a trial to decide whether a debtor can reject a union contract. For flight attendants, that trial took place earlier this year, but the judge never ruled because the tentative agreement was reached instead.

But baggage handlers and ramp workers agreed to vote on Northwest's offer, forestalling their trial. They rejected it on March 7, prompting Northwest to return to court so it could reject their contract with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The IAM represents the 5,600 workers who rejected Northwest's offer as well as several thousand other Northwest workers.

Testimony continued in New York on Tuesday for the second day of that trial.

Northwest remains at odds with the IAM over three main issues: pension plans, severance payments and higher compensation, either in a wage increase or lump-sum payment.

The union has authorized a strike if Northwest is allowed to impose its terms. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper said he is hopeful the two sides reach an agreement on their own.

On Tuesday, an expert witness for the union provided more details about talks with the airline and held out hope that a settlement could be reached.

"There are continuing efforts to close the gap on those points" that separate the company and the union, said Tom Roth, president of a labor consulting firm called Labor Bureau Inc. "There is room for a consensual deal here."

The trial recessed until Friday morning, when final arguments are expected. Northwest spokesman Bill Mellon said no more "formal discussions" are scheduled until then.

"Northwest continues to prefer a consensual agreement to potential abrogation of its unratified IAM agreements; however, it must also ensure that the necessary labor cost reductions are achieved as expeditiously as possible," he said.