Average gas prices in Maine continue gradual decline

Maine’s average gasoline prices are continuing their downward slide, but they’re still not as low as they were a year ago.

MaineGasPrices.com said that average retail gasoline prices in the state have fallen 0.8 cent per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.50 on Sunday. While that average is 23.2 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, it’s still 66.4 cents per gallon higher than on the same day one year ago.

The website said the national average has fallen 2.1 cents in the last week to $3.42.

Price analyst Patrick DeHaan said the volatility in oil prices isn’t surprising, and will likely continue as a fragile economy and some upbeat investors play the market. For motorists, he says that means a continued roller coaster ride at the gas pump.

Green Bay Packers weighing stock sale to raise money

Cheeseheads around the world might soon have a chance to own a piece of the Super Bowl champs.

The Green Bay Packers, the NFL’s only publicly owned team, are moving toward a new stock sale by the end of the year to raise money that would help pay for $130 million in renovations at historic Lambeau Field in Wisconsin.

Each share would likely cost about $200 and include voting rights, though the value wouldn’t appreciate and there would be no dividends. Stockholders would be able to attend annual meetings at Lambeau, and they’d enjoy such perks as tours of the playing field and locker rooms.

Underwater salvager finds silver-laden WWI vessel

A Florida deep-sea exploration company with a record of finding sunken treasure has discovered a ship filled with silver 8,000 feet beneath the North Atlantic Ocean, the company said Monday.

Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. said it found the remains of the SS Mantola, which sank on Feb. 9, 1917, after being torpedoed by German submarine U-81 during World War I.

The ship was insured to carry silver worth 110,000 British pounds when it sailed in 1917. That value would mean it could hold as much as 600,000 ounces of silver — or nearly 19 tons — based on silver prices at the time.

Odyssey will retain 80 percent of the value of the silver that’s recovered. At current market prices, that much silver would be worth more than $19 million.

Dr Pepper emphasizing macho angle to diet drink

Dudes don’t drink diet.

Or at least that’s the idea behind Dr Pepper Ten, a 10-calorie soft drink Dr Pepper Snapple Group is rolling out with a macho ad campaign that proclaims, “It’s not for women.”

The soft drink was developed after the company’s research found that men shy away from diet drinks that aren’t perceived as “manly” enough.

To appeal to men, Dr Pepper made its Ten drink 180 degrees different from Diet Dr Pepper. It has calories and sugar, unlike its diet counterpart.

The ad campaign for Ten goes out of its way to eschew women. For instance, TV commercials are heavy on the machismo, including one spot that shows muscular men in the jungle battling snakes and bad guys.