WASHINGTON -- President Bush told the Wall Street Journal that rising oil prices could damage the country’s economic recovery, but he is prepared to consider measures to ease the pain if Iraq's decision to stop oil exports for a month compounds the problem.

The president refused to rule out tapping into the nation's strategic petroleum reserves or cutting gasoline taxes if necessary, the Journal reported. "Bad energy policy, or the failure to have energy policy, or the fact that we're dependent upon unstable countries is a reason why I do not believe that we’re out of the economic woods yet," Bush said during the exclusive Oval Office interview.

BARDSTOWN. Ky. -- Newcomb Oil Co. is expected to operate five of the 44 closed Paducah, Ky.-area convenience stores it is buying from bankrupt Duke & Long Distributing and sell the rest, says a report in the Paducah Sun, citing Donnie McKinney of Coldwell Banker Marshall Realty.

The five units that McKinney identified include one Chevron, two BP and two Citgo-branded stations.