Salt stress: Road salt prices higher as winter looms

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Budget-busting road salt prices are leaving municipal officials in the Snow Belt hoping for a mild winter.Salt supplies are tight on the heels of a harsh winter last year that depleted reserves, leaving many localities in the Northeast and Great Lakes to pay prices that range from about 5 percent higher to almost double."Everybody's got their fingers crossed for good weather," said Rebecca Matsco, an official in western Pennsylvania's Beaver County, where one contract p