Spring forward this weekend
Set clocks one hour ahead Sunday

Daylight Saving Time is arriving early and staying longer this year.

Daylight Saving Time has been changed from its traditional calendar dates to a start three weeks earlier - Sunday, March 11, and a finish one week later - Sunday, November 4.

On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the United States beginning in 2007.

The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.

See United States Senator John Cornyn's column inside this issue (page 4) for more on the subject.

Fire departments urge people to change the batteries in their smoke detectors when they change their clocks because DST provides a convenient reminder. More than 90 percent of homes in the United States reportedly have smoke detectors, but one-third are estimated to have dead or missing batteries.