AIR SCARE

Flying too close for comfort

New York City residents got a bad case of deja vu when a military 747 buzzed Manhattan yesterday.

The White House later apologized, but the damage had been done. People were evacuating buildings not knowing what was going on. The military was doing a photo shoot of one of the iconic planes used as Air Force One.

New Yorkers were angry, and rightfully so. Nobody bothered to let them in on the plan.

END OF THE ROAD

So long, Pontiac

After 83 years, Pontiac is going the way of the Studebaker. Or the Oldsmobile, if you're a bit younger and that helps you.

General Motors yesterday announced that as part of its massive restructuring, it will be eliminating its storied Pontiac brand, along with 21,000 factory jobs.

Pontiac built a rep for muscle cars in the 1960s and '70s with its GTO and Firebird Trans Am. For Americans of a certain age, those cars are an integral part of nostalgia from long-ago, free-wheeling weekend nights.

HIT THE BOOKS

College grads can expect bigger paycheck

As high school graduation season nears, and students succumb to “;senioritis,”; comes a timely reminder from the U.S. Census Bureau: The hard work ahead in college should pay off.

Workers with a bachelor's degree earned about $26,000 more on average than those with only a high school diploma, according to figures released yesterday highlighting educational attainment in the United States.

In 2008, 29 percent of adults 25 and older had a bachelor's degree, and 87 percent had finished high school; that's an improvement in each category from 1998. Workers with a high school degree earned an average of $31,286, while those with a bachelor's degree earned an average of $57,181. Among racial groups, Asians had by far the most education, with 53 percent holding a bachelor's degree or higher; that's 20 percentage points higher than the next group.

The data came from the Current Population Survey's Annual Social and Economic supplement, conducted in February, March and April at about 100,000 addresses nationwide.