The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, also known as PennDOT, has been awarded the nation's 2008 Best Sounding DOT Award. Every state in the country has a department of transportation and each shortens the name to the first sylable of the state plus DOT, such as CalDOT, MassDOT, NJDOT, etc.

Each year the American Department of Transportation(AmDOT) honors the state with the best ear-pleasing abreviation. "We're really honored, our team works hard every year to make the PennDOT name roll off the tounge. We really take pride in this award," said Doug Stillman, PennDOT official.

This year's second place finisher was DelDOT, which has claimed this position seven times in the last ten years but has never won. PennDOT has now won the award ten times in the last forty years.

MaineDOT, the only state that uses its full name with DOT, finished third this year. Honorable mention went to MissDOT but officials never clarified whether Missouri or Mississippi was the recipient. UtDOT and HawDOT finished 49th and 50th respectively. "We'll bounce back next year," said Jim Flores, Hawaii's Department of Transportation director.

Karen Knotts, daughter of the late actor Don Knotts(pictured), is putting excessive pressure on Mike Knuble, Philadelphia Flyers forward, to change the pronunciation of his last name, by eliminating the 'k' sound. This issue originally surfaced back in October at the beginning of the hockey season. Knotts was in town to attend a 'kn' Conference at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and discovered the hockey player pronounced the 'k' in his name.
The 'k' is silent in most English words containing the 'kn' combination. Exceptions include know and knever. "It sounds funny to pronounce the 'k,' but it's part of my heritage,"said Knuble. Knotts is continuing in the footsteps of her father who originally started the campaign to rid the country of all 'k' pronunciation in 'kn' words four years ago. Don Knotts, who passed away two years ago, started Know Knonsense, a for-profit organization, late in his life to combat this terrible problem. "Just before my father passed he told me to be courageous in this dangerous pursuit. It is now my mission," said Knotts. Knuble did not know nor had he ever met the actor but realized the 'kn' cause was an important part of Knotts' later life. "Out of respect for Mr. Furley I am considering it," said Knuble.