the national association of convenience stores' jeff lenard has the latest gauge of consumers. what we found in the last few months defies what we found previously. people are feeling the same if not a little bit better about the economy, even though gas prices are going higher. lenard says its because americans are becoming accustomed to the spring transition in the gas industry that will eventualy lead to somewhat lower prices by may. general motors is taking a billion dollar hit. it will spend 1.3 billion dollars to cover costs related to it's recall of more than 2.6 million vehicles. the recall revolves around ignition switch issues. gm says it will add an ignition lock to all recalled cars. those parts begin arriving in dealerships today. despite the charge, executives are confident in gm's first quarter performance. the stock fell 32 cents yesterday. ceo mary barra says gm has put two engineers on paid leave. sac capital will pay a record $1.8 billion dollar fine for insider trading. the government's case against firm started in 2007. sac was indicted by a federal grand j