Associated Press: The Senate appeared set to approve a trimmed-back energy bill that will bring higher-gas mileage cars and SUVs into showrooms in the coming decade and fill their tanks with ethanol. Democrats abandoned efforts Thursday to impose billions of dollars in new taxes on the biggest oil companies after failing by one vote, 59-40, to overcome a Republican filibuster against the new taxes. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said that while disappointed in the vote, a revised bill, …