Today’s Headlines

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  • NBC Nightly News spotlights the national transit budget crisis .. (see above video)
  • … as New Jersey becomes the latest state to weigh double-digit fare hikes (Daily Finance)
  • Rep. Mica (R-FL) urges Tampa officials to make sure that the region’s future high-speed rail line can connect to local transit (TB Online)
  • Governments around the world are said to be spending $500B a year subsidizing fossil fuels, according to a raft of a new Obama administration-directed study (Climate Progress)
  • The fatal June accident on D.C.’s rail network will cost the local transit agency $25.5m (Examiner)
  • "Buy American" rules for federal stimulus spending are getting waived to help install energy-efficient road and crosswalk lighting (NYT Blogs)
  • Ed Glaeser takes on the "anti-urban bias" in federal policymaking (Globe)
  • One U.S. DOT aide makes a write-in case for LaHood as an enviro "change agent of the year" (TreeHugger)
  • Senate Democratic leaders depict an aviation bill as part of their jobs agenda … (Roll Call)
  • … as Republicans move towards a second attempt to filibuster the still-unsigned $15B jobs bill (NYT)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Following ‘Cash for Clunkers’ with ‘Riches for Rail’

By Elana Schor |
(Photo: Washington Post) Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, began his hearing on transit today by displaying the above cartoon by Pulitzer prize-winner Tom Toles. The senator’s message parallels Toles’: In a world where the auto industry can get $2 billion more in one week, what’s to be done about […]

McCain’s Transit Hit List: Get the Details

By Elana Schor |
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a self-styled foe of what he labels wasteful government spending, has launched a broadside against transit projects in the U.S. DOT’s 2010 spending bill, which is slated for a vote this week in the upper chamber of Congress. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (Photo: Scrape TV) McCain had proposed more than 20 […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
The transportation security fallout from Christmas Day plane-bombing attempt (NYT) Transit saw a 3.8 percent drop in ridership during the first 9 months of 2009 … (NYT Blogs) … but not in San Francisco (SF Gate) Siemens among the manufacturers poised to drive a future U.S. high-speed rail boom (Reuters) While the Obama administration pushes […]