Friday’s Headlines from Around America
Protests continue across the country. But there was also plenty of news on a busy Thursday.
By
Blake Aued
12:56 AM EDT on June 5, 2020
- Here’s the New York Times‘s roundup of the latest in the George Floyd protests.
- From urban renewal to regulations encouraging “eyes on the street” to designing public plazas as “defensible” spaces, U.S. cities are designed for oppression, and planners have failed to grapple with the impact of their work on black communities. (City Lab)
- House Democrats’ $494-billion stimulus and climate bill would boost funding for transit by 54 percent (Roll Call, Streetsblog MASS).
- Planned transit projects could fall through thanks to state and local governments’ budget crunches unless Congress acts to approve more funding. (Transportation for America)
- The U.S. DOT announced $891 million in funding for 12 transit projects, including heavy rail in Los Angeles and the South Shore commuter rail line in northern Indiana. (Transportation Today)
- Uber and Lyft were forced to suspend service during curfew hours in New York, Oakland, San Francisco, L.A. and parts of Minneapolis. (Complex)
- Metro Transit has restored service in Minneapolis, but still shut down buses early Thursday night. (Star Tribune)
- Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is not a fan of Virgin Trains’ proposal for the county to pay the private company $60 million to operate its Brightline extension. (Herald)
- Tolling should be up and running on I-5 through Portland by the time the Rose Quarter expansion is complete. While congestion pricing is nice, the whole project is still unnecessary and should be scrapped. (Oregon Public Radio)
- The Federal Highway administration re-evaluated the environmental impact of widening I-30 in Little Rock after a lawsuit, but ruled that the project can move forward. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
- A study found that most Washington, D.C. sidewalks are too narrow for social distancing. (WJLA)
- Here’s a pro-transit piece from a business publication. (Crain’s)
- Montgomery County, Maryland released a draft of its Complete Streets guidelines. (Planetizen)
- Although the bike-share service appeared popular, Zagster is pulling Pace bikes out of Knoxville, blaming the financial effects of the pandemic. (News Sentinel)
- This guy abusing kids who were putting up signs commemorating Floyd’s death brought shame to cyclists everywhere. (Twitter)
Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.
Read More:
More from Streetsblog USA
Talking Headways Podcast: Civil Rights, Civic Transport
Let's talk about "disparate impact" — and why the Trump administration wants to gut it.
April 2, 2026
Study: How Capping Vehicle Sizes Could Help Save the World
...and why a multi-pronged transportation reform strategy is critical to curb climate change, slash road deaths, and more.
April 2, 2026
Thursday’s Headlines Take the Long View
Instead of panic moves like gas tax holidays, maybe governments should respond to high gas prices by providing alternatives to driving.
April 2, 2026
Opinion: Complete Streets Alone Don’t Make Complete Places
A well-intentioned focus on making streets that are safer to move along and across often misses the mark on creating places where people want to be.
April 2, 2026
Euclid v. Ambler: A Century-Old Lesson for American Urbanism
Zoning and transportation are two sides of the same coin.
April 1, 2026
Comments Are Temporarily Disabled
Streetsblog is in the process of migrating our commenting system. During this transition, commenting is temporarily unavailable.
Once the migration is complete, you will be able to log back in and will have full access to your comment history. We appreciate your patience and look forward to having you back in the conversation soon.