Streetsblog

Thursday’s Headlines For You And Yours

The Trump administration failed to investigate a whistleblower report on US DOT Secretary Elaine Chao. Plus all the other news.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EST on March 4, 2021

The Trump administration declined to investigate allegations of potentially criminal ethics violations against former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, including some that could have benefited her husband, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. (Mother Jones)
Chao also, as it turns out, previously approved an upstate New York bridge and a Bay Area rail line that Republicans later attacked as pork-barrel spending when they were included in the COVID relief bill. (Roll Call)
Current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg embraced the “fix it first” mantra of infrastructure maintenance over new projects at a Bloomberg gathering of urban leaders.
Volvo will go all-electric by 2030 — the latest carmaker to ditch internal combustion. (Treehugger)
As deliveries increase, electric vans can help meet climate goals. (Globe and Mail)
The Virginia legislature rejected a proposal for the state’s largest utility to get into the electric school bus business. (Virginia Mercury)
How green are electric vehicles, anyway? It depends on where the electricity comes from, and pollution from manufacturing and old batteries count, too. (New York Times)
The federal mask mandate for public transit is still in place despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifting coronavirus restrictions. (Houston Chronicle)
Hillsborough County is aiming for another transportation sales tax referendum in 2022 after the Florida Supreme Court recently struck down the 2018 vote. (Tampa Bay Times)
The Utah legislature is nearing an agreement on borrowing more than $1 billion for transportation projects, including $600 million for transit. (Salt Lake Tribune)
Seattle’s Sound Transit is considering an employer head tax to close an $11 billion budget deficit. (My Northwest)
Charlotte’s plans for a massive transit expansion are under attack by residents who fear it will spell the end of single-family zoning. (Observer)
Toll revenue earmarked for transit will drop by $400 million next year, but Pennsylvania lawmakers don’t have much of a sense of urgency to replace the funding. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Snowbi Wan Kenobi, F. Salt Fitzgerald and, of course, Plowy McPlowFace are among the internet’s names for new Minnesota DOT snow plows.