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Thursday’s Headlines Are a Necessity

Transit is just like a library or a school and should be funded that way. But, a sucker is born every minute who will fall for Elon Musk's shenanigans.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on July 8, 2021

Transit is a necessity that should be funded by tax dollars just like libraries or schools. (Mother Jones)
Diesel trains > electric cars, but what about electric trains? Future improvements in batteries could remove the need for overhead lines, often a point of contention. (Los Angeles Times)
The population shift to the Sun Belt requires denser development, mixed uses and better transit. (Bloomberg)
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are warring over how to split $14 billion in COVID funds for transit. (northjersey.com)
Even as streetcar power lines melt in the Northwest heat wave, winter weather is doing serious damage to Denver light rail. (Denverite)
Privately owned rail company Brightline bought land in Las Vegas for a terminal. (Review-Journal)
A $7 billion transit expansion plan in Austin is contingent on the city proving to the Biden administration that it makes transit more equitable. (KUT)
A Milwaukee-area transportation group is trying to make it easier for city residents to access jobs in the suburbs. (Journal-Sentinel, Wisconsin Public Radio)
Miami is discouraging alternate modes of transportation by taxing e-scooters at a much higher rate than cars. (City Observatory)
A Toronto web exhibit documents how mass transit in the city has changed over the past 170 years. (Daily Hive)
Apparently, despite all the lawsuits and federal investigations into Tesla’s autopilot mode, Elon Musk has just discovered that building a car that drives itself is hard. (The Verge)
Yet some people are still taking Musk seriously, as Fort Lauderdale accepting his Boring Company’s unsolicited bid for an underground tunnel. Details, including cost, are unknown. (Miami Herald)

Blake Aued

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.

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