Tuesday’s Headlines Are a House Divided
The infrastructure bill finally passed the Senate, and one reason it took so long is the growing gap between blue cities and their rural red counterparts. Meanwhile, the Earth burns.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on August 10, 2021
- At last, the bipartisan infrastructure bill is poised for a final Senate vote this morning, sending it on to the House. (CNN)
- The growing red-blue divide made negotiations over transit and highway spending even more contentious than usual. (NBC News)
- We’ve delayed reducing fossil fuel consumption for so long that we can’t stop global warming, and the longer we wait the worse the disaster will become, according to a new UN report. (New York Times)
- Climate change is already here, writes activist Bill McKibben, and in many ways we still don’t know how it will affect us. (New Yorker)
- The success of this one open street in New York City could be replicated anywhere. (NYT)
- Treasury secretary Janet Yellen visited Atlanta to promote the infrastructure bill with Sen. Raphael Warnock. (AJC)
- Nashville has created a new multimodal transportation department that will prioritize road safety and biking and pedestrian projects. (Smart Cities Dive)
- Seattle’s Sound Transit is accelerating plans to build three new light rail stations, but could delay others up to six years as it wrangles with a $6.5 billion shortfall. (The Stranger)
- Portland’s TriMet and streetcar are finding it difficult to enforce the mask mandate on public transit. (KATU)
- Sactown Magazine profiles Henry Li, the director of Sacramento Regional Transit who rebuilt the system to acclaim five years ago and is now dealing with the COVID crisis.
- Madison is moving forward with bus rapid transit over objections from a vocal minority of downtown businesses (Isthmus). The Wisconsin capital is also lowering speed limits in some neighborhoods to 20 miles per hour (WMTV).
- Richmond will spend $2.4 million to repair eight miles of sidewalks over the next year. (Times-Dispatch)
- Car ads are encouraging Americans to drive recklessly. (Jalopnik)
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:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
More from Streetsblog USA
It’s Me, Wednesday’s Headlines, Hi, I’m the Problem, It’s Me
Is the next Taylor Swift, Drake, Bad Bunny or (insert popular artist here) album drop going to kill you?
August 19, 2026
Opinion: San Francisco Should Not Give Free Curb Space to Waymo
There's no reason one of the most valuable companies in the world should get free access to a public right-of-way.
August 19, 2026
Zen and the Art of Tuesday’s Headlines
People need to stop crashing out about the menace posed by electric motorcycles, The Guardian reports.
August 18, 2026
San Francisco Advocates Document Harassment on Public Transit
'Eyes on Board' is a new project from the San Francisco Transit Riders to track incidents of harassment.
August 17, 2026
Monday’s Headlines Pony Up
It's getting hot in here, so take off all your cheap gas prices.
August 17, 2026
