Wednesday’s Headlines Stop Being Polite and Start Getting Real
A new transportation secretary, successful transit referenda, and more in today's headlines.
By
Blake Aued
1:56 AM EST on November 20, 2024
- A former star of MTV’s “The Real World” has been picked to work in an office with strangers and have his life taped as Donald Trump’s transportation secretary. Post-reality TV, Sean Duffy went on to become a Wisconsin congressman, lobbyist and Fox Business anchor. (Politico, Vanity Fair, Streetsblog USA)
- Bloomberg has another roundup of mostly positive transit referendum results from across the country.
- Did fare evasion and the presence of homeless people on trains push urban voters toward Trump? (Slate)
- President Biden wants to finalize a tax credit for cleaner fuel before he leaves office. (Reuters)
- A Notre Dame study found that Black men face more hostility on transit, whether they’re employees or passengers.
- Shanghai emits more greenhouse gases than any other city of the world, but the Permian Basin in Texas is by far the most polluting site globally. (South China Morning Post)
- Philadelphia transit agency SEPTA announced it’s postponing a bus network redesign as it faces a budget crisis. (Billy Penn)
- San Francisco’s Muni is facing “catastrophic” service cuts unless voters agree to raise property and sales taxes. (Standard)
- Crippling debt is eating up the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s operating budget. (Commonwealth Beacon)
- A Twin Cities pilot program is paying unhoused people to pick up litter around Metro Transit stations. (Star Tribune)
- CNU Public Square highlights a new town center development with bike and rail access in the Maryland suburbs outside Washington, D.C.
- Houston is using its “walkable places” ordinance to allow more density at a 70-acre mixed use development. (Houston Public Media)
- Downtown Pittsburgh officials backed away from plans to ban cars from Market Square, but are still banning parking to make the area friendlier to pedestrians. (Post-Gazette)
- The Florida DOT is looking to put a six-lane stroad in Atlantic Beach on a diet. (First Coast News)
- Indianapolis cut the ribbon on a Morris Street complete streets project. (Recorder)
- Spokane has plans to build a 27-mile walking and biking network within the next three years. (Range Media)
- The Seattle city council voted to keep the South Lake Union streetcar open, but is opposed to the long-dormant Cultural Center Connector project. (The Urbanist)
- Another day, another silly argument against bike lanes on social media. (The Cool Down)
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
Friday’s Headlines Celebrate Juneteenth
Ideas for speeding up infrastructure construction in the U.S., where it's slower and more expensive than any other nation.
June 19, 2026
Talking Headways Podcast: So What Is ‘Urban Disorder’ In A Post-Covid U.S.
Open air drug bazaars in San Francisco are one thing that we can agree need to be fixed.
June 18, 2026
Driverless Cars Could Save Tens of Thousands of Lives. But We Must Treat Them Like Aviation — Not Like Cars
Commercial passenger aviation has nearly zero passenger deaths per year compared to about 40,000 roadway deaths. That's not a function of driving being inherently riskier — it is a function of what our leaders decide is "safe enough."
June 18, 2026
Thursday’s Headlines Go Green, Save Green
A lack of smart planning and political willpower contributes to climate change that is costing Americans money
June 18, 2026
Wednesday’s Headlines Are Truckin’
Maybe we shouldn't rely so much on diesel to fuel buses or move so much freight by truck.
June 17, 2026
