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Today's Headlines

Monday’s Headlines Ring In the New Year

Some year-end roundups, a list of free transit rides on New Year's Eve and more headlines as we wrap up 2024.

The national headlines are taking another short holiday break and will return Thursday.

  • Momentum Magazine's Top 10 cycling stories include pieces on the uselessness of sharrows and how to prevent bike thefts.
  • Mass Transit also named its Top 10 stories in the categories of buses and safety and security (registration required).
  • And, check out Streetsblog's own year in review and year-end Streetsies awards.
  • CalBike named its best and worst transportation stories of 2024, including a nod to Streetsblog's California, Los Angeles and San Francisco sites. Thanks!
  • Transit agencies offering free far on New Year's Eve include: the Los Angeles Metro (KTLA), Denver's RTD (Gazette), the South Bay's Valley Transportation Authority (NBC Bay Area), Valley Metro in Phoenix (Arizona Republic) and Portland's TriMet (KGW).
  • New York Gov. Kathy Hochul finally signed a bill requiring major polluters to pay $75 billion for the damage they cause. (Splinter)
  • With Donald Trump about to return to office, it's unclear whether the Twin Cities will receive more than $1 billion in federal funds for the Green Line. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
  • Austin defeated a lawsuit seeking to halt sales collections for light rail construction. (Bloomberg)
  • The founder of the Pedal Ahead bikeshare in San Diego is no longer running the organization amid multiple probes into its spending of public dollars. (Union-Tribune)
  • With a grant expiring, Tampa could cut service and/or reinstate fares on its popular streetcar. (Tampa Bay Times)
  • Two more Washington cities — Bellingham and Shoreline — abolished parking minimums to encourage more housing construction. (KNKX)
  • Seattle will add priority buses along Aurora Avenue during Interstate 5 construction. (The Urbanist)
  • An Alabama bill would tack a $5 fee onto vehicle registrations to raise $26 million a year for transit. The state's transit trust fund has remained unfunded since it was created in 2018. (Reflector)
  • A Colorado program that provided safe places for unhoused people to sleep in their cars has shuttered. (CBS News)
  • A hit-and-run driver killed a Washington, D.C. man who was standing on a sidewalk on Christmas Eve. He was the 51st person and 19th pedestrian to die on D.C. streets this year. (Washington Post)
  • A driver killed a woman walking across San Francisco's Great Highway, which will be closed to cars next year, setting a local record for traffic deaths in a year. (Standard)
  • The Chicago sidewalk rat hole is the internet lore of the year, according to Utah State University's Digital Lore Project.

From the editors: Streetsblog provides high-quality journalism and analysis for free — which is something to be celebrated in an era of paywalls. But the work Streetsblog does is not free; we rely on the generosity of our readers to help support our reporters and editors as they advance the movement to end car dependency in our communities.

If you already support our work, thank you! Can you brag about us to your friends and ask them to support?

If you aren’t a supporter yet, please join us and help us push for a more livable, walkable, bikeable, equitable and enjoyable country for all. And happy holidays from the Streetsblog team!

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