Wednesday’s Headlines Are About Elon-ed Out
While President Trump tries to pump up Tesla stock prices, Elon Musk wants to privatize Amtrak.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on March 12, 2025
- Elon Musk spent approximately $300 million to elect Donald Trump president, and now Trump — despite his overall antipathy toward electric vehicles — is using his office to promote Tesla. During a news conference, the president went so far as to declare boycotting the DOGE cutter-in-chief’s company illegal and threaten to charge anyone who protests Tesla as a domestic terrorist. So, to recap: Vandalize the U.S. Capitol and get a pardon, but vandalize a Tesla and go straight to Gitmo. (Jalopnik)
- In other news, add Amtrak to the long list of things Musk knows nothing about. (Streetsblog USA)
- Oh, and guess what? And by the way? The Trump administration’s tariffs will hurt the bus manufacturing industry. (Mass Transit)
- As car payments frequently top $1,000, almost 7 percent of low- and middle-income subprime borrowers are now two months behind on their loans. (Retail Wire)
- Cities like Denver are using data and technology to manage curb space that’s becoming increasingly valuable (Government Technology). But on-street parking remains the focus for too many cities (Transport Matters).
- In a municipal election year in Boston, bike lanes have become a proxy for a whole lot of other urban political battles. (Boston Magazine)
- A new San Francisco bike plan aims to put every resident within a quarter-mile of a protected path by 2045. (Examiner)
- PubliCola accuses King County’s top executive of angling for his own Sound Transit appointees to hire him to run the Seattle transit agency.
- U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is pressuring Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to make roads and transit safer as the Trump administration attempts to force federal workers back into the office. (Transportation Today)
- A Republican candidate for New Jersey governor wants to retaliate against New York for congestion pricing by charging commuters to drive the other way. (CBS News)
- Seattle cut pedestrian deaths in half and recorded no cyclist deaths in 2024, according to preliminary data. But for some reason drivers and car passengers died at a higher clip. (Seattle Bike Blog)
- Albuquerque recently opened new bike lanes on Central Avenue. (KOAT)
- The High Speed blog paid a visit to Pullman, the Illinois city that was home to the famous sleeper cars.
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:
More from Streetsblog USA
Talking Headways Podcast: Architecture Won’t Save a Bad Street
"We have accommodated car convenience over people for five decades — and we need to correct that," says today's guest.
October 29, 2026
Thursday’s Headlines Live in an Endless Summer
Parts of the country are in the 80s in late October, but sure, let's spew some more methane into the air.
October 29, 2026
Could Congress’s Anti-Flock Surveillance Bill Ban Automated Traffic Enforcement, Too?
Livable streets organizers weigh in on a new anti-Flock bill.
October 29, 2026
Bright Lights, Big City Ticket: Intra-NYC Commuter Rail Trips Are Surging
LIRR and Metro-North ridership surged within New York City limits after the MTA expanded the $7 peak/$5 off-peak CityTicket — driving the bulk of ridership growth on the two railroads.
October 28, 2026
Seattle Aims to Turn Vision Zero Dreams Into ‘Durable Law’
The stars are aligning for Seattle to make big progress on Vision Zero — but can they pass the laws that will hold city leaders to that goal?
October 28, 2026
