Thursday’s Headlines Are Open 24 Hours
Between an egg surcharge and now EV chargers, late-night diner chain Waffle House looks ready to thrown down with the Trump administration.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on May 22, 2025
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is attempting to roll back the Biden administration’s more stringent fuel economy standards (Reuters), falsely arguing that they’re a de facto electric vehicle mandate (Jalopnik).
- Meanwhile, Jalopnik also reports that Waffle House is planning to scatter, smother and cover the South in fast EV chargers.
- Transit nationwide needs a $10 billion investment just to avoid 20 percent service cuts, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. (The Equation)
- At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Duffy defended Trump’s $27 billion infrastructure budget as cutting red tape to get projects done, while ranking Democrat Patty Murray of Washington accused the DOT of holding up projects at every turn. (Transport Topics)
- The Pacific Coast Highway may be beloved by driving enthusiasts, but it’s also deadly, and it needs to be overhauled to prioritize pedestrians in the communities it runs through. (Road & Track)
- It’s not SEPTA’s fault that Pennsylvania Republican senators won’t fund transit, but the Philadelphia agency got an earful from riders anyway at a recent hearing on service cuts. (WHYY)
- Pittsburgh Regional Transit is painting new bus lanes downtown. (CBS News)
- Forcing carless D.C. residents to take arduous bus trips taxes their time rather than their money. (Greater Greater Washington)
- Lots of news about Vision Zero: San Francisco residents rallied to replace the city’s expired policy (NBC Bay Area). Advocates and elected officials celebrated Portland’s renewed commitment (BikePortland). Dallas officials want to see more progress as early 2025 data shows deaths trending down (WFAA).
- A Texas legislator is seeking to close a loophole in a 2021 law making it easier to prosecute drivers who hit pedestrians in a crosswalk. (TCU 360)
- Denver is about to ban e-scooters on sidewalks because drunk riders keep injuring pedestrians. (Government Technology)
- Des Moines is planning to build 180 miles of sidewalks around schools and bus stops, and it will only take 35 years. (Register)
- London’s low-traffic neighborhoods are popular, effective and here to stay after a recent UK court ruling. (The Guardian)
- An Amsterdam company is developing an app that helps EV drivers find the cheapest places and times to charge their vehicles, saving money and avoiding consumption during peak hours that can overwhelm the power grid. (CleanTechnica)
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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