Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) -- Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said roads should be designed “to take into account all the needs of the community” and foster “balanced transportation,” which, in turn, makes it more desirable for people to go about their business and “participate in community vitality.” On Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com asked Rep. Blumenauer, who is a bicycle enthusiast, whether existing roads “should be revamped to kind of give more space to bicyclists that are trying to get from one place to another.” Blumenauer said, “Road design needs to take into account all the needs of the community. I come from a place...

Balfour Beatty's US subsidiary, Parsons Brinckerhoff, has been awarded three new contracts to manage high-speed and intercity passenger rail projects in Illinois, Ohio and Florida, US. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDoT) has selected Parsons Brinckerhoff as programme manager for the high-speed rail, 284-mile (457 km) "signature route" from Chicago to St. Louis. About US$ 1.1 billion in Federal high-speed rail funding has been allocated to this project. In Ohio the Department of Transport has selected a Parsons Brinckerhoff-led team to provide consultant services for the development of a new 250 miles (400 km) intercity passenger rail service on an...

The federal government is sending $5 billion to states to weatherize the homes for low-income families, nearly as much as it has spent on weatherization since the government stepped in to cut heating bills for low-income people in the 1970s. Illinois is flush with $97 million awarded over the summer -- nearly half the $242 million in stimulus weatherization money promised to the state -- and is taking applications from low-income families for free weatherization upgrades to their homes. With that money, Illinois expects to weatherize 22,000 homes this year, more than doubling the 7,800 homes weatherized under energy grants...

Can anyone tell me WHO on the democratic side would be weak on this issue?   I want to hammer them specifically.   Thanks

Associated Press LAS CRUCES — The New Mexico Spaceport Authority today unveiled the design of Spaceport America, the state's commercial spaceport venture north of Las Cruces. Spaceport officials say the low-lying 100,000-square-foot hangar and terminal facility will have a minimal impact on the environment, resembling a rise in the landscape. Construction is to begin next year and is expected to be finished in late 2009 or early 2010 The cost of the entire spaceport project is estimated at $198 million.

Federal Spending & Budget Issues August 30, 2007 THE BIG EASY'S BILLION DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE The idea of using federal money to rebuild cities is the quintessential liberal vision. And given the dreadful results in New Orleans, we can say that the government's billions spent so far represents the quintessential failure of that liberal vision, says Lawrence Kudlow, host of CNBC's Kudlow & Company. Consider: So far, the federal government has spent $127 billion (including tax relief) on post-Katrina New Orleans. The entire gross domestic product (GDP) of the state of Louisiana is only $141 billion, according to the U.S. Department...

A MASSIVE road four football fields wide and running from Mexico to Canada through the heartland of the United States is being proposed amid controversy over security and the damage to the environment. The "nation's most modern roadway", proposed between Laredo in Texas and Duluth, Minnesota, along Interstate 35, would allow the US to bypass the west coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to import goods from China and the Far East into the heart of middle America via Mexico, saving both cost and time. However, critics argue that the ten-lane road would lay a swathe of concrete...

Led by Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, supporters promised that health insurance could be provided with only a slight increase in expenditures. Skeptics at the time pointed out that this would not be possible, but were dismissed. snip The klieg lights are now off and the press has moved on to other stories. It's time to bring heaven to earth and make this thing work. What's the story? Administration officials are now telling Wall Street they expect the plan to be quite expensive. In an Aug. 17 filing to support general obligation bonds, officials project that the new plan will increase...

Proposals Wanted! the University of Iowa Public Policy Center is conducting a major federally funded study to evaluate the public response to a mileage-based user charge (TAX-Ed). We are seeking to hire several marketing research firms to help recruit candidates for a two-year study. We need 240 participants per year in each of five cities. The demonstration sites for the project will bein the following locations: San Diego, CA Baltimore, MD Austin, TX Boise, ID and the Research Triangle in NC (Durham, raleigh and Chapel Hill. For complete information click on the RFP link at http://www.ulowa.edu/

The time to speak out and ask questions about the Trans Texas Corridor is near. Residents in Caldwell and Guadalupe counties will get a better understanding of potential impacts to their land usage and future tax revenues next month during Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) public meetings concerning the proposed corridor. The corridor, as envisioned, would consist of a network of brand-new "transportation routes" that would carry passenger vehicles and large trucks in separate lanes and also provide for railway freight, high-speed commuter rail and "infrastructure" for utilities including water, oil, gas, electricity, broadband and "other telecommunications services," TxDOT says....

If voters reject bond, 'chaos' may not ensue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Davis package would act as fallback if court upholds it By Ed Mendel STAFF WRITER January 24, 2004 SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have a problem as he launches a full-scale campaign to overcome voter skepticism about a $15 billion fiscal-recovery bond measure on the March 2 ballot. It's not entirely clear that voter rejection of Proposition 57 will, as the governor has warned, result in "economic chaos," "Armageddon cuts" in services, or leave no choice but to "drastically increase taxes." If the governor's bond is rejected, the state simply...

Mars, as a certain pop star once put it, isn't the kind of place where you'd want to raise your kids. Nor is it the kind of place anybody is ever going to visit, as some of the NASA scientists know perfectly well. Even leaving aside the cold, the lack of atmosphere and the absence of water, there's the deadly radiation. If the average person on Earth absorbs about 350 millirems of radiation every year, an astronaut traveling to Mars would absorb about 130,000 millirems of a particularly virulent form of radiation that would probably destroy every cell in his...

Bangor Daily News - Print this Article JERRY HARKAVY, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Last updated: Monday, May 5, 2003Celebs join effort for North Woods park PORTLAND - Activists pushing for the creation of a 3.2-million-acre Maine Woods National Park have formed a 110-member advisory committee that includes some of the biggest names in Hollywood.Jeff Bridges, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Holly Hunter, Laura Linney, Robert Redford, Ted Danson, Christopher Reeve, Meryl Streep and Sam Waterston are among the celebrities on the list of committee members provided by Restore: The North Woods. The nonprofit organization, which launched the...