Free Republic

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has postponed funding a busway in the heavily congested Interstate 270 corridor for at least six years, significantly delaying a transit project that Montgomery County is relying on to develop the upcounty without making traffic worse. Hogan’s proposed six-year transportation budget includes no money for the Corridor Cities Transitway, which has been planned since at least 2000 to connect the Shady Grove Metro station at the end of the Red Line with the upcounty. The first nine-mile segment would run between Shady Grove and the Metropolitan Branch MARC commuter rail station in Gaithersburg. Delaying the...

Government officials in the Washington region, as well as nationwide, are looking increasingly to bus rapid transit for new transit options as they face tightening public purses. BRT plans are under way in Alexandria and Arlington County, where buses are planned to travel from Braddock Road to Pentagon City. Alexandria expects to begin construction in July and start running buses in dedicated lanes in December 2013, said Abi Lerner, Alexandria's deputy director of transportation. Arlington expects to complete its half of the system in spring 2014. Across the Potomac, Montgomery County officials have proposed a 160-mile system with 23 routes....

An interpretive evaluation of the Copenhagen Climate Change Treaty Draft from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change working group dated September 15th, 2009, Page 122, Item 17, is presented below, and should concern every citizen in the United States. This section shows several anomalies, other than simple spelling errors. It indicates foremost, unclear yet emphatic proposals that if left unchecked will radically shift responsibility from unsuccessful countries to successful countries. It fails to show a method of delivery, or specifics to apply any form of real action, opening the door for both gross interpretation and unjustifiable control. If...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is one of 36 churches and national Christian organizations that will be founding members when Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. (CCT) is inaugurated Feb. 7 at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, Calif. CCT will bring together families of Christian churches and organizations from across the United States.Another 18 churches and national Christian organizations are involved or are present as observers in the CCT decision-making process.The ELCA's 2003 Churchwide Assembly adopted an action to join CCT by a vote of 918 to 48. "The creation of Christian Churches Together in the...

In Afghanistan, the work of USAF Special Operations Forces was not seen but most assuredly felt. Masters of Invisibility By Richard J. Newman, Air Force Magazine It wasn't standard procedure, but the circumstances called for urgent action. North of Kandahar in Afghanistan, several US soldiers had been gravely wounded. Enemy forces were reported to the south. It was broad daylight, and local Afghans--loyalties unknown--were watching from surrounding hillsides. Soon, two MH-53 Pave Low helicopters--Chalk 1 and Chalk 2--from USAF's 20th Special Operations Squadron were speeding toward the site. As they did so, a medic on Chalk 1 pointed out that...

ArmyTimes.com April 18, 2002 Fierce Battle Produces Heroism On A Legendary Scale By Sean D. Naylor, Times staff writer BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - They call it the Battle of Roberts Ridge. The 15-hour firefight cost more American lives - seven - than any other engagement in the war against terrorism. It was named after the first American to die amidst the snowy, 10,000-foot mountains of eastern Afghanistan. But so many troops performed with such extraordinary courage during that long night and day that it could just as easily have been named after any one of at least a dozen...