Free Republic

Authorities said they will not file charges against a person who hung a flag depicting a Nazi swastika on the Burnett Avenue overpass in Morgan Hill. Santa Clara County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Michel Amaral said the DA’s office has concluded an investigation into the March 21 incident and decided it will not charge the person who displayed the flag over Highway 101 with a crime. Amaral said after investigating, his office determined there was not enough evidence to support a criminal charge that would lead to a conviction in a criminal court. “The decision was made to not file...

Sometime before April 16, 2013, one or more people scouted the Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s high-voltage Metcalf substation off Highway 101 near San Jose, California. They went around the unmanned power station at a range of 40-60 yards, marking places from which the transformers’ cooling fins were clearly visible through the chain-link fence with piles of stones. According to a Wall Street Journal report last week, at about 1 a.m. on that April 16, someone cut the telephone lines going to the substation’s location in a manner calculated to be hard to repair. Within about another thirty minutes, shooters...

Commission approves financing plan for toll lanes on Highway 101, other Bay Area freeways A Bay Area transportation commission took a step today toward creating an 800-mile network of toll lanes on parts of Highway 101 and other local freeways for car pools and drivers who pay a toll. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved a 25-year financing plan that allocates $6.1 billion for the lanes. Transportation planners say the money for the project will come from the tolls collected from motorists who use the lanes. The commission also approved a set of principles for developing the network. The profits from...

800 miles of toll lanes on Highway 101, other Bay Area freeways proposed A Bay Area transportation commission is proposing the creation of a $3.7 billion, 800-mile-long network of mixed-use carpool and toll lanes on more than 12 freeways in a big new attempt to ease chronic traffic congestion. Called High Occupancy Toll or HOT lanes because they are free to car poolers in rush hour and open to other vehicles for a toll, the network of express lanes would be developed over the next 25 years by a group county, regional and state transportation agencies. The lanes would be...