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Trooper Bondarenka said police can't say exactly what led them to believe the incident may have been intentional, but said police labeled the crash an aggravated assault because of witness statements, physical evidence and Mr. Ulus' state of mind. "There are a few more details to the story, but we can't release that right now," she said.... ...Mr. Ulus did not know Ms. Grimm and she appears to be a random victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, Trooper Bondarenka said.

The state of Indiana wants to take over the Interstate 69 Section 5 project. Three years after hiring a private developer to build the 21-mile stretch of interstate and then maintain it for 35 years after completion, the state issued a statement Monday saying it’s moving forward to assume control of the project. The proposed takeover was announced along with a revised substantial completion date nearly two years after the original. The new date for Section 5 is Aug. 31, 2018, according to the state finance authority. The statement from the Indiana Finance Authority was sent after media outlets, including...

Greater reliance on user fees, federal loans rather than grants, and corporatization are three keys to the Trump administration’s infrastructure initiative released as a part of its 2018 budget. The plan will “seek long-term reforms on how infrastructure projects are regulated, funded, delivered, and maintained,” says the six-page document. More federal funding “is not the solution,” the document says; instead, it is to “fix underlying incentives, procedures, and policies.”In building the Interstate Highway System, the fact sheet observes, “the Federal Government played a key role” in collecting and distributing monies to “fund a project with a Federal purpose.” Since then,...

Part of Interstate 85 collapsed north of downtown Atlanta Thursday night after a massive fire broke out under the busy highway during afternoon rush hour traffic. The fire broke out at around 6 p.m. Atlanta fire officials told Fox 5 the blaze caught giant spools of plastic utility conduits which were being stored under the overpass. No injuries to motorists or firefighters were reported. Georgia State Patrol Capt. Mark Perry told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that terrorism is not suspected. Prior to the collapse, structural engineers told FOX 5 they were worried about fire melting the metal under the bridge. Witnesses...

Part of Interstate 85 collapsed north of downtown Atlanta Thursday night after a massive fire broke out under the busy highway during afternoon rush hour traffic. The fire broke out at around 6 p.m. Atlanta fire officials told Fox 5 the blaze caught giant spools of plastic utility conduits which were being stored under the overpass. No injuries to motorists or firefighters were reported. Georgia State Patrol Capt. Mark Perry told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that terrorism is not suspected. Prior to the collapse, structural engineers told FOX 5 they were worried about fire melting the metal under the bridge. Witnesses...

President Trump has promised to eliminate regulations and rebuild the nation’s aging infrastructure. Federal agencies are awash with regulations and provisions based on the presumption that government is, and should be, the sole provider of infrastructure. But now that we understand the merits of public-private partnerships, which can provide more accountable public-purpose infrastructure, these numerous regulations and provisions serve as major obstacles preventing the improvement of highways and other infrastructure. Back in 1995, Reason Foundation published a policy study itemizing a number of these regulatory barriers. Sadly, most of them still exist today. If a state or municipal facility has...

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan came to Hagerstown Thursday bearing gifts, announcing the start of a $105 million project to widen Interstate 81. In partnership with West Virginia, the first phase of construction of the long-sought project, which recently got under way, will expand the heavily traveled interstate to six lanes from U.S. 11 in West Virginia to Md. 63 near Williamsport. "These improvements to I-81 are critical infrastructure investments that will help citizens here in Washington County, across Western Maryland and all across our state go about their daily lives in a faster, more efficient and safer manner," Hogan said...

CASA GRANDE — Republican Congressional District 1 candidate Paul Babeu says he plans to make improvements to Interstate 10 a greater priority for the federal government. Babeu, who is Pinal County sheriff, assembled a number of Republican state lawmakers on Monday to discuss his intentions as a congressman to prioritize widening a portion of I-10 that runs between Phoenix and Casa Grande. His plan is to work on expanding this section from two lanes to three in each direction. Doing so, Babeu said, improves safety and economic development. “This is directly linked to a prosperous future for western Pinal County...

Interstate 10 Shut Down Mile Post 352-Mile Post 378. The Cochise County Sheriff's Office is assisting with closing Interstate 10 both east and west bound lanes near San Simon. The closure is the result of zero visibility and multiple vehicle accidents. Please be advised to avoid this area until further notice. At least one semi-truck has collided with several vehicles, a San Simon Fire Truck and DPS vehicle have been involved in crashes as well. Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office is sending emergency vehicles to assist. DPS is re-routing traffic to Exit 352 through Highway 191 to Safford and back around...

Years ago, the Tokarski family gathered with friends around a kitchen table in an old Indiana farmhouse. They were discussing the looming construction of Interstate 69 and how they could possibly stop it. The group suspected a project of such magnitude, an interstate route stretching across the southern half of Indiana, would cause severe environmental 
damage. “We really had the project almost at a standstill until Mitch Daniels came into office,” said Thomas Tokarski, now the president of Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads. “We still have huge amounts of support from the people in Indiana.” Since that farmhouse meeting, Tokarski...

I have been doing some traveling the last couple of days, so the output is down.  The scenery has been great, and in getting ready for the trip I encountered the snake pictured above.   I believe it is a red coachwhip, aptly named, as it is so long and slender.  This specimen was about four feet long.  It was sunning itself in a tire track on the way out to the ranch. I find desert wildlife fascinating, and I try not to kill any without good reason.   I stopped, took some pictures, and intimidated the snake off the track...

Ahead of the controversial Common Core exams being administered across the country, a judge ruled Tuesday that the state of Missouri’s membership with a testing company aligned with the Common Core State Standards is illegal, the Associated Press reported. Missouri conducts its Common Core math and English exams in grades three through eight under by the Smarter Balanced Consortium of 16 states, out of more than 40, who have adopted the standards. Cole County, Missouri Circuit Judge Daniel Green said the state’s membership with the testing company is “illegal interstate compact not authorized by the U.S. Congress.” snip Two private...

Apparently not satisfied with their effort to intimidate Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers, the left’s StopRush crusade is now allegedly targeting his spokesman. In their view, simply working for the talk host is apparently a crime, with an online and legal harassment campaign as punishment. Even sharing a surname with an EIB employee can now mean being pulled into this battle! As a result of his position with the show, longtime spokesman/ advisor Brian Glicklich has found himself on the receiving end of a harassment campaign after he began to investigate the inner workings of this secretive group. Considered one of the...

Using America's interstate system could get more expensive in some places in the near future. Provisions in the White House-endorsed, $302 billion transportation bill would allow states to get permission from the federal government to impose tolls on them to raise money for infrastructure upkeep. Of course, some states already charge to drive on the interstates – the New Jersey turnpike, for example – but for the most part charges are rare on the federally funded roads. "We believe that this is an area where the states have to make their own decisions," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to the...

As with many federal accounts, the Highway Trust Fund is running on empty. Refilled with the 18.4-cent per gallon gas tax and disbursed by politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, the federal highway fund faces a $63 billion shortfall through 2018. Texas gets $2-3 billion per year from the fund which goes towards the roughly $7 billion in yearly Texas Department of Transportation expenditures. A shortage of funds tends to concentrate the mind—which is why the White House just proposed lifting an old federal restriction against tolling on 46,000 miles of interstate roads. This would allow states to collect tolls on...

Ever driven down I-95 in Maryland, or the New Jersey Turnpike, and parted ways with $10, $20 in tolls? If the Obama administration has its way, highways across the country could someday be that way. In a major shift for how governments fund transportation projects, the administration wants to let states charge tolls on interstate highways. A federal ban currently bars states from doing so in most places, but the latest White House push could change that.

Washington - Drivers on the nation’s Interstates could soon be paying more to travel. A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost. Congress banned tolls on Interstates in 1956 when it created the national highway system under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The administration said lifting the toll ban would help address a shortfall in funding to pay for highway repairs. The tolls, along with other changes, could provide an

The motorist killed in a shooting that closed eastbound Interstate 4 in Tampa for nearly eight hours Saturday has been identified as a 47-year-old Orlando man. Fred William Turner Jr. was fatally shot while he was on a cell phone telling a 911 dispatcher someone with a gun was pursuing him, authorities said. The shooting happened around 3 p.m. and prompted authorities to close I-4 at I-75 while they examined the scene and searched for clues. The closure eventually stretched west to U.S. 301 and didn't end until nearly 11 p.m. Turner, who was driving a newer model Ford Mustang,...

U.S. states could collect millions of dollars in online sales taxes, with members of both parties in Congress sponsoring legislation Thursday that would resolve states' decades-long struggle to tax businesses beyond their borders. "Small businesses and states alike are suffering from the inability to collect due — not new — taxes from purchases made online," said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., adding the legislation is a "bipartisan, bicameral, common-sense solution that promotes states' rights and levels the playing field for our Main Street businesses." Legislation on the Amazon tax, named for the colossal Internet retailer, has languished for years. ..... <...

While American companies expect to pay taxes to Uncle Sam and the states where they operate, they weren't exactly ready to face levies from states where they aren't physically located. But thinning budgets and a weak economy have prompted about 30 states and many more local communities to begin imposing "cross-border" taxes and fees designed to raise revenues from firms that don't locate or regularly operate in their jurisdictions. These new taxes are taking aim at everything from trucks crossing state borders to sales and communications from out-of-state firms. And that long arm of taxation is creating a howl in...