NATIONAL NEWS

Huffington Post: The 'Real Unemployment' Needs Real Solutions
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-hindery-jr/the-real-unemployment-nee_b_420108.html
...Fund a 10-year program of significant public investment to upgrade and rebuild our nation's major infrastructure, which would immediately create 18,000 new jobs for each1 billion we spend. This program should include a new National Infrastructure Bank, incentives for private funding of public infrastructure, a multi-year green transportation program funded through an increase in gasoline taxes, and targeted federal government spending in improving energy efficiency.

Blogging Stocks: U.S.'s Infrastructure: Hardly Ready for the 21st Century
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2010/01/13/u-s-s-infrastructure-hardly-ready-for-the-21st-century/
...The U.S. features some of the most advanced technology and systems in the world: The problem is not innovation per se -- but the remarkable, and in some cases jarring, changes in the quality of facilities, one experiences. For example, in one day, you can go from a gleaming, modern skyscraper office ... to a commuter train system that was antiquated decades ago ... to a modern indoor shopping mall ... to a creaky bridge you vow you'll never cross again ... to an elementary school that's truly an embarrassment, with a leaky roof and all.

STATE NEWS

DC Streetsblog: State DOTs: We Back National Transport Goals — If We Get to Write Them
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2010/01/13/state-dots-we-back-national-transport-goals-if-we-get-to-write-them/
Congressional efforts to set national goals for the American transportation system are stalled for now, but the U.S. DOT said today that it is preparing for an eventual transition to a world where performance targets are the norm for transit, roads, bridges, and ports.  "National goals should be set by U.S. DOT in collaboration with states and stakeholders," Federal Highway Administration executive director Jeffrey Paniatti said yesterday during a session of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) conference.  But how will Washington measure progress on transportation metrics such as safety, pollution reduction, and efficiency in states that are, as Paniatti put it gently, "starting from different places"?  Pete Rahn, the chief of Missouri's state DOT and past president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), had a simple answer: States should be in charge of the process.

Clarion Ledger: Water: Aging infrastructure has price
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100113/OPINION01/1130325/1008/OPINION
...Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. reported Tuesday that as many as 106 major water leaks were dumping millions of gallons of water out of the system. The result was a true crisis - schools and government offices were forced to close, businesses were affected, homes were without water or had to boil water. Where there was water, pressure was dangerously low. Adding to the woes, an electrical fire knocked out the H.J. Fewell water treatment plant. So, when it rains, it pours - except when it comes to water right now.

Michigan Messenger: GM exec Bob Lutz makes the case for a higher gas tax
http://michiganmessenger.com/33183/gm-exec-bob-lutz-makes-the-case-for-a-higher-gas-tax
...His argument: a graduated gasoline tax increase would be the best way to help American consumers — and automakers — make the smartest, fuel-efficient choices. Otherwise, as prices at the pump fluctuate on the whims of global oil markets, neither consumers nor companies like GM have any reasonable assurance that greener cars are really all that necessary.