NATIONAL NEWS

Politico: Dem leaders aim to tackle jobs bill
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33611.html
Democratic leadership plans to take up the jobs bill next week, despite a chorus of opposition from their caucus. “We noted it for next week and we’re working on it,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO.  Democratic leaders are eager to pass legislation demonstrating that they are working hard on job creation initiatives.

DC Streetsblog: Federal Transportation Law Expired Over the Weekend: What’s Next?
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2010/03/01/federal-transportation-law-expired-over-the-weekend-whats-next/
A new month begins today without rules in place to govern federal transportation programs, thanks to an objection by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) to quick approval of a short-term extension of existing law.  The consequences of the delay could include forced furloughs for nearly 2,000 U.S. DOT employees, according to an agency release this morning, as well as a shutdown of federal funding for road, bridge, bike-ped, and transit projects. The processing of money for stimulus construction work and state-based road safety groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) are also set for an interruption.  Nevertheless, the situation remains fluid. House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) has secured a promise that future Senate legislation will assuage his panel's frustration with a provision in the pending jobs bill that would apply 2009 earmarks to $932 million in 2010 transportation grants.

Star Tribune: Oberstar Blasts Standoff in Senate on Road Funding
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/85719802.html
Rep. Jim Oberstar, aka "Mr. Transportation," led the House attack Friday against Sen. Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican who has tied Congress up in knots with his one-man filibuster of federal road projects that expire Sunday. "The Senate is so obscure," Oberstar said of the upper chamber, where a single member can hold up legislative action by withholding so-called unanimous consent. "One person gets their nose out of joint about something, and it brings the whole place to a halt."  Actually, Bunning's maneuver does a lot more than that. Without a planned 30-day extension, Oberstar said the feds will have to furlough thousands of transportation workers on Tuesday, temporarily shutting down a range of government highway and transit programs.

DC Streetsblog: The Big Question: What is the Purpose of Federal Transportation Spending?
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2010/02/26/the-big-question-what-is-the-purpose-of-federal-transportation-spending/
...But regardless of its merits, the concept of ending formula-based spending would have next to no chance of winning approval in a Congress where bringing transportation dollars home can make the difference between re-election and defeat. And it's worth asking whether it would ultimately produce a more efficient American transportation system.

National Journal: What Should The Gas Tax Pay For?
http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2010/03/what-should-the-gas-tax-pay-fo.php?rss=1
At a time when gas tax revenues can no longer cover the cost of maintaining, much less upgrading, the nation's surface transportation infrastructure, what should a gas tax pay for? And how should we fund the non-vehicle element of our infrastructure that we may increasingly use to move people and goods?

Houston Tomorrow: Majority of Americans view HSR as an option
http://www.houstontomorrow.org/livability/story/9-in-10-americans-view-high-speed-rail-as-an-option/
Nearly 9 in 10 Americans are thinking about high-speed rail as a long-distance travel option, according to a survey conducted by architecture and engineering firm HTNB Corporation. The Obama administration recently awarded $8 billion in stimulus funds to high-speed rail projects, primarily in California, Florida, and Illinois.

Infrastructurist: What Does TIGER Look Like? A Graphic Depiction
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/02/26/what-does-tiger-look-like-a-graphic-depiction/
Graphic of TIGER.

STATE NEWS

News and Tribune: ANOTHER BUMP IN THE ROAD: Even with federal funding possibilities, local transportation projects may stall
http://www.newsandtribune.com/local/local_story_057192815.html
Following a visit earlier in the week by U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, questions on exactly what can be done for local transportation projects while funding for the Ohio River Bridges Project is sought lingered at the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency meeting Thursday.  The possibility that federal funding may be secured through several avenues to pay for portions of the bridges project would still have a limiting effect on local transportation plans.

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Jobs rely on transit, campaign chief says
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/61ED9851D70D2F6C862576D70011546C?OpenDocument
Chesterfield Mayor John Nations had just brokered a deal last March to prevent bus service from being cut off to St. Louis County's second-largest city when his phone rang.  The caller told Nations that her mother lived at an area skilled nursing facility. That morning, she had overheard workers there talking about Nations by name. If not for the 11th-hour agreement that Nations and his city engineered, the workers would have lost their buses — and, by extension, their jobs.