NATIONAL NEWS

Financial Times: US Deals with Politics of Recovery
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b7c4e616-6fc7-11df-8fcf-00144feabdc0.html
Akiachak and Duzinkie, two tiny native villages in remote parts of south-western Alaska, are unlikely subjects for a tussle between the US Department of Transport and the independent auditor that supervises the department. But last year, the Federal Aviation Administration, which is part of the DoT, awarded the settlements $13.9m (£9.6m, €11.3m) and $14.7m, respectively, to replace their airports, drawing from a $1.1bn pool of federal stimulus funds. The move triggered a testy exchange…For politicians, the response has been partisan. At the end of last year, Tom Coburn and John McCain, two Republican senators, released a report detailing 100 projects where they said stimulus money had been “mismanaged, or directed towards silly and short-sighted projects”.

KMOX Radio: LaHood: '$500-600 Billion' Needed for Road, Bridge Improvements
http://www.kmox.com/LaHood----500-600-billion--needed-for-road--bridge/7407255
So far, Missouri has received and spent more than a quarter-billion dollars in stimulus funding to rebuild roads and bridges across the state. But with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act scheduled to wrap up by the end of this year, U.S. Transportation secretary Ray LaHood says it's time to think about the next phase in funding new construction projects. "Everybody agrees on what needs to be done for America in terms of building roads, fixing up our bridges, more transit," LaHood said. "The only thing we need to do is find 5- to 6-hundred billion dollars."

Progressive Railroading: Coalition Urges Congress to Fund Rail Initiatives
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/news/article.asp?id=23503
On Friday, the OneRail Coalition announced it's urging Congress to fully fund the Federal Railroad Administration’s grant programs in fiscal-year 2011. In a letter recently sent to House and Senate appropriators, the coalition requested that Congress increase funding for high-speed intercity passenger rail to the House-endorsed 2010 level of $4 billion; provide the full amount of Amtrak’s $2.6 billion funding request; provide $11 million to help railroads fulfill the federal mandate to install positive train control; and allocate $40 million for rail infrastructure improvements.