Today’s White House blog post documents the revival and resurgence of the American auto industry that was once believed to be on the verge of extinction. The whole story is explained in the following three simple gifs.
Image courtesy: Whitehouse.gov
Image Courtesy: Whitehouse.gov
Image Courtesy: Whitehouse.gov
Indian coast guard vessels and helicopters worked Monday to contain oil spilling from a stricken container ship that collided with another vessel in the Arabian Sea, India’s defense ministry said.
The Panamanian-registered MSC Chitra smashed into the St. Kitts-registered MV-Khalijia-II on Saturday near Mumbai’s Jawahar Lal Nehru port. The accident caused the MSC Chitra to run aground and list heavily, ministry spokesman Capt. Manohar Nambiar told The Associated Press.
At least 250 containers from the damaged vessel fell off and port officials were trying to salvage them to avoid navigational hazards to other ships, officials said.
(Source: TheTrucker.com & AP)
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood took exception to an Associated Press articlethat reported that counties suffering the most from job losses stand to receive the least help from President Barack Obama’s plan to spend billions of stimulus dollars on roads and bridges, an Associated Press analysis has found. Although the intent of the money is to put people back to work, AP’s review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide reveals that states are planning to spend the stimulus in communities where jobless rates are already lower.
Image Courtesy: AP - U.S. map shows amount of stimulus funds announced for transportation, by county
Altogether, the government is set to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than it will in communities with the highest.
The AP reviewed $18.9 billion in projects, the most complete picture available of where states plan to spend the first wave of highway money. The projects account for about half of the $38 billion set aside for states and local governments to spend on roads, bridges and infrastructure in the stimulus plan.
The very promise that Obama made, to spend money quickly and create jobs, is locking out many struggling communities needing those jobs.
The money goes to projects ready to start. But many struggling communities don’t have projects waiting on a shelf. They couldn’t afford the millions of dollars for preparation and plans that often is required.
“At the DOT, we have $48 billion to rebuild roads, bridges, highways, airport runways, ports and transit projects,” LaHood wrote. “And we have already signed off on transportation projects in all 50 states. Just 12 weeks after President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, we have approved 2,800 road projects and another 300 airport projects.”
LaHood said that amounted to over $10 billion “out the door and countless Americans going back to work.”
By this summer, LaHood wrote, Americans won’t be able to drive down the street without seeing people working at good-paying jobs.
He attributed those jobs to the Recovery Act money.
“Unfortunately, the AP’s analysis is misguided,” LaHood said. “Its reporters looked at 5,500 transportation projects from state lists and concluded that the transportation money is going to counties with low unemployment. But until the states make a request and the experts at the DOT certify that a project meets the criteria for Recovery dollars, those lists are not the final word.
“Basically, their (the Associated Press’) work amounts to nothing more than an academic exercise.”
For people who are out of work and at risk of losing their jobs, this construction work is a godsend, LaHood said he believed.
“Sadly, unemployed workers can be found all over our nation in these difficult economic times — even in counties that don’t have the highest unemployment rates,” the secretary wrote
“Governmental boundaries are often arbitrary, and workers know that,” LaHood noted. “People who work construction jobs often drive to wherever they can find work in a metropolitan area or region. Our idea is to drive down unemployment, period.”
LaHood said he told Brett Blackledge, the Associated Press writer who authored the story, about a recent trip he took to New Hampshire for a groundbreaking on highway 101.
“I shook hands with men and women who are going back to work thanks to the Recovery Act,” LaHood said. ”One man told me that he drives all over New England for construction jobs. Another said he is the father of four children and was unemployed until this project began. Now that he has this job, he will be commuting from Wolfeboro.
“Unfortunately, Brett didn’t think it was worth quoting me when I told him that the point of the program is to put people to work. And that’s something I’m proud of.”
(Source: Assosicated Press & Union Leader)
Sgt. Paul Thompson was on routine patrol early Monday when he noticed a car stopped at a red light at the intersection of Bridge and Union streets in Manchester, N.H. The car didn’t move when the light turned green. So the police officer checked it out and found the driver asleep at the wheel, with one foot still on the brake. The 22-year-old driver, Victoria LaGrange, eventually woke up, showing signs of intoxication, and was arrested Monday on a charge of aggravated driving while intoxicated, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.
(Source: Associated Press via Yahoo! News)
WASHINGTON – U.S. highway deaths in 2008 fell to their lowest level in nearly 50 years, the latest government figures show, as the recession and $4 per gallon gas meant people drove less to save more. Safety experts said record-high seat-belt use, tighter enforcement of drunken driving laws and the work of advocacy groups that encourage safer driving habits contributed to the reduction in deaths.
Preliminary figures released by the government Monday show that 37,313 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year. That’s 9.1 percent lower than the year before, when 41,059 died, and the fewest since 1961, when there were 36,285 deaths.
A different measure, also offering good news, was the fatality rate, the number of deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. It was 1.28 in 2008, the lowest on record. A year earlier it was 1.36.
“The silver lining in a bad economy is that people drive less, and so the number of deaths go down,” said Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “Not only do they drive less but the kinds of driving they do tend to be less risky — there’s less discretionary driving.”
Fatalities fell by more than 14 percent in New England, and by 10 percent or more in many states along the Atlantic seaboard, parts of the Upper Midwest and the West Coast, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Americans should really be pleased that everyone has stepped up here in order to make driving safer and that people are paying attention to that,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.
(Source: Associated Press via Forbes)
House Democrats pushed through a plan that would enable Ohio to compete for federal money for a major passenger rail line despite the objections of Republicans.
The House on Thursday voted 53-45 – with only one Republican joining Democrats – to approve a $7.6 billion transportation spending blueprint, which includes $2.2 billion in federal stimulus money. The plan now heads to the GOP-controlled Senate, where many of its details will likely face heavy scrutiny.
House Republicans found a multitude of reasons to oppose the wide-ranging budget.
Many voted against the plan because it would enable law enforcement to pull over and cite motorists for failing to wear their seat belts. Currently, motorists can only be cited for a seat-belt violation if they are first pulled over for another offense.
GOP lawmakers also took issue with a pilot project that would enable traffic cameras to catch motorists speeding through construction zones on highways when workers are present.
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