Free Republic

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...

October 12, 2011 Wednesday (SitNews) - U.S Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have introduced the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act. The bill allows for the interstate sale of firearms and removes several antiquated and unnecessary restrictions imposed on interstate firearms transactions. “Current laws restricting interstate commerce of firearms not only lag behind common sense and new technology, they are unfair and burdensome,” Sen. Begich said. “This legislation cleans up decades-old laws that are unnecessarily restricting the rights of Alaskans and other Americans to purchase and sell firearms.” “Utahns and Americans everywhere have a right to bear arms,...

Infrastructure Spending There is a great deal of talk today about additional Federal taxation or borrowing for infrastructure repairs. The depth of the talk appears to have a linear relationship with the lack of growth in the economy. This talk caused me to ponder several related questions. I started with information readily found on the Internet The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 authorized the construction of the Interstate Highway System. $425 billion is the estimated cost of construction in 2006 dollars. The government obligation to provide for the common defense was the constitutional rationalization for Congress authorizing funds. Prior to...

Eventually, drivers will be electronically scanned without slowing down It's been two years since electronic tolling debuted on the Indiana Toll Road. Drivers no longer have to fumble with coins and cash at toll booths if they have i-Zoom transponders or a similar device from another state. And, eventually, they won't even have to slow down to pay their tolls. The next step for the 157-mile tollway will be implementing open-road tolling, which uses scanners to collect tolls electronically while vehicles are traveling at highway speeds. Toll roads in several other states have already installed open-road tolling. The Illinois Tollway...

Tolling and public-private partnerships are on the table in North Carolina as state officials look into improving Interstate 95. The North Carolina Department of Transportation recently hired two consulting firms, PBS&J and Baker Engineering – at a cost of $6.4 million – to evaluate the state’s 182 miles of I-95 and to develop recommendations for financing. The report, titled “I-95 Corridor Planning and Finance Study,” is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2011. “Renewing I-95 through upgrades and widening is an expensive process, and NCDOT is researching both traditional and non-traditional methods of funding as part of this...

Bay State lawmakers are declaring a new border war, charging that a New Hampshire plan to snag Massachusetts motorists in an Interstate 93 toll trap is unfair, fiscally irresponsible and just plain unneighborly. New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch’s administration is pushing a proposal to put up toll booths in Salem, N.H., to fund the $780 million cost of the widening the roadway between there and Manchester. But State House lawmakers are lobbying their colleagues on both sides of the aisle to sign a bipartisan petition to block the move and to urge Gov. Deval Patrick to step into the fray.

LOST REVENUE • Could finance transit projects, road and bridge repairsState Rep. Tony Guerrera, D- Rocky Hill, is the latest among Connecticut lawmakers to propose restoring tolls to finance the repair and maintainance of the state's aging highway infrastructure. We agree with Mr. Guerrera that a new revenue stream to help solve Connecticut's woeful transportation problems is desperately needed. We also agree with him that more money is needed to help pay for transit projects. High-speed rail, light rail, more commuter train routes, busways and the like would decrease the bedlam of congestion on highways, cut harmful emissions and give...

Interstate Health Insurance - some strengths ... and some weaknesses Does anybody actually think: 1. that any insurer would charge the same price for identical products sold in a low-medical-cost state and in a higher-medical-cost neighboring state?, 2. that any large insurer isn't already licensed in every state?, 3 hmm ... insurers are regulated now by state insurance departments...the federal government wants insurance "sold across state lines", a federal matter ...does somebody have a hidden agenda here? - Strengths of Interstate Health Insurance - "About 18 million Americans today buy health insurance in the individual market because they don't have...

Massachusetts wants even more tax revenue—from New Hampshire.___ Should New Hampshire businesses have to collect Massachusetts sales taxes from border-crossing shoppers? That’s the issue in Town Fair Tire v. Massachusetts, a case before the Bay State’s Supreme Judicial Court with ramifications for commerce and constitutional law well beyond New England. In 2003, a Massachusetts Department of Revenue audit uncovered invoices from three New Hampshire outlets of the Town Fair Tire company (TFT) to customers with Massachusetts addresses. Because Connecticut-based TFT also has locations in Massachusetts—and therefore benefits from various public services there, from police protection to road maintenance—the Massachusetts Appellate...

Beer and burgers hold up trafficPublished: Feb. 17, 2009 at 4:45 PM SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The Utah Highway Patrol said a truck lost its load of hamburgers on Interstate 15 Tuesday and another truck dumped beer on Interstate 84. Trooper Cameron Roden said the driver of the semi-tractor trailer rig carrying the hamburgers fell asleep behind the wheel on his way out of the Salt Lake City area just after 5 a.m. Tuesday and struck a wall and an overhead sign. The hamburger patties in the back of the trailer spilled out onto the north and...

The No. 1 automotive replacement battery brand in North America has launched a commercial aimed solely at spreading God's love. Interstate Batteries, a company selling approximately 15 million batteries a year, is an associate sponsor for Joe Gibbs Racing car No. 18 driven by Kyle Busch. Chairman Norm Miller explained why the company decided to promote God's love in a video statement. "Well I was really burdened with man's inhumanity to man – all the violence and abuse and murder and mamas killing their babies and all these things that you get," he said. "It came into my heart and...

To make good on his offer to help Chicago combat violence, Gov. Blagojevich envisions putting speed cameras on interstates across Illinois -- and using the revenue to form an "elite tactical team" that would operate in Chicago and other cities. The idea is in its infancy, with no budget and no timetable. About 50 Illinois State Police employees have been assigned to work with Chicago Police on everything from tracking down illegal gun buyers to hunting for criminals on Chicago's expressways, Guerrero said. "I want to be judged not by the number of people we provide, but by the results...

Excerpt - DELHI, La. (AP) - Interstate 20, a major east-west route across north Louisiana was shut down Friday afternoon after a nearby oil pipeline erupted in flames. Sgt. Markus Smith of the Louisiana State police says the explosion happened about 1 pm. Details were sketchy, but Smith says the pipeline was burning just east of Delhi, a small town about 200 miles northwest of New Orleans. The dispatcher for the Richland Parish Sheriff's Department, who would not give his name, says the oil line is about 50 yards from the interstate. He says the four-mile stretch from Delhi to...

Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign is increasingly concerned that the controversy swirling around former New York Police Department Commissioner Bernard Kerik could negatively impact his White House aspirations. Kerik pleaded guilty in 2006 to state conflict-of-interest charges for accepting $165,000 in gifts from an allegedly mob-linked construction firm. He currently faces a possible indictment from the U.S. attorney’s office for tax crimes and other offenses stemming from renovations to his Bronx apartment from the firm Interstate Industrial Corp., while he was corrections commissioner under then New York City Mayor Giuliani. Giuliani’s law partner Marc Mukasey has now been told to monitor...

FReep This Poll! What is the best way to reduce traffic congestion? * Widen and/or build more freeways. * Add more carpool only lanes. * Improve mass transit options. * Encourage working from home. * Limit new housing development. Go to the North County Times/The Californian link provided. Scroll down a bit and look for the poll on the right hand side. Vote your choice. Poll should remain active until Thursday (09/20/07) evening.

A tractor trailer hauling blocks of cheese erupted into flames early Thursday, heating some of its precious cargo into freeway fondue. No one was hurt, but hundreds of pounds of provolone, cheddar, American and other cheeses littered the side of Interstate 80 north of downtown Sacramento. "It went pretty quick," said truck driver Frank Barker, who pulled over at 3:45 a.m. when he saw smoke coming from under his truck. Barker said he initially tried to put out the flames with his truck's fire extinguisher, but the fire was too big. He gave up and rescued his dog, who was...

BELLEFONTE -- One of up to 10 Interstate 80 toll booths would be put up in Centre County near the Clinton County line and another would be located 40 miles to the west in Clearfield County, according to unofficial plans seen by state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Benner Township. Corman, majority policy chairman of the Senate Republicans, made the disclosure during a news conference Monday where he assailed Gov. Ed Rendell as "irresponsible" for holding the state budget "hostage until he gets everything he wants done." The senator said the I-80 map he saw is an early draft and could change...