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U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao had been on the job only a few weeks when she took action on one of the region's most intractable problems and directed millions in federal transit dollars be withheld from the District, Maryland and Virginia until they create a safety agency to oversee D.C.'s subway, Metro. Chao was making good on a threat by her predecessor, Anthony Foxx, a move that surprised some local officials who had hoped that the jurisdictions had shown enough progress to stave off the action. It's too soon to say whether Chao's action is a sign she will continue...

The U.S. has built nine navigation systems for Mexico and Canada under the controversial Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in an apparent first step toward establishing the satellite infrastructure needed to create a North American air traffic control system. The defining vision for North American air traffic control was articulated by then-Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta in a Sept. 27, 2004, statement announcing, "We must make flying throughout North America as seamless as possible if we are to truly reap the rewards of the expanding global economy." The "2006 Report to Leaders" posted on the SPP website...

AUSTIN – Four years of simmering frustration boiled over at a recent Texas Senate committee hearing with just one thing on the agenda: toll roads. An overflow crowd bashed and booed the Texas Transportation Commission in front of mostly like-minded senators. For eight hours, lawmakers and audience members alike questioned the state's increasing reliance on tolls. "We can't simply build roads at any cost," Sen. John Carona said to cheers. "We've got to build them smarter." Some argue that toll roads are the only smart play in a state where the Legislature has refused to raise the tax on gasoline,...

Two recent news items provide a certain insight: First Item: “A group of Muslim and Arab-Americans, frustrated by what they say is the climate of suspicion and fear that dogs their re-entry into the United States from trips abroad, sued the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. yesterday, demanding that the courts protect their civil rights. The seven main plaintiffs in the class action suit assert that both the United States Congress and the federal government are ignoring the plight of innocent Americans harassed repeatedly because of problems with the terrorist watch list.

WASHINGTON -- Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced on Tuesday a White House initiative to relieve highway, aviation and freight congestion, largely with the help of private fees and tolls. "Congestion is not a fact of life. We need a new approach and we need it now," he said. The plan includes fast-tracking a modernized air traffic control system and building extra-wide interstate highways that could serve as "corridors of the future," he said. Because of "trucks stalled in traffic, cargo sitting on the dock at overwhelmed seaports (and) airplanes circling over crowded airports, congestion is costing America an estimated $200...

Perry Announces Plan to Accelerate Interstate 69Ambitious Transportation Corridor Will Create Jobs, Trade Opportunities HOUSTON - Gov. Rick Perry today announced an ambitious plan to partner with the private sector to develop an interstate-quality highway corridor with additional rail freight capacity that connects the Lower Rio Grande River Valley to I-37 and continues along the south and east portions of Texas from Corpus Christi through Houston all the way to northeast Texas. The visionary transportation project, TTC-69, will connect industrial hubs in South Texas and the Midwest. “When construction is complete, Texas will benefit from unprecedented trade opportunities, a faster,...

CHICAGO – U.S. Sen. Barack Obama suggests the Bush Administration is headed in the wrong direction on funding Amtrak. Just a few blocks east of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta’s news conference defending proposed cuts for Amtrak, Obama was suggesting the White House is on the wrong track, again. The proposal has been made before. Ideologically, Obama says, the Bush White House is simply opposed to federal subsidies for rail systems. But, at a time when the U.S. is trying to reduce its dependency on foreign oil, Obama says Amtrak’s passenger rail system should be getting more White House support, not...

Norman Mineta should have been the first to leave Bush's Cabinet, not one of the few asked to stay! The holiday travel period is a good reminder of just how far we still need to go when it comes to airline security in a post-9/11 world, and although Mineta’s power has been largely usurped by the Department of Homeland Security, it was he who set the mindset for the post-9/11 world. There have been several significant developments in airline security in the last few months. None bode well. First, what was touted as a passenger profiling system was instituted at...

Case 41: FAA Unlawful Racial Quotas '04 The case is officially known as "Michael C. Ryan vs. Norman Y. Mineta" Civil Action No. 99-4128 (Mineta is named in this action in his official capacity as administrator of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation) The FAA's discrimination against Mr. Ryan pitted merit promotion principles against the FAA's illegal racial quota hiring program. It took Mr. Ryan over nine years of hearings and litigation to win his right to equal treatment under the law without regard to his skin color. (1) Overview [Adversity.Net Report Oct. 12, 2004] -- Michael C. Ryan is a...

Court OKs trucks from Mexico in U.S. Justices say president has authority to let the trucks in By ANNE GEARAN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON The Supreme Court removed the last legal roadblock to Mexican trucks rolling across U.S. roadways, siding with the Bush administration Monday in a long-running dispute with labor union officials, environmentalists and consumer advocates. The fight, begun during the Clinton administration, had ground down to a last quarrel over whether a Transportation Department agency had to perform an air quality study. Opponents argued that Mexican trucks tend to be older and dirtier than American models. Ruling on...

Clintonistas on 9/11 Commission Hunt for Bush Cover-up Two members of the independent commission investigating the 9/11 attacks who excoriated the Bush administration for its handling of the disaster during public hearings this week are said to be aggressive Democratic partisans with close ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Complaining that the presence on the commission of high powered Washington lawyer Richard Ben-Veniste and former deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick all but guaranteed that the investigation would target the Republican White House, the Wall Street Journal observed last December that the two 9/11 probers were "Democratic partisans [who are] one...

WASHINGTON -- According to high-level administration sources, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta was scheduled to follow former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill as the second Cabinet member to be fired by President Bush until illness landed him in Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Mineta, a 71-year-old former congressman from California, is the only Democrat in Bush's Cabinet. He was saved from dismissal when a staph infection followed surgery last August to relieve persistent back pain, hospitalizing him for several weeks. He was operated on again Jan. 24, and remains at Walter Reed at this writing. Although Transportation officials say Mineta...

Toogood Reports [Thursday, September 12, 2002; 12:01 a.m. EST]URL: http://ToogoodReports.com/ One year after America was hit with the deadliest attack ever on its own soil, airports were open, even if many New York-area flights were cancelled, and most that took off were 70 percent empty; schools were open, even if many parents kept their kids home; and some businesses were closed altogether. One year after America was hit with the deadliest attack ever on its own soil, let us take stock. How free, safe, and unified is America at war?Liberty The story of liberty in America is the story of...

<p>If we're going to have an investigation to find out why no one foresaw the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, let's have one that gets at some answers rather than merely points fingers. Last week, Sen. Hillary Clinton cited a New York Post headline that claimed "Bush Knew," and asked: "The president knew what? My constituents would like to know the answer." Mrs. Clinton and other critics backed off when it became apparent that the warnings President Bush received about terrorist attacks were both general and inconclusive.</p>