Midwest

While new Wisconsin and Ohio Republican governors are not supportive of high speed rail and my try to steer their state's high speed rail awards for road purposes, the new Republican governors of Iowa and Michigan appear to be Amtrak supporters.

The IL state senate's 51-2 passage of a bill creating the Illinois and Midwest High Speed Rail Commission on March 18 is a major step toward planning the 150+ mph train from Chicago to St. Louis.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch laments the $1.1 billion the St.Louis to Chicago corridor received for high speed rail, wishing it had gone to worthier projects such as subsidizing local public transit.

The ailing auto industry has many manufacturers in the Midwest transitioning to the renewable energy market, opening factories to build wind turbine parts and solar panels.

The Midwest has high hopes on capturing a big chunk of the federal stimulus money directed towards high speed rail projects.

Flood waters along the Mississippi River continue to rise, leaving many Midwest towns deep under water. The Army Corps of Engineers has just identified 27 levees that may not be high enough to handle the rising waters.

Thanks to industrialized agriculture, there’s a wide gulf between those who produce food and those who consume it. Too many city-dwellers lack access to nutritious, non-processed foods. Dave Steel thinks that urban agriculture is the key.