Ports and shipping:
*2 trials for bay pilot: negligence, lying -- A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss criminal charges against the pilot of the container ship that struck the Bay Bridge in November and spilled more than 50,000 gallons of fuel oil into San Francisco Bay. John Cota is charged with two misdemeanor counts of criminal negligence for guiding the 901-foot Cosco Busan in the fog, allegedly proceeding at an unsafe speed and making other errors that led to the vessel hitting the second tower west of Yerba Buena Island the morning of Nov. 7. SF Chronicle 7/19/08
Detained Chinese crew members facing longer stay -- Lawyers for the pilot of the ship that struck the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge say there is new evidence raising doubts about the Chinese crew's truthfulness after the incident, but say the crew should be detained as witnesses for several more months.The six crew members have already been held in Northern California as "material witnesses" for eight months while the case against Capt. John Cota plods along. According to Cota's lawyers, the prosecution has said the Chinese captain has admitted "he did not know how to interpret the symbols on the electronic chart." AP 7/19/08
A shipshape ports bill -- Under SB 974, shippers and retailers would have to pay a fee of $60 on every typical-sized container passing through the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland. Local officials had a legitimate beef with past versions of the bill, which would have directed state transportation and air-quality boards to distribute the money. These boards tend to care more about regional equity than about distributing funds where they're most needed. LA Times 7/21/08
Program Would Provide Certified Training For Maritime Cops -- Port police and other maritime law enforcement folks will be able to share a common base of knowledge, terminology, and procedures under a new training program announced last week at the Port of Los Angeles. Port Operations Director John Holmes noted that although several agencies employ maritime officers, there is no standardized training similar to the Police Officer Standards and Training certified program provided for all police personnel in California. Cunningham Report 7/20/08
Transit and infrastructure:
*Rough ride ahead for Muni's overhaul plan -- Municipal Railway officials have mapped out an ambitious strategy to improve transit service in the city by overhauling the decades-old route map and concentrating resources on the most popular lines. The idea is that Muni, the Bay Area's biggest transit agency with some 700,000 boardings a day, should use its limited resources to boost service reliability and on-time performance for the vast majority of people who use the system. That will mean the elimination of some lines and expansion of others. SF Chronicle 7/21/08
State budget games get played out in Sacramento -- and on the 110 -- For decades, Sacramento has shortchanged the state's infrastructure, diverting the funds into its own waste, work force and special-interest excess. Because of this abuse, the state's leaders told us in 2006, we would have to take out huge bonds just to keep California's infrastructure from crumbling. Voters were skeptical, but what else could they do? The dreadful state of California's choked roads and freeways left us no other choice. So we dutifully approved Proposition 1B. And now state leaders want to use that money to help underwrite the wasteful general-fund spending practices that forced us to pass Proposition 1B in the first place. Daily News 7/20/08
*U.S. highway trust fund veers toward crisis -- As motorists cut back on their driving and buy more fuel-efficient cars, the government is taking in less money from the federal gasoline tax.The result: The principal source of funding for highway projects will soon hit a big financial pothole. The federal highway trust fund could be in the red by $3.2 billion or more next year.The fund, set to finance about $40 billion in transportation projects next year, is increasingly strained. And the problem has taken on greater urgency as lawmakers face a backlog of projects to maintain the nation's aging interstate highway system and ease traffic congestion. LA Times 7/21/08
A tale of four commutes -- As gas prices top $4.50 a gallon, alternative forms of commuting are becoming more popular. Bay Area workers are flocking to bus, BART and other options in increasing numbers. BART ridership, for example, has jumped 6 percent compared with a year ago, to record-high ridership of some 370,000 on a typical weekday. Here's a rundown from four Bay Area commuters on how they dumped their cars and saved a bundle on the trip to work. Inside Bay Area 7/20/08
Suicide barrier for Golden Gate Bridge? Public debate promises to be emotional -- The 71-year-old bridge has the dubious distinction of being the world's No. 1 suicide draw, though a recent 10-year study by the Marin County coroner found that most victims are from the immediate Bay Area. Renewed discussion over barriers is the most serious to date, said bridge district spokeswoman Mary Currie, calling the newly released environmental impact report and design options "a milestone."Currently, efforts to deter jumpers include emergency counseling telephones, foot and bike patrols, employee training and surveillance cameras. Sacramento Bee 7/21/08
Emissions:
EPA Says Life Is Worth Less -- Last week, it was revealed that an Environmental Protection Agency office had lowered its official estimate of life's value, from about $8.04 million to about $7.22 million. Now, for the first time, the EPA has used this little-known process to devalue life, something that environmentalists say could set a scary precedent, making it seem that lifesaving pollution reductions are not worth the cost. Washington Post 7/19/08
State to consider ban on car texting -- The Assembly will consider a bill to ban text messaging while driving next month, officials said at a news conference Friday. Mike Eng, who will be the head of the Transportation Committee in the 2009 legislative session, said he was not yet sure whether the texting legislation is necessary. Daily Bulletin 7/18/08
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