Headlines

1. Toll hike foes warn of impact on safety
2. Privatizing lottery is irresponsible gimmick
3. Who wants to camp under a toll road? A bad idea for California’s parks
4. WV delegate opposed to priv. workers comp challenges governor

1. Toll hike foes warn of impact on safety
Opponents of a state plan to hike tolls along the New Jersey Turnpike and other routes are pointing to the potential for more truck traffic and increased risks along alternative roads as truckers inevitably make detours to avoid the higher fees, reports the Star-Ledger. Foes of the plan would like to scrap or at least rework the ambitious and controversial strategy. "Today, the people of my district already face an extraordinary number of trucks coming down Route 1 and Route 130," said state Sen. Bill Baroni, R-Hamilton. "To add to that problem is not good public policy because it makes the roads more dangerous."

2. Privatizing lottery is irresponsible gimmick
Peter Shumlin (D), president pro tempore of the Vermont sate senate has an opinion piece in the Rutland Herald about the govenor’s plans to privatize the state lottery: "While the Vermont lottery encourages everyone to "play responsibly," Gov. Jim Douglas is playing irresponsibly with his proposal to lease our lottery to Wall Street for the next 40 years. Selling off a profitable state asset which belongs to all of us to the same folks who brought us the subprime mortgage crisis is a short-term financial gimmick that is both risky and short-sighted."

3. Who wants to camp under a toll road? A bad idea for California’s parks
Robin Everett from the Sierra Club writes in the California Progress Report about a protest she helped organize at the state capitol concerning a proposed toll road near a popular campground: “A toll road through a state park? You’ve got to be kidding me!” This was the statement heard over and over again by volunteers for Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, the Save San Onofre Coalition and myself as we assembled on the steps of the State Capitol to speak out against the proposed Foothill-South Toll Road through San Onofre State Beach.

4. WV delegate opposed to priv. workers comp challenges governor
Outraged by the new privatized workers’ compensation system and the “bullying” of the Manchin administration, Delegate Mel Kessler plunked down his $1,500 fee early Thursday to run for governor of West Virginia, according to the Beckley, WV Register-Herald. Kessler has been a strong critic of the state’s decision to turn the troubled workers’ compensation system over to BrickStreet, and met only a day earlier with the firm’s officials and Gov. Manchin. In that meeting, the Beckley resident said he was amazed that Manchin was unaware of some facets of the new system. “He acted like he didn’t know BrickStreet had tapped into the old fund by $3.5 million,” he said.

Reports
Hearing Record: US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. Title: Public-Private Partnerships: Innovative Contracting. April 17, 2007.