Infrastructure

Back to homepage

Rail Firms Lack Accountability

NOV. 15, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO The California High-Speed Rail Authority really loves its contractors. It easily employs more than a hundred of them, though the rail authority doesn’t seem to know that. In fact, the authority literally has no

Read More

Folsom Prison Museum Free!

Anthony Pignataro: Until Nov. 24, that is. But yeah: admission to the Folsom Prison Museum is free (it’s normally $2 — no checks!). According to an official state Department of Corrections and Rehabiltation press release, this generosity is to celebrate

Read More

Studying Death By Caltrain

Anthony Pignataro: Those feeling much too good about themselves ought to take a gander at this incredibly fascinating/depressing new study from the San Jose State University-based Mineta Transportation Institute on people who kill themselves by commuter train (click here for

Read More

State's Prisons Exploding

NOV. 5, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO It was apparently a matter of “disrespect.” It happened at Calipatria State Prison, located on the edge of the Salton Sea near the Mexican border. Around 2 p.m. on June 12, two inmates met

Read More

California Debates Its Nuclear Future

OCT. 29, 2010 By KATY GRIMES California faces an energy conundrum: The 2006 global warming law AB32, dictates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels, by 2020. However, with the demand for electricity increasing, state energy experts are

Read More

MWD Chairman In The Tank

Please see the comments and corrections posted at the end of this story. OCT. 13, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI An old fashioned method of water conservation was to put a brick in the water tank of your toilet.  The Metropolitan

Read More

Kick the NFL through the goalposts of California

John Seiler: Oct. 6, 2010 At a time when governments and citizens of California are bankrupt, the NFL could build at least one incredibly expensive stadium in the Bay Area: $735 million for the Oakland Raiders (formerly the L.A. Traitors).

Read More

Big Green Dries Out Big Valley

OCT. 1, 2010 By STEVEN GREENHUT When most people think of California, they think obviously enough about the populous and influential coastal cities, from the gleaming Southern California coast to the Bay Area. But east of the coastal ranges and

Read More

Conflicted Pols Pushed To Resign

SEPT. 30, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO Apparently, the state attorney general only recently discovered that two California High-Speed Rail Authority board members have other jobs that my conflict with their bullet train responsibilities. Richard Katz and Curt Pringle are long-time

Read More

Is there a UP/HSR rail war?

Anthony Pignataro: A huge assumption on the part of the California High-Speed Rail Authority is that they’ll be able to run bullet trains alongside Union Pacific’s freight train tracks as the system winds its way through Central California. The Authority

Read More