News Brief

First off, another independent report has cleared the scientists at the center of the supposed "Climategate" that happened last year right before last year's Copenhagen Summit. According to an article on AP:

The inquiry by former U.K. civil servant Muir Russell into the scandal at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit found there was no evidence of dishonesty or corruption in the more than 1,000 e-mails stolen and posted to the Internet late last year. But he did chide the scientists involved for failing to share their data with critics.

In the New York Times, there is another article on how light rail drives economic development. This time in car capital LA:

The Expo route has spurred development proposals from major companies, including Hines, an international firm based in Houston, and Casden Properties, a leading Los Angeles developer of multifamily properties. In Santa Monica, Eileen P. Fogarty, the city planning director, said there was tremendous demand for any site that was located no more than a quarter-mile from a station. “People will comfortably walk a quarter of a mile,” she said.

Back in Winnipeg, the Mayor of that city is ready to replaced his bus rapid transit system even before it's up and running next year! According to the Winnipeg Sun:

Though the city is well into construction of an initial bus rapid transit (BRT) roadway from the south section of downtown to a site near the intersection of Pembina Highway and Jubilee Avenue, Katz stressed on Friday that it’s time to change gears toward a rail-based system — or even “LRT-lite” — that will attract more riders and provide a far better bang for the buck.

“The reality is that we need a long-term, sustainable rapid-transit system. And it’s been proven that LRT gets people out of their cars. BRT doesn’t. That’s just a fact,” Katz told the Winnipeg Sun. “It increases ridership. We already know it increases residential and commercial development.”