REVOLUTIONARY ROADS: President Obama on Monday proposed spending $50 billion in 2011 to fund an ambitious overhaul of the country's transportation network, an economically motivated move that could also help the environment — although critics say it wouldn't be worth the up-front cost. Speaking at a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee, Obama explained that his plan is part of a broader effort to fix 150,000 miles of roads, lay or replace 4,000 miles of rail tracks, upgrade 150 miles of airport runways, and set up a new air navigation system to slash travel delays. But the centerpiece of Obama's proposal is its creation of a national "infrastructure bank," which would let the federal government offer low-cost loans directly to local governments for transportation projects, pooling money both from taxes and private investments. "All of this will not only create jobs now," Obama said during his speech Monday, "but will make our economy run better over the long haul." Such wholesale improvements could also help the country's aging transportation infrastructure run better, potentially saving both money and energy by easing traffic congestion, reducing long delays and generally increasing the efficiency of road, rail and air travel. Any such streamlining would likely help curb greenhouse gas emissions, and the infrastructure bank could also invest in boosting bus systems around the country, as well as Amtrak's underused train fleet. Obama proposed a way to fund the plan without increasing the federal deficit — scrapping the manufacturing tax deduction over 10 years, as well as the depletion allowance for oil and gas companies — but that hasn't silenced his critics. "If we've learned anything from the past 18 months, it's that we can't spend our way to prosperity," House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio tells the Wall Street Journal. "We don't need more government 'stimulus' spending." (Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal)

 

RAIN OF TERROR: As Tropical Storm Hermine plows through southern Texas today — where it could dump up to 12 inches of rain in some places — tens of thousands of people in Central America are still reeling from much more destructive storms that hit over the weekend. Torrential downpours in Guatemala and southern Mexico have killed at least 48 people and caused property damage worth hundreds of millions of dollars, triggered by a combination of seasonal rains and the short-lived Tropical Depression 11-E, which formed in Tehuantepec, Mexico, on Saturday and generated more than a foot of rain before fading away. The storms have sparked nearly 200 landslides, wall collapses and mudslides in mountainous Guatemala, where emergency officials tell Agence France-Presse that 11,500 people have been evacuated while another 43,000 remain at risk. "It's a national tragedy," President Alvaro Colom said Monday as he visited the site of a recent mudslide, adding that "it is a very painful thing that poor people end up being the ones hurt by natural disasters." Meanwhile, ongoing rains are expected to complicate rescue efforts, especially now that Hermine has unleashed even more water in Mexico, where many rivers have already surged over their banks and flooded nearby communities. The national hurricane center projects Hermine could also cause "life-threatening flash floods" in Texas as well as Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri for the next few days; the storm is forecast to dwindle over the Great Plains toward the end of the week. (Sources: CNN, Agence France-Presse, AccuWeather, National Hurricane Center) 

 

TRIP ADVISOR: The hallucinogenic compound in "magic mushrooms" could help terminally ill cancer patients cope with anxiety and depression, according to a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Known as psilocybin, the chemical offers an unorthodox solution to a problem that has long plagued the medical community: how to improve quality of life for people who are nearing the end of their lives. In the study, a team of researchers gave small doses of psilocybin to 12 patients who were supervised by trained therapists, and also gave them placebo pills during a separate session. While the placebo had little effect on their symptoms, the patients reported less anxiety and better overall mood one to three months after taking the psilocybin — and six months after the treatment, tests indicated their depression had declined by 30 percent. The researchers then conducted follow-up interviews, in which some patients explained that the experience had changed their perspective of their illness, and even brought them closer to family and friends. "Political and cultural pressures forced an end to these studies in the 1970s," says the study's lead author. "We were able to revive this research under strict federal supervision and demonstrate that this is a field of study with great promise for alleviating anxiety and other psychiatric symptoms." (Sources: Health.com, e! Science News)

 

21ST CENTURY FOX: Reports of the Sierra Nevada red fox's death have been greatly exaggerated, the Los Angeles Times reports today, following an announcement from the U.S. Forest Service that the endangered population has not been wiped out as once thought. The discovery wasn't easy, requiring wildlife officials to conduct DNA tests of fox slobber that was left on a bait bag full of chicken scraps, but combined with a fuzzy photo taken by a motion-triggered camera, it was enough evidence to declare that the long-lost population of red foxes still exists. "The last known sighting of a Sierra Nevada red fox in the Sonora Pass area was sometime in the 1920s," a local forest ranger tells the Times. "Needless to say, we are quite surprised and excited by this find." The subspecies of red fox lives at high elevations, where it feeds on birds and small mammals, but the only known population was a ragtag bunch of 20 living near Lassen Peak (one of which is pictured above), about 150 miles north of the recent sighting. But thanks to genetic tests of the fox's saliva, researchers at the University of California-Davis were able to make a positive ID. "We got back to the Forest Service and said, 'Yep, you've got yourself a Sierra Nevada red fox there, and it's distinct from the Lassen Peak population,'" says one of the researchers. Still undetermined is whether this finding will affect ongoing U.S. Marine Corps training exercises in the region, or plans to develop a snowmobile crossing there. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

 

— Russell McLendon