BP spills oil into Lake Michigan

Occupy Chicago: "Monday afternoon, an estimated 1,638 gallons of oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, leaked into Lake Michigan, poisoning the source of drinking water for 7 million people in and around Chicago.

The BP Refinery on the lake’s shore has admitted responsibility, but has yet to take action to ensure the safety of our drinking water and ecosystem."

Cities competing for who has the best #publictransit

A Rider's Take on Expanding Indy's Public-Transit System | IM Feature Articles: "Indy’s public-transit system currently falls well short of those in the cities it competes with for jobs and visitors. With 346 buses, Cincinnati has nearly double the public transportation we do. And Minneapolis and Charlotte have already invested heavily in light rail. Indy budgets approximately $65 million annually for a fleet of just 155 buses, which isn’t nearly enough for a city our size. Sure, implementing Indy Connect’s plan would be expensive up front: The group estimates it would take $1.3 billion to build the first phase in Marion and Hamilton counties over a decade, requiring a .3 percent increase in those counties’ income tax. But the yearly operating cost of $136 million would be comparable to the amount our competition already spends."

Chicago study exposes impact of 'transit racism"

Amalgamated Transit Union: "According to the working paper, African-Americans spend more time than any other group getting to and from low-wage jobs in Chicago. The increased time adds up to 70 minutes per week for men, and 80 minutes per week for women. That’s 80 minutes that can’t be spent on overtime, running errands, or supervising homework according to the report’s author Virginia Parks. “And you’ve got to pay for 80 minutes of extra daycare,” she says, on top of higher transit and automobile costs."