Obama unveils high-speed passenger rail plan

President Obama unveiled his administration’s blueprint for a new national network of high-speed passenger rail lines Thursday, saying such an investment is necessary to reduce traffic congestion, cut dependence on foreign oil and improve the environment. The president’s plan identifies 10 potential high-speed intercity corridors for federal funding, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England. It also highlights potential improvements in the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor running from Washington to Boston, Massachusetts

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Biden announces $1.3 billion for Amtrak

Vice President Joe Biden continued the administration’s rollout of the recently passed economic stimulus package Friday, highlighting $1.3 billion in federal funding for Amtrak. The money for the rail service, which carried almost 29 million passengers in the previous fiscal year, will go primarily to infrastructure repair and improvement. The $787 billion stimulus plan includes a total of $8 billion for improvements in rail service, a crucial investment to help ease traffic in the congested northeast corridor running from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, Biden argued.

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Ponzi Schemes

The $50 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly masterminded by former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff punctuated a miserable year for Wall Street in the worst possible way: by underlining, yet again, that savvy market-makers can harness arcane financial instruments as weapons of mass destruction. Left in Madoff’s wake are bankrupt investors, mortified regulators and a raft of unnoticed red flags.

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Stem-Cell Researchers Cheer Obama’s Vote for Science

“All right, there we go.” With those words and a swish of his pen, President Barack Obama reversed one of the most controversial executive orders in recent history. In front of the country’s leading scientific minds, including Dr. Francis Collins, who helped map the human genome, and Dr

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Snowstorm targets East Coast; New England braces for 15 inches

A snowstorm that could last up to 18 hours was on its way to southern New England, and Boston could be snowed under with up to 15 inches, the National Weather Service said Sunday afternoon. Monday’s commuters in the region could face a nightmare with blowing and drifting snow, freezing temperatures, gusty winds and periods of sleet. Flight delays and cancellations were likely, the weather service said

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New England braces for up to 15 inches of snow

A snowstorm that could last up to 18 hours was on its way to southern New England, and Boston could be snowed under with up to 15 inches, the National Weather Service said Sunday afternoon. Monday’s commuters in the region could face a nightmare with blowing and drifting snow, freezing temperatures, gusty winds, and periods of sleet. Flight delays and cancellations were likely, the weather service said.

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Elie Wiesel says he can’t forgive Bernie Madoff

Elie Wiesel, the Nazi concentration camp survivor who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, showed little inclination this week to make peace with accused swindler Bernie Madoff, whom he called "one of the greatest scoundrels, thieves, liars, criminals." “Could I forgive him No,” the 80-year-old told a panel assembled Thursday by Conde Nast’s Portfolio Magazine at New York’s 21 Club to discuss Madoff, whose alleged victims included Wiesel and his foundation, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. “To forgive, first of all, would mean that he would come on his knees and ask for forgiveness,” the Auschwitz survivor said

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