When Congress returns from its August recess on Sept. 8, it will focus on several important transportation-related measures. The debate over a major health care bill overall will likely dominate the discussion in Washington, but critical measures dealing with transportation and the environment will also demand action. [More]

Mattie P. (M.P.) Carter, a commissioner of the Memphis Area Transit Authority in Memphis, TN, has been nominated by the APTA Nominating Committee for election as APTA’s chair.

Michael J. Scanlon, general manager/CEO of the San Mateo County Transit District and Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain) in San Carlos, CA, was nominated for first vice chair, and Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., executive director/CEO of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency in San Francisco, CA, was nominated for the secretary-treasurer position. [More]

With sustainability at the forefront, the federal government is working to develop green policy through an unprecedented partnership. Representatives of U.S. DOT, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) addressed APTA’s Sustainability and Public Transportation Workshop, attended by more than 130 people in Salt Lake City on Aug. 3. [More]

Houston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County broke ground on two new light rail lines—one running north and one southeast of downtown Houston—and marked a ramping-up of construction on a third line, running east of downtown, at multiple ceremonies July 13. One of the events, held in Houston’s historic Union Station, included the unveiling of a life-size model of the agency’s new CAF train. [More]

At recent ground-breaking ceremonies for Community Transit’s newest park-and-ride, located at the corner of Cedar Avenue and Grove Street in Marysville, WA, Chief Executive Officer Joyce Eleanor described the “tremendous growth in ridership” in the city and the transit system’s increase in service in north Snohomish County. [More]

Shelley Poticha, president and chief executive officer of Reconnecting America since 2004, has joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as senior advisor for sustainable housing and communities. John Robert Smith, the four-term mayor of Meridian, MS, will succeed Poticha at Reconnecting America. [More]

The Transportation Research Board has released three new TCRP publications. [More]

Every year, nearly 30,000 Americans commit suicide. The methods vary, but the choices are always personal, individual, and specific. As A. Alvarez, author of The Savage God: A Study of Suicide, wrote: “A man who has decided to hang himself will never jump in front of a train.”

Understandably and yet unfortunately, whenever there is a death connected to trains, the immediate public assumption is that the operator or the agency or the train itself is at fault. Compounding this problem are two more elements: it can at times be very difficult to determine whether a death is a suicide, and authorities may be reluctant in certain circumstances to declare that someone has taken his or her life. [More]

The Eno Transportation Foundation has scheduled a “summit” for transit board members Oct. 7 and 8 in Orlando, FL, in conjunction with the 2009 APTA Annual Meeting. [More]

APTA is accepting entries through Oct. 2 for the 10th Annual Public Transportation Takes Us There Photo Invitational. Photos from APTA members can cover a range of subjects that depict public transportation’s significance, value, and benefits of opportunity, access, freedom, and mobility. And there’s no fee to enter! [More]

APTA is offering free public transit rides for a year and an iPod touch to the grand prize winner of its Dump the Pump Video Contest! Second place is six months of free transit, and third prize is three months. [More]

In these rapidly changing, always challenging, and frequently threatening times, one of the public transportation CEO’s top-tier responsibilities is to lead large-scale innovation and change efforts. [More]