SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Even liberal California has abandoned high-speed rail

Feb 12, 2019, 5:19 PM | Updated: 6:22 pm

High speed rail, Cascadia rail,...

Could a high speed rail work in Washington? (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

Something incredible has just happened in California, a state that is about as radical as Washington in terms of greed for tax dollars. We just found out that California Governor Gavin Newsom has suspended a $77 billion high-speed rail line from Northern California to Bakersfield.

Why? It’s too costly. I didn’t know that politicians on the Left knew the meaning of the phrase “too costly.”

Here at home, Governor Jay Inslee is pursuing high-speed rail between Vancouver, B.C. and Portland.

RELATED: Millions more to be spent on studying high-speed rail between Washington, B.C.

It will cost far more to take the train from Seattle to Portland than it costs to fly. It will be much more infrequent. And it will be slower. So, it is inferior to air travel in every single way.

Last year, Inslee called the proposed Puget Sound high-speed rail a “monument to optimism.” No, it’s a testament to failure. And even far-Left California has abandoned its efforts for high-speed rail.

The only thing I feared about the California rail system was that it would have bumped Sound Transit from the most criminally corrupt enterprise in the U.S. to the number-two spot. But thanks to the California announcement, Sound Transit retains its lead for the foreseeable future as the most corrupt and wasteful public agency in the country

The only possible threat on the horizon is Inslee’s Portland to British Columbia bullet train.

White House border czar Tom Homan speaks with reporters outside the White House, Monday, July 20, 2...

Associated Press

Trump’s border czar says vetting of ICE officer is under internal review after Maine shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s border czar said Sunday that the vetting of an immigration officer involved in the deadly shooting of a Colombian native in Maine is under internal review after relatives revealed to The Associated Press that he had a history of serious mental health struggles and violent behavior. Tom Homan said […]

2 minutes ago

The Modrite Fire, in northeast Washington state, has grown to more than 9,000 acres. (Photo Courtes...

Tom Brock

Washington state wildfires growing in size, forcing evacuations

Dry conditions across the state have prompted Red Flag Watches and Warnings, as a series of wildfires continues to grow across Washington.

54 minutes ago

President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and others, salute as a U.S. Army carr...

Associated Press

Pentagon’s official Iran war death toll no longer lists 4 troops killed during renewed fighting

WASHINGTON (AP) — The four American troops killed during renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran in recent weeks are no longer listed as part of the Iran war death toll in the Pentagon’s official casualty count but have been placed in a new, separate category. It is raising questions about properly counting the impact […]

1 hour ago

This satellite image released by NOAA shows Hurricane Fausto, center, and Hurricane Genevieve off t...

Associated Press

Genevieve becomes a major Pacific hurricane off Mexico, but no direct threat to land is forecast

MIAMI (AP) — Genevieve has strengthened into a major hurricane in the Pacific Ocean and is expected to intensify well southwest of Mexico but stay far out to sea on a course roughly parallel to the coast. Genevieve had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), making it a Category 3 hurricane, according to […]

2 hours ago

A Kent Police Department vehicle (Photo courtesy of Kent Police Department)...

Tom Brock

Dispute at a family graduation celebration ends with deadly shooting

One man is dead, and another is in police custody after a family celebration in Kent ended with a shooting. Police arrested a 40-year-old suspect at a family graduation celebration after a 41-year-old man was shot multiple times. It happened at a home in the 900 block of E. Cherry Hill St., a half mile […]

2 hours ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the state memorial for Ze'ev Jabotinsky, at Mou...

Associated Press

Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of ‘fomenting hate’ and calls ICC war-crimes charges ‘bogus’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “fomenting hate” by calling the prime minister a war criminal who should be arrested over the war in Gaza if he visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly. Netanyahu said he intends to be in New York in […]

3 hours ago

Dori: Even liberal California has abandoned high-speed rail