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Virginia Gets High-Speed Rail Grant

 

Virginia will receive the majority of a $48 million grant to develop a high-speed rail link between Washington and Raleigh, N.C., according to Associated Press. 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the goal of the effort is to spur high-speed rail development throughout the southeast, which has seen a population boom in recent decades. Officials hope to reduce travel time between the cities to about two hours. That shaves about 90 minutes off the current train schedule.

Virginia will get about $44 million dollars of the grant, while North Carolina will pick up about $4 million for analysis and preliminary engineering on the new connection.

 

NPR

China's Artist Provocateur Explores New Medium: Heavy Metal

In 2011, police detained Ai Weiwei for 81 days. Now, he's released a song that's turned the experience into a heavy metal protest song, along with a dystopian nightmare video. The lyrics are explicit and angry. Ai says his music is for the many political prisoners who remain jailed.
NPR

How Genomics Solved The Mystery Of Ireland's Great Famine

Although scientists have known that a funguslike organism caused the potato blight that triggered the Great Famine in Ireland in the 1840s, they didn't know which strain was the culprit. But they do now, thanks to the genes in some 19th century potato samples.
NPR

Libya 'Talking Points' Emails Put Petraeus Back In Spotlight

The role former CIA Director David Petraeus played in creating the discredited U.S. "talking points" about the violence in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, including a U.S. ambassador, last year is under new scrutiny, as a Washington Post story suggests that Petraeus sought to shape the resulting memo to favor his agency.
NPR

Apple CEO Defends Tax Practices At Senate Hearing

Apple CEO Tim Cook faced tough questions on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. He defended a tax strategy that allows Apple to avoid taxes on tens of billions of dollars of profits. Cook also called on the Congress to lower the U.S. corporate tax rate.

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