Saturday, October 11, 2008

A Record Year for Amtrak In Ridership and Revenue

Amtrak carried a record 28.7 million people in the past fiscal year, with each of its routes seeing gains, the national passenger railroad said Friday.

The company has posted six years of ridership and revenue growth. The number of trips over the past 12 months increased 11 percent over the 25.8 million taken in fiscal 2007.

Total ticket revenue for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 reached $1.7 billion -- also a record for the 37-year-old government-owned corporation and a 14 percent increase over the $1.5 billion taken in the previous year.

Chief executive Alex Kummant cited highway and airport congestion, high gasoline prices, increased environmental awareness, and improved Amtrak service as all contributing to the successful year.

The Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston saw a 9 percent increase in ridership and a 15 percent increase in ticket revenue.

San Francisco Plans Net for Jumpers

Stainless-steel netting costing up to $50 million will be placed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge to catch would-be suicide jumpers, San Francisco officials decided. The board of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, which approved the netting on a 14 to 1 vote, determined that a net would be the least visible of five alternatives. The agency has yet to determine how to pay for it, a spokeswoman said. About 2,000 people have jumped from the storied bridge since it opened in 1937.

Tribal Official Gets Prison Term

WICHITA -- The "secretary of state" of a group that claims to be an American Indian tribe was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for encouraging illegal immigrants to live in the United States. Debra Flynn, also known as Little Mouse, received the sentence recommended by prosecutors in exchange for her cooperation in the prosecution of the Kaweah Indian Nation and its grand chief, Malcolm Webber. A jury found Webber guilty in August on six federal charges arising from the unrecognized tribe's efforts to sell memberships.

Okla. Abortion Law Challenged

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An advocacy group is suing over an Oklahoma law that prohibits a woman from getting an abortion unless she first has an ultrasound and the doctor describes to her what the fetus looks like. The law, set to go into effect Nov. 1, would join Oklahoma with Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi as states requiring that ultrasounds be performed before a woman can have an abortion and that the ultrasound images be made available to the patient for viewing, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a Washington-based health research organization. The Center for Reproductive Rights claims in its lawsuit that the requirement intrudes on privacy and endangers health.

-- From News Services