Kathleen Galligan/Detroit Free Press/MCT

No state has been hit harder by the economic recession than Michigan, where unemployment stands at 15.2 percent. Michigan has had to cope for years with huge losses in auto and other manufacturing jobs. Lawmakers have made an…

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Thousands of area workers and businesses who depend on public transportation endured a long, hot summer — and their problems are far from over.

St. Louis is in the depths of a public-transit crisis with no certain…

Emily Rasinski | Post-Dispatch

A narrow beam of light seemed to break through the Missouri Legislature’s dismal session earlier this month.

House Speaker Ron Richard came to the phone to tell us how he and his fellow Republican representatives understood the pain experienced…

One possible result of tax-cut plan.

Buried deep in Missouri House Bill 20, one of 22 appropriations bills that outline how state money will be spent next year, is a $1.6 million appropriation for the care of foster kids in the custody…

Missouri House Speaker Ron Richard

Efforts to reverse — at least temporarily — devastating cuts to Metro transit agency services are still very much alive. Thanks to the work of Missouri House Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin, and Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, Metro…

Passengers wait for No. 70 bus at the Grand MetroLink station. Elie Gardner|Post-Dispatch.

Last week, Gov. Jay Nixon appeared at St. Louis’ Humane Society to show support for small animals and opposition to Missouri puppy mills.

This week, maybe he’ll show up…

Stanley Coffey is on the night cleaning crew at the Bank of America branch on Broadway and Chestnut Street downtown.

Each evening, he boards the No. 30 Soulard bus at Kingshighway to head to work. The bus takes him east on Arsenal…

Christian Gooden | Post-Dispatch

For steep cuts in mass transit even as ridership grows.

The condition is not unique to this region, but that’s small comfort to those who rely on publc transportation and whose lives soon will become much more complicated.

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(Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images)

The size of the economic stimulus package that may be proposed by the incoming Obama administration grows larger by the minute. At last measurement, it was approaching $1 trillion.

That has generated a list-making frenzy by local governments, state agencies…

Brittanie Williams | Post-Dispatch

Metro, the St. Louis region’s bus and light-rail mass transit agency, faces a budget gap of at least $40 million that grows larger with every report of slumping retail sales and declining sales taxes. In November, St.…

Eddie Roth/Post-Dispatch

St. Louis Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed paid us a visit this morning, catching us up with various initiatives from his office.

He came with Harry Kennedy in tow, his new legislative director and a longtime Missouri lawmaker.

Mr. Reed ran…

Kevin Manning/Post-Dispatch

Critics scoffed at the idea that St. Louis County voters would consider adding a half cent onto the local sales tax to fund regional public transit.

In this economy? Given the arrogance of past leaders of Metro, St. Louis’ regional…

Robert Cohen/Post-Dispatch

Emily is 27 years old and has Down syndrome. She lives with her parents in Webster Groves, but her mother says she hopes to live on her own one day. Emily’s path to independence lies along Metro’s transit routes.

Emily has…

St. Louis County voters will be asked Nov. 4 to approve a half-cent sales tax increase to provide funds for public transportation — sustaining the current Metro transit system and providing for future expansion of MetroLink light rail.

A sleeper issue, Proposition…

Metro President Bob Baer says that keeping the public safe from crime on the MetroLink line “isn’t just a priority, it is the priority.”

“We’ll spend $10 million this year. We will spend more if we have to, and make cuts in…

The streaming video from the July 31 transit summit at Washington University sponsored by Metro now is available online — and has been produced in a very convenient format.

For reasons I explained in an earlier post, I thought it was an…

Few of the 224 seats in Washington University’s sumptuous Whitaker Hall auditorium were empty Thursday, circumstantial evidence that public transit in the St. Louis region has a lot of support — among the region’s political class, at least.

Why else would a…

A big crowd was on hand for the Transit Summit held this morning at Washington University.

The program was organized by Metro and its purpose was to brief local officials on a variety of matters having to do with where things…

If you live in the far reaches St. Charles County and your car goes on the blink, you’d better have a bicycle.

Or a generous friend.

Or cab fare.

Or a horse

Or good walking shoes.

Otherwise you’re stuck, because you can’t take a bus.

To most…

On July 31 — 15 years to the day after the first MetroLink train pulled out of Union Station amid much ballyhoo — politicians and civic leaders will gather at Washington University for what’s being billed as a “transit summit.”

Although not…