Outside the Fence

By HEATHER BRADY

Regional
Gov. Tim Kaine and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced on Sept. 30 that the federal government will help to fund a railway project already underway south of Fredericksburg. The project is aimed at help faster Amtrak passenger trains to pass slower ones between Washington and Richmond by providing an additional three-mile third track. This will be the only place between Alexandria and Richmond that trains are able to do so. The government will contribute $2 million of the necessary $13 million for the project, which will be completed by mid-2009. Peters said this alternative will help provide “a viable alternative to what seems like an always-clogged I-95 corridor.” (The Free Lance-Star, Oct. 1; www.fredericksburg.com)

National
On Sept. 30, Leaders of the Senate said that they would advance modest changes to the proposed $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan in the hopes of winning over House of Representatives Republican holdouts and obtaining congressional approval of the bill. The Senate, where most members indicate support for the bill, intended to vote last night on a revised revenue package that would include a one-year increase in Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation caps for bank and credit accounts, as well as extensions of numerous business tax breaks that have expired and a fix to the alternative minimum tax for individual taxpayers. However, this move could prove to be unappealing to the coalition of conservative House Democrats, who have long opposed the changes. (The Washington Post, Oct. 1; www.washingtonpost.com)

Global
In Jodhpur City, India on Sept. 30, false rumors of a bomb in a large crowd caused a stampede that trampled at least 168 people to death and injured more than 425. Over 12,000 people had gathered at dawn in the Chamunda Devi temple to celebrate Navratra, a nine-day Hindu festival, and the floor had become slippery when devotees in a male-only line broke hundreds of coconuts for offerings. According to G.C. Kataria, home minister of Rajasthan state, someone in the crowd slipped, and people kept falling afterwards. This is the third such tragedy in India in the past three months. (The Washington Post, Oct. 1; www.washingtonpost.com)