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• T. Boone Pickens, the oilman turned energy activist, has scrapped his much-touted plan to build the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas panhandle. Instead he says (FWIW…) that he will build smaller wind farms in places like Wisconsin and Kansas. (Dallas Morning News)
• There is talk of second stimulus, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere yet. The new transportation bill could serve the purpose, hints its author, Jim Oberstar. But there’s still that nasty funding issue: it’s very expensive and Obama doesn’t support raising gas taxes. (Bloomberg and Rollcall)
• The number of fatalities in truck-related crashes on US roadways fell to 4,229 last year–down 12 percent from 2007, and the lowest level since 1975. (Transport Topics)
• Those cool new streetcars being made in Portland are pricing out at $3.3 million each, or about $450,000 above recent expectations. Oregon Iron Works, the manufacturer, footed the $7 million bill for the prototype unveiled last week. (Portland Mercury)
• London bought six hybrid versions of the city’s trademark red double-decker buses. The vehicles–made by Volvo–can travel as fast as 12 MPH under electric power before the diesel engine kicks in. (Treehugger)
• Yesterday’s Dig featured an item outline the remarkable benefits of roundabouts. Here’s a great photo gallery of roundabouts, and a fun instructional video for drivers unfamiliar with the finer points of negotiating them. (Kleinefenn via How We Drive and Road Guy)
• Stupid headline of week award goes to a FOX affiliate for a story about the twitchy harmless creatures found in a Raleigh sewage pipe. Fox 8 in Greensboro asks: “Sewer Blob: Could it Happen Here?” Rest easy, gentle Greensboronians: “Pegram said to his knowledge nothing like the sewer blob is lurking in the city’s 1,500 miles of pipes.” (Fox 8.)

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