California high-speed rail gets a green light

The Sacramento Bee reports:

California’s high-speed rail project can start rolling without waiting for potentially time-consuming approvals from a federal board, officials ruled Thursday. In a victory for the project that’s faced repeated political obstacles, a divided Surface Transportation Board ruled 2-1 that the California High-Speed Rail Authority can begin construction on its own. The initial 65-mile stretch between Fresno and Merced will be exempt from the customary requirement that railway construction first obtain prior approval from the federal board, under the ruling.

Backward California.