Feb. 03--After years of discussion on how to remedy the city's plague of vacant and often rotting properties, Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez introduced a bill Thursday that would create a central land bank to collect and find better uses for empty parcels.

Each has its own policies and rules for disposing of parcels, Sanchez said, some of which require the properties to be sold at market value.

Rick Sauer, executive director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, said his group's members had been dealing with the bureaucratic tangle of city ownership for years.

Feb. 03--With Washington deadlocked over funding for the nation's highways and transit systems, several transportation experts warned Thursday at a forum in Philadelphia that continued wrangling could jeopardize the nation's recovering economy.

"Even a catastrophe doesn't seem to bring it home," said Peter J. "Jack" Basso, chief operating officer of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

Noting that partisan debates in Washington have blocked a long-term national transportation policy since 2009, Basso said, "The process is sinking the ship."

Feb. 01--AND By CHARLES POPE

A coalition of environmental groups, hoping to head off congressional action they believe would increase unsustainable logging, propose a three-prong approach for replacing federal forest payments to hard-hit Oregon counties.

They said the state, federal government and the counties themselves could each provide a third of the estimated $110 million needed annually to sustain services:

WASHINGTON - The nation's crumbling roads, bridges and transit systems are at the point of hindering U.S. economic growth, but Congress is struggling to come up with a solution.

A sweeping House Republican plan to transform federal transportation programs was quickly attacked this week from the left as a giveaway to greedy, well-heeled industries and from the right as an example of big government overspending.

And a House transportation committee meeting Thursday to approve the $260 billion, 4 1/2 -year bill was marked by bitter partisanship and occasional shouting.

Feb. 03--North Dakota's congressional delegation has asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to support a state request for additional funding to repair flood-damaged roads.

Under federal law North Dakota is capped at $100 million per disaster event.

The Devils Lake Basin is considered one event with a $100 million annual limit, while the rest of the state is under a separate $100 million cap.