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Passenger rail service in the United States is woefully lacking compared to other countries, particularly long-distance service that connects far-reaching cities. Amtrak currently operates 15 long-distance routes, which range from 750 to 2,500 miles. But they stretch over just 39 states and the District of Columbia, and a map of those routes reveals that large swaths of the country dont have any rail options.A new map, as part of a recent Federal Railroad Administration study, shows what the country could look like if 15 additional long-distance routes were added. With those rail lines, previously stranded regions of the country are suddenly connected with bright lines representing passenger rail. They would make the countrys rail network considerably fuller and would bring rail service to all of the lower 48 states.The existing Amtrak Passenger rail network. [Image: FRA]These 15 potential new Amtrak routes would add more than 23,000 rail miles to the system, serve more than 60 new metropolitan areas, and provide rail access to 39 million people that currently dont have it. The revealed preferred route options. [Image: FRA]The FRA study on the potential expansion of long-distance rail was delivered to Congress this week. As part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Congress directed the FRA, which oversees Amtrak, to conduct a study that evaluated the potential of restoring routes, adding new ones, and increasing existing service.The FRA has been working on the report for the past two years, conducting meetings in 21 cities across the country, from Boston to Boise to Dallas. The agency received more than 50,000 comments, from stakeholders like state transportation departments and Indian Tribes, as well as members of the public. Thats a sign, the FRA says, of the overwhelming support for long-distance services or passenger rail in general. In their comments, people across the country shared how they would use the new route options to do everything from visit family to see national parks to connect to job opportunities. Less than 10% of riders on Amtraks current long-distance routes ride from end-to-end, the study notes, but what these routes do is connect people to all the urban and rural places in between. Amtraks current Crescent route, for example, connects New York to New Orleansbut includes stops at more than 30 stations in between, from Trenton, New Jersey, to Greensboro, North Carolina, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The studys findings underscore the growing interest in train travel thats been sweeping the U.S. in recent years. Amtrak itself saw record ridership in 2024, with new routes quickly surpassing expectations. Other rail companies have come into the fold, too, like Brightline, with its plans to develop high-speed rail options. [Images: FRA]But the potential new Amtrak routes are far from a sure thing. The options that the study outlines are conceptual, the FRA says, and more work is needed to refine the projects and determine their costs and funding sources, plus whatever else it would take to actually implement them. Some of the routes have existed previously, but were closed because of a lack of funding. Restoring them would surely be a funding challenge again. Currently, the study reads, there is no sustained financial support or program to construct or operate the selected preferred route options.Some of that funding could come from an FRA program, or from states and private stakeholders working with Amtrak. Its also not clear what this Congress, or the new administration, will think of the report. Though President Donald Trump, while on the campaign trail, lamented the fact that the U.S. didnt have bullet trains, experts say his presidency could reduce financial support for transit projects overall.
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E-Commerce
When it comes out later this year, the most creative new set of Lego bricks won’t be available in stores or from any traditional retailer. The only place you’ll be able to find it is in a classroom. Lego Education Science is a new science-focused Lego set and educational tool from the venerable toymaker, with its signature bricks playing the literal building blocks of hands-on science experiments and lessons. Designed for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, Lego Education Science is an attempt to engage children in science through building with Lego bricks, along with guided lessons exploring dozens of scientific concepts. Scheduled for release this summer, the kits are the latest product from Lego Education, a school-focused arm of the company that has been producing educational playsets for 45 years. Its kits are used in public schools across the country, including those in New York City’s Department of Education, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and Chicago Public Schools. [Photo: Lego] Lego Education Science is the company’s first attempt at creating a standalone teaching tool. Sets of the past have been more supplemental to existing curriculaan extra learning aide for after-school programs or as part of a science or robotics club. Not every kid gets to go to an after-school program or an enrichment club. For us, that started to feel like a very, very big opportunity to make even more impact, and certainly to reach a much more diverse group of kids, says Andrew Sliwinski, Lego Education VP and head of product experience. [Photo: Lego] Lego Education’s Science kits include more than 120 differentiated lessons across three grade ranges that can be explored using just the material in the box. Building with Lego is a central part of each lesson, but it’s also a gateway for making sometimes difficult scientific concepts easierand more funto grasp. What we’re trying to do is figure out a way where we can make science engaging, creative, and collaborative, but oh yeah, make that fit in a 45-minute lesson in a classroom with a teacher that doesn’t have a background in science, says Sliwinski. It’s quite the design brief to make that work. [Photo: Lego] Each lesson involves building something with Lego pieces, then using what was built to explore a specific scientific concept or phenomenon, from momentum to structural stability to biomorphology. The kits are designed to be used in groups of four students, with an online component that teachers use to guide a lesson plan, which typically starts with a playful scenario or storyline and often features a familiar Lego minifigure. One lesson about earthquakes, intended for students ranging from third through fifth grades, is called Lemonade Shake, and involves a Lego character with a lemonade stand. The students put the lemonade stand on a shake table and connect it to a small motor included in the kit. When the motor is turned on, the lemonade glasses tumbles to the ground. The students then attempt to design and build their own lemonade stand that could better withstand the seismic force of another earthquake. Ruthie Chen Ousley is Lego Education’s head of product for the science category, and a former elementary school teacher, and she says the familiarity of building with Lego helps students open up to scientific lessons that some might otherwise balk at. What we find is that it’s really the combination of the different design choices that we’ve made that unlocks this level of engagement, from the storyline in the beginning that invites everybody in to think about this character and the immediate connection to the minifigure character that children have, to the array of Lego building elements and materials that they’re able to play with, Ousley says. [Photo: Lego] Sliwinski says developing Lego Education Science took more than five years. Lessons are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards, the state and national standards used to normalize science curricula. In creating the tool, Lego Education integrated feedback from more than 150 teachers, and had hands-on testing by more than 3,000 students, which proved invaluable in the design process. You have to cater for a really wide rnge developmentally, Sliwinski says. What a five-year-old can do and what a 14-year-old can do are different, even down to physical hand and finger strength. So we had to think about all of those details. The designers also had to contend with the reality that most kids already think of Lego as a toy. Sliwinski says it was important that the Lego Education Science kits weren’t just perceived to be toysor worse, to be seen as toys trying to hide the fact that they are schoolwork. We should never make chocolate-covered broccoli. The worst thing that we can do, I think, is try to take an educational idea, wrap it in a candy shell and try to get the kid to swallow it, Sliwinski says. What we really have to do is think about why should a kid be excited about this, why should a child think that this is interesting to them. The goal of the kits, Sliwinski says, is to make science more approachable to young children, and to see themselves when they hear the word scientist. That’s not about just making science fun, he says. That’s about making science relevant more than anything else.
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E-Commerce
Americans are struggling to afford a place to live. Homes cost more than five times the average salarycompared with just three times the average salary in the 1960s. Over the same period, inflation-adjusted rental prices have risen by 64%, far outpacing inflation. Meanwhile, new housing starts continue to fall, including a more than 20% drop in multi-family construction in November 2024 alone. The simple fact is that were not building enough affordable housinghomes at prices families can really afford. And if the housing market is straining the finances of many families now, just imagine what the market will look like as surging ranks of Gen Z buyers enter the market. Countless dedicated teachers, nurses, and carpenters are already unable to live in the communities where they work; how much farther are they supposed to commute? Housing insecurity in the U.S. is obviously a long-developing and complex problem, and theres no magic policy wand we can wave to eliminate it. But as a starting point, three major contributing factors can be addressed right now to ease the pressure on home prices. If were serious about affordable housing, its time to have serious conversations about these three priorities. Let Gen Z help ease the skilled trades labor shortage Housing affordability is often discussed as a matter of supply and demand: All we need to do is build more houses. But what if the houses were building are still too expensive for many buyers? After all, developers have to cover their costs. And those costs are currently being inflated by a significant labor shortage in the skilled tradesa problem of our own making. For years, parents and career counselors have been telling young people that a college degree is essential for a successful life, and theyve been listening. This meant that as builders, electricians, and masons retired, there just werent enough millennial and Gen X aspirants to take their place. In fact, 95% of skilled trade professionals on the Thumbtack platform report their top concern for the future is the ability to find workers to hire. But now we have an opportunity to reverse that trend. A recent survey from my company found that a full two-thirds of Gen Z generationincluding 78% of those with a college degreeexpress a growing interest in skilled trades professions, fueled in part by social media content. More than half of Gen Z are now considering a skilled trade career, up 12% over the past year alone, including 72% of those with a college degree. Unfortunately, this appetite to learn trade-related skills is not matched by the opportunities available. Only 41% of Gen Z had access to trade programs in schoolthough 83% of those who did take shop class called it their favorite subject. Thats why comprehensive policy to address this issue has to include expanding the talent pipeline for Gen Z skilled tradespeople. Beyond restoring shop class, we need to build training, mentoring, and apprenticeship programs that prepare young people to enter the field ready to do quality work from day one. Loosen restrictions on housing development Exclusionary, single-unit zoning policies are the definition of NIMBY: This part of town is for families with quarter-acre lotslet other families find somewhere else to live. As the population grows, that somewhere else is getting further and further away from established communities and their infrastructure, while the prices of existing homes spiral. In fact, young adults who grew up in these spacious suburban spreads can rarely afford them by the time they enter the market. Nobody is saying we should outlaw picket-fence bungalows and ranch homes, but if theres land and capital available nearby to build affordable multi-unit housing, why should local governments impose barriers? States across the U.S. are already moving in this direction, from Oregon and California to North Carolina and Connecticut. And some cities are also stepping in to build affordable housing. For that matter, why are towns and counties even allowed to determine what people are allowed to build on their land? Restrictions on industrial uses are understandable, but when it comes to residential housing, the market should decide what goes whereand the market is calling for affordable apartments and townhouses wherever theres room to build them. Take highways out of the equation The housing shortage is most acute in our urban centers, where young people want to live and companies want to hire. Theres only so much we can do with infill developmentthough we should be doing all we can there, too. The greater opportunity is to help people access these places more easily while living further outwithout soul-crushing gridlock. A century ago, the first wave of suburbanization was enabled by the rise of widespread car ownership and a massive investment in roads to carry them. As commute times grow and daily drives slow to a crawl, we need to shift focus to transit-oriented development (TOD) policies. In many cases, that infrastructure already exists in the form of light rail. To make those investments work harder for homebuyers, we should rezone areas near transit stations for higher residential density, complemented with expanded park-and-ride lots and development incentives for affordable housing. The Federal Transit Administration offers grants under a TOD pilot program to support community efforts to improve access to public transportation. In 2024, applications with a significant affordable housing component were eligible for up to 100% federal support. That kind of vision and commitmenton the part of both regulators and the communities participating in the programwill be essential to solve this crisis. Housing is one of the most fundamental human needsand America is falling short of ensuring that our families can achieve it. By taking practical steps to lower construction costs, make more land available for multi-unit development, an expand the inventory of transit-friendly homes, we can ease the pressure on home prices and help more Americans afford a secure foundation for their families.
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E-Commerce
Retro tech is having an undeniable moment. Weve seen the revival of the Game Boy and chunky keyboards. Courtesy of Sega, even the pager was recently made cool again. Now we can add the iPod to the list of vintage gadgets that Americas youth yearn to experience firsthand. The L.A.-based design collective Drought is tapping into that desire with the iMirror, a behemoth 5-foot-tall replica of the iconic iPod Nano with a mirror instead of a screen (as the name suggests). The iMirror comes in six colors, retails for $375, and will drop online today at 3 p.m. ET in a limited run of just 200. Anyone who actually wants to get their hands on the device-turned-design object will need to act fast: According to Drought founder Jake Olshan, the iMirrors first drop back in August instantly went viral, with all 200 mirrors selling out in the first minute. [Photo: Drought] Olshans fascination with all things retro is evident in Droughts previous drops, which have included a burning CD candle in collaboration with Napster, a giant paper clip inspired by Microsoft Offices mascot, Clippy, and a belt with a buckle fashioned to look like Internet Explorers early-aughts logo. It was only a matter of time before the iPod, which debuted in 2001, joined the ranks of aesthetic tech items from a bygone era. We shouldve known this was coming when Urban Outfitters started peddling the devices to Gen Alpha for $349 back in 2023. [Image: Drought] According to Olshan, who was born in 1997, the concept for the iMirror came from his own nostalgia for the tech (he owned the Classic, Shuffle, and Nano models back when iPods were hot). Picking a model for the mirror largely came down to the screen size, which was largest on the Nano. Beyond that, there were so many iconic elements of this iPod Nano and its campaignthe colors, the ads, the song choices for the ads, Olshan says. Also, thinking a couple years to decades down the line, I felt these would look best surviving the test of time as actual home decor and art pieces as well. In 20 years, he adds, younger people will probably have no idea what the iPod was, but theyll be able to find out about them through these. I think its a cool way of paying homage to it. [Photo: Drought] The iMirror comes with a stainless steel power button and frosted-glass text accents on the mirror, including the phrase Find Yourself above a song progress bar and a small battery icon in the top right. The iPod buttons up arrow has been replaced with the word Drought. I see this drop appealing to two main audiences: those who grew up with these items and feel a strong connection to them, as well as younger people who may not have experienced them firsthand but are drawn to their nostalgic appeal, Olshan says. On one hand, one group is holding on to whats familiar, while the other is eager to be a part of it and experience that nostalgia.
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E-Commerce
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