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Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said Wednesday he will step down immediately after more than four years as head of the U.S. passenger railroad, citing concerns about maintaining the carrier’s support from President Donald Trump‘s administration. “I am stepping down as CEO to ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration,” Gardner said in a statement. Billionaire Elon Musk, who is advising Trump on plans to radically shrink the U.S. government, said earlier this month he thought Amtrak should be privatized. The White House and Transportation Department did not immediately comment on whether the administration had asked Gardner to step down. Amtrak did not respond to a request for comment. Trump during his first term repeatedly sought to cut funding to Amtrak, which received about $2.4 billion in annual federal support in 2023. Congress last week approved $2.42 billion for Amtrak through September 30 in annual funding. Amtrak said in December ridership topped 2019 pre-COVID-19 levels for the first time in 2024 and reached a record high even with less capacity. Ridership increased over 15% in 2023 to a record 32.8 million customer trips, as passenger revenue hit $2.5 billion, up 9% over the prior year. The rail operator reported an adjusted operating loss of $705 million for the 12 months ended September 30, down 9% versus 2023. Amtrak in March said it was boosting passenger services on the East Coast as it aims to double ridership nationwide by 2040 to 66 million passengers. Congress approved $66 billion for rail projects as part of a massive infrastructure bill in 2021, with $22 billion dedicated to Amtrak over five years on top of regular funding. In 2023, then President Joe Biden announced $16.4 billion in grant funding for 25 rail projects on Amtraks Northeast Corridor — Boston to Washington — which is the busiest U.S. rail corridor with 800,000 daily trips in a region representing 20% of the U.S. economy. Many bridges, tunnels and other parts of the corridor are in serious need of repairs, especially a key tunnel connected New York City and New Jersey. David Shepardson, Reuters
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Commercial fishermen and seafood processors and distributors looking to switch to new, lower-carbon-emission systems say the federal funding they relied on for this work is either frozen or unavailable due to significant budget cuts promoted by President Donald Trumps Department of Government Efficiency. The changes are designed to replace old diesel-burning engines and outdated at-sea cooling systems and are touted by environmentalists as a way to reduce seafood’s carbon footprint. Salmon harvesters in Washington state, scallop distributors in Maine and halibut fishermen in Alaska are among those who told The Associated Press their federal commitments for projects like new boat engines and refrigeration systems have been rescinded or are under review. The uncertainty. This is not a business-friendly environment, said Togue Brawn, a Maine seafood distributor who said she is out tens of thousands of dollars. If they want to make America great again, then honor your word and tell people what’s going on.” Decarbonization of the fishing fleet has been a target of environmental activists in recent years. One study published in the Marine Policy journal states that more than 200 million tons of carbon dioxide were released via fishing in 2016. That is far less than agriculture, but still a significant piece of the worldwide emissions puzzle. With Earth experiencing worsening storms and its hottest year on record in 2024, reducing the burning of fossil fuels across different industry sectors is critical to fighting climate change, scientists have said. But climate-friendly projects often cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, leading fishermen to seek U.S. Department of Agriculture or Environmental Protection Agency funds to cover some costs. DOGE, a commission assembled to cut federal spending, has targeted both agencies for cutbacks. That has left fishermen like Robert Buchmayr of Seattle on the hook for huge bills. Buchmayr said he is nearing completion of a refrigeration project for a salmon boat and was counting on a $45,000 USDA grant to pay for a chunk of it. The agency told him last month the funding is on hold until further notice, he said. I’m scrambling, where does the money come from. I was counting on the grant, Buchmayr said. I was under the impression that if you got a grant from the United States, it was a commitment. Nothing in the letter was saying, ‘Yes, we’ll guarantee you the funds depending on who is elected.’ Fishermen search for answers after getting bad news The full extent of the cuts is unclear, and fishermen affected by them described the situation as chaotic and confusing. Representatives for the USDA and EPA did not respond to requests for comment from AP about the value of the cuts and whether they were permanent. Dan Smith, USDA Rural Development’s state energy director for Alaska, said updates about some grants could arrive in April. Numerous fishermen, commercial fishing groups and advocates for working waterfronts told AP they learned about the changed status of their grant money in February and March. Some were told the money would not be coming and others were told the funds were frozen while they were subject to a review. Many prospective grant recipients said they have had difficulty getting updates from the agencies. The lack of certainty has fishermen worried and seeking answers, said Sarah Schumann, a Rhode Island fisherman and director of the Fishery Friendly Climate Action Campaign, a fishermen-led network that works on climate issues. They’ve started contacting me in the last couple of weeks because they’ve had the plug pulled on money that was already committed, Schumann said. If they miss a season they could go out of business. In Homer, Alaska, Lacey Velsko of Kaia Fisheries was excited for her decarbonization project, which she said hinged on hundreds of thousands of dollars via a USDA grant to improve a refrigeration system on one of her boats. The recently completed project burns less fuel and yields a higher quality project for the company, which fishes for halibut, Pacific cod and other fish, she said. But, now the company is told the money is unavailable, leaving a huge cost to bear, Velsko said. Of course we think it was unfair that we signed a contract and were told we would be funded and now were not funded. If six months down the road were still not funded I dont know what avenue to take, she said. Lack of funding puts businesses in jeopardy The funding cuts have also hurt seafood processors and distributors, such as Brawn in Bremen, Maine. Brawn said she received a little more than half a USDA grant of about $350,000 before learning the rest might not arrive. Brawn received the grant for Dayboat Blue, a project that uses a membership-based model to get Maine seafood to nationwide customers while reducing the carbon footprint of transportation and packaging. This model can really help fishermen, it can help consumers, it can help communities, Brawn said. What it’s going to do is it’s going to stop the program. The confusion on the waterfront is another example of the bumpy rollout of government cutbacks under Trump. The Trump administration halted its firings of hundreds of federal employees who worked on nuclear weapons programs last month. It also moved to rehire medical device, food safety and other workers lost to mass firings at the Food and Drug Administration. New tariffs on key trading partners have also been chaotic. In Bellingham, Washington, EPA funding was paused for five engine replacement projects split between three companies, said Dan Tucker, executive director of the Working Waterfront Coalition of Whatcom County. He said the uncertainty about funding has made it difficult for fishermen to move ahead with projects that will ultimately benefit their businesses and the community at large. A lot of the small guys are like, ‘Well, I really want to help out with climate change but I can’t afford it,’ Tucker said. Patrick Whittle, Associated Press This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Theres a lot of momentum around womens sports right now, as ad spending doubled in 2024 and the largest dedicated female sports fund recently announced it has expanded from $150 million to $250 million. While these leaps and bounds are notable, more progress is needed to ensure this isnt a fleeting momentbut rather the beginning of transformative change. Of course, more money always helps, too. Women’s sports is skyrocketing and it’s because we are more visible, more than ever, right now, Stef Strack, founder and CEO of Voice in Sport, said during a panel discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. Investors are looking at women’s sports as a growth opportunity, not a charity, and that is a really key moment. Deals flow to professional volleyball And investors are putting a lot of money behind womens sports. League One Volleyball (LOVB), a new professional womens league with teams in six cities, raised $160 million through investors, according to Rosie Spaulding, the leagues president, which also has a youth-to-pro ecosystem with 60 youth clubs across 23 states. Whats more, to have a brand like Adidas partner with LOVB for a multimillion-dollar, multiyear deal is a sign of change, she said. When we first started League One Volleyball, I thought women’s sports were on the rise back in 2020, Spaulding said. I think now we can all say that they’re on fire. Another really, really awesome development is that professional athletes are able to build a brand and benefit from sponsorship deals from more brands that are interested in partnering with women in sports, added Logan Eggleston, who plays on the LOVB Austin team in the leagues inaugural season. Shes a partner with CELSIUS, maker of energy drinks, and thats an added benefit to making a living playing the sport she loves. I didn’t know that professional volleyball was a thing when I was younger, Eggleston said. To be able to show those young athletes what they can potentially be one day, and then also provide resources and mentorship for them, is so incredible. A long way to go But all three panelists noted that more change is neededfrom the level of investment to media attention to addressing pay inequity to policy changes (and enforcement) around Title IX to an improved focus on the athlete experience. We’ve seen a ton of momentum, but right now we still have so much more progress to make, Strack said. There’s a lot of discrimination built into the current system, so we have to look fundamentally at everything in the ecosystem and think about, how do we reengineer it? Strack rattled off various stats that show that more change is needed, including: only 10% of sports sponsorship dollars go to women athletes, no women landed in the top 100 list of highest-paid athletes, and that 93% of schools at the collegiate level arent complying with Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities. We have to think about what do we do at the grassroots level, what do we do at the professional level, and then what do we do on the federal policy side to really change things for girls and women in sports, Strack told the audience. Even more basic changes matter, Spaulding added, like giving womens sports prime time slots or providing uniforms that actually fit women or fan gear thats made for women. Yes, there’s been more media, more investment through media, through private equity, through partnerships, et cetera, she said. But there’s a long way to go, and it’s all in the details. Why fan support matters And buy-in from the fans is also important, Eggleston said. They need to show up for women’s sports, they need to learn about the sports, educate themselves on the sports, get to know the athletes, the players that they’re getting to watch. And while equal pay would be amazing, Eggleston said if more female athletes become household names like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have in womens basketball, that also moves the needleand particularly if young boys grow up with female athletes as their favorite players. That would be so cool to see, said Eggleston, who said shes already experiencing the perfect time to be an athlete in womens sports. It’s so cool to be starting a league right now when the momentum is really, really just being driven forward. And I just can’t even imagine what’s going to be happening in the next five years.
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