High-Speed Rail in the U.S. Remains Elusive: Illinois Shows Why – Wall Street Journal

Amtrak’s route from Chicago to St. Louis would seem an ideal place for the U.S. to adopt high-speed rail. The stretch in Illinois is a straight shot across mostly flat terrain. Yet the trains will top out at 110 mph, shaving just an hour from what is now a 5½-hour train trip. After it’s finished, at a cost of about $2 billion, the state figures the share of people who travel between the two cities by rail could rise just a few percentage points.

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Poll shows Lightfoot trouncing Preckwinkle; CTU dismisses it as ‘trash’ – Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Teachers Union on Monday dismissed as “trash” a poll by Stand for Children Illinois showing Lori Lightfoot headed toward a landslide victory with a nearly 2-to-1 lead over the CTU’s endorsed mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle.

FM3 Research’s telephone poll of 400 randomly selected Chicago voters likely to participate in the April 2 runoff was taken Feb. 27 and 28. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. It showed Lightfoot leading 58 percent to 30 percent, with 12 percent undecided.

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