Thursday’s Headlines Are a Hacker’s Dream

• Electric vehicles are pretty much smartphones on wheels, which means they’re pretty easy to hack into. (The Atlantic)
• An extinct volcano in the Western U.S. could hold by far the world’s know supply of lithium, and it’s apparently not nearly as environmentally damaging to mine as other sources of the essential mineral for EV batteries. (Independent)
• Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm toured the South in an EV, and it didn’t always go so smoothly. In fact, at one point her staff tried to use a gas-powered SUV to block a charger from a waiting family (NPR). Whatever the challenges, she did manage to arrive promptly for a stop in Athens, Georgia (Flagpole).
• In an effort to combat sexual assaults, Lyft introduced a new feature allowing female passengers to connect with only female drivers. (New York Times)
• The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority says it will be forced to raise fares to $3 and cut transit service unless the state government ponies up. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Twin Cities Metro Transit employees voted to authorize a strike as they seek higher wages, citing a shortage of workers as proof that pay is too low. (Minnesota Public Radio)
• The Kansas City streetcar extension reached the halfway milestone. (KMBC)
• Houston is removing “floating” bus stops that were supposed to make it easier for bike riders to navigate shared bike and bus lanes, but cyclists apparently grew too frustrated that drivers never figured them out. (KHOU)
• Drivers in Milwaukee are also apparently too dumb to tell a bike lane from a loading zone. (Fox 6)
• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared another gas-tax holiday (Recorder) despite evidence that drivers won’t see much difference at the pump because oil companies and gas station owners will simply pocket the difference.
• This week in “drivers running into buildings,” a car crash caused an explosion that forced the evacuation of six houses near Syracuse. (Localsyr)
• Tulsa Transit hit an all-time high in ridership last month. (KTUL)
• In light of news that Chicago will receive a $2 million federal grant for the Red Line, Classic Chicago Magazine examines how the city has always been shaped by railroads.
• Tyler Vigen got really obsessed with a random pedestrian bridge over a freeway in Minneapolis, and he finally solved the mystery.

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