Speaking at a luncheon at Chicago's Union League Club, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood reiterated his call for a Midwest "high-speed rail czar". The idea, which LaHood proposed to Governor Pat Quinn last month, would entail "somebody, maybe a retired rail person, who gets up every day, and the only thing that person thinks about is developing the high-speed rail corridor in the Midwest," LaHood said. "That's the way it is going to happen." According to LaHood, a joint program administrator would work with states in the region to figure out how to use portions of the $8 billion allocated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to build a high-speed rail network in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. more ›