Bloomberg: “While there seems to be enough domestic fiber optic cable to connect communities, the electronic components such as routers that transform glass strands into data highways are made mainly in other countries. Cable providers, chip makers and wireless carriers are pleading for relief from the requirement to ‘buy American.’”

“Pete Buttigieg admits he got it wrong on the Ohio train derailment response. But while the criticism is fair, he says, the critics are mostly not,” CNN reports.

Said Buttigieg: “It’s really rich to see some of these folks – the former president, these Fox hosts – who are literally lifelong card-carrying members of the East Coast elite, whose top economic policy priority has always been tax cuts for the wealthy, and who wouldn’t know their way around a T.J. Maxx if their life depended on it, to be presenting themselves as if they genuinely care about the forgotten middle of the country.”

He added: “You think Tucker Carlson knows the difference between a T.J. Maxx and a Kohl’s?”

In leaked audio heard by the Guardian, “a manager for one of the US’s largest rail companies can be heard explaining to a former carman that they should stop tagging railcars for broken bearings.”

“The manager says doing so delays other cargo.”

Washington Post: “Buttigieg has faced GOP criticism before, notably during supply chain disruptions early in Biden’s presidency and the failure of a federal aviation safety system in January. But people close to the transportation secretary say the attacks on him since the derailment have risen to a new level, noting that the Environmental Protection Agency, which is in charge of the response to the derailment, has taken far less heat.”

Washington Post: “Many of the accusations were made by Biden’s political adversaries, abetted by a spate of criticism on mainly right-wing social media accounts, not all of them accurate — including the charge that federal officials ignored the crash, when they sent personnel as they normally would.”

“Still, three weeks after the disaster, it seems clear that the administration was caught off guard, unprepared for the possibility that the nonfatal crash would become a prism for the country’s political battles.”

Washington Post: “From our analysis, none of the regulatory changes made during the Trump administration at this point can be cited as contributing to the accident.”

“Well, the strange thing about hearing that from Senator Rubio is that the last time I had gotten a communication from him about railroad regulation was when he had signed a letter asking us to weaken our inspection practices.”

— Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, on MSNBC, defending himself from criticism by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

“The White House is firing back at Republicans following the toxic East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, blaming the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress for undoing Obama-era rail safety measures designed to avert such disasters,” USA Today reports.

“The aggressive rebuttal came as former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine on Wednesday and Republicans increasingly attack the Biden administration, especially Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for its response to the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that unleased toxic chemicals.”

Bloomberg: “The visit to the former battleground state that Trump easily won twice is also casting light on one of the former president’s regulatory rollbacks: The repeal of new braking requirements for certain trains hauling highly hazardous freight put in place by the Obama administration.”

“The braking requirement, put in place in 2015 as part of a suite of new safety rules following a number of fiery high-profile crude oil train derailments, required railroads to install more responsive electronic braking systems on trains carrying hazardous materials.”

“Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will travel Thursday to the site of a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, according to a person familiar with his plans — 20 days after a 150-car train carrying oil and toxic chemicals derailed, setting the region on edge and stirring a national furor over rail and chemical safety,” Politico reports.

“Two top Spanish transport officials have resigned over a botched order for new commuter trains that cost nearly $275 million,” the BBC reports.

“The trains could not fit into non-standard tunnels in the northern regions of Asturias and Cantabria.”

“Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is again attracting controversy in the wake of the Ohio train derailment, with elected officials from both parties questioning his ability to lead the department and respond to crises,” the Washington Examiner reports.

“Buttigieg, tapped for the position after attracting presidential buzz as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has found himself under frequent fire, leading to concerns about his fitness for the role and whether his performance harms his political future.”

“Tesla will open some of its fast chargers, which had been exclusive to its customers, to all electric vehicles by the end of next year, the Biden administration said on Wednesday as it announced a broad effort to improve charging and encourage more people to buy battery-powered vehicles,” the New York Times reports.

“President Joe Biden is ready to showcase a $292 million mega grant that will be used to help build a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, part of a broader effort to draw a contrast between his economic vision and that of Republicans,” the AP reports.

“The money is part of $1.2 billion in mega grants being awarded under the 2021 infrastructure law. The Democratic president’s trip to New York City comes on the heels of his stop Monday in Baltimore to highlight the replacement of an aging rail tunnel there, where he pledged that government spending on infrastructure will boost economic growth and create blue-collar jobs.”

“The Federal Aviation Administration announced shortly before 9 a.m. Eastern that air traffic operations were resuming at airports across the United States, following an overnight outage of the agency’s Notice to Air Missions system, which provides safety information to flight crews,” the Washington Post reports.

“The FAA had previously ordered U.S. carriers to temporarily halt all domestic flight departures as it worked to fix the technical outage, which caused nationwide travel disruptions.”

The Federal Aviation Administration early Wednesday ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 a.m. ET to allow the agency to restore a critical system that alerts pilots and crew to safety advisories and other information for flights, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The White House tweeted there “is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT to conduct a full investigation into the causes.”

“Several of the nation’s largest urban mass-transit systems are at a crossroads, with ridership still depressed three years into the pandemic and federal aid running out,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“While offices have largely reopened and travel has resumed, many commuters are only coming in a few days a week. That shift has left subways, buses and commuter trains operating at well below capacity—particularly on Mondays and Fridays.”