January 2010 - Sightseers' Delight

Dunwoody police probing firefighters’ response to fatal house fire

January 30, 2010 Caboose Chronicle

Four DeKalb County firefighters were fired and the Dunwoody Police Department has opened a criminal investigation following a Jan. 24 fatal fire that claimed the life of a 74-year-old woman.

One way to see the world

January 30, 2010 The Travel Trolley

IBM Works with Walt Disney Imagineering to Create a New Smarter Planet Exhibit

January 30, 2010 West Center Street

Edited from PRNewswire-FirstCall IBM has unveiled a new experiential exhibit at Innoventions at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort, which invites guests to discover the possibilities of building a smarter planet. The exhibit is powered by a new Smarter Data Center, providing a real-life demonstration of optimized computing that reduces energy costs by up to 25 percent. SmarterPlanet presented by IBM offers visitors to the park a “behind-the-scenes” glimpse of how technology is helping

Duluth railroad museum offers glimpse into railroading heyday

January 29, 2010 Todd DeFeo

DULUTH, Ga. – For 40 years, the Southeastern Railway Museum has been dedicated to the preservation of Georgia Railroad’s History. “Georgia’s Official Transportation History Museum” first opened on a 12-acre site in Duluth donated by Southern Railway. The museum remained at that location until 1997, it moved just down the … tracks – literally. That year, the museum accepted a donation of roughly 30 acres from Frank M. Ewing of Chevy Chase, Md. The site,

Legoland Florida to open by 2011

January 29, 2010 The Travel Trolley

Edited from PRNewswire Merlin Entertainments announced a multi-million dollar investment in the biggest family tourist centre in the world with the planned opening of Legoland Florida. Merlin purchased the historical Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven Florida from property investment company Land South Group and will open Legoland Florida on the site at the end of 2011. The deal to buy the 145-acre site includes the freehold on the current theme park and waterpark as well

Obama Announces $8 Billion for High-Speed Rail

January 28, 2010 Railfanning.org News Wire

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden today announced the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is awarding $8 billion to states across the country to develop America’s first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service.

BTS: Q3 2009 airfares drop to lowest July-to-September level since 2005

January 28, 2010 The Travel Trolley

Average domestic air fares in the third quarter of 2009 fell to their lowest July-to-September level since 2005. Fares dropped 14.4 percent from the third quarter of 2008 in the largest year-to-year decline on record, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported. The $306 third-quarter 2009 average fares were down 14.4 percent from the all-time high, not inflation-adjusted, of $358 in the third quarter of 2008 and down 26.8

Senators: Legislation would close visa loophole

January 27, 2010 The Travel Trolley

A number of senators are sponsoring legislation they say could have prevented the would-be Christmas Day airplane bomber from boarding an American-bound airplane.

Ga. lawmaker wants voters to decide on horse racing

January 26, 2010 The Travel Trolley

A state lawmaker wants voters to decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow betting on horse racing.

Feds ban texting by truckers and bus drivers

January 26, 2010 The Travel Trolley

The federal government today announced a guidance prohibiting texting on cell phones by drivers of commercial vehicles such as large trucks and buses. The prohibition is effective immediately and is the latest in a series of actions taken by the Department to combat distracted driving since the Secretary convened a national summit on the issue last September. “We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to