FBI seeks man who fired rifle on Metra platform
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking a man who allegedly fired a rifle on the Metra platform at Chicago’s McCormick Place
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Convention Center. The FBI website report on the incident includes video showing a man removing a collapsible rifle from a backpack and firing one round at the station on the Metra Electric line near Lake Shore Drive and 23rd Street on Dec. 1. No injuries were reported. Anyone with information can call 1-800-CALL-FBI or use the FBI Tips website, or contact Metra police at 312-322-2800.
Fortress offers $950 million in bonds to fund Brightline expansion in Florida
Fortress Investment Group is returning to the bond market to finance a Brightline project, little more than a month after failing to sell $2.4 billion in debt to finance the Brightline West high speed rail line between Las Vegas, Nev., and Southern California. Bloomberg reports that this time, the $950 million offering is to finance the ongoing construction of Brightline’s expansion from South Florida to Orlando. In its offering, the company projects the Miami-Orlando operation will draw 9.9 million passengers and generate $792 million in revenue in 2024, the first full year of operation. Bond documents project Brightline, which has been shut down since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is likely to resume operation in the third quarter of 2021. The start of construction on the Brightline West project was postponed indefinitely as a result of the failure to sell the debt approved by California and Nevada [see “Las Vegas high speed project postponed …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 1, 2020].
OmniTRAX, Brownville & Rio Grande make $100,000 in donations
OmniTRAX and its Brownville & Rio Grande International Railway have donated $100,000 to eight Brownsville, Texas, area nonprofits. “As the pandemic’s sustained effects strain resources even further, it was critical that we find a way to help those in need,” OmniTRAX Director of Economic Development Federico Diaz Page said in a press release. Brownsville & Rio Grande President Norma Torres, the Brownsville Navigation District Board of Commissioners, and Port Director & CEO Eduardo Campirano helped identify the groups as key community resources that offer meaningful and timely services to the Brownsville community.” Receiving donations are supporting Proyecto Juan Diego, Moody Clinic, Good Neighbor Settlement, Sunshine Heaven, Walk for Women, Gladys Porter Zoo and the local Boy Scout and Girl Scout councils.
