California
Another $100 billion needed to complete California's bullet train project
LOS ANGELES — When California’s “bullet train” was pitched to voters back in 2008, the cost of linking Los Angeles to San Francisco via high-speed rail was said to be about $40 billion.
But now, more than 15 years later, state officials say it’s going to cost as much as $35 billion just to complete the 171-mile stretch between Bakersfield and Merced. Completing the entire line will require an additional $100 billion.
“It’s never going to get built,” Republican State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said. “It’s never going to come to San Diego. It’s never going to come to L.A., and it’s always going to be $100 billion away.”
Jones has been a fierce opponent of the high-speed rail project. He’s been pushing for California to pull the plug on the project and end it.
“Spending $100 billion more does not justify the original $18 billion that we’ve wasted on this,” he said.
The latest bullet train update came earlier this week at a California State Senate High-Speed Rail Authority hearing. The authority’s CEO Brian Kelly said he’s looking to the federal government for more funding, as well as from private industry, but insists the project is still viable.
“The only way you get the public [to support the project] is by performing better, and I think the authority is performing better today than it was and I think it will going forward,” Kelly said in the hearing.
Opponents though say the project has been sucking too much money away from issues that are more important to California taxpayers, like education, housing and mental health.
But Jones does say bullet trains can have a future in California, pointing to the Brightline West project that aims to connect Las Vegas to Los Angeles with a two-hour train ride. Speeds on that route are expected to hit up to 200 mph.
The difference between that project and the state’s high-speed rail, Jones says, is that private companies and investors are driving the Brightline West line, with considerably less dependence on taxpayer funding.
“When you put projects like this in a private enterprise… you get efficiency and you get proper planning,” he said.
But even the Brightline project has gotten $3 billion in federal funds, and the company’s founder recently told the Los Angeles Times that roundtrip tickets will eventually cost more than $400.
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California surfing “king” Kurt Van Dyke was found stabbed and strangled to death in his Costa Rica home and police are searching for at least two men in connection to the killing.
Van Dyke, 66, was found lifeless and stuffed under a bed on Saturday at his apartment in the city of Limon, the local Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) reported.
Van Dyke, who owned a hostel for surfers in Puerto Viejo on the country’s Caribbean coast for many years, was with his girlfriend when intruders barged into his residence, the OIJ said.
Following the attack, the robbers fled with some valuables and a 2013 Hyundai Elantra that belonged to the girlfriend, according to the OIJ.
Van Dyke’s body showed signs of strangulation and stab wounds, the OIJ said. And he was found with a sheet covering his head.
The girlfriend, whom the authorities did not identify, “escaped without serious injuries,” The Associated Press reported.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the girlfriend’s last name is Arroyo and that the 31-year-old woman, who was in the shower when the robbers broke in, had been restrained with zip ties.
Van Dyke, a U.S. citizen who hailed from Santa Cruz, California, was part of a well-known surfing family.
His father, Gene Van Dyke, helped popularize surfing in Northern California.
His mother, Betty Ann Van Dyke, was the daughter of Croatian immigrants and part of a “pioneer group of early modern day female surfers,” according to her 2021 obituary.
Van Dyke’s death sent shock waves of disbelief through the California surfing community.
“My brother was a very benevolent, giving person who would help just about anybody,” Kurt’s brother, Peter Van Dyke, told the San Francisco Chronicle via text. “Kurt would never hurt anybody, and he was always there when you needed him. Everyone that he met knew this about him.”
Van Dyke was 7 when he first started surfing and quickly made a name for himself on Santa Cruz surfing scene. He first came to Costa Rica’s southern Limón province in 1983 to ride the Salsa Brava, which are high-intensity and often dangerous waves similar to those found in Hawaii.
“Van Dyke became known among the Caribbean coast’s surfing community as ‘King’ for his mastery of big waves,” the Chronicle reported.
Sandra Lilley contributed.
California
California High-Speed Rail CEO arrested on suspicion of domestic battery; DA declines charges
The CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority was arrested earlier this month in Folsom on suspicion of domestic battery, officials said Monday. However, prosecutors have declined to file charges.
The Folsom Police Department said Ian Choudri, 57, was taken into custody on February 4 along the 500 block of Borges Court.
While police confirmed the booking, additional details regarding the specific circumstances of the incident have not been released.
In a statement provided to CBS News Sacramento, Choudri’s attorney, Allen Sawyer, said the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office did not file any charges against the CEO.
“I can confirm that the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office immediately declined to file charges when an incident report was forwarded to them by the Folsom Police Department,” Sawyer said. “Mr. Choudri was never asked to appear in court and this matter is over.”
The California High-Speed Rail Authority issued a brief statement following the announcement of the arrest, noting that it was “aware of the matter and is reviewing it.” The agency declined to comment further.
Choudri, a veteran of the transportation and construction industry, was appointed to lead the high-speed rail project in August 2024.
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