America's infrastructure is still crumbling

America's infrastructure is still crumbling -- it's just crumbling a little less than it was.

For that faint praise you can thank the American Society of Civil Engineers, which is out this week with its most recent report card on the state of the nation's highways, byways, waterways, railways, levees, landfills, ports, airports, parks, power stations, hazardous waste dumps and other fixed ornaments.

The engineers give the U.S. a grade of D+ overall. But lest you think that's bad, it's better than what the ASCE gave the U.S. in 2009, when they last performed this same exercise. At that time the U.S. got a straight D.

No category got a lower grade in this year's report than they did the last time around, and a few saw improved marks.

The crumbliest categories, according to the report, are levees and inland waterways, both of which got grades of D-.

Bridges, railways and solid waste facilities -- all in relatively good shape -- earned the engineers' highest marks (C+, C+ and B-, respectively). Read more >>

Crude oil spills into Mississippi River after oil barges crash

Mississippi River at Vicksburg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two oil barges pushed by a tugboat slammed into a railroad bridge in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on Sunday, causing one to leak crude oil into the Mississippi River, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Officials used an "absorbent boom" to contain the undetermined amount of oil that leaked into the river after the collision, which occurred shortly after midnight and damaged both barges, Lieutenant Ryan Gomez said. The barge that is leaking was holding 80,000 gallons of light crude oil, he said.

"A towing vessel was pushing two barges side-by-side and they struck one of the Vicksburg railroad bridge piers," Gomez said.

No one was injured in the accident. Federal, state and local officials, as well as the industry's Oil Spill Response Organization, were on the scene. Gomez said he did not have information about any of the companies involved in the oil transport. Read more >>