‘ObamaRail’ has quickly become the new ‘ObamaCare.’ Much like last year’s divide on healthcare reform, Republicans and President Obama again find themselves at odds; this time on whether or not to build a nation-wide high-speed rail network. Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, a democrat and co-chair of Building America’s Future, makes his case for spending now on modernizing the nation’s infrastructure.

With nearly 150,000 bridges across the country structurally unsound and no plan yet in place, blogger Gridlock Sam looks at the challenges we face in trying to tackling our broken bridges.

A group of budding city planners in Detroit competes against students from more affluent suburbs to design the city of the future. A report from Detroit Public Television.

Detroit's mayor wants to rebuild the city by shrinking it to fit its population. Convincing residents to move will be challenging enough. Can he also convince commuters to move in?

Energy policy expert Lisa Margonelli is the author of a book about the oil supply chain, "Oil On the Brain: Petroleum’s Long Strange Trip to Your Tank." In this interview, Need to Know's Alison Stewart speaks to Margonelli about U.S. energy policy in the wake of the BP spill. "The oil problem is so huge and so multi-tentacled and so involved in our lives," said Margonelli. "People are hungering for sort of bigger, more technological fixes… But I think we’ve overlooked the social engineering. Which is that we can really change our behaviors quite quickly – and we often times do change our behaviors."

One of the poorest, most violent cities in our nation recently lost half its police force. PBS Need to Know visits Camden, N. J., to see the challenges on the ground and explore possible solutions for the city.

With the 2012 elections not that far off, Republicans are taking on President Obama’s high-speed rail plan.

The President's high-speed rail plan is more 'I think I can' than 'Yes, we can.'

How can we at once reduce our dependency on foreign oil, improve our environment, reduce the need to be at war in the Middle East, improve relations with the rest of the world and demonstrate our patriotism? 'Freedom Fees,' writes blogger Gridlock Sam.

American infrastructure, one of the central themes of President Obama's State of the Union address this week, isn’t the only thing that’s aging. Baby boomers are too. This year, the first baby boomers turn 65 -- and many will celebrate their birthdays in neighborhoods that were not designed for senior citizens. We’re talking about America’s suburbs. They were ridiculed as a bastion of conformity in the song “Little Boxes.” But in fact, some communities are breaking away from suburban sameness in order to make the infrastructure changes that baby boomers are about to require. Correspondent Maria Hinojosa has this Blueprint America report.