And neither is this half a correction of a blatantly misleading front-page story which told readers that federal funding was coming to help pay for the $750 million light rail line to UNCC.

There is absolutely no indication anywhere that the Federal Transit Administration has approved the project for entry into preliminary engineering, or to what extent it has agreed to help fund that work. And PE work is a tiny fraction of the overall cost of the project. A federal decision on providing $350 million or so for construction costs is years away and the answer may be NO.

Meanwhile, we have rumors without confirmation. Look, nothing from FTA in Atlanta on a decision on preliminary engineering, nothing in Washington. Not even CATS itself has issued a release on a PE decision. CATS submitted its request for entry into PE in early September.

And let’s be clear how this works. If and when the Northeast line gets moved to preliminary engineering it will get some federal funds for that work. That is just how the system works. So there is no news in reporting on A1 in 50-point type that Ron Tober says CATS will get federal funding for preliminary engineering. By definition.

Similarly, the Carolina Panthers will give you a jersey with your name on it if you make the team. No one focuses on the free jersey — the relevant bit is who makes the team. And winning the Super Bowl is getting a full funding agreement for your entire light rail project from the FTA.

Contrary to the deliberately-timed political spin, CATS is still in training camp on the UNCC line.

We need a new plan.

Bonus Coaching: And the Panthers are just as far from the SB.

Update: Wanted to add that the South line project was approved for PE in 2000 but CATS did not get a full-funding agreement until 2005.