A re-tooled version of a federal bill that would have drastically cut funds for mass transit and other programs has been passed by both houses of Congress Friday and has been sent on to President Obama. The $100-billion, two-year federal transportation bill preserves most of the funding for Northwest Indiana's four-year plan to maintain roads and bridges but will affect planned bike and pedestrian trails. While bill specifics still need to be hammered out, it appears at least half of the funds previously earmarked to localities for bike and and pedestrian trails now will remain with the states, according to an article in www.nwi.com.