A Democrat seeking to challenge Sen. Scott Brown's bid for re-election in 2012 criticized the Boston public transit system for banning an environmental group's ad that is critical of Brown.

California-based environment group 350.org said this week that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said its billboards about votes Brown (R-Mass.) took on funding for the Clean Air Act were "too controversial" to appear on its trains.

U.S. Senate candidate Bob Massie disagreed, saying in a letter to MBTA General Manager Richard Davey that he was "deeply disappointed by this censorship by your agency."

"Sen. Scott Brown’s votes are a matter of public record," Massie wrote.  "The First Amendment not only requires freedom of speech, but a strong democracy requires a citizenry that is informed of its leaders’ positions. 

"When they stop suing companies that are trying to create jobs, we'll be quiet," Gov. Haley said.

The TSA officers in Newark, N.J., were known by airport colleagues as "Mexican hunters," according to a report.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Cato Institute believes senior public transportation riders are a myth.

A U.S. Airways mechanic allegedly stowed away on a flight from Tampa, Fla., to Charlotte, N.C.

Bus drivers in Arlington, Va., are on strike.

Chicago is still talking about a third airport, but for now, they're just talking.

The chairman of the Senate Surface Transportation Subcommittee will oppose the GOP's plan to privatize Amtrak in the Northeast. 

Massachusetts' transportation agency will not let critics of Republican Sen. Scott Brown run ads on their trains, an environment group said.

Rep. John Mica's proposal to privatize passenger rail service in the northeast would end Amtrak as it currently exists, the CEO of the federally-subsidized railway said Wednesday afternoon.

Mica (R-Fla.) announced the details of his proposal to allow private companies to compete for bids to provide high-speed rail service in the northeast corridor, which is currently operated solely by Amtrak. Mica said private companies could provide the service faster and more cheaply than the national passenger rail service could.

But Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman disagreed.

"This is broader than the northeast at this point," Boardman said on a conference call with reporters. "This is the Privatize Passenger Rail for America Act. The overall impact is this takes Amtrak apart, from an infrastructure standpoint, and replaces it with a government entity."

The American auto companies were in the process of turning around their businesses before the government bailouts they received in 2008, former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said in an interview Wednesday.

Promoting his new book Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business, Lutz said that the Detroit-based "Big Three" companies recognized their errors and had begun making necessary changes in 2007.

"If we hadn't have had the subprime meltdown in '08 coupled with that sudden doubling of gasoline prices, I think all three companies would have been OK," Lutz said during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

GOP says private companies could provide services faster and for less money than Amtrak.