The 6th Street Bridge in Los Angeles is wired to glow with colorful lights celebrating the city’s spirit.
In St. Paul, Minn., a man was recently hit by a car and killed while crossing a street near his home where streetlights had gone out.
The lights are going out across American cities, as a result of a brazen and opportunistic type of crime.
Thieves have been stripping copper wire out of thousands of streetlights and selling it to scrap metal recyclers for cash.
The wiring typically fetches only a few hundred dollars, but blacked-out lights pose safety hazards to drivers and pedestrians, and are costing cities millions to repair.
Persons:
streetlights
Organizations:
Minn
Locations:
Los Angeles, Paul, Las Vegas