Public safety
Unfit for flight: Lies and coverups mask roots of small-plane carnage
A USA TODAY investigation shows repeated instances in which small aircraft crashes, deaths and injuries were caused by defective parts and dangerous designs, casting doubt on the government’s official rulings and revealing the inner workings of an industry hit so hard by legal claims that it sought and won liability protection from Congress. Wide-ranging defects…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Nebraska releases prisoners early; Koch brothers hold secret summit; Missile defense system proves unreliable
$40-billion missile defense system proves unreliable | Los Angeles Times The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, or GMD, was supposed to protect Americans against a chilling new threat from “rogue states” such as North Korea and Iran. But a decade after it was declared operational, and after $40 billion in spending, the missile shield cannot be relied…
Read MoreBus companies’ lapses mount, but federal scrutiny lags
One in four of the more than 3,700 commercial motorcoach and passenger van companies regulated by the federal government has never received a full safety evaluation, according to an investigation by The Boston Globe. Nearly half have not been reviewed in more than two years. Buses carry nearly as many people as airlines, but receive…
Read MoreAttorney General emails detail discussions before botched Oklahoma execution
In the weeks leading up to a botched execution, an Oklahoma assistant attorney general referred to defense attorneys’ warnings that the execution could go awry as “hysterical speculation,” records released to the Tulsa World show. Assistant Attorney General John Hadden also wrote in a March 21 email that he was “not eager to answer a…
Read MoreLDC papers shed light on Wiesner charges
Robert Wiesner stood to receive tens of thousands of dollars through a major county public safety project by working for a contractor that he helped to hire, the state Attorney General’s Office claims in newly available court documents. Wiesner, one of four defendants in a wide-ranging bid-rigging criminal case, is the former security director of…
Read MoreRepeat drunk drivers still able to get plea deals
Eleven years of data analyzed by the Columbus Dispatch showed that those charged multiple times with operating a vehicle while impaired were able to get their charges reduced through a plea deal almost as often as those who had no recent drunk driving charges. Some say repeat offenders know how to beat the system. Drivers can…
Read MoreThe cost of not caring: Inside a mental health system drowning from neglect
States have been reducing hospital beds for decades, because of insurance pressures as well as a desire to provide more care outside institutions, USA TODAY reports. Tight budgets during the recession forced some of the most devastating cuts in recent memory, says Robert Glover, executive director of the National Association of State Mental Health Program…
Read MoreHow much salt is in your well water? For some, too much
More than half of the private wells in the Town of East Fishkill have higher concentrations of sodium from road salt than some government health standards recommend, according to a new study by local scientists. The findings by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies are preliminary. But they represent the first scientific analysis of well…
Read MoreNarrows Marina boat launch: Dark, deadly and unregulated
“A News Tribune investigation found that at least eight cars have plunged into the water at the Narrows Marina boat launch over the past 17 years. Four of 11 occupants were killed. Another was left permanently disabled,” the News Tribune reported. The accidents involved different types of people, from thieves outrunning the cops to an…
Read MoreDecrease in funding for stream gauges could put public at risk
Officials, emergency responders and citizens in waterside communities across the Southern Tier and Central New York rely on stream and river level information to make decisions affecting public safety in the event of a potential flood. Yet in recent years, government funding for the critical devices has become as fickle and unpredictable as the waters…
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