Public safety
General Motors delayed recall
General Motors waited years to recall nearly 335,000 Saturn Ions for power steering failures despite getting thousands of consumer complaints and more than 30,000 warranty repair claims, according to government documents released Saturday.
Read MoreIowa City taxi drivers assault passengers
Earlier this year, three women reported that Iowa City drivers — two from unmarked cabs — made unwanted sexual advances, and police are investigating. The assaults show another form of danger haunting weekends in home to the University of Iowa when alcohol flows and carefree moments make students easy marks. Many city officials agree that…
Read MoreFederal loopholes, local challenges complicate response plans for rural oil disasters
The federal government does not require U.S. railroads to have comprehensive plans for a worst-case oil disasters, according to the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. That means no one knows if the railways that carried 4.2 million barrels of crude oil through the state last year are prepared for a catastrophe. A handful of…
Read MoreA star player accused, and a flawed rape investigation
Yet another university community has been accused of denying justice to a female sexual assault victim in order to protect a star male athlete. The New York Times today chronicled the shortcomings of an investigation by Tallahassee police into a reported sexual assault in which Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston was the alleged assailant. Police failed…
Read MoreVictims, injuries from West Fertilizer Company explosion overlooked
One year later, the number of people hurt by the West explosion remains a mystery because a government survey of the injured has failed to account for scores of casualties. Government health officials were initially slow to study the extent of the West injuries. When they did, they limited their survey to those treated at…
Read MoreFelons, fugitives bought guns amid backlog
More than 300 people banned from owning guns were able to buy them last year because the state police were overwhelmed with background check requests, police said Wednesday. People with histories of mental illness or convictions for violent misdemeanors, felons and fugitives were able to obtain and keep guns for three months or longer before…
Read MoreRadon testing not required in New Your City schools
An analysis of state records found more than 1,800 schools across New York State that have never been tested for radon, including more than 400 schools in areas designated by the E.P.A. to have a high potential for elevated levels of the naturally-occurring gas. New York’s regulations include no requirement that school districts test buildings…
Read MoreNavy base killer given security access despite crimes
The Virginian-Pilot reports that investigators are trying to figure out how Jeffrey Tyrone Savage, a 35-year-old truck driver with a violent criminal record, accessed the Navy’s largest base. Savage Monday night climbed aboard the guided missile destroyer Mahan, disarmed a guard and used the weapon to kill a sailor who tried to intervene. According to…
Read MoreOfficials were warned about dangers of Wash. mudslide area
Snohomish County officials in a 2010 report were warned that neighborhoods along the Stillaguamish River were ranked “as one of the highest risk areas for deadly and destructive landslides,” according to The Seattle Times. The document contradicts claims from an emergency-management official that the area “was considered very safe” and that the slide “came out of nowhere.”…
Read MoreNew York gas mains installed in 40s leaking, prone to explosions
It is a danger hidden beneath the streets of New York City, unseen and rarely noticed: 6,302 miles of pipes transporting natural gas. Leaks, like the one that is believed to have led to the explosion that killed eight people in East Harlem this month, are startlingly common, numbering in the thousands every year, federal…
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