Safety

February 2, 2009 -- According to the 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment released by the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) and the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), approximately one million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs were criminally active in the U.S. as of September 2008. The assessment was developed through analysis of available federal, state, and local law enforcement information; 2008 NDIC National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS) data; and verified open source information.    » read more »

Consumer Group Lawsuit Brings Long-Awaited Victory for Used Car Buyers

Jan. 29, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – A federal database that will allow car buyers to learn whether a vehicle has been stolen or rebuilt after a wreck will be launched on Friday – more than 16 years after Congress passed a law requiring its creation, and a year after three safety groups sued the federal government to force it to act.    » read more »

January 22, 2009 -- As spring and summer breaks approach, many students are getting ready for a trip abroad. The following information will help students plan a safe and enjoyable adventure.

First, a note about U.S. passports: As of January 23, 2007, everyone traveling in and out of the United States by air needs a passport. We encourage students to apply now. Processing times are traditionally faster in February.    » read more »

Jan 22, 2009 -- Salt Lake City - Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has tapped Colonel D. Lance Davenport to be Commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety. Davenport currently serves as Superintendent of the Utah Highway Patrol. He replaces Commissioner Scott T. Duncan who stepped down this week for health reasons.

"Lance has demonstrated leadership, character and dedication in his 24 years of service with the Utah Highway Patrol. He is a true professional and an exemplar of public service. I am confident in his abilities and I am grateful for his willingness to continue to serve," the Governor said. "I know this new leadership team will continue the DPS tradition of remarkable service."    » read more »

Federal Funding for Nearly 750 State, Local and Not-for-Profit Traffic Safety Initiatives

January 21, 2009 -- New York Governor David A. Paterson today announced that New York will receive more than $31 million in grants for highway safety programs across the State. The Federal highway safety grants will be distributed by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC) to nearly 750 State, local and not-for-profit agencies to conduct highway and traffic safety initiatives aimed at increasing driver education, new enforcement efforts to combat drinking and driving, passenger restraint enforcement, aggressive driving and excessive speeding prevention, and bicycle and pedestrian safety, among others.    » read more »

24 August 2008 -- Kyrgyz officials say a passenger plane has crashed shortly after taking off from the capital, Bishkek, killing 68 people on board.

The Boeing-737 jet was headed to Iran's capital, Tehran, with 90 passengers and crew on board. About 10 minutes after takeoff Sunday, it crashed in a field near Bishkek's airport and burst info flames. Officials say only 22 people survived.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov says the plane suffered a sudden loss of cabin pressure, forcing the pilot to attempt an emergency landing.

Government spokeswoman Rosa Daudova says the plane was carrying 24 Kyrgyz citizens, 52 Iranians, three Kazakhs, two Canadians, one Chinese and one Turkish national.    » read more »

Aug. 20, 2008 -- WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship Directorate announced Wednesday the publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend Coast Guard regulations governing the stability of domestic passenger vessels.    » read more »

Push Ban To Keep Dangerous Materials Out Of Terrorists' Hands

August 12, 2008 -- Today Representative Peter King (R-NY), Ranking Member on the House Homeland Security Committee and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo warned that current restrictions on access to highly enriched uranium (HEU) are too lax and could potentially lead to terrorists acquiring the potentially lethal material. There are seven civilian facilities across the country that continue to use HEU even though safer alternative materials exist.    » read more »

August 13, 2008 -- MONTGOMERY - Alabama Governor Bob Riley announced that more than 125 additional state troopers will hit the roads Aug. 18-24, ramping up DUI, seat belt and aggressive driving enforcement during a statewide “Take Back Our Highways” traffic safety campaign.

Public Safety Director Col. J. Christopher Murphy joined the governor at a Montgomery news conference to unveil plans for the traffic safety and enforcement effort, which DPS successfully pioneered last year to combat Alabama’s rising fatality rate. Trooper-worked fatalities dropped by 62 in 2007, and troopers have worked 93 fewer fatalities this year, compared with the same period last year.    » read more »

State bill would ban use of Bisphenol A in baby bottles and other feeding devices

August 11, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) today called on the California State Assembly to pass legislation that would prohibit the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles, sippy cups and other feeding devices for children ages three and younger.

Senators Feinstein and Boxer have co-sponsored federal legislation that would ban BPA from children’s products as well as require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the health effects of BPA in children and adults.    » read more »

Las Vegas, NV – The International Association of Fire Fighters has announced the launch of a new initiative to help fire fighters, family members and friends to quit smoking cigarettes.

“Our goal is to help make the IAFF the first smoke-free union,” IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger said in his address to delegates at the IAFF 49th Convention.

Cigarette butts: Photo by The Other

The IAFF is collaborating with pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. to promote smoking cessation. Schaitberger and Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler first announced the joint initiative at the IAFF Health and Safety Conference in Chicago, Illinois, in October 2007.    » read more »

August, 2008 -- Home fire deaths are higher in states that have a greater percentage of smokers, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published this month in the journal Injury Prevention. If smoking at home is reduced or stopped, fewer residential fire deaths may result, the study said.    » read more »

Trial Will Start Friday in Toledo, OH

August 6, 2008 -- Andrew Siemaszko, a former nuclear safety engineer at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, will go on trial this Friday for allegedly lying to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) about conditions leading to a near-disaster at the plant in 2002. NRC documents, however, show that Siemaszko is not to blame. It was FirstEnergy, the plant's owners, which falsified reports to the NRC, not Siemaszko. In fact, Siemaszko was one work shift away from discovering the problem at Davis-Besse while cleaning the reactor head in 2000, but FirstEnergy prevented him from completing his task.    » read more »

Hazardous fuel behavior another setback for troubled energy department program, has implications for other reactors

August, 2008 -- Citing the recent failure of an experimental plutonium fuel assembly test at a South Carolina nuclear plant, two watchdog groups today called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to suspend a risky, multibillion dollar program that would use 37 tons of surplus nuclear weapons plutonium for U.S. nuclear reactor fuel.    » read more »

August, 2008 -- The Department of Energy's (DOE) plan to turn 34 metric tons of surplus nuclear weapons plutonium into "mixed oxide" (MOX) fuel for irradiation in nuclear power reactors has stumbled into yet another serious roadblock. Duke Energy has prematurely terminated a multiyear test of four experimental MOX fuel assemblies in its Catawba 1 reactor in South Carolina because of a potentially serious defect in the fuel design.    » read more »