Texas A&M Football Player Killed in Crash With 18-Wheeler

HOUSTON –  Texas A&M University was Thursday mourning the loss of an Aggie football player, 22-year-old Joseph Villavisencio.

Villavisencio was killed in a head-on collision on Highway 39, south of Normangee -- about 115 miles north of Houston Thursday according to an A&M statement cited by myFOXhouston.com.

The senior offensive lineman was on his way home to Jacksonville, Texas, when according to witnesses, he swerved to avoid a buzzard on the roadway and went directly into the path of an oncoming 18-wheeler.

"Villavisencio played his freshman season in 2008 earning his first career start on the offensive line in a 49-35 A&M victory against Iowa State in Ames, Iowa," the A&M statement read.

During his Jacksonville High School years, he earned second team all-state honors from the Associated Press and the Texas Sports Writers Association.  A senior radiological health engineering major, Villavisencio is survived by his sister, mother and father.  The driver of the 18-wheeler was not hurt, KBTX-TV reported.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident involving an 18 Wheeler, you should know your rights.  Contact The Texas Injury Lawyer David Cole for a free consultation.

SOURCE: Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/23/texas-am-football-player-killed-in-crash-with-18-wheeler/#ixzz1hkqGJzFO

Earlier, more comprehensive Honda recall could have avoided near fatal injury

TOKYO — Georgia college student Kristy Williams was almost killed when a metal piece flew out of an air bag in her 2001 Honda Civic — a traumatic accident her lawyer says might have been avoided had there been an earlier, more comprehensive recall.

Williams had even arranged to get her air bag fixed. But the appointment was a week too late.

The recalls at Honda Motor Co. for defective air bags that may inflate with too much pressure and send pieces of metal and plastic flying now affect some 2 million vehicles around the world.

Tragically for Williams, although recalls for air bags began in November 2008, her vehicle wasn’t included until last year’s batch.

The Tokyo-based automaker has now issued five recalls for defective air bags — the latest just this month for 304,000 vehicles globally, including the popular Accord, Civic, Odyssey, Pilot, CR-V and other models manufactured in 2001 and 2002.

There have been 20 accidents related to the problems, including two deaths in the U.S. in 2009, according to Honda.

“This is a serious, basic problem,” Williams’ attorney Leigh May said in a telephone interview.

Honda should have made the recalls encompassing, and her client might not have gotten hurt if it had, she said.

“It’s so terrible. Air bags are supposed to be there to protect you. And, if the air bag is a mechanism of your injury, that’s just not right,” May told The Associated Press.

Honda and Williams settled for an amount that cannot be disclosed as a condition of their agreement, May said.

On April 2 last year, Williams was stopped at a traffic light when the driver and passenger air bags deployed without there being a crash.

Flying shrapnel severed her neck artery. She was in intensive care for two weeks, required several surgeries and suffered strokes. Luckily, she survived.

“It was really hard to get things together when I was released from the hospital. However, I am a determined individual and put my mind to finishing school,” Williams, 25, said in an email.

“I want others to be aware of the consequences of not getting the recall seen about ASAP,” she said.

Atlanta-based Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, where May is a partner, is among a handful of U.S. law firms that won in suing Honda over the air bags.

May said it was unclear what Honda knew when, and why all the vehicles weren’t recalled the first time as the problem air bags came from one supplier, Takata Corp.

Honda spokesman Hajime Kaneko confirmed the recalled air bags came from the one supplier. Takata declined comment.

As it played out, the recalls grew almost piecemeal, from the first recall in 2008, to include more models in two separate recalls in 2009, and again last year, and then this month.

Kaneko said Honda had earlier thought the causes were different, such as the use of incorrect material in the chemical used to deploy the air bags and excessive moisture in the inflator propellant, which is part of what inflates the air bag.

But Honda found, under its fourth recall, that the cause was a defect during the production of the chemical, which had led to all the problems, Kaneko said. The latest recall came about because the company had not fully accounted for all the vehicles requiring recall, he said.

Honda, a reputed pioneer in air-bag technology, had expanded the recall to account for a possibly defective stamping machine during production.

“I can only say we are extremely sorry,” said Kaneko. “It is our responsibility we failed to identify a problem part in our products.”

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source: Washington Post (Kageyama, 12/20)

Novartis Confirms Patient Died After Starting Gilenya (fingolimod)

Novartis AG (NOVN) said a multiple sclerosis patient died on Nov. 23 after starting treatment with Gilenya, the first pill approved to treat the debilitating neurological disease.

Whether Gilenya played a role in the patient’s death can’t be excluded or confirmed, Eric Althoff, a spokesman for the Basel, Switzerland-based drugmaker, said today in an e-mailed statement. The death is the first reported within 24 hours of the first Gilenya dose in more than 28,000 patients who have taken the drug, Althoff said.

Gilenya was approved in the U.S. last year and cleared for sale in Europe in March. It’s among the products Novartis is depending on to boost sales as patents start to expire on the company’s best-selling drugs, including the hypertension pill Diovan. It’s not clear yet how a single death might affect doctors’ cost-benefit analysis of the drug, Tim Anderson, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd., wrote in a note to investors today.

“In the case of MS drugs, there is often significant safety baggage of different sorts,” Anderson wrote. He rates Novartis’s shares “outperform” and estimates that by 2015 Gilenya sales will reach $1.4 billion, about 2 percent of the Swiss company’s revenue.

The exact cause of the death hasn’t been established, Novartis said. Sudden death “smacks of being cardiovascular in nature,” Anderson wrote, adding that the possibility of a temporary slowdown in heart rate after patients start treatment with Gilenya is part of the reason for a recommendation for monitoring in a doctor’s office after treatment begins.

The patient who died had begun treatment on Nov. 22 and had been monitored “without incident” for six hours after taking the first dose, Althoff said.

Novartis said it has sent details of the case to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory authorities.

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source: Bloomberg.com (Kresge, 12/13)



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Three Dallas Police Officers Injured in 2 Traffic Accidents

Video KDAF TV - Three Dallas Police Officers Injured in 2 Traffic Accidents

Three DPD officers were sent to the hospital after they were involved in two differnt traffic accidents early Friday morning.

The first accident occurred around 2:00 am in the east-bound lanes of LBJ Freeway after a vehicle lost control and hit the center lane barrier. Two police squad cars were parked on the highway working the accident when an 18-wheeler jack-knifed into the vehicles. Two officers were transported to Parkland Hospital with unknown injuries.

Within an hour, a second similar accident occurred when another DPD vehicle was rear-ended by a car that was unable to stop on the slick road. The impact caused the squad car's gasoline tank to rupture, closing the freeway for HAZMAT clean up. One officer was taken to Parkland hospital for observation and the driver of the vehicle was uninjured.

Source - KDAF TV The cw33.com

Medical Malpractice Caps Hurt Patients

The U.S. House is set to consider on the Republicans' Jobs Through Growth Act, which contains a section aimed at reforming medical malpractice by imposing caps on economic and non-economic damages similar to those in place in Texas. Texas limits non-economic and exemplary (punitive) damages in all cases, and limits what relatives can get in cases of wrongful death. An obvious disturbing consequence is that caps reduce compensation to severely-injured individuals. Caps would hurt consumers in a second way -- lower damage awards would reduce medical professional liability insurers' financial incentives to reduce practice risk.

Much of the protection consumers have against irresponsible and negligent behavior on the part of health care providers hinges on oversight and incentives created by the medical professional liability insurance industry. A nationwide shift to caps could result in more cases of negligence and substandard care.

Support for caps comes from individuals who see the medical malpractice system as broken, largely based on anecdotal observations. Everyone seems to have heard a story of a high verdict to a plaintiff whose claim was not valid. Yet, careful studies suggest these cases are anomalies, and the court system generally works. While there are no statistics for the country as a whole, based on the existing evidence, we can say confidently that a good chunk of initial claims (likely more than three-quarters) do not move forward because no negligence was involved. The vast majority of cases that do move forward settle.

This means that court signals from earlier trials are clear. If court awards were random, one would expect many more cases to go to court as there would be an expectation of an award even where there was no negligence. Many cases go to court because plaintiffs think they have a case when they do not. We know this because plaintiffs rarely win; less than a quarter of all cases that go to court are resolved in favor of the plaintiff. At least one study found court findings of negligence lined up with assessments by impartial reviewing physicians.

Critics of the legal system point out that many cases of negligence are not reported or adjudicated. However, every review has found claims are concentrated among a very small subset of physicians; less than five percent of physicians are responsible for the overwhelming share of claims. Even if a large percentage of negligent actions are not reported, it would seem that the present system works in identifying physicians whose practice patterns put patients at risk.

For the system to work to reduce practice risk, malpractice premiums must be experience rated -- physicians who exhibit risky behaviors must face higher malpractice insurance premiums than their less-risky peers. The conventional wisdom among health policy experts has been that experience rating does not occur. But this is not true: high-risk physicians pay up to 500% more for insurance than their less-risky peers.

Insurance companies specialize. Some only insure physicians with spotless records. Others, the surplus lines carriers, specialize in underwriting the highest-risk physicians -- at any given time between two and ten percent of practicing physicians. As one broker put it, because it is so costly, being forced into the surplus lines market gets a physician's attention and motivates efforts to reduce practice risk.

New procedures are often left to surplus lines carriers to underwrite, adding a layer of oversight to the introduction of new procedures such as Lasik eye surgery and laparoscopic gallbladder surgery. On rare occasions, carriers deny coverage, which precludes affiliation with most hospitals and health maintenance organizations -- which effectively means these really risky physicians are forced out of practice, which is exactly the desired result.

Beyond individual underwriting to identify at-risk physicians, the medical professional liability insurance industry makes significant contributions to risk reduction in other ways. Companies offer premium discounts to physicians who take risk management seminars. The Physicians Insurers Association of America's Data Sharing Project identifies risky practice patterns. High insurance premiums motivated anesthesiologists to evaluate the risk associated with their practice patterns. As a result, anesthesiology is much safer than it used to be. Some insurers visit physician offices to evaluate safety and risk.

In 1992, when Congress tried to "help" community and migrant health centers by taking on their malpractice risk, many of the health centers resisted, lamenting the loss of the risk-management services the private carriers supplied.

Under the current system, liability motivates these efforts to reduce risk. Reducing liability, as caps do, is rarely a good idea in any situation. Placing caps would reduce malpractice insurers' incentives to oversee physician practice patterns and reduce incentives to manage risk in our health care system, and make health care that much riskier for all of us.

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source: Huffington Post (Svorny, 11/23)

Changes to Texas law have affected oversight of nursing homes

DALLAS - Texas has heavily reduced its enforcement of rules that govern the state's nursing homes, due in part to budget cuts, legislative changes and inspectors being discouraged from citing bad conditions, according to an analysis by a newspaper.

Texas has all but stopped imposing the most severe penalties, such as revoking a home's license and government contracts, or seeking a court-appointed overseer against nursing homes in violation, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Four employees who performed inspections for the state in recent months said that their superiors often resist letting them cite homes for possible life-threatening abuse and neglect, the newspaper reported.

"They'll say, 'You just don't have it,'" said a highly experienced inspector, who still works for the state and asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation. "You feel it's to the point of immediate jeopardy, and to be told 'no' is quite mind-boggling."

But Chris Traylor, commissioner for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, said the agency's nursing-home enforcement leaders aren't impeding tough enforcement.

"That's nonsense," Traylor said in a statement. "Our message to staff consistently has been, 'Call it like you see it, and do whatever is necessary to protect the health and safety of residents.'"

Tim Graves, head of the Texas Health Care Association, which represents for-profit nursing homes, said the enforcement system is working.

"I'm at a comfort level with where we are," said Graves, who added: "We have a regulatory structure in Texas that's probably as tough as any state's."

Findings of report

The newspaper reported that its 2½-month investigation found that:

• State regulators whose job is to keep shoddy operators from owning or running homes have done cursory, and at times inaccurate, background checks that in at least one case failed to keep out a federally banned health-care provider.
  
• State budget cuts have reduced staff by about one-fourth since 2001, even as the number of nursing homes in Texas is virtually unchanged, at about 1,200.
  
• Legislative changes, especially limits on lawsuit damages passed in 2003, have virtually eliminated trial lawyers as de facto watchdogs of nursing homes. Other changes limited the state's ability to fine nursing homes and have created an industry-friendly cadre of "quality monitors."

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source: Houston Chronicle (AP, 11/14)

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Victims, family members file lawsuit seeking $750 million for Fort Hood shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eighty-three victims and family members in the worst-ever mass shooting at a U.S. military installation are seeking $750 million in compensation from the Army, alleging that willful negligence enabled psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan to carry out a terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas.

The administrative claims filed last week said the government had clear warnings that Hasan, who is scheduled to go on trial in March, posed a grave danger to the lives of soldiers and civilians.

The government bowed to political correctness and not only ignored the threat Hasan presented but actually promoted him to the rank of major five months before the massacre, according to the administrative claims against the Defense Department, the Justice Department and the FBI. Thirteen soldiers and civilians were killed and more than two dozen soldiers and civilians were injured in the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting spree.

Fifty-four relatives of eight of the murdered soldiers have filed claims. One civilian police officer and nine of the injured soldiers have filed claims along with 19 family members of those 10.

"It was unconscionable that Hasan was allowed to continue in the military and ultimately be in the position to perpetrate the only terror attack committed on U.S. soil since 9/11," attorney Neal Sher, who represents the claimants, told The Associated Press.

"We're aware claims have been filed, but we're not going to comment on it," Christopher Haug, chief of media relations for the public affairs office at Fort Hood, said Thursday. "They'll be taken seriously and they'll go through the legal process."

Among the claimants is a civilian police officer who shot Hasan, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who was hit in the leg and hand in an exchange of gunfire that has cut short her law enforcement career. She underwent a series of surgeries for her wounds and is on unpaid leave from her post as a civilian police officer with the Army.

"I brought this claim because I strongly believe this tragedy was totally preventable and that the Army swept under the rug what they knew about Hasan," Munley said in a statement.

Munley and her partner, Sgt. Mark Todd, another civilian officer in Fort Hood's police force, are credited with shooting Hasan, ending the violence.

Hasan, an American-born Muslim, faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

U.S. officials have said they believe Hasan's attack was inspired by the radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and that the two men exchanged as many as 20 emails. Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in late September. His name has not yet been mentioned in any hearings in the criminal case against Hasan.

"It is a tragic irony that our government sought out and killed al-Awlaki, while Hasan was promoted in the Army which enabled him to carry out his murderous terror attack," said Sher, who for many years ran the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations that hunted Nazi criminals living illegally in the United States. He also is a former executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.

Evidence of Hasan's radicalization to violent Islamist extremism was on full display to his superiors and colleagues during military medical training, according to a Senate report issued in February and included as an exhibit accompanying the claims.

In the events leading up to the shooting, an instructor and a colleague each referred to Hasan as a "ticking time bomb," according to the report by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins of Maine, the chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

In classroom presentations, Hasan repeatedly spoke of violent Islamist extremism instead of medical subjects and justified suicide bombings, said the report, which concluded that Hasan's superiors failed to discipline him, refer him to counterintelligence officials or seek to discharge him.


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source: NY Times (AP, 11/10)

Oklahoman criticizes trial lawyers' response to new tort reform law

The Oklahoman (11/2) editorialized, "Effective Tuesday, the state entered the modern age of tort reform with legislation its supporters hope will better position Oklahoma to recruit physicians and encourage business relocation. Time will tell if either goal is realized."

The Oklahoman said that predictably, trial lawyers responded "with growling threats to challenge the constitutionality of tort reform bills. Such challenges are what led Texas to enact tort reform through constitutional amendments rather than statutes." The same thing "may need to happen" in Oklahoma "if the trial bar releases the hounds."

Jury awards $20.6 million in pool slide death

SALEM — A Salem Superior Court jury has ordered Toys "R" Us to pay more than $20 million to the family of a young mother who died five years ago after an inflatable pool slide sold by the national chain partially collapsed while she was using it during a pool party in Andover.

The Banzai Falls in-ground pool slide was never tested to determine whether it met federal safety standards for pool slides before or after it was imported from China by the retailer, a violation of federal law.

The jury's $20.6 million verdict, returned on Thursday afternoon after a weeklong trial and less than an hour of deliberation, is believed to be the largest ever awarded by an Essex County jury and one of the highest in the state this year.

"He'd rather have his wife and his daughter's mother back," lawyer Thomas Smith, of Boston's Sugarman law firm, said yesterday of client Michael Aleo's reaction to the verdict. "He felt that there was a wrong done, and he is pleased that the jury recognized that. This product should not have been sold."

Robin Aleo was 29, married and the mother of an 18-month-old daughter when, during a pool party at the Andover home of relatives on July 29, 2006, she climbed to the top of the 6-foot-high Banzai Falls slide, then started sliding down head-first.

Near the bottom, the slide suddenly bottomed out and Aleo struck her head on the edge of the pool, according to testimony. Her neck was broken, and she was left paralyzed and unable to breathe. She died the following day at a Boston hospital.

The Aleos, originally from Long Island, N.Y., were living in Colorado at the time and were in Andover to visit Michael Aleo's aunt and uncle, Sarah and William Letsky. They had purchased the pool slide the prior month from Toys "R" Us via Amazon's website.

Aleo and others at the party testified that the couple's daughter was present when her mother was pulled, unconscious, from the pool. Michael Aleo attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and told jurors that as he looked at his wife, she mouthed the word "more." But the injury left her unable to breathe on her own, and her condition deteriorated.

Missouri man paralyzed

Robin Aleo was at least the second person allegedly left paralyzed by such an incident on the Banzai Falls slide, of which more than 4,000 have been sold nationwide, according to court records.

A camp counselor in Missouri, Mark Grantham, was left a quadriplegic when the same thing allegedly happened to him on a Banzai Falls slide purchased at a Wal-Mart, according to court documents. His suit against both Wal-Mart and the Chinese manufacturers is still pending.

Jurors were not told about the Missouri case but did learn that the company that Toys "R" Us uses in China to safety-test products before they are imported, Bureau Veritas, was never asked to test the pool slide for compliance with federal safety regulations governing pool slides.

The product was tested for other product safety rules — and twice failed, once for containing lead in excess of federal limits — but not for compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Commission pool slide regulation, a former Toys "R" Us executive acknowledged during testimony on Wednesday.

Lawyers for Toys "R" Us contended that the regulations did not apply to the Banzai slide because it was inflatable, and that they were not responsible for safety testing for compliance with regulations.

They also contended that Aleo had been injured when she attempted to dive off of the slide, and not while she slid down, which was contradicted by witnesses who testified.

While there is a small print warning not to use the slide head-first, federal safety standards required that the slide be tested for such a typical use.

Under those standards, all pool slides are also required to support a load of 350 pounds without "deformation" or giving way. The Banzai slide deforms under almost any weight at all, and the shifting of weight as a user slides down displaces the air at the bottom, making it unable to support any load, a plaintiff's expert witness concluded.

After the trial got under way, two other defendants named in the suit, Amazon.com, which was in a partnership with Toys "R" Us to sell items online, and the manufacturer SLB Toys USA both settled with Michael Aleo for undisclosed sums.

Two calls to the Toys "R" Us corporate public relations department were not returned yesterday.

Sending a message

The jury's verdict included $2.5 million in anticipated lost income from Aleo's apparently successful advertising and marketing career and other actual damages, $100,000 in compensation for pain and suffering before her death, and $18 million in punitive damages.

Essex County Clerk of Courts Thomas Driscoll said his office is still calculating the interest on the judgment but expects that it will be the largest ever awarded by an Essex County jury.

Smith, the attorney for the Aleo family, said he hopes the size of the verdict and in particular the punitive damages sends a message to all retailers and importers "to make sure, not just for toys but for all products, that they comply with our laws and that they are safe."

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source: salemnews.com (Manganis, 10/15)

Texas' tort law has failed to reduce health costs, attract doctors

A national report released Wednesday says the 2003 Texas law that limited damage awards in malpractice suits has caused health care spending to rise and has not significantly increased the number of doctors in Texas.

The report comes as Gov. Rick Perry has touted the benefits of the law on the presidential campaign trail, boasting that it has added 21,000 Texas doctors — a claim the report disputes. Supporters of the law also urged Congress to enact a similar provision for the nation as part of the federal health care law that passed in March 2010. That provision was not included.

The 24-page report by Public Citizen, "A Failed Experiment," says that using Texas as a model would benefit doctors and insurers — not residents.

The report claims that Medicare spending in Texas has risen faster than the national average, and so have private health insurance premiums. It also says that, contrary to Perry's claims, the per capita increase in the number of doctors practicing in the state has been much slower since the state passed the so-called tort reform law than it was before the law.

Organizations that support the 2003 law — the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Alliance for Patient Access — disputed the report's assertions on the number of physicians who have come to the state. As for health care costs, "we never said consumer costs would go down," Jon Opelt, the alliance's executive director, said Wednesday.

Before the state limited damage awards that patients and their families could collect in malpractice cases, doctors were leaving the state in droves, and malpractice insurance rates were about double what they are today for most doctors, said Dr. Howard Marcus, an internist at Austin Regional Clinic. Marcus, a member of the medical association and chairman of the alliance, said that it took several years for tort reform to have an effect and that since 2007, Texas has licensed 60 percent more new doctors each year than it did before tort reform.

The report by Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, examines the number of direct patient care and primary care doctors in Texas between 1996 and 2010. It says that in the seven years before the lawsuit limits, the per capita number of doctors increased by 9.3 percent. In the seven subsequent years, the increase was 4.2 percent.

Perry's 21,000 figure was disputed by a PolitiFact check, which Public Citizen cited. PolitiFact said that Perry was counting all physicians licensed in Texas — the number actually practicing was 12,788 — since 2003. Experts said most of that increase was due to population growth, not tort reform.

Marcus said that Public Citizen erred by using a seven-year range before and after the 2003 law took effect. He said that it took until about 2007 for the law's effects to be felt, adding that it would be better to examine 2007 to 2011 and compare those years with the period before the tort changes.

Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said Wednesday that tort reform has greatly expanded access to care, especially in underserved rural areas. For example, she said, the number of obstetricians in rural areas of Texas has grown by 27 percent.

Castle added that from 2003 to 2009, Texas premiums for employer-sponsored health coverage increased at a lower rate than the national average and 27 other states.

The Public Citizen report counters that doctors in rural areas of Texas have decreased by 1 percent since tort reform after increasing by 23.9 percent in the seven years before the 2003 law.

It also says that health care coverage is unaffordable to more Texans since the law took effect. In 2010, 24.6 percent of Texans were uninsured — the highest rate in the nation — compared with 23.6 percent in 2003.

Regarding Medicare costs, the Public Citizen report says that proponents of lawsuit limits say that doctors would order fewer tests and practice less "defensive medicine" if they didn't have to fear as many lawsuits. "In fact," the report says, "Medicare diagnostic testing expenditures in Texas not only increased during this time frame (2003 to 2007), but rose 25.6 percent faster than the national average."

Marcus and Opelt said many factors drive such costs and that they have no bearing on changes in the medical malpractice law.

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source: www.statesman.com (Roser, 10/12)

Houston-based firm pleads guilty over Oklahoma acid spill in 2007

Integrated Production Services, a Houston-based oil field services contractor, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Muskogee, Okla., to violating the Clean Water Act by negligently spilling 400 to 700 gallons of hydrochloric acid -- used in "fracking" of wells -- into a creek in eastern Oklahoma in 2007.

IPS agreed to pay a $140,000 fine and make a $22,000 payment to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation for ecological studies and remediation of Boggy Creek in Atoka County, according to federal officials.

IPS will also serve two years' probation, perform an environmental compliance program at a cost of $38,000, and train employees in hazardous-waste handling and spill-response procedures.

IPS was working at a natural gas well site on May 24, 2007, when a tank leaked corrosive hydrochloric acid onto the bermed surface of the well site, which was already flooded after heavy rainfall. Rather than properly removing the acid-polluted rainwater, IPS supervisor Gabriel Henson drove a company truck through the earthen berm, discharging the rainwater and the acid into Dry Creek, a tributary of Boggy Creek, the statement said.

On July 20, Henson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act and is awaiting sentencing. He faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

"As hydraulic fracturing occurs with increasing frequency across the country, companies and individuals involved in those operations must adhere to the laws that protect human health and the environment and level the playing field for responsible businesses," said Ignacia S. Moreno, an assistant attorney general for the Justice Department.


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source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (Smith, 10/11)

18-Wheeler & Car Wreck Briefly Shuts Down I-35 Early This Morning

(New Braunfels, TX) -- Southbound I-35 at FM 306 was briefly shut down early this morning, following an accident in the 14-hundred block of I-35, across the highway from Canyon High School, directly in front of the Best Western and Hilton Garden Inn.

At just past 4:30am an 18-wheeler collided with a small blue Honda passenger car, smashing that car severely, leaving the driver, a woman in her 20’s, trapped inside.

New Braunfels Fire and Rescue crews arrived on scene and began a prolonged extrication of that victim, and Airlife was originally sent to the scene. That helicopter was set to land directly on the highway, so crews were in the process of shutting down all of Southbound I-35, when the decision was made to instead transport the woman by ground EMS to University Hospital in San Antonio.

Police officers continued to block off the highway for a short time until crews finished the extrication. While Fire and EMS crews tended to the victim, other officers and personnel cleaned up debris from the roadway.

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source: kgnb.am (10/7)

East Texas police chase ends with shots fired

TYLER, TX (KLTV video link) - Smith County Constable Mark Waters was patrolling I-20 near the Smith-Gregg county line when he noticed Michael Scott Cook's truck missing a front license plate and made what he thought was a routine traffic stop.

"He became agitated about the law in the state of Texas of having to have a license plate and tried to take his paperwork back away from me," said Smith County Interstate Criminal Patrol Officer Mark Waters. "I informed him he would be placed under arrest. He informed me that he was not going to stick around."

Cook then took off, despite Waters running to the front of the vehicle in an attempt to stop him. Waters called for backup, and DPS troopers scrambled to I-20 to help bring Cook in.

"During the time he was throwing out a lot of articles...large bags of trash, a fire extinguisher, cans of Coke. He was waving gestures at us out the window," said Deputy Waters.

Near Kilgore, Cook allegedly tried to hit a DPS trooper's car that was parked on the shoulder.

"He was able to maneuver the vehicle out of the way to keep from being hit," said DPS Trooper Jean Dark.

DPS Troopers stopped the chase near the Eastman Road exit in Longview.

"A trooper was able to disable the truck tractor semi-trailer by deflating the tires with his M-4 rifle," said Trooper Dark.

Cook was arrested and taken to the Gregg County jail, where he is being held on $50,000 bond. He faces two felony charges in Gregg County and may face more charges in Smith County later this week.

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source: www.kltv.com (Callahan, 10/3)

Family Files Suit Against Cantaloupe Producer

HOUSTON - An Angleton family has filed a lawsuit against a cantaloupe producer, alleging their fruit is tainted with harmful bacteria.

A law firm states Juanita Gomez contracted Listeria after eating a cantaloupe from Colorado-based Jensen Farms Rocky Ford.

Gomez had purchased the fruit in early August, according to the lawsuit. She became ill and developed a fever by Aug. 20.

Hospital doctors noted Gomez’s temperature was 105.6 degrees Fahrenheit. She had glassy eyes and was unable to respond to simple questions.

Tests confirmed Gomez was infected with the same train of bacteria linked to the illness of 35 people nationwide and the death of four others.

Gomez has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.

Listeriosis, caused by consuming Listeria, primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weakened immune systems.

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source: www.myfoxhouston.com (Perera, 9/21)

1 Dead, 2 Injured in Wreck South of Alamo

ALAMO - One man is dead, and two others injured after a wreck south of Alamo.

When CHANNEL 5 NEWS arrived at the scene, Alamo police units were also just getting to the scene. One of the vehicles knocked down a power line and there was smoke and fire on one side of the street.

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper say a grey Suburban and 18-wheeler were driving in opposite directions and collided. They say the two men in the Suburban were brothers. One of them, 25-year-old Santos Hernandez Sauceda, died in the accident; the other was injured.

"We know for sure that the actual fatality was not wearing a seatbelt. He was ejected from the vehicle," says trooper Maria Alaniz.

The person inside the 18-wheeler was trapped inside the vehicle. Troopers say he was stuck underneath the dashboard and the truck was touching live power lines. Rescuers, including state troopers, EMS personnel and the power company, all worked to get the trapped person out of the truck.

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source: www.krgv.com (Zepelin, 9/14)

Study: Over Half of Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitals Are Preventable

More than one-half of all adverse drug reactions treated in hospitals and emergency care are preventable, according to a new study.

In addition, prior research has shown that many preventable drug reactions -- which include drug overdoses and internal bleeding associated with the improper use of blood thinners and painkillers -- are life-threatening, said the Swedish researchers. This widespread problem, which is even more common among the elderly, has important implications for health care systems, they said.

There are many reasons for the high numbers of preventable adverse drug reactions, according to Katja Hakkarainen, a pharmacist from the Nordic School of Public Health, Gothenburg. These may include "poor coordination of care, lack of time and knowledge among health professionals, and lack of patient education," she said in an International Pharmaceutical Federation news release. "Unfortunately there is no consensus today on what to do" to prevent adverse drug reactions, she said.

"But our finding that they are so common means that it is imperative to create a climate in which they are not hidden, and that there is no 'blame and shame' involved," Hakkarainen added. Human error is inevitable, she said, "thus, safety measures need to be incorporated into the health system."

The findings were slated for presentation Thursday at the annual conference of the International Pharmaceutical Federation in Hyderabad, India.

In conducting the meta-analysis, in which evidence from a number of studies is combined with the aim of getting results with more statistical power, researchers examined the results of 22 previous studies. Among adult outpatients, the frequency of preventable adverse drug reactions that resulted in hospitalization or emergency treatment was 2 percent, they found. Of these, 51 percent were preventable.

Researchers also found that among the elderly, a full 71 percent of drug reactions could have been avoided.

Among hospitalized patients, the frequency of harmful drug reactions was 1.6 percent, and 45 percent of them were preventable.

The researchers added that as more drugs become available for people of all ages, the number of adverse drug reactions is likely to increase. They said it's important to know which could have been prevented since they are typically much more severe than those that were unavoidable.

In a different study, they noted, researchers found that nearly a third of preventable adverse drug reactions were life-threatening, compared to those that were unavoidable as part of treatment.

The Swedish researchers also cautioned that patients should not stop taking their medications for fear of an adverse reaction.

"Although it is clearly important to carry out such studies, we would like to emphasize that for most of the time, medications do much more good than harm," said Hakkarainen. "We would not like to think of people discontinuing therapy as a result of our conclusions."

Experts say that information presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary because it has not been subjected to the rigorous scrutiny required for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

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source: Health Day (Dallas, 9/9)
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The Cole Legal Group has a proven track record of obtaining substantial insurance settlements and jury awards for people hurt by prescription errors.

Let our experience, commitment and drive work to get you the money you deserve to rebuild your life. Our commitment to you: We will not be out worked!

Contact us today for a free consultation.

Texas Wildfires Visible From Space

HOUSTON - NASA released amazing satellite photos showing giant plumes of smoke streaming southward from the Texas wildfires.

CLICK HERE AND HERE TO SEE HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES. ALSO, HERE.
 
The trail of smoke from Bastrop County in Central Texas flows all the way to the Gulf Coast.

The photos were taken yesterday as part of NASA's Land Atmosphere Near Real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE). The University of Maryland has begun a joint project with NASA to map fires across the globe.

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source: myfoxdfw.com (Wolke, 9/6)


Commentary:
The attorneys at Cole Legal Group are experienced in handling the pitfalls that arise when dealing with personal injury cases and accidents that occur as a result of the negligent actions of another in North Texas. Though the circumstances that exist during such time are most likely traumatic, our compassionate approach allows you to protect yourself and maximize any monetary damages you may be entitled to.

Panel recommends compensation system for those harmed by medical research

The United States should create a system to compensate people who are harmed by participating in scientific research, a panel of federal advisers recommended Tuesday.

Many other countries require sponsors of studies and researchers to carry insurance for research-related injuries or have other ways to compensate volunteers who are harmed, making the United States an “outlier,” the subcommittee of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues concluded.

“The panel felt strongly that it was wrong and a mistake that the United States was an outlier in not specifying any system for compensation for research subjects other than, ‘You get a lawyer and sue,’” said Amy Gutmann of the University of Pennsylvania, who chairs the commission and served on the subcommittee.

The recommendation came on the second day of a two-day public hearing to air the results of a commission probe into medical experiments that the U.S. government researchers conducted in Guatemala in the 1940s.

The recently uncovered studies involved more than 5,500 men, women and children who were unwittingly drafted into tests involving the venereal diseases syphilis, gonorrhea and chancroid. The tests included deliberately — sometimes grotesquely — attempting to infect subjects without their permission or knowledge.

On Monday, the commission revealed that the researchers had obtained consent first before conducting earlier, similar experiments on inmates in Terre Haute, Ind., and hid what they were doing in Guatemala. This, the commission found, clearly showed that the doctors knew their conduct was unethical.

In the government-sponsored studies conducted in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948, doctors tried to infect prisoners, soldiers and mental patients by giving them prostitutes who were carrying the diseases or were infected by the researchers. The researchers also scraped sensitive parts of subjects’ anatomy to expose wounds to disease-causing bacteria, poured infectious pus into subjects’ eyes, and injected some victims’ spines.

On Tuesday, the 13-member commission discussed the 48-page report outlining the findings of a 14-member international subcommittee investigating whether current rules adequately protect people in medical studies from physical harm or unethical treatment internationally.

The experts in bioethics and biomedical research from India, Uganda, China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium Guatemala, Egypt and the United States met in London, Washington and Philadelphia and made five broad recommendations.

“The United States should implement a system to compensate research subjects for research related injuries,” said Christine Grady of the National Institutes of Health, who helped present the findings of the subcommittee. “Many countries around the world and some U.S. research institutions have actually moved forward and developed compensation systems.”

One “promising model” for a compensation system could be the U.S. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault alternative to traditional lawsuits that compensates people injured by vaccines, the panel said.

India and Brazil have bioethics committees that “ensure that research sponsors pay compensation to participants injured in research,” the panel wrote. The University of Washington uses a “self-insured no-fault” system.

President Obama ordered the probe when the experiments were made public in October along with an unusual public apology by his secretaries of state and health and human services.

After filing a report in September, the commission will meet again in November to come up with ways to bolster protections for research subjects internationally and in the United States. It will issue a final report in December. The Guatemalan government is conducting its own investigation, but has twice postponed briefing the commission.

Wellesley College historian Susan M. Reverby uncovered the disturbing experiments while reading papers from John C. Cutler, a doctor with the federal government’s Public Health Service. Cutler participated in the Tuskegee experiment, in which hundreds of African American men with syphilis in Alabama were left untreated to study the disease between 1932 and 1972. Cutler died in 2003.

In the Guatemala case, about 700 of the subjects were treated, but it remains unclear whether their care was adequate. About 83 of the subjects died, but investigators have been unable to determine whether any deaths were caused by the studies.

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source: Washington Post (Stein, 8/30)

City Sanitation Truck Collides with 18-Wheeler

A City of Brownwood sanitation truck collided with an 18-wheeler on FM 45 and Albert Sidney Johnson Drive just after 11:00am Monday morning. Both drivers were able to walk away from the accident.

The 18-wheeler was traveling east on FM 45 as the trash truck was following behind. According to Larry Roberts, City of Brownwood Sanitation Department driver, he was following behind the semi when it unexpectedly made a U-turn. With a fully loaded truck, Roberts stated that he was unable to stop and was still travelling around 40-45 mph when he collided with the semi striking it at the front of its trailer.

“I just thought to myself, this is going to hurt, this is really going to hurt,” said Roberts.

When asked if he believed in guardian angels, Roberts quickly stated, “Yes, and I have several of them looking out for me today.”

Roberts said that he has been driving trucks for over 27 years and this was his first accident. He has worked for the City of Brownwood almost 5 years.

City of Brownwood Solid Waste Manager Tim Airheart stated that after the impact, Roberts was unable to open the door to exit the truck but a passerby was able to open the door from the exterior which allowed Roberts to crawl over the dashboard to get out.

Making U-turns in the roadway, according to Airheart, is a safety concern. Today’s accident is an example of why this maneuver should not be made.

“These trucks do U-turns when they miss the turn to Kohler and it’s a problem,” said Airheart. Both Roberts and Airheart explained that drivers should never make U-turns in the roadway, they should continue until they can turn around properly, making the block or pulling in somewhere to make a safe turn.

The semi-truck, which was empty at the time of the accident, is a leased vehicle with First Place Tansportation, Inc. out of Texarkana, Arkansas.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers along with Brown County Sheriff’s deputies worked the wreck and were investigating the accident.

 

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source: www.brownwoodnews.com (Tipton, 8/29)

More "road gators" during record-setting heat

CENTRAL TEXAS - Drive up and down I-35 and you're bound to see shredded bits and pieces of tires littering the roadway. The dangerous debris comes mostly from 18-wheelers, and the record-setting heat this summer is putting the rubber on the road.

Joe Varner narrowly escaped what could have been a serious accident driving southbound on I-35 when the car ahead of him swerved to dodge rubber debris.

"All of a sudden, the car goes crazy," said Varner. "I'm thinking we're fixing to dodge a wreck. I don't know what's going on. Sure enough, I'm running over a tire."

J.B. Hunt driver Olen Tussey, knows all too well what it's like to be behind the wheel of a truck during a tire blowout. He had one three weeks ago.

"You hear this big giant pop," Tussey said. "It actually blew out my airbag for my air suspension."

The tire on Tussey's trailer was a recapped, or a retreaded tire. Retreads are essentially used tires with new treads glued on. While Tussey and others said they trust retreads as they do regular tires, damaged or poorly maintained retreads are especially dangerous in 100degree heat.

With the asphalt reaching temperatures near 120-degrees, glue between the tire and the tread can heat up and liquify. If the tire pressure is too low or too high, the tread may actually start to break apart. In fact, entire treads can come lose, and TxDOT says that's not uncommon during the summer months.

"The road is staying much hotter for longer and that's had an impact on the tires," said Waco TxDOT spokesperson, Ken Roberts. "As a result, we get a lot more shredded tires or 'gators' on the roadways."

Roberts said TEXDOT routinely sends crews to pick up road debris, but it's hard to keep everything clear on I-35 with the amount of big rig traffic.

"We got an awful lot of trucks, which means there's an awful lot of tires," Roberts added.

A good way to avoid tire blowouts and retread accidents in the first place is to check tire pressure often. Tussey and others recommend tires on 18-wheelers to be inflated to about 100 psi.

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source: www.kxxv.com (Brennan, 8/24)

18-Wheeler Jackknifes On Hwy 46 at Stone Gate Monday Morning

(New Braunfels, TX) -- A jack-knifed 18-wheeler shut down a lane of traffic on Hwy 46 yesterday morning, leading to concerns about a possibly major fuel spill. At just past 9am, a truck contracted to Texas Rock Haulers approached the intersection of Hwy 46 at Stone Gate Drive when the driver found he simply didn’t have enough room to stop and had to make a choice between rear-ending a series of about 6 passenger cars, or steer into a drainage ditch on the side of the road.

KGNB was on the scene and spoke to the driver, who said his choice was clear, and he opted for the ditch.

Firefighters from Station 6 on Stone Gate Drive were less than 100 yards from the accident and were on scene in moments. New Braunfels Police shut down a lane of traffic in that area while a tow truck was called in to get the truck out of the drainage culvert, where it was resting on one of its fuel tanks, which had about 80-gallons of fuel still inside. But the tow truck successfully relieved the pressure on that tank, and the truck was moved out of the ditch with very little spilled fuel.

No one was injured in the wreck, although the driver was visibly shaken following the crash. The scene was finally cleared just before 11am.
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source: www.kgnb.am (8/16)

Rockwall Police Cruiser Video Footage of 18-Wheeler Jackknife

Description according to Rockwall Police:

“One of our police officers (and bystanders) almost got killed by a jack-knifing 18-wheeler. There is a lady sitting in the car and has already been involved in one accident then she gets hit by the 18-wheeler, which also completely destroys our patrol vehicle in the process.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in this incident.....miracle.....The action comes near the end of the video so keep watching. Obviously, not all dangers to police officers come from people with guns and knives.”

Truck Explosion, Fire Consumes 18-Wheeler On I-20

ABILENE, Texas -- An explosion under the hood of an 18-wheeler caused an accident and fire that consumed the vehicle on Interstate 20 east of Abilene Friday morning.

The incident occurred as the truck was traveling eastbound about eight miles east of Abilene.

The truck jack-knifed as it pulled to the side of the freeway and burned, closing one lane of traffic eastbound between FM 603 and Clyde.

The driver of the vehicle escaped without injury, and no other vehicles were involved. The incident occurred about 6:40 a.m. Friday.

The driver of the truck told KTXS that the truck's starter came loose, hit a battery and caused an explosion and fire that consumed the vehicle.

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source: www.ktxs.com (7/29)

Celebs Help Texas Kids Orphaned in Car Crash

The plight of three Houston children who were orphaned and seriously injured as a result of a deadly car accident earlier this month prompted various celebrities — including Justin Bieber, Ellen DeGeneres, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga — on Wednesday to encourage their fans to donate to a new campaign that is raising money for their care.

Bieber and other celebrities asked their fans via Twitter and Facebook to donate to the "Show Your Hearts" campaign. The money being raised from the campaign launched Wednesday will go to a trust fund that has been set up for the children's care.

"It is a really sad story, but this is an opportunity for me and my friends to do something good for others," Bieber said in a statement. "We can use our influence to do good. We are just doing our part and I hope those kids get something positive out of it."

In its first day, the campaign raised more than $30,000. A Facebook page that had previously been created to highlight the trust fund and publicize fundraising efforts, including bake sales and lemonade stands, that have taken place in the Houston area and around the U.S. has helped raise more than $200,000.

The July 2 accident in West Texas killed the children's parents, Joshua and Robin Berry. Their sons, 8-year-old Aaron and 9-year-old Peter, were permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Their 6-year-old sister Willa suffered several broken bones. The family had been driving back to Houston from a vacation in Colorado when another vehicle crashed into their minivan.

Willa is now at home but her brothers remain hospitalized. After being treated at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, the brothers are now at Shriner's Hospital for Children in Chicago where they are undergoing physical rehabilitation treatment.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian on Wednesday tweeted, "The family needs our help!! Such a tragic story!"

DeGeneres, on her television show's home page, asked fans to "join me in raising awareness and sending love and support to this family."

"We are also so grateful for the amazing efforts from Justin Bieber and his team to pull together the long list of celebrities supporting the kids," said Matt Berry, the children's uncle.

The Houston Rockets on Wednesday also announced a campaign, "10,000 Hugs-to-Help," to raise money that will be donated to the children's trust fund. The campaign will let Houstonians donate money in exchange for a hug from the team's mascot, Clutch.

"We are committed to assisting the various fundraising efforts that continue to be planned around our community in order to help provide Peter, Aaron and Willa with the support they will need in order to overcome the physical pain and devastating emotional trauma they have suffered," said Rockets owner Leslie Alexander.


source: ABC News (Lozano, 7/28)

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Two 18-Wheelers Collide; One Driver Injured

RIESEL,TX — An 18-wheeler rear-ended a second tractor-trailer rig Monday morning in Riesel and the driver of the second truck was flown to a Waco hospital for treatment of his injuries.

Riesel police Chief Danny Krumnow said at around 8 a.m. Monday, the driver of the first truck was stopped at a signal light at Texas Highway 6 and FM 1860 when the second rig whose driver failed to see the light struck the rear of the rig.

Krumnow said B. J. Newton, of Fort Worth, was flown by Air Evac helicopter to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center.

Information about his injuries and his condition wasn’t immediately available.

The other driver was not injured.

Krumnow said traffic along both roadways was diverted for a short time.

Riesel police and fire units, along with an East Texas Medical Center ambulance, responded to the accident.

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source: www.kwtx.com (Gately, 7/11)

Texas Ranger Fan Falls Catching Foul Ball, Later Pronounced Dead

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - Major League Baseball vowed Friday to "carefully review" an incident in which a Texas Rangers fan died Thursday night after falling over a left-field railing as he pursued a foul ball.

Firefighter Shannon Stone, from Brownwood, Texas, lost his balance while reaching out to catch a ball for his young son Cooper Stone that was thrown into the stands by Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton during the second inning at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

"All of us at Major League Baseball are shocked and saddened over the tragic death of Mr. Stone last evening," MLB said in a statement Friday.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his son and his entire family. Major League Baseball has the utmost sensitivity to the safety of all the fans that come to our ballparks. Our players are encouraged to be fan-friendly and we will carefully review this incident with our clubs to continue to ensure a safe environment for our fans."

Stone, 39, fell about 20 feet behind a wall supporting the left-field scoreboard. He was treated by Rangers medics before being taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.

Stone went into full cardiac arrest on his way to the hospital and was pronounced dead at 8:26 p.m. local time, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, citing an Arlington Fire Department statement.

"Josh (Hamilton) is very distraught over this, as the entire team is," Texas Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan said earlier in a statement.

"We are deeply saddened to learn that the man who fell has passed away as a result of this tragic accident," Ryan added. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

Brownwood City Manager Bobby Rountree confirmed early Friday that Cooper Stone was with his father at the ballpark. Rountree paid tribute to the "17 year veteran of the Fire Dept" in a statement reported by the Brownwood News.

"In respect for Shannon and his family, the City of Brownwood will fly its flags at half-mast through the day of the funeral," he said. "This is a tragedy for the Stone family, his firefighter brothers and the City of Brownwood. Please keep the Stone family and his fellow firefighters in your prayers."

Rountree confirmed the plans for Stone's funeral were still being finalized.

The incident came a year after a fan suffered serious injuries after falling about 30 feet in a similar incident at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.


source: msn.foxsports.com
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Commentary:

While no party other than Stone can be fully at blame here, the tragedy occurred a year after a similar incident. These circumstances bring questions to mind about the design of the safety railing at the Ballpark in Arlington. Any loss sustained as a result of poor design falls under Premise Liability in legal proceedings, and a Texas Injury Lawyer can help determine if you deserve compensation. Contact The Cole Legal Group today for a free consultation.

G.M. Recalls Almost 6,800 Pickups for Inaccurate Shift-Lever Reading

General Motors is recalling almost 6,800 pickups from the 2011 model year because they might roll away even when the automatic transmission’s selector appears to be in Park. The automaker also said it recalled 739 pickups and sport utility vehicles because of a possible loss of steering.

The pickups affected by the shift-lever issue are the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon equipped with the 4-speed automatic and either the 2.9-liter 4-cylinder or 3.7-liter 5-cylinder engine.

G.M. told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that a defective clip could allow the shift lever to appear to be in Park when it was not. A worker at the assembly plant discovered the problem.

The 739 S.U.V.’s and pickups being recalled for possible steering problems are the 2011 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV; Chevrolet Silverado, Suburban and Tahoe; and GMC Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL.

G.M. said the intermediate steering shaft bolts were not properly tightened. It learned of the problem after a Suburban had a steering problem and the vehicle was inspected at a dealership.

The automaker informed N.H.T.S.A. that the problem could occur on vehicles that were repaired at the assembly plant because “an error in the cab build process required the original cab to be removed and replaced with a new cab.” The proper process was not followed when the new cab was installed.

Alan Adler, a General Motors spokesman, wrote in an e-mail that the automaker was not aware of any accidents involving the affected vehicles in either recall.


source: New York Times (Jensen, 7/1)

Statewide "No Refusal Weekend" in Effect for July 4th Holiday

The July 4 holiday weekend is notoriously one of the most dangerous time of year for Texas drives. So today law enforcement agencies across the state announced a new initiative to keep drivers safe. It's the first ever of its kind in the nation, a state-wide "No Refusal Weekend."

A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association shows that over the past 25 years about half of the crashes over the holiday involve alcohol.

Texas is the deadliest state in the nation when it comes to DWI fatalities. Texas statutes designed to decrease the carnage on our roads have been effective to a degree, but many measures seem to have limited success in further curbing the number of deaths.

Last year in Texas alone, officers responded to 337,000 crashes over a three-day time span. This year, the state is stepping up enforcement. Agencies are dispatching additional officers to the road searching for suspected drunk drivers. In participating counties, they will not take "no" for an answer.

TxDOT has posted this video to their YouTube channel explaining what happens if you decide to get behind the wheel after you've been drinking during a "no refusal" weekend.

The "no refusal" program is the plan created by Montgomery County prosecutor Warren Diepraam several years ago. Diepraam says it's getting results.

Anyone who is pulled over for suspected drunk driving will have to either submit to a breath test or have their blood drawn. Officials say it takes as little as 15 minutes to secure a warrant for a blood draw and five minutes after that to get the blood drawn.

If you do happened to be involved in an automotive accident, chances are you can benefit from the services of Texas Injury Lawyer.

Let our experience, commitment and fight work to get you the money you deserve to rebuild your life. Our commitment to you: We will not be out worked!

Contact us today for a free consultation.

2 die in ultralight crash at Ranger airport

RANGER, Texas — Two men have been killed in the crash of an ultralight aircraft at an airport in West Texas.

Ranger Municipal Airport spokesman Jared Calvert identified the victims as Richard Reeb of Ranger and Lynnwood Weiss of Goliad.

Calvert says Reeb, who was a city commissioner, and Weiss had gone for a test flight Wednesday afternoon. Weiss was considering a purchase of the aircraft.

Calvert says the aircraft apparently stalled, then crashed. Federal investigators will help determine the cause of the accident.

Ranger City Secretary Mary Wells says Reeb was in a city commission runoff election last weekend against Connie Hovey. Wells told The Associated Press that results were canvassed Friday and that Reeb was defeated.

Ranger is about 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

source: www.chron.com