Cellphone ban while driving? The tragedies behind the issue

Eleven texts in 11 minutes from behind the wheel -- then two were dead and 38 injured. A deadly Missouri incident was cited Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board as the panel urged a total ban on cellphone use while driving.

Such a ban (exceptions would be made for emergencies) would go far beyond what states now have in place. Currently, no state has a ban on all cellphone use by all drivers, according to the Governors Highway Safety Assn., although some prohibit cellphone use by certain drivers.

Novice drivers are banned from using cellphones while driving in 30 states and the District of Columbia.  School bus drivers can't use cellphones in 19 states and D.C. when they have passengers. States are tougher on texting while driving: 35 plus D.C. ban the practice.

In the Missouri incident in August 2010, about 50 students, mostly from a high school band, were headed to a Six Flags park when they were part of a pileup that, the NTSB says, was caused by a 19-year-old driver who sent or received 11 texts directly before his pickup hit the back of a tractor truck.

One school bus then slammed into the pickup, riding up over the smaller vehicle, according to the Kansas City Star. Then the second bus rammed into the first. The pickup driver and a 15-year-old on one of the buses died.

The NTSB can't force states to ban cellphone use by drivers, but the Associated Press notes that its recommendations carry weight with federal and state officials.

Among other cases the NTSB has investigated: In Chatsworth, 25 people died in a 2008 train collision involving texting by an engineer.

NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman last year called the texting by engineer Robert Sanchez "egregious." The contracted Metrolink engineer had been counseled about the issue before the wreck, she said, but continued "in a pattern of behavior that was unsafe on a regular basis." 

Then there was a fatal accident in July 2010 on the Delaware River near Philadelphia. A tugboat pilot who was using his cellphone and laptop crashed into a sightseeing "duck boat." More than 30 tourists on the small vessel fell overboard, and two of them died.

Last month, the tugboat's captain, Matthew Devlin, was sentenced to one year and one day for misconduct of a ship operator causing death.  

He had pleaded guilty to the crime. He said in court, according to Reuters: "I just wish I could take it all back."

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-- Amy Hubbard+

Photo: The NTSB referred to a Missouri accident involving a teenager who was texting and two school buses. Credit: Jeff Roberson / Associated Press

 

 

13 more students arrested in SAT cheating scandal; total now 20

Authorities on Long Island in New York announced Tuesday the arrest of 13 additional people allegedly caught up in a scandal that involved students from elite high schools paying others to take college entrance exams for them.

The investigation that began at the beginning of the year had led to the arrest in September of 19-year-old Samuel Eshaghoff, who allegedly received as much as $2,500 to take the SATs, and of the six students who allegedly paid him. They have denied the charges.

Prosecutors said the latest group of former and current students was not directly associated with Eshaghoff, but said they all knew one another, according to the Associated Press.

The Nassau County district attorney filed felony charges Tuesday against four people for allegedly receiving $500 to $3,500 to take the SAT and ACT tests for nine other students. Those nine are facing misdemeanor charges, according to the AP.

All but three of the students showed up in court on Long Island.

The cheating probe originated at the high-achieving Great Neck North High School after faculty members heard rumors that students were paying to have others take the exams for them. Administrators started hunting down the alleged cheaters by looking for students who took the tests at a different school and by comparing their academic records with their performance on the tests.

Of those arrested Tuesday, five attended Great Neck North, two attended North Shore Hebrew Academy, one was from Roslyn High School and one went to St. Mary’s High School in Manhasset, according to news reports.

Lawyers representing the young defendants Tuesday, as well as those arrested in September, have maintained that authorities had gone too far in filing criminal charges and that the matter should have been handled by school officials.

"When we glorify Wall Street guys who make money cheating and baseball players who take steroids, how can we condemn kids trying to achieve that same success?" said attorney Michael DerGarabedian, according to the AP.

But Nassau County Dist. Atty. Kathleen Rice insisted the actions of the accused needed to be taken more seriously than that.

“Educating our children means more than teaching them facts and figures. It means teaching them honesty, integrity and a sense of fair play,” Rice said in a statement. “The young men and women arrested today instead chose to scam the system and victimize their own friends and classmates, and for that they find themselves in handcuffs.”

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-- Geraldine Baum in New York

Photo: Three alleged test takers, Joshua Chefec, left, Adam Justin, background center, and George Trane, right, are escorted from of the Nassau County district attorney's office in Mineola, N.Y., on Tuesday. Credit: Howard Schnapp / Newsday

Penn State fallout: Longtime CEO of Sandusky's charity resigns

The fallout from the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal continues to unfold, with the Second Mile -- the children's charity founded by alleged molester Jerry Sandusky -- announcing Monday morning that its chief executive had resigned.

The board of directors said in a statement that it had accepted the resignation of Jack Raykovitz, chief executive of the Second Mile for the last 28 years, citing "the best interests of the organization." The statement also sought to put distance between the organization's work and its founder: "Although the allegations against Jerry Sandusky and the alleged incidents occurred outside Second Mile programs and events, this does not change the fact that the alleged sexual abuse involved Second Mile program children, nor does it lessen the terrible impact of sexual abuse on its victims."

The charity said that it's launching an internal investigation of its procedures and policies and that it aims to have those findings by year's end.

Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive coordinator for the football team, was charged with 40 criminal counts that he sexually assaulted eight boys from 1994 to 2009. He says he is not guilty.

Meanwhile, Penn State is facing public outrage amid suspicions that it did not do more to protect children and that it tried to cover up the crime. So far, the scandal has led to the firing or sidelining of at least five school officials, including the dismissal of legendary football coach Joe Paterno and the school's president.

Now, at least some of those involved appear to be lawyering up -- or at least seeking legal advice. 

One alleged victim has hired an attorney to explore a civil lawsuit against all involved, ABC News reports, with more victims expected to take legal action as well. Paterno has hired a high-profile criminal attorney who includes former president George H.W. Bush among his clients, ABC News also reports. And the Second Mile said in today's statement that it has engaged new general counsel to take over for an attorney who resigned amid the uproar.

As media scrutiny intensifies, pension details for Sandusky and fired school Vice President Gary Schultz were reported by the Patriot-News, which has been fighting a long-running battle to make Penn State salaries and benefits available to the public.

When he retired, Sandusky received a one-time payment of $148,271 and now gets $58,898 annually, the paper said; Schultz received a $421,847 lump-sum payment when he retired in 2009 and will get $27,558 in a monthly pension. (Schultz had since returned to school employment on an interim basis.) The paper said it continues to seek pension information for Paterno and others.

Developments in the scandal show no signs of slowing down.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, appearing Sunday on "Meet the Press," said he believes that more allegations of abuse by Sandusky will be forthcoming. He also called for a new law that would require mandatory government reporting of alleged sexual abuse.

Media scrutiny is also extending to the judge who raised eyebrows when she granted Sandusky's release on $100,000 unsecured bail, despite prosecutors' request for $500,000 in bail. As it turns out, she's a volunteer for Sandusky's charity, according to her online legal profile.

Further, interim football coach Tom Bradley is trying to regroup after the team's very painful -- and very public -- loss to Nebraska, raising questions about whether the vaunted program can recover from this scandal. 

Meanwhile, Sandusky supporters are now starting to emerge.

Diann Bishop of Manchester, Penn., said in a letter to the editor of the local paper that she knows Sandusky and that her daughters benefited from the work at the Second Mile. She criticized the public's rush to judgment and predicted that Sandusky will be found not guilty: "Knowing Jerry Sandusky, I find it very hard to believe that he ever hurt any child that was in his company. Please stop judging him and let our justice system work. I think that when all is out and said and done Jerry will be found innocent of all of this."

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-- Rene Lynch
twitter/renelynch

Photo: A child holds a sign supporting Joe Paterno on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. Credit: Nabil K. Mark / Centre Daily Times

First lawsuit filed in Reno air crash that killed 10, plus pilot

The family of a Texas man -- one of 10 spectators killed in the Sept. 16 crash at the National Championship Air Races in Reno -- has filed the first lawsuit stemming from the disaster.

In a $25-million lawsuit filed in Texas, attorneys for the family of Craig Salerno said the crash “was the predictable result of a reckless drive for speed by a risk taking pilot and crew, coupled with an insatiable drive for profit by those who stood to profit from the show.”

The pilot, Jimmy Leeward, was also killed in the crash. The accident occurred when his plane -- a souped-up World War II-era P-51 Mustang -- zoomed skyward, then pitched, rolled and slammed into the box-seat area, where Salerno was sitting. Salerno, a dispatcher for Continental Airlines in Houston and the married father of two young children, was killed instantly, the lawsuit said.

Federal investigators have said they're reviewing evidence that suggests a piece broke off the tail of the plane, called the Galloping Ghost, around the time it suddenly swooped up.

Aviation experts have said that the trim tab -- an aluminum component that helps keep the plane’s nose down -- may have snapped off.  The lawsuit said air show mechanics reported that Leeward’s team had been “having trouble” with the Galloping Ghost’s trim tab.

The Reno Air Racing Assn., which runs the event, was among the parties named in the lawsuit. Its chief executive, Michael Houghton, told the Associated Press that he hadn’t reviewed it yet.

“We fully expect a number of lawsuits to be filed,” he said. “This is the first.” 

The suit also named a number of people who attorneys said helped modify the World War II-era plane to make it fly faster.

 

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--Ashley Powers in Las Vegas
Twitter.com/ashleypowers  

Photo: Debris from the plane that crashed at the National Championship Air Races in Reno is scattered in front of the grandstand. Credit: Andy Barron / Reno Gazette-Journal, Associated Press

Passenger rights group blames airport for stranding JetBlue planes

 

Who's to blame for Saturday's stranding of about 700 JetBlue passengers on the tarmac at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn.?

According to FlyersRights.org, a consumer group for airline passengers, the answer is not the airline but rather the airport.

In a statement Monday, the group's founder and executive director, Kate Hanni, said, "We believe that, had there been a mandate for the airport to have a plan, they would have been more aggressive about their situational awareness and getting folks off of those planes."

Later she said, "Time after time, airports faced with other-than-normal situations fail to respond, and the air-traveling public pays for it."

JetBlue passengers on six planes were stuck at Bradley International Airport after a snowstorm on the East Coast forced about 23 flights to be diverted to the airport.

Andrew Carter, a sports reporter who happened to be on one of the stranded JetBlue planes, reported the unpleasant details via cellphone to the South Florida Sun Sentinel: Food and water were scarce. The bathrooms were clogged and disgusting. And every 45 minutes or so, the power would go off, freaking out distressed passengers even more.

Media reports said some passengers were stuck on the tarmac for seven hours before they were finally allowed to get off, although neither JetBlue, American Airlines (which also had a plane sitting on the tarmac) nor Bradley International Airport would confirm that.

In her statement, Hanni suggested that U.S. airports look to the European Union for ideas on contingency plans. She said European Union airports often had buses to help remove stranded passengers.

In a statement to The Times, a spokesperson for Bradley International Airport said: "Bradley attempted to accommodate approximately 1,000 to 1,500 passengers who were stranded here Saturday night into Sunday with cots, blankets, food and water. The airport remained open throughout the storm.  We have no further comment at this time, pending further investigation."

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Photo: JetBlue planes in 2003. Credit: Stephen Chernin /Getty Images

15-year-old girl struck by bullet at North Carolina school [updated]

Just as two children wounded by stray bullets came home from a hospital in one North Carolina city midday Monday, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the neck in an unrelated incident at a high school in another city.

The girl, Caitlyn Ambercrombie, was in stable condition at a hospital in Fayetteville, N.C., after being shot while standing outside the school near a cafeteria breezeway, police said. The shot may have been fired from off-campus, Frank Till, superintendent of the Cumberland County Schools, told the Fayetteville Observer.

Caitlyn was reportedly standing near a school resource officer and an assistant principal about 1:30 p.m. when she was shot. Neither saw anyone approach the girl or fire a weapon, according to the story. Students told authorities they heard a pop and saw the girl fall to the ground.

Caitlyn was conscious at the hospital and able to answer questions, a spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office told the newspaper.

Cape Fear High School was locked down as police searched the campus and nearby areas. Students were later searched and scanned with metal detectors before they were allowed to leave the school. Local TV coverage showed students leaving the school with their hands on their heads, escorted by police.

On Sunday, a 3-year-old boy and his year-old sister were wounded by stray bullets while playing in their living room in Durham, N.C. Police said the shots were fired by a drive-by gunman shooting at an unidentified man about  50 yards from the children’s home.

Three-year-old Anaryiion Hagans was shot in the left hand, and a bullet grazed his stomach, his mother, Dominque Hagans, told the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. One-year-old Aunehstii Hagans was shot in the arm, and a bullet grazed her back.

The children were treated at a hospital overnight and released Monday.

Two teenagers were arrested in the Fayetteville shooting Monday night, the Associated Press reported. No arrests were reported in the Durham shootings.

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-- David Zucchino in Durham, N.C.

Photo: A Cumberland County sheriff's deputy rolls crime scene tape around the scene after a shooting at Cape Fear High School east of Fayetteville, N.C., on Monday afternoon. Credit: Jim Halpin / Fayetteville Observer

 

Amanda Knox returns to Seattle after four-year Italian ordeal

 

Looking shaken and shy, Amanda Knox returned home to Seattle on Tuesday, ending a four-year Italian ordeal that began when her roommate was brutally slain and she was imprisoned for the crime.

Appearing before a madhouse of television cameras, jostling reporters and security guards at Seattle-Tacoma airport, the diminutive Knox at first hunched over, apparently overwhelmed, then tearfully spoke to her hometown.

Photos: Amanda Knox

“I’m really overwhelmed right now. I was looking down from the airplane, and it seemed like everything wasn’t real,” she said, her voice quaking.

“What’s important for me to say is just thank you to everyone who’s believed in me, who’s defended me, who’s supported my family,” she said.

Moments later, Knox left with her parents, stepparents and other family members.

Knox's conviction in Meredith Kercher's death was overturned by an appellate panel Monday amid evidence casting doubt on the DNA that supposedly linked her and her boyfriend to the crime. His conviction also was voided.

The working-class West Seattle neighborhood where Knox lived before traveling to Italy to study sprouted “Welcome Home Amanda” posters and, it seemed, a big population of well-wishers.

A few showed up at the airport.

“I came to support her,” said Stephanie Torreblanca, a 21-year-old student at a local community college who said she’d studied Knox’s case in her criminal justice class.

“I think she’s innocent. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” she said.

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-- Kim Murphy in Seattle

Photo: Amanda Knox at a news conference in Seattle on Tuesday. Credit: Ted S. Warren / Associated Press