Cross Country
Big Trouble Again at the Big Dig
The problems just keep on coming for the Big Dig, the massive public-works project that successfully rerouted much of Boston's highway system underground. Last week, 12 tons of ceiling panels in the tunnel connecting Boston Harbor to Logan International Airport came crashing down on a vehicle, killing 38-year-old Milena Del Valle. Gov. Mitt Romney demanded the resignation of the chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. And state Attorney General Tom Reilly launched a negligent-manslaughter probe.
By week's end, investigators had found 60 instances of loose bolts in the eastbound tunnel, where Del Valle was crushed; the westbound tunnel was said to be worse. "It's hard to view [this] catastrophe as an accident," Romney said. Tunnels had previously been plagued with faulty slurry walls and leaks. In May, officials indicted six employees of a concrete supplier for falsifying records to hide the shoddy quality of materials.
Another Dangerous Year Out West
It's that time of the year. As a wildfire burned more than 53,000 acres near Yucca Valley, Calif., officials warned that another bad fire season may be in the offing for the West. Already, the Sawtooth fire has destroyed 45 homes and 110 other buildings, mostly around historic Pioneertown, where parts of The Cisco Kid were shot. More than 4 million acres have burned nationwide so far this year, almost twice the 10-year average, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The fire danger is above normal in northeastern California and for much of the Rockies.
Lingering Problems at the LAPD
A new report finds that the Los Angeles Police Department still needs major reform to prevent another crisis like the Rampart corruption scandal.
In 1999, revelations of routine evidence tampering and unjustified shootings in the city's Rampart Division led to lawsuits, overturned convictions, and criminal charges against officers. The new task force report said problems of shoddy oversight and harsh police tactics still exist.
The report's most challenging recommendation calls for a major expansion of the LAPD, which, at just 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents, is tiny compared with cities like New York. The task force backs a push by Police Chief William Bratton to add more than 3,000 officers. But lawyer Connie Rice, who led the study, says a change in culture is needed at the LAPD, which "is wired to celebrate the Dirty Harrys and to shoot the Serpicos."
A Search and a Settlement
Surveillance cameras at Stratford High School allowed South Carolina police to watch students suspected of selling drugs back in 2003. With guns drawn, the cops pounced--searching some 140 students with drug-sniffing dogs.
But the police not only failed to turn up drugs or weapons or make any arrests but soon found that the same surveillance cameras recorded their controversial raid, images of which played endlessly on the news. The principal resigned, civil rights groups complained, and lawsuits were filed. A federal judge last week approved a $1.6 million class action settlement of the suits filed by the students' families against the school and the Goose Creek Police Department. Marlon Kimpson, a lawyer whose firm represented many of the students, said the settlement "is notice ... that students don't shed their constitutional rights merely by entering a schoolhouse door." No admission of wrong-doing was included in the settlement, but both the school and the police have revamped their student search policies.
Kinks in This Fall's Texas Ballot
Yes to "Kinky." No to "Grandma." So said Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams in Austin. Now "Grandma" is suing.
The issue is just how independent gubernatorial candidates Richard Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn are to be listed on this fall's ballot. State law allows for nicknames to be used, but not slogans. Friedman, a singer and author, is known as "Kinky" and wanted to be listed that way--which mostly made sense to Williams. The ballot will read Richard "Kinky" Friedman.
Strayhorn, the state comptroller, has previously campaigned using the slogan "One Tough Grandma." She's concerned with name recognition, because her last name is new; she'd won election previously under a different last name, Rylander, and then remarried. So this time around, she wanted to be listed as Carole Keeton "Grandma" Strayhorn. But Williams said "Grandma" was a slogan, not a nickname. So last week, Strayhorn sued Williams in state district court. "I am Grandma," she said. "And that's how people know me."
With Angie C. Marek, Silla Brush, Will Sullivan, Alex Kingsbury and Associated Press
This story appears in the July 24, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
advertisement
