News

Two men were killed early this morning in a single-car crash when the car they were in went into the woods Jolly Pond Road and Centerville Road.

Troopers on the scene believe the car crashed about 2:30 a.m., but wasn’t discovered until about 5 a.m. because the road isn’t heavily traveled at night, said Sgt. Michelle Cotten, state police spokeswoman.

The names of the two men will be released when troopers notify their relatives.

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In this month alone, twelve people have died in traffic deaths in Hampton Roads.  This unsettling figure has prompted Virginia state police to bring

a special safety initiative here this weekend.

Operation Air, Land and Speed will target area interstates today and tomorrow with troopers stepping up their presence and looking for unsafe, aggressive driving, according to a state police news release.

The goal of the safety initiative is to remind drivers to slow down and buckle their seatbelts, the release says.

The safety initiative has been used around the state with 69,671 tickets written since 2006, the release says.

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Police say charges are pending against the 29-year-old motorcycle driver who slammed into the back of a car early Sunday morning, causing himself life-threatening injuries.

A 1998 Toyota Corolla traveling west on Lavender Lane was making a righthand turn onto Longfellow Avenue when the motorcycle, a 2008 Eagle motor scooter,  crashed into the rear of the car, Gilbert said. The Eagle is considered a motorcycle because it has a 150 cc engine.

Investigators say driver inexperience and alcohol were both a factor in the accident, he said.  Officials said charges of driving under the influence, driving with a revoked operator's license, and failure to wear a motorcycle helmet are pending.

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An environmental testing firm finished collecting water samples Saturday at homes near a golf course constructed with 1.5 million tons of fly ash, a Chesapeake official said.

The company obtained samples from 12 homes on Murray Drive and Whittamore Road, city spokeswoman Lizz Gunnufsen said.

Residents living near the Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville learned Thursday that high levels of arsenic, lead and other contaminants were found in groundwater monitoring wells at the course. Fly ash is a residue left from the burning of coal for electricity.

The testing firm began collecting residential samples Friday to discern whether water serving homes near the golf course has been affected. Results from testing done in April showed no signs of contamination at the homes.

Results from this latest round of water tests are expected in three weeks, Gunnufsen said.

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18-year-old Mark Dixon took a trip to the Newport News City Jail as part of a dramatization. A Newport News police officer escorted Dixon. Sheriff's Deputies took his mug shot, and booked him on two counts of Involuntary Manslaughter. As the teen went through the mock booking, he experienced the real steps suspects face after an alcohol related crash.
 
"When I remove the cuffs, place your hands on the wall," a deputy told Dixon.
 
Dixon's day started at Woodside High School where he, and other student actors played roles in a deadly DUI crash. He told MyFox Hampton Roads that he was in the back of a police cruiser when an officer told him two people were killed in the mock head-on collision he'd caused.
 
"One of the guys they said died, I played football with for 4 years. When you think about all your experiences with that person and you're never going to see them again and it's your fault, it really effects you," Dixon explained.
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Two people are hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after their car slammed into a tree and phone pole early Wednesday.

Investigators say the white Ford Mustang hit a tree and then struck a telephone pole on Shore Drive and First Landing Lane near Fort Story.

Brian Irish, who lives nearby, heard the crash.

"I heard kind of a loud car go by, four or five seconds later, heard a screech and a boom ... hit a telephone pole," he described.

We represent victims of car accidents, auto accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents in Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Newport News, Suffolk, Richmond, the Tidewater and Hampton Roads areas.
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More than two-thirds of young drivers and passengers killed in nighttime car crashes aren't wearing seat belts — deadly proof of what can happen when young people don't heed parents' pleas and authorities' threats to "click it."

Though seat belt use actually is rising slightly nationwide, fatality figures published Monday offered a somber contrast as law enforcement launched its annual pre-Memorial Day drive to persuade Americans to buckle up.

Total belt use rose to 82 percent last year — from 81 percent in 2006 — the government said. Twelve states had rates of 90 percent or better, led by Hawaii and Washington. Only three were below 70 percent: Arkansas, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

But the news was hardly all encouraging.

Sixty-eight percent of drivers and passengers between the ages of 16 and 20 who were killed in car crashes at night in 2006 were unbuckled, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During daytime, 57 percent of the young motorists and passengers who were killed were not wearing seat belts.

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Ford Motor Company and the Society of Automotive Engineers will embark this fall on an international study of a more lifelike prototype abdominal insert for pediatric crash dummies.  

Pediatric crash dummies with the more lifelike abdomen will help in analyzing the risk of serious injury to children during car accidents.  Independent studies show that children ages 4 to 8 are at higher risk for injuries to the spine and abdomen.

“This effort furthers Ford’s commitment to help protect families by focusing on one of the most common collision-related injuries among children,” said Dr. Steve Rouhana, a senior technical leader with Ford’s Passive Safety Research and Advanced Engineering Department.  “It will help us better understand the effects of crash forces on children’s abdomens.”

Ford developed the more lifelike abdomen in conjunction with Dearborn-based STR Systems, a safety technology and research firm; The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Wayne State University in Detroit; the University of Virginia; and Takata Corporation, a global manufacturer of automotive safety systems.

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Although the number of lead poisoning incidents has improved, as recently as 2007 there were still 426 children with elevated blood lead levels reported in Rochester. These children with elevated blood lead levels are at risk for permanent brain damage, learning delays, behavioral problems just to name a few. Ninety percent of the cases reported are in the city of Rochester and are mainly in a handful of neighborhoods.  After all of the research, outreach, education and funding available to repair homes, there  are there still such an outrageous number of children poisoned annually not just in Rochester but nationwide. The CDC states that there are no safe blood lead levels. A  number of studies have demonstrated that even low levels of lead in the blood can cause serious and permanent harm to children. For more information and to read the complete story, please follow this link.  If you have any reason to believe you or your child may have been exposed to lead you should discuss your concerns with your doctor and request a blood test.  If this test indicates that you or your child have been lead poisoned, please feel free to contact Richard Serpe to discuss your situation.

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Personal injury covers many different types of incidents, however, brain injuries are the most critical. Mary Alexander & Associates, the California traumatic brain injury law firm aims to educate the public about the sensitivity of a sudden impact to the head by a physical force. The leading San Francisco personal injury attorneys speech acknowledges that brain trauma directly affects the entire life of a person, his/her way of working and sometimes results in the permanent loss of senses and the injured than is not able to lead a quality life.

A brain injury, which is also referred to as closed head injury, can result from a blow to the head by a windshield, slipping and falling on pavement and taking a hard impact on the head, or through any other accident that could result in physical or mental problems for the injured. Traumatic brain injuries are the most sensitive injuries that a person can endure since the brain floats in cerebrospinal fluid inside the skull.

In Virginia Richard Serpe has two decades of experience working with brain injury victims who havereceived compensation for permanent injuries.
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Dr. William Cornatzer from Bismarck contacted the state Department of Health to express concerns about lead found in ground venison (deer) that had been distributed to food pantries. Tests showed the presence of lead in over half of 95 packages tested by Cornatzer. After the test results were know the meat was discarded from the pantry  storehouses.  The CDC and the Department of Health are requesting volunteers to participate in a study designed to measure the risk of consuming venison harvested with lead bullets. The study will compare the lead levels of people who eat venison with those who don’t.

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In April, Chesapeake city officials released water test results from samples taken at 75 properties near the Battlefield Golf Club. The results indicated that high levels of boron were found in several of the samples.  At the time that boron was used in agricultural operations which were prevalent in that area of the city. Boron is in fly ash and its presence in test results could be a warning of the possible arrival of other contaminants of greater concern into the well water.  For the full article, please see the attached link.  Richard Serpe has represented victims of toxic torts and environmental contamination.  If you live in and around the impacted areas please contact Richard to discuss this situation.

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Virginia Department of Transportation officials said Denton Concrete will begin repairing  some sections of interstates' 264, 64, and 664 in Hampton Roads. All of the work is scheduled to be done at night because lane closures will be required due to the amount of construction equipment that will be parked in and around the projects.  Construction equipment being used will be removed each morning before rush hour. The work will continue through the summer.

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The Environmental Protection Agency planned to check for high lead levels Monday after a deadly tornado blew through a heavily polluted former mining town where lead-filled waste is piled into giant mounds.

In Picher, the devastation was complicated by the town's status as one of the most polluted Superfund sites in the nation. The Oklahoma secretary of the environment, Miles Tolbert, indicated that the EPA did not believe there to be any immediate public health hazard.

For more information, please see the complete story at the link below.

 

 

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York County officials are moving toward installing intersection cameras to nab red-light scofflaws.

This week, the Board of Supervisors agreed to have the county administration advertise for bids from outside firms to conduct a traffic assessment of the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Route 134. It would most likely be the county's first "photo-red" site.

The program, enacted by the General Assembly last year, authorizes the use of photo monitoring equipment that records red-light violations at intersections.

Law enforcement personnel then review the evidence and issue a ticket to the vehicle's owner through the mail.

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in these cases should concern all Americans since it will clarify the freedom of FDA to monitor its own drug-approval process. 

There are a multitude of cases currently pending in the nation's courts that involve drug manufacturers. According to the American Association for Justice, state tort actions provide a necessary check/balance to the FDA drug-safety regulations.  They contend that complete federal preemption of drug-safety claims may leave many victims of drug-approval fraud without any legal recourse.

For additional information, history, case specifics, and potential comsumer impact, you can visit the attached links including http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20080215.htm, http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/4182/1/430

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The Texas Attorney General’s office sided with the Galveston County Health District stating they were not required to release the names of landlords who owned properties that were once occupied by lead poisoned children.

Siting the Texas Open Records Act, The Galveston County Daily News requested from the Galveston County Health District the names of 12 landlords and the addresses of the properties they owned after a report in the Baylor College of Medicine revealed 20 percent of the children poisoned in the last 15 years lived in properties owned by these landlords.

Allan Meesey, the assistant attorney general, released a letter saying that the state agreed with the county whose legal advisers refused to release the landlord names due to prohibition by the state and federal patient confidentiality requirements.

For the complete story, please follow this link:  http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=1e73d73ee8937479

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Name of Product: Children’s Storage Bins

Units: About 84,000

Importer: L G Sourcing, Inc., of North Wilkesboro, N.C.

Manufacturer: Magus Industry Co. Ltd., of Taiwan

Hazard: Surface paint on the storage bins could contain excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The recalled storage bins are wooden with scalloped edges and were sold in pastel green or pink. Item number 226782 (pastel green storage bin) or 226781 (pink storage bin) is located on the bottom of the storage bin. No other storage bins or colors are included in this recall.

Sold at: Lowe’s retail outlets nationwide from March 2007 through February 2008 for about $6.

Manufactured in: Taiwan

Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the recalled storage bins away from children and return them to any Lowe’s store for a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact L G Sourcing toll-free at (866) 493-6563 anytime, or visit www.lowes.com

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The U.S. government has issued new rules designed to protect children from exposure to lead-based paint during repairs and renovations to homes and buildings.

Starting in 2010, construction workers must follow "lead-safe work practice standards" that are designed to reduce potential exposure to dangerous levels of lead while renovating houses, child-care facilities and schools built before 1978, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday.

"We are serious about eliminating childhood lead poisoning," James Gulliford, the EPA's assistant administrator for Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, said during a Monday teleconference. "Exposure to lead-contaminated dust is the most common way children get lead poisoning," he added.

Exposure to lead, especially for children under 6 years of age, can affect the child's developing nervous system and cause developmental and learning problems. Young children are particularly vulnerable, because they are likely to ingest lead by putting paint chips in their mouth.

Under the "Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting Program," which takes effect in April 2010, any work practice that creates lead hazards must be changed to eliminate the risk of exposure to lead dust. The new rule is expected to cost contractors about $35 a job, Gulliford said.

The program covers rental housing and non-rental housing where children under age 6 and pregnant mothers are living. The rule applies to renovations, repair or painting where more than 6 square feet of lead-based paint is disturbed in a room, or where 20 square feet of lead-based paint is disturbed on the exterior.

The rule won't kick in for two years, because the EPA expects it to take that long to develop training programs, train workers and get the states up to speed to implement the new requirements, Gulliford said.

Contractors affected by the rule include builders, painters, plumbers and electricians. According to the rule, the work area must be posted with warning signs to prevent occupants from entering the area. In addition, contractors must prevent dust and debris from spreading, perform a thorough cleanup, and verify that the cleanup was effective.

"Even though lead-based paint was banned in 1978, we're still dealing with it," Gulliford said. "For example, two-thirds of houses and half of the schools and day-care centers built before 1960 have some lead-based paint."

The EPA estimates that almost 38 million U.S. homes still have some lead-based paint.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 2002, there were an estimated 300,000 children with elevated blood lead levels, Gulliford said. "That is a great improvement, but it's not good enough. This new rule is an important step toward halting lead poisoning of our nation's children," he said.

 

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Federal drug regulators believe that a contaminant detected in a crucial blood thinner that has caused 81 deaths was added deliberately, something the Food and Drug Administration has only hinted at previously.

“F.D.A.’s working hypothesis is that this was intentional contamination, but this is not yet proven,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center, told the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in written testimony given Tuesday.

A third of the material in some batches of the thinner heparin were contaminants, “and it does strain one’s credulity to suggest that might have been done accidentally,” Dr. Woodcock said.

Two weeks ago, Food and Drug Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach told a Senate subcommittee that the contamination was done “by virtue of economic fraud,” but he quickly withdrew the remark, saying he had “probably gone too far.”

Dr. Woodcock’s statement on Tuesday was part of growing chorus that has labeled the heparin contamination as perhaps the most brazen poisoning episode since 1982, when seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol that had been laced with cyanide.

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The birth of Susan Anne Catherine Torres _ delivered by a brain-dead mother who was kept on life support to sustain the pregnancy _ made medical history less than three years ago.

Now a malpractice lawsuit filed against one of the mother's doctors is raising legal questions about the degree to which a doctor's obligations and liabilities in treating a pregnant woman also extend to an unborn fetus.

Jason Torres, the father of Susan Anne and husband of Susan Michelle Torres, filed the suit last year in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He is seeking $15 million in damages against emergency-room physician Walter D. Dixon, who treated his wife in 2005 at Inova Alexandria Hospital.

The lawsuit holds Dixon responsible not only for the mother's death, but also the death of the baby, who lived only five weeks after dying of complications from a premature delivery.

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ocal high schools and colleges are taking a closer look at their athletic fields after news that some artificial turf may be tainted with lead.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is warning that artificial turf made from nylon may emit dust that contains lead. Artificial turf can be made from nylon or polyethelyne.

Lead, which can cause severe health problems when ingested, was discovered in dust on two high school fields in New Jersey.

Nationwide, there are more than 3,500 playing fields that use artificial turf.

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A man thrown from the vehicle he was driving went untended for hours after it crashed early Saturday in the rural south end because no one saw the wreck in the darkness, police said.

Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman, said the crash occurred along the 5700 block of Blackwater Road, near Hungarian Road.

Bernstein identified the victim as Joseph Hearn, 26, of the 100 block of West Gibbs Road just across the state line in Currituck County, N.C.

He said crash investigators determined that the vehicle was going about 85 mph when it left the road and flipped two or three times.

Hearn was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected before the vehicle came to rest in a wheat field, about 200 yards from the road.

Alcohol and speed were factors in the crash, Bernstein said.

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Suffolk Police say a five car accident is the cause of a neighborhood grocery store being torn down.  Police officials say 35-year-old Rosalie Hatton of Suffolk was driving an Isuzu Rodeo just before seven last night. 

They say Hatton hit a PT Cruiser which hit a Ford Taurus filled with six kids inside.  Police say the three cars got stuck together and traveled a mile and a half, hitting a parked vehicle before plowing into White's Grocery store on Washington and Division Street. 

No one was seriously hurt in the accident, but the store has been condemned and family members of the owner say the building is going to be torn down by the city. 

To add insult to injury, family members say someone broke into the store last night stealing soda, cigarettes and candy.

Police have charged Hatton with reckless driving.

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Roanoke police said Friday they have fired the officer who wrecked a police cruiser while off duty and drunk.

Earlier this week, Andrew Jefferson Page, 33, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence on Feb. 16, when he veered into a guardrail on Interstate 81 in Pulaski County and totaled his marked police car.

City police -- who immediately following the incident said Page had been suspended without pay -- would only say after his conviction that he was no longer employed by the department. Personnel issues prevented authorities from saying whether Page resigned or was terminated, Capt. Chris Perkins said Tuesday.

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A vast array of pharmaceuticals _ including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones _ have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs _ and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen _ in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

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Worried that an ingredient in plastics is getting swept up in toy-safety regulations driven by fears over lead, the chemical industry is fighting back.

They could be too late.

Washington lawmakers this month overwhelmingly approved the strictest toy-safety rules in the nation, including restrictions on the amount of lead, cadmium and an ingredient in plastics called phthalates. The measure awaits approval by Gov. Chris Gregoire, or automatically becomes law in early April.

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A South Richmond man died at a Lynchburg hospital on Wednesday after a car wreck in Appomattox County, Virginia State Police said.

Richard A. Scroggin, 44, of the 4200 block of Leake Avenue, was driving a van east on U.S. 460 when it overturned after running off the right side of the road, overcorrecting and then running off the left side of the road.

The accident occurred just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday about a half mile west of Route 630. Scroggin, who police said was wearing a seat belt, died later at Lynchburg General Hospital.

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The notorious red-light runners in town get a reprieve.

The photo red program, which will use cameras to catch drivers when they zip through certain red lights, won't be installed until late fall. The city hoped to have the cameras up and running by summer.

The problem: the city has to start all over again to find a company that will oversee the program.
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Police say a Buffalo, New York, couple died after a tractor-trailer struck their passenger van head-on on Interstate 81 in Harrisonburg.

Linda Solorzano, a 48-year-old passenger in the van, died shortly before midnight Tuesday. Police said the driver of the van, her 38-year-old husband, Isaac Santos, died instantaneously. Two people in the tractor-trailer had non-life-threatening injuries.

The couple was traveling from North Carolina to Buffalo when the truck crossed the median into the northbound lanes.
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The Chinese facility that supplies the active ingredient of the widely used blood thinner heparin was never inspected by the Food and Drug Administration because the agency confused its name with another just like it, agency officials said yesterday.

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Eli Lilly & Co. is set to square off next week in the first trial over its schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, defending a civil suit by the state of Alaska that will be closely watched by state and federal prosecutors investigating the drug company.

The trial's outcome -- or even evidence introduced along the way -- could influence fragile settlement talks under way with the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and state attorneys general. An unfavorable verdict for Lilly might also embolden other states to file suit.

Plaintiffs and prosecutors have alleged for years that the Indianapolis drug maker failed to adequately warn that its powerful antipsychotic drug could lead to inordinate weight gain and diabetes. Lilly, which has sold about $35 billion of Zyprexa since its 1996 launch, has set aside $1.2 billion to settle with about 31,000 private claimants. But an additional 1,200 private suits are pending, and the company hasn't been able to strike a deal with public-sector plaintiffs.

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State Police said today that one Newport News man was killed and another was hurt after the car they were in was struck head-on Saturday by a drunken driver in Gloucester County.

Sgt. Michelle Cotten, a State Police spokeswoman, identified the fatality victim as Daniel Martin Klapperich, 29, of the first block of Alpine St.; injured was Jason C. Fox, 27, of the 700 block of Plymouth Circle in Newport News. He was taken to a hospital and his condition was not available this afternoon. 

The other driver, who was wearing a seat belt and was not seriously hurt, is identified as Keith Lewis McGowan, 51, of the 6000 block of Shady Lane in Gloucester. He has been charged with drunken driving.

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While arguing in court that states are free to enact tougher mercury controls from power plants, the Bush administration pressured dozens of states to accept a scheme that would let some plants evade cleaning up their pollution, government documents show.

A week ago, a federal appeals court struck down that industry-friendly approach for mercury reduction. It allowed plants with excessive smokestack emissions to buy pollution rights from other plants that foul the air less.

Internal Environmental Protection Agency documents and e-mails, obtained by the advocacy group Environmental Defense, show attempts over the past two years to blunt state efforts to make their plants drastically reduce mercury pollution instead of trading for credits that would let them continue it.

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Maria didn't mean to poison her children. Quite the opposite. Worried about her daughters' lack of appetite, the young Houston mother was merely following her grandmother's advice when she gave the two girls and a niece a dose of "greta" — a Mexican folk medicine used to treat children's stomach ailments.

What Maria, who asked that her last name not be used, did not know then, but now will never forget, is that the bright orange powder is nearly 90 percent lead.

Fortunately, doctors detected the dangerously high levels of the toxic metal in the little girls' blood during a routine checkup a week later.

But others are not so lucky. Health departments around the country say traditional medicines used by many immigrants from Latin America, India and other parts of Asia are the second most common source of lead poisoning in the U.S. — surpassed only by lead paint — and may account for tens of thousands of such cases among children each year.

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European researchers have demonstrated in the lab a collision warning system for cars that could alert the driver several seconds in advance of an imminent impact. The device could save thousands of lives and usher in the first steps towards the ‘connected car’.

It knows its location, can talk to other cars and can tell the future. Are we entering the era of truly automated cars? The Collision Warning System (CWS) is the brainchild of the Reposit project, and they recently fired up a fully working prototype of their system.

The prototype can find its position using GPS, and find the position, speed and trajectory of neighbouring and oncoming traffic using an emerging car communication protocol called Vehicle2Vehicle (V2V).

It can use that information to calculate the relative position of other cars, and then extrapolate where they will be in a few seconds’ time. If the data predicts a collision, it warns the driver.

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A motorist in Virginia Beach survived a single-vehicle accident early this morning, only to be struck and killed by a skidding vehicle as he called for assistance.

Police spokeswoman Margie Long said the motorist, a 40-year-old male whose identity is being withheld until relatives are notified, was traveling eastbound on Ferrell Parkway around 5 a.m. when he lost control on the icy road and flipped his vehicle over several times near Indian Lakes Road.

Long said the man was able to get out of his vehicle and phone for emergency assistance, but while he was waiting for help to arrive, a commercial vehicle lost control and ran into both the motorist and his wrecked vehicle. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Racing against a proposed state law that would limit paint manufacturers’ liability for lead poisoning in aging neighborhoods, Cincinnati has joined five other Ohio cities in filing suits that seek millions of dollars from the companies to clean up lead paint.

Ohio is the latest front in a battle that pits paint companies against cities and states struggling to overcome problems associated with lead poisoning.

The problems include learning impairment in children, high blood pressure in adults and, at high levels of exposure, seizures, comas and deaths.

Municipal and county governments in California, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey and Texas have also sued major manufacturers seeking what would amount to billions of dollars in damages.

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Last year, Virginia lawmakers took on the drivers using hand-held cell phones as they made their way down the state’s streets and highways. They were not successful in prohibiting adults from using the phones while driving, but they did make it illegal for teenagers under 18 to talk on their phones or send text messages.

The beginning of the 2008 legislative session has seen a new effort to get drivers - all drivers - to keep their fingers on the wheel and off the keyboards of their cell phones and other electronic devices. The General Assembly is considering two bills that would prohibit texting while driving a motor vehicle, bicycle or motorcycle.

Under the proposal submitted by Del. James M. Scott, D-Fairfax, driving while texting (DWT) would be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $250 and court costs.
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With holiday parties and the hustle and bustle of shopping in full swing, four state agencies are partnering in the Highway Safety Challenge encouraging people to take precautions to avoid being Virginia's next traffic fatality. Reaching out to ABC store customers at point of sale, nearly one million bags bearing the safety challenge message are being distributed statewide during the holiday season.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Virginia State Police and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) are partnering with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) on the initiative. The group is working collectively with a host of other concerned and committed highway safety organizations to address some of the most significant risk factors for highway fatalities, which tend to increase during the holidays.

The Highway Safety Challenge bag initiative is launching today at 46 ABC stores in the Metro-Richmond area, and will expand statewide within a week. Printed with the message: "Don't be Virginia's next traffic fatality," the bags feature safety tips such as, "Drive drug and alcohol free; Buckle up and Obey speed limits". Additionally, signs are being placed in each ABC store featuring the traffic safety messages, a partner list and the Highway Safety Challenge Web site.
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A two-vehicle accident on Route 17 sent six Gloucester residents to area hospitals Friday, including three sisters who had to be airlifted to Riverside Regional Medical Center with serious injuries, according to Virginia State Police.

Erin Gedicke, 18, of Gloucester, was trying to make a left turn from T.C. Walker Road on to southbound Route 17 around 1 p.m. when her 2007 Saturn Ion collided with a 2008 Chevy Malibu driven by Joey Allcorn, 28, according to State Police Sgt. Greg Mathias.

He said Gedicke and two younger sisters, whose names were not available because they are minors, were coming from Gloucester High School, which let out early for the Christmas holiday.
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A Rocky Mount, man was killed Saturday in a one-car accident in Franklin County.

State police said Justin Elwood Hodges, 18, lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree. Hodges, who was wearing a seat belt, was traveling south on Route 919, just north of state Route 641 when he crashed at 12:45 p.m. He died at the scene minutes later.
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Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and tested a laser-based ranging system to assess the performance of automobile collision warning systems. Researchers in industry and at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will be able to use the NIST technology to accelerate the development and commercialization of safety systems that alert drivers to multiple, and sometimes virtually simultaneous potential crash hazards--both from forward or side collisions as well as from running off the road.

DOT believes that such warning systems could reduce substantially the number and severity of injuries to motorists and save lives.

Preliminary tests of prototype collision detection systems with the NIST technology have revealed both potential benefits of the systems and areas that need improvement.
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A fast-moving storm that coated roads with ice yesterday morning led to at least five fatalities in weather-related accidents, police say.

Among the fatalities were a man and a woman who were killed when their van skidded on an icy bridge in Hanover County and crashed into a tree.

State Police identified the victims as Michael T. McKay, 48, and Oleta M. Caldwell, both of Ruther Glen in Caroline County.

The Hanover wreck occurred about 8:45 a.m. on U.S. 1, according to Hanover Sheriff's Lt. Kenny Epling. He said the van had just crossed into Hanover from Caroline when McKay lost control of the vehicle on the icy bridge and crashed. Neither was wearing a seat belt, police said.
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Twelve states sued the Bush administration yesterday to force greater disclosure of data on toxic chemicals that companies store, use and release into the environment.

The state officials oppose new federal Environmental Protection Agency rules that allow companies to limit the information they disclose to the public about toxic chemicals, according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the lead attorney general in the civil lawsuit. Virginia was not among the states involved in the litigation.

The EPA this year rolled back a regulation on the Toxics Release Inventory law signed by President Ronald Reagan after the deadly Bhopal toxic chemical catastrophe in India in 1984, according to the states involved in the lawsuit. That law required companies to provide a lengthy, detailed report whenever they store or emit 500 pounds of specific toxins.

The new rule adopted this year requires that lengthy accounting only for companies storing or releasing 5,000 pounds of toxins or more. Companies storing or releasing 500 to 4,999 pounds of toxins would have to file an abbreviated form.
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Five Maryland lawmakers say they want CSX to stop hauling hazardous materials through Baltimore when M&T Bank Stadium is being used.

Senators Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin joined Congressmen Elijah Cummings, John Sarbanes and Dutch Ruppersberger sent the company a letter Thursday.

They say CSX has agreed to additional safety measures because President Bush may attend Saturday's Army-Navy game. But they say CSX should stop all hazardous materials shipments near M&T Bank Stadium or Camden Yards when major events are happening.

They also want the company to share more information in real-time with city officials when hazardous materials are being transported.
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Urging shoppers to be vigilant, federal regulators yesterday highlighted potential toy safety hazards, including the lead-based paint that forced manufacturers to recall millions of toys over the past several months.

Yet consumer groups warned that they found numerous cases where toys that posed a choking hazard or lead danger had improperly made it to store shelves.

"Consumers looking for toys still face an industry full of safety loopholes," said the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
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The house is not the biggest on the block, but Blanca de la Cruz's bungalow is swept and tidy, and she keeps a close watch on her two boys, 9-year-old Saul and 3-year-old Miguel.

So she was puzzled in February when, over the course of only a few days, Miguel began acting oddly: He was clumsy, irritable and high-strung. She took him for a checkup and four days later got a bold-faced letter from the city health department saying Miguel was "probably lead-poisoned."

Decades after the federal government banned lead paint and oil companies began phasing out leaded gasoline, hundreds of thousands of children show signs of lead exposure. Poor and minority kids living in big cities are among the hardest hit, with symptoms that include learning difficulties and behavioral problems.

Pediatricians ring alarm bells when a child's blood tests show lead levels above 10 ug/dL (micrograms per deciliter) of blood. A microgram is a millionth of a gram. A deciliter is one-tenth of a liter.

A blood test put Miguel's blood lead level at 33 ug/dL. A few more points and he would have been hospitalized. A city inspector visited the house, wipe-tested surfaces throughout and found what he expected: The lead was coming from the windows.
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Lead poisoning affects tens of thousands of kids each year in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 538 children in Virginia tested positive for lead poisoning last year. Compared to other states, Virginia ranks 17th when it comes to the highest number of cases.

Greenvale School in Roanoke asked HDH Technical from Christiansburg to test its toys for lead. While plenty of toys tested safe, the company did find dozens with excessive levels of lead. After hours of testing, daycare workers threw out several trash bags full of toys.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today its settlement with a Roanoke landlord for alleged violations of a federal law requiring disclosure of lead-based paint hazards in residential rental properties. In a consent agreement with EPA, Frank Roupas has agreed to pay a $4,000 civil penalty and spend at least $32,000 on abating lead-based paint hazards and replacing windows at Roupas’ properties in Roanoke, VA.  To read the entire article, go to: http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=51354
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LaCourcha Lett, who in sworn testimony said she repeatedly asked the housing project's managers to remove lead paint from her residence, filed suit against the Housing Board in 2005, alleging that high lead levels found in her children's blood came from the paint chips falling off her apartment walls.  To read the entire article from the Mobile Press Register, go to: http://tinyurl.com/2b7noe or http://tinyurl.com/yq5z5q

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commision evaluated 104 test kits with more than half giving false results.  To read the entire article on the CPSC's website, go to:  http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08038.html
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A listing of toys recalled for lead since 2002 provided by the Oregon Lead Poisoning Prevention Program can be found at: http://oregon.gov/DHS/ph/lead/recalls.shtml

The Lead-Safe Wisconsin website has a fairly comprehensive list of products recalled since 2004 which can be found at: http://dhfs.wi.gov/lead/LSources_Products.HTM 

The CDC also has a list of products which can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/Recalls/allhazards.htm

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The institue for Children's Environmental Health has launced a searchable database of resources on environmental health for various audiences. The database can be accessed by going to: http://www.iceh.org/cgi-bin/searchresources.cgi
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The following items were recalled today:

1. RC2 Corp. Recalls Additional Thomas & Friends* Wooden Railway Toys Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07308.html

2. Target Recalls Children’s Toy Gardening Tools and Chairs Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07309.html

3. RC2 Recalls Knights of the Sword Toys Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07310.html

4. Children’s Toy Rakes Sold Exclusively at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores Recalled Due to Violation of Lead in Paint Standard

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07311.html

5. Guidecraft Inc. Recalls Children’s Puppet Theaters Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07312.html

6. Children’s Spinning Wheel-Metal Necklaces Recalled By Rhode Island Novelty Due to Risk of Lead Exposure

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07313.html

7. TOBY N.Y.C. Expands Children’s Metal Jewelry Recall Due to Risk of Lead Exposure

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07314.html

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The Consumer Product Safety Commission is negotiating recalls with several major American retailers who have found lead-tainted children’s toys in their inventories. A Congressional report released Tuesday shows that Target, Limited Too, Dollar General and others have removed contaminated products from their shelves but have not notified the public. Lead contamination forced Mattel and RC2, maker of Thomas & Friends toy trains, to recall millions of items earlier this year.  Eric Lipton, The New York Times  09/19/2007

Read Article: The New York Times

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This Webcast is directed to Hispanic community leaders and will be offered solely in Spanish on October 1, 1:00-2:30 EDT.

In celebration of both Hispanic Heritage Month and Children's Health Month, five Federal Agencies have come together to sponsor the Lead Poisoning Prevention Campaign for Hispanics to spread the word to the Hispanic community about the importance of decreasing children's contact with lead.

This Webcast will urge Hispanic Leaders to raise awareness of this important health issue within their communities. Issues to be addressed include: an overview of the Federal Hispanic Lead Poisoning Prevention campaign; the importance of lead poisoning prevention; the health effects and exposure routes of lead; lead poisoning prevention resources; and case studies concerning lead exposure.

This Webcast will feature presentations by:

* Liany Elba Arroyo, MPH, Director, Institute for Hispanic Health for the National Council of La Raza

* Maria Isabel Herran, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, National Hispanic Medical Association

* Edward Master, RN, USEPA, Region 5

* Ben Gitterman, MD, Co-director, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment, Children's National Medical Center, George Washington University

* Monica Pourrat, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, George Washington University School of Medicine

* Alfonso Rodriguez, PhD, DVM, Chief Epidemiologist, California Office of Binational Border Health, California Department of Health Services

*The Lead Poisoning Prevention Campaign for Hispanics is a collaborative effort between the: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

How to Register:

We invite you to join this interactive event via Microsoft Live Meeting. You will be able to listen in via telephone and view presentations on your computer. Participation is free, but limited.

If you are interested in attending, please send an email to OCHPWebcast@icfi.com with your name and the name of your organization. Once you have registered, a subsequent email will be sent that includes log-in and other important instructions on running Microsoft Live Meeting.

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Lead in the paint on some of the toys Mattel recalled this summer was 180 times the amount allowed by law, and Oriental Trading Co. sold jewelry that was almost 100% lead, documents released Tuesday by a congressional subcommittee show.

A House Energy and Commerce panel will hold two days of hearings on the issue of lead-tainted toys and children's jewelry. It plans to question Nancy Nord, acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and Mattel (MAT) CEO Robert Eckert on Wednesday. [snip]

Mattel, in its first public comments about the specific lead levels in 1.5 million recalled toys, acknowledged that some of the paint on the toys was up to 11% lead, or 110,000 parts per million. Federal law allows just 0.06% lead, or 600 parts per million.

That means the level in some of the Mattel toys was almost twice the amount allowed before lead in house paint was banned 30 years ago, says John Rosen, a pediatrician and head of the lead program at New York City's Children's Hospital at Montefiore. He says a child who played with a toy with up to 11% lead paint for one to six months could get "substantial, severe lead poisoning." [snip]

Oriental Trading Co. said in its response to Rush that a beaded photo charm bracelet recalled in March 2006 contained 96% lead. Religious fish necklaces, recalled in May, were more than 87% lead. Rosen says both could kill a child who swallowed them. Oriental Trading's inexpensive toys and novelties are often bought in bulk by schools and given as party favors.

Tween Brands (TWB) — which owns the Limited Too and Justice stores — said seven of eight clasps on necklaces it recalled in May were more than 35% lead.

Full article at:

www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2007-09-18-lead_N.htm

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The Tour will visit Boston; Chicago; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; Providence; San Diego; San Francisco; St. Louis, Mo.; and Washington DC. Additional cities may be added. Visit http://leadsafety.angieslist.com/ for more details. A press release is at http://leadsafety.angieslist.com/press.htm. The schedule of cities is at http://leadsafety.angieslist.com/calendar.htm.

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Still time to register in advance for the National Mid-Year Conference on Eliminating Childhood Lead Poisoning, Implementing Healthy Homes Programs, and Combating Indoor Environmental Hazards, October 4 -5 at the Holiday Inn City Line in Philadelphia. Go to www.leadmoldconferences for complete program, hotel and registration information. Or, call 800.590.6522.

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The 5th Annual Conference on Children’s Health and the Environment will be held on Sat., Oct., 5, 2007 at the Hyatt Reston in Reston, Virginia. The conference is targeted to health care providers, public health professionals and the interested public and will explore the intersection between the environment and child health issues, including:

- Possible environmental factors influencing autism

- Environmental terrorism and preparedness in school settings

- Environmental changes and their contribution to the obesity epidemic

- Forecasting child health issues due to climate change

- Greening your medical practice and home

- Air pollution and compromised respiratory function

- Case studies in pediatric environmental health

The conference is organized by the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit of Region 3; the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment (MACCHE), a joint effort between the George Washington University Medical Center and the Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC).

It is co-sponsored by Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Region III, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CNMC, Environmental Protection Agency Region III, and George Washington University.

For details, visit the conference website at:

http://www.gwu.edu/~macche/restonconference07/. Telephone: 1-866-MACCHE1 (622-2431). E-Mail: pehsu@gwu.edu <mailto:pehsu@gwu.edu> .

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A groundbreaking public health study has found a connection between damp, moldy homes and depression. The study, led by Brown University epidemiologist Edmond Shenassa, is the largest investigation of an association between mold and mood and is the first such investigation conducted outside the United Kingdom. Shenassa said the findings, published in the American Journal of Public Health, came as a complete surprise. In fact, after a few U.K. studies published in the last decade had suggested a link, Shenassa and his skeptical team set out to debunk the notion that any link existed. “We thought that once we statistically accounted for factors that could clearly contribute to depression – things like employment status and crowding – we would see any link vanish,” said Shenassa, the lead author of the study and an associate professor in the Department of Community Health at Brown. “But the opposite was true. We found a solid association between depression and living in a damp, moldy home.” To read the entire article from Brown University, go to: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2007-08/07-023.html

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A Richmond judge has ruled that a provision included in many residential leases can be the basis of a negligence per se claim by a tenant in a lead poisoning case. Circuit Judge T.J. Markow acknowledged that a landlord owes no common law duty of care to maintain a property when a tenant has exclusive possession of the premises. But in the case of Brooks v. Hunt, the lease contained a clause providing that the landlord and its rental agent "[covenant] that the Property shall comply with the requirements of building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety and applicable to the property." "Under this covenant," Markow ruled, "landlord has assumed responsibilities to the tenant beyond its c