| | Have you signed up for TTLA by Text? | | A new opt-in member service to get up-to-the minute legislative news to you via text messaging to your cell phone. Texts will be limited to legislative issues. We'll let you know when important hearings or testimony are beginning, what's happening with bills of interest, and we'll provide links to video clips of relevant hearing testimony. Click on the headline to opt-in. If you have questions regarding the service, contact Mona Fults (mfults@ttla.com). | | Oil Rig and Construction Accident CLE, April 16-17 in San Antonio | | New and exciting this year, TTLA's Oil Rig and Construction Accident Seminar is the first course of its kind specifically designed to provide a comprehensive overview into all things oil rig and construction accident related. Construction is back on the rise and Texas leads the nation in oil rig accidents. Click on the headline to learn more and register. | | Texas Tribune Daily Brief
| | | | Labor Dept: Oil Workers in W Texas and NM Were Underpaid Millions | |  | | Federal labor officials say oil and natural gas workers in New Mexico and West Texas have been underpaid by more than $1.3 million. The U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division made the announcement Monday. The findings stem from an enforcement initiative launched by the division last year. Officials say overtime violations led to the underpayment to some 1,300 workers.
Associated Press, Houston Chronicle 03/31/2015    | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | | Big Rigs Going Faster Than Tires Can Handle | | | | Many tractor-trailers on the nation’s roads are driven faster than the 75 mph their tires are designed to handle, a practice that has been linked to wrecks and blowouts but has largely escaped the attention of highway officials. Safety advocates and tire experts say that habitually driving faster than a tire’s rated speed can generate excessive heat that damages the rubber, with potentially catastrophic results.
TOM KRISHER, AP, The Dallas Morning News 03/31/2015 | | Read Article: The Dallas Morning News | | Olympus Scopes May Have Infected More Patients | | | | More patients across the country may have been infected by medical scopes manufactured by Olympus Corp. than previously thought, health officials warned Monday. Olympus' scopes are at the center of a string of recent endoscope-related superbug outbreaks that include Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Cedars Sinai Medical Center, as well as an earlier case at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. "We suspect endoscope-associated transmission of bacteria is more common than recognized and not adequately prevented by current reprocessing guidelines," said Kristen Wendorf, a doctor at King County's public health department in Seattle and lead author of a new report on the city's 10-month outbreak that ended in August 2013.
MELODY PETERSEN, LA Times 03/31/2015 | | Read Article: LA Times | | Family Files Suit Over Clemson Student's Fraternity Death | | | | The family of a student from Clemson University who died during a fraternity pledge run has filed lawsuits over the boy's death seeking $25 million in damages. According to the lawsuit, the boy was killed when he went over a bridge and fell headfirst into shallow water during an early morning run with fraternity members and pledges. The lawsuits allege that one of the fraternity members confronted the young man and soon after he went over the railing. The lawsuits name Clemson University, Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity and three individual fraternity members as defendants. The lawsuits are being filed as wrongful death and survival action.
John Monk, The State 03/30/2015 | | Read Article: The State | | Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Deadly FedEx Truck Collision | | | | A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by a family member of a woman and her son who were killed in a head-on collision with a FedEx truck. The accident took place on Interstate 80 in Wyoming when a tire on the FedEx tractor-trailer blew out, sending the vehicle into oncoming traffic. The lawsuit was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming and alleges that a tire on the FedEx truck "was in a defective, dangerous condition" before the accident. The lawsuit names Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations and its subsidiaries, FedEx Ground Package Systems and a company called CLR Transportation as defendants.
Staff Report, Wyoming Tribune Eagle 03/31/2015 | | Read Article: Wyoming Tribune Eagle | | |
