WASHINGTON — The House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday rejected a measure to subject amusement park rides to federal monitoring but promised a first-ever hearing on the issue. Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., will soon schedule hearings to address the lack of federal oversight of the nation’s amusement parks, sources said. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., has tried for nearly a decade to restore federal oversight to the parks, which secured an exemption from federal regulations in 1981. An average of four people a year die on amusement rides in the United States.
Illinois: Smoke in cabin of 777
A United Airlines flight from Shanghai, China, was evacuated Friday on an O’Hare International Airport runway minutes after a pilot reported smoke in the cabin just before the plane’s arrival, a United spokeswoman said. One passenger on United Flight 836 was treated at a hospital, a United spokeswoman said. The Boeing 777’s 258 passengers and 15 crew members were evacuated and bused to a terminal, a spokesman for Chicago’s Department of Aviation said.
New Jersey: Flu shots required
New Jersey on Friday became the first state to require flu shots for preschoolers, saying their developing immune systems and likelihood of spreading germs make them as vulnerable to complications as the elderly. The state health commissioner approved the requirement and three other vaccines over the objections of some parent groups. Starting in September, all children attending preschool or licensed day care centers will have to get an annual flu shot, he said.
Colorado: New guns for guards
In Colorado Springs, where a troubled young man brought an assault rifle, two semiautomatic handguns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition to a church, security guards aren’t allowed to carry anything more powerful than a revolver. That could change early next year, when the city will consider a proposal to permit licensed security officers to carry semiautomatic weapons. The city’s existing ordinance dates back to the early 1980s, the city clerk said.
California: Scrolls exhibit popular
An exhibit in San Diego of the Dead Sea Scrolls — a rarity outside the Middle East — has been extended a week to Jan. 6. The San Diego Natural History Museum extended the exhibition, which opened in June, to meet demand. The museum’s director of marketing, said 315,552 people had seen it as of Dec. 13 and 10,400 others have bought advance tickets. “Our normal attendance for the entire year is usually under 300,000,” she said. “So we’ve really outdone ourselves. This is huge.”
France: Iraqi oil output surges
Iraqi oil output has risen in a “dramatic” way in recent months, hitting its highest monthly level in about 3½ years in November, the International Energy Agency said Friday. The Paris-based agency, in its monthly oil market report, cited improving security as it reported that Iraqi production rose to 2.32 million barrels per month in November, a slight increase from October and up from 1.9 million barrels per month in January. The increase in output resulted largely from “more regular” pipeline crude shipments from fields around the northern city of Kirkuk to Ceyhan in Turkey, the IEA said.
Britain: Military drug use rises
The number of British army soldiers testing positive for illegal drugs has increased sharply, according to research published Friday. The Ministry of Defense did not dispute the findings published by the Journal of the Royal United Services Institute, which come as the military is struggling to recruit and retain service members while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Research into the compulsory drugs testing of British service personnel found a rise in positive tests for illegal substances in the British army from 517 cases in 2003, to 795 in 2005, and 769 in 2006. It also found a fourfold increase in the number of soldiers testing positive for cocaine.
Congo: Child soldiers recruited
Rival factions in Congo are forcibly recruiting hundreds of children and sending them to fight on the front lines of an escalating conflict in the east of the country, the United Nations said Friday. Armed groups active in Congo’s North Kivu province, which borders Rwanda and Uganda, “appear to be deliberately targeting schools and other gathering places where children are particularly exposed” to recruit the youngsters for combat, the U.N. said. Under Congo’s constitution, children under the age of 18 are prohibited from serving in the armed forces.
Canada: New rules for Tasers
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Friday that it will restrict its use of Taser stun guns in response to a watchdog agency report that officers were firing them too often. Three people have died recently in Canada after being shocked by Tasers. The police force said it will more clearly define the type of behavior that would prompt an officer to use a Taser, limiting it to situations where “a subject is displaying combative behaviors or is being actively resistant.”
From Herald news services
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