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The most recent set of storms battering the Northeast and Midwest have caused a number of deadly accidents and road closures across the eastern half of the country. Distracted driving already causes about 20% of all accidents in the United States, and it is easier for those crashes to become serious when slippery winter conditions are involved. As of Feb. 16, The Weather Channel’s website attributed six total deaths to the storm pattern, named Neptune. Three people were killed in accidents in Ohio, including one pregnant woman and her unborn child who were caught in a multi-car pileup on the Ohio Turnpike. In Indiana, a seven-year-old child died in another multi-vehicle accident on US-20. Two people, a woman and a nine-year-old girl, were killed in an accident on the New York Thruway. ...

Driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol is one offense that cops don’t take lightly, especially when children are in danger -- and thanks to one Zamboni driver in Fargo, North Dakota, the country is being reminded that drunk driving charges can occur in the most unexpected situations. According to police reports, the Davies High School girls’ hockey team was playing the Williston High School team on Friday, January 30th, at the Fargo South Sports Arena. A spectator watching the game noticed that the Zamboni, a large machine that cleans ice shavings and smooths the surface of the rink during breaks in play, was being driven in an “erratic” manner. The New York Daily News reports that the Zamboni was “weaving on the ice” during a break, and that it crashed into the sideboar...

Starting Monday, February 9th, the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) began offering a digital bus tracking timetable for its public bus lines running in Baltimore and the surrounding suburbs. Although the real-time tracking system is new, public demand for accurate bus arrival information has been building up for quite a while. As the Baltimore Sun explains, “riders have been clamoring for the system for years, complaining that MTA buses often operate outside of posted schedules -- leaving them [the riders] out in the cold and making their commutes unpredictable..” The timetable tracking system, called “My MTA Tracker,” will allow commuters to access updated arrival times for each of the MTA’s buses. The system is not yet available as a mobile app, but it’s accessible via the MTA’s web...

When the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office received its new area rugs featuring pictures of a sheriff's badge, no one in the headquarters noticed anything amiss. The pair of rugs sat innocently on the floor as deputies, office workers, and civilians walked over them. The rugs might have gone on for years as just another part of the backdrop of the Pinellas County Sheriff Department Headquarters, had one deputy failed to look down on January 14th. What he saw changed the fate of the rugs forever. There, in the center of the sheriff badge woven into the rug, were the words "In Dog We Trust." The other rug had been made as ordered, featuring "In God We Trust" instead. As the office received several emails about the typo, they removed the rug from its place on the floor and began investigating...

Carbon monoxide poisoning is apparently to blame for the deaths of two men who were running a generator in an unventilated garage, San Bernardino County Fire Department officials say. The incident occurred Jan. 22 near the California High Desert town of Lucerne Valley. A woman brought a 23-year-old male family member to firefighters at Fire Station 8 at approximately 10 a.m., but he had no pulse and was later pronounced dead at an Apple Valley hospital. A short time later, dispatchers received a call to a house on Laramie Street, and emergency responders found a 28-year-old victim, also male, lying in the garage. The second victim died at the scene. Autopsies to confirm cause of death will be conducted, and the names of the two men have not yet been released. Dangerous Carbon Monoxide ...

When the residents of San Diego take their children to school in the morning, some feel as though they are driving up to a prison. According to U-T San Diego, the San Diego Unified School District has been constructing chain-linked and metal fences around its schools and facilities for months. The impetus behind the construction occurred nearly two years ago immediately following the shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff members were killed. Concerned parents, staff members, and school board lobbied the school district to implement stronger security measures to prevent something like that happening in San Diego. Still, the new security measures are not without its detractors. "I hate the way it looks, like a cage or somet...

It's estimated that during the last few decades, the amount of time kids spend playing outdoors has decreased by as much as 90%. Throughout the winter months, the amount of outdoor play time children have is likely reduced even more, while the time they spend in front of a TV or computer screen goes up. Surprisingly, it can be easier than you might think for you and your family to combat the winter woes. And by encouraging your kids to get outside, they might discover that they love the snow more than they think! So this winter, strap on your snow boots and step out into the cold to enjoy these great family-friendly wintertime activities taking place all across Vermont: Try out Vermont's world-class ice fishing On Saturday, Jan. 31, ice-fishing a-fish-ionados will be able to legally ic...

Urgent care centers are an important resource for many Americans, providing affordable and convenient medical care for a variety of non-life-threatening conditions. However, doctors often remind patients that in the event of a serious injury or illness, they should instead seek help at a hospital emergency room. The importance of this warning was recently illustrated in San Diego, when a patient with a suspected case of the measles mistakenly sought treatment at an urgent care clinic. On Monday, January 19. the Sharp Rees-Stealy Rancho Bernardo Urgent Care clinic tweeted that it was closed due to a suspected case of measles. All other departments at the location remained open. According to a clinic spokesperson, the unidentified patient came into the urgent care center before 10:30, seek...

No longer will residents of Pittsburgh need to keep their eyes and ears out to know when a public snow plow is headed their way. On Jan. 16, Mayor Bill Peduto unveiled an online service that will allow the public to track the locations of snow plows and salt spreaders. “Every year in Pittsburgh you can hear the chants coming from the valleys and the hilltops: Where’s my plow at?” Peduto joked at a news conference, adding that now, residents will know the answer. The mapping system will allow the public to locate snow removal vehicles in real time, as well as view a history for each vehicle. Streets that have already been serviced will be highlighted on the map in green. All 114 of the public works vehicles have been outfitted with GPS devices. Drivers cannot turn the systems off, but tra...

When Spencer Skinner of Seymour, TN needed to find a new place for his family and for the foster dog program he heads, he naturally turned to Craigslist, as many people do these days. He found a four-bedroom home and paid the robust down payment, but a few days after moving in there was a knock on the door. The man standing there was the actual homeowner, not the person Skinner had dealt with via Craigslist. To make matters worse, four other families, who also fell for the scam, were pulling up, expecting to move in. "The homeowner, when he got there, was just as freaked out and stressed out as we were about it," said Skinner. According to a report from the Blount County Sheriff's Office, the con artist was a former tenant. Deputies say that she scammed people out of thousands. But she...