"US panel urges a ban on cellphones for all drivers; Safety board defies trend, citing hazards" December 14, 2011|By Joan Lowy, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Board chairman Deborah Hersman acknowledged the recommendation will be unpopular with many people and that complying would involve what has become ingrained behavior for many Americans....
The board said the initial collision in the Missouri accident was caused by the inattention of the pickup driver, who was texting a friend about events of the previous night. The pickup, traveling at 55 miles per hour, hit the back of a tractor truck that had slowed for highway construction. The pickup was rear-ended by a school bus that overrode the smaller vehicle. A second school bus rammed into the back of the first bus.
The pickup driver and a 15-year-old student on one of the buses were killed. Thirty-eight other people were injured. About 50 students, mostly members of a high school band from St. James, Mo., were on the buses heading to the Six Flags St. Louis amusement park....
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Let me check those texts again:
"Few teens are sexting, study says" December 06, 2011|Associated Press
CHICAGO - The new study suggests texting of sexual photos among younger teenagers is rare. The researchers also did a separate study on how police deal with teen sexting of photos. Contrary to some reports, that research suggests few youths are being prosecuted or forced to register as sex offenders for sexting....
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This looks like a good spot for the night:
"Perils of parking: A city on the hook; More than 90,000 cars are towed away in Boston each year. A Globe review finds the hot spots for losing your wheels" by Andrew Ryan and Matt Carroll | Globe Staff, December 04, 2011
To Lydia and Daniel Wee, heading into Allston for dinner one evening last spring, it looked like a dream come true in a city where it can be hell to park - an almost empty lot close to the restaurant, fronting a nearly deserted strip mall.
Signs warned that parking is for customers only, but there were so many empty spaces. Dinner would only last an hour. And this is Boston, where, when it comes to driving, rules can seem proudly optional.
Wrong move. The Allston strip mall lot has become Boston’s black hole for illegally parked cars - and a cash machine for one local towing company.
“The men then stepped into their truck and began driving off with my wife still halfway in the car and the door still wide [open]!’’ Daniel Wee, 31, wrote in a complaint to the state.
The Wees unwittingly picked perhaps the worst place to park in a city where street spots are painfully limited and snagging one in a private lot sometimes seems like the only solution. It is an inherently risky move - trespassing in fact - but also a risk that varies enormously from lot to lot, a Globe review of city towing records shows....
On a Saturday night in August, Globe reporters observed Robert’s tow trucks on patrol, two at a time, in the strip mall parking lot. The trucks drove beside a building, turned off their headlights, and lay in wait for unsuspecting drivers....
Ah, the intrepid Boston Globe investigative team again!
For Robert’s, the most lucrative work is a mile from its impound yard at the privately owned strip mall in Allston.
The property is owned by a limited liability company whose principals include two prominent developers, according to records at the registry of deeds and the secretary of state.
One of the owners is John L. Hall II, president of Suffolk Downs race track. Another is Richard L. Friedman, whose company transformed the former Charles Street Jail into the luxury Liberty Hotel. Friedman regularly hosted President Clinton and his family at his estate on Martha’s Vineyard in the 1990s.
Neither Hall nor Friedman returned phone messages about the staggering number of vehicles towed from their property....
Some states have taken significant steps to protect consumers from so-called “patrol towing.’’ The practice allows tow trucks to act as bounty hunters, contracting with parking lot owners to seize cars at will....
Across Massachusetts, the state sets maximum fees: $90 per tow, plus a $35-a-day storage fee, a $3-per-mile round-trip charge for all tows over 5 miles, and a fuel surcharge that can add $5 to $6. That means a basic tow will cost roughly $130. The law requires itemized receipts that break down the charges, something that tow companies including Robert’s don’t always do.
Enforcement falls to the DPU.
“We have very, very limited authority,’’ said Ann G. Berwick, chairwoman of the state agency. “Our authority has only to do with fees - that’s it.’’
Complaint records on file with the DPU show that the agency rarely challenges those fees and ignores some of the few regulations it has the authority to enforce. Since the Globe began its towing inquiry, the department said it has begun to make changes to step up enforcement....
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Don't forget to plug the meter, readers.
