1. GM recall: Many victims were young drivers
DETROIT (AP) — As the deaths are tallied from General Motors’ delayed recall of compact cars, one thing is becoming clear — of those killed, the majority were young.
In a way, this isn’t surprising. Low-priced cars like the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion were marketed to young, first-time buyers and parents shopping for their kids.
But price may not be the only reason for the disproportionate number of youthful deaths.
The faulty ignition switches behind the recall can shut off the engine while the car is in motion. When that happens, power-assisted steering and power brakes are lost, and the air bags won’t inflate in a crash.
In such a situation, inexperienced drivers are more likely to panic and be overwhelmed by the extra effort needed to control the car, safety experts say.
GM has linked 13 deaths to the problem. Others have a higher total, with the majority of victims under age 25. Many also were women, who safety experts say are less likely to have the upper body strength to wrestle a stalled car safely to the side of the road.
“With an entry-level car where you have a newly licensed driver, the freak-out will win the day,” said Robert Hilliard, a Texas personal injury lawyer who is suing GM in several cases. “All that those young drivers are going to do is respond to the panic.”
GM has admitted knowing for at least a decade that the switches were defective. However, it didn’t start recalling 2.6 million Cobalts, Ions and other small cars worldwide until February. CEO Mary Barra said GM’s safety processes were lacking, and she has brought in an outside attorney to review them.
2. Deadline dash: Glitches slow health care sign-ups
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a flood of last-minute sign-ups, hundreds of thousands of Americans rushed to apply for health insurance Monday. But deadline day for President Barack Obama’s overhaul brought long, frustrating waits and a new onslaught of website ills.
“This is like trying to find a parking spot at Wal-Mart on Dec. 23,” said Jason Stevenson while working with a Utah nonprofit group helping people enroll.
At times, more than 125,000 people were simultaneously using HealthCare.gov, straining it beyond its capacity. For long stretches Monday, applicants were shuttled to a virtual waiting room where they could leave an email address and be contacted later.
Officials said the site had not crashed but was experiencing very heavy volume. The website, which was receiving 1.5 million visitors a day last week, had recorded about 1.6 million through 2 p.m.
Supporters of the health care law fanned out across the country in a final dash to sign up uninsured Americans. People not signed up for health insurance by the deadline, either through their jobs or on their own, were subject to being fined by the IRS, and that threat was helping drive the final dash.
The administration announced last week that people still in line by midnight would get extra time to enroll.
The website stumbled early in the day — out of service for nearly four hours as technicians patched a software bug. Another hiccup in early afternoon temporarily kept new applicants from signing up, and then things slowed further. Overwhelmed by computer problems when launched last fall, the system has been working much better in recent months, but independent testers say it still runs slowly.
3. Police chief: Officer shoving woman is concerning
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Tucson’s police chief said Monday that he’s concerned an officer shoved a woman during a melee that broke out after the University of Arizona basketball team lost in the NCAA tournament, but that it’s too soon to judge why it happened.
The unidentified woman has filed a complaint, which is being investigated by internal affairs, Chief Roberto Villasenor said, adding “that kind of force being used” is worrisome.
The incident occurred after the game Saturday night as fans took to the streets and hurled beer bottles and firecrackers at officers, who responded with pepper spray to disperse the crowd. Police said 15 people were arrested, many of whom were university students.
A bystander’s cellphone video shows an officer apparently shoving a woman passing by onto a bench. But Villasenor said police will examine police lapel video and conduct interviews with the officer, the woman and possibly other people to learn more, including what happened prior to the pushing.
Though the cellphone video’s view is partially obscured by a man standing in front of the camera, “I think without a doubt you can see an officer shoved the young lady,” Villasenor said during a telephone interview. “There’s no question the young lady was shoved.”
But “it is premature to make any kind of judgment” before getting the officer’s explanation and other information that will be part of the review, which could take up to a week, he said.
4. More mudslide victims found as state seeks new aid
DARRINGTON, Wash. (AP) — Estimated financial losses from the deadly Washington mudslide that has killed at least 24 people have reached $10 million, Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday in a letter asking the federal government for a major disaster declaration.
In seeking additional federal help following one of the deadliest landslides in U.S. history, Inslee said about 30 families need assistance with housing and personal goods. The estimated losses include nearly $7 million in structures and more than $3 million in their contents, Inslee’s letter said.
The Snohomish County medical examiner’s office said Monday afternoon that it has received a total of 24 victims, 17 being positively identified. Previously, the official death toll was 21, with 15 victims identified.
Authorities have said more than two dozen people remain missing following the March 22 slide that destroyed a rural mountainside community northeast of Seattle.
Inslee is also seeking federal help with funeral expenses for up to 48 people, and mental health care programs for survivors, volunteers, community members and first responders.
Monday’s request asks for access to disaster housing, disaster grants, disaster-related unemployment insurance, and crisis counseling programs for those in Snohomish County and for the Stillaguamish, Sauk-Suiattle and Tulalip American Indian tribes.
5. Ocean garbage frustrates search for Flight 370
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Sometimes, the object spotted in the water is a snarled fishing line, or a buoy, or something that might once have been the lid to an ice box. Not once — not yet at least — has it been a clue.
Anticipation has repeatedly turned into frustration in the search for signs of Flight 370 as objects spotted from planes in a new search area west of Australia have turned out to be garbage. It’s a time-wasting distraction for air and sea crews searching for debris from the Malaysia Airlines flight that vanished March 8.
It also points to wider problems in the world’s oceans.
“The ocean is like a plastic soup, bulked up with the croutons of these larger items,” said Los Angeles captain Charles Moore, an environmental advocate credited with bringing attention to an ocean gyre between Hawaii and California known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which by some accounts is about the size of Texas.
The world’s oceans have four more of these flotsam-collecting vortexes, Moore said, and the searchers, in an area about 1,150 miles west of Perth, have stumbled onto the eastern edge of a gyre in the Indian Ocean.
“It’s like a toilet bowl that swirls but doesn’t flush,” said Moore.
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