Public Safety
Covering topics such as corrections, criminal justice, emergency management, gun control and police/fire/EMS.
James Hochman has resumed prosecuting even low-level crimes, but the number of felony charges hasn’t increased compared with his reform-minded predecessor’s count.
Chases have cost the lives of thousands (half of them innocent bystanders), but sometimes they’re the only way to apprehend violent criminals. Police agencies need nuanced policies to guide their officers.
Human error on Jan. 3 resulted in the loss of thousands of files from 77 computer system servers for the Pennsylvania State Police and State Employees’ Retirement System. Some of the data has yet to be recovered.
The state ranked first nationally in 2022 with 458 hailstorms. Losses are most severe in Dallas County, which has $102 million in expected losses every year due to storm damage.
When the power went out on Saturday, Portland General Electric said the outages would be fixed within 24 to 48 hours. But as of Tuesday afternoon, 31,052 customers were still without power, forcing many to find warm shelter elsewhere.
The most expensive weather and climate disaster in 2023 was a drought and heat wave across the South and Midwest that cost $14.5 billion. But weather conditions that don’t cost billions, like extreme cold, still have major community impacts.
Artificial intelligence platforms have flaws with serious class, gender and race implications. Public officials need to pay more attention to those biases and do what they can to prevent harm.
“Severe repetitive loss properties” are homes that have flooded twice, with damage totaling the property, or flooded four times with at least $5,000 in damages each time. But residents aren’t allowed to know where those properties are exactly.
Is crime out of control? The homicide rate went down 12 percent last year. Still, there’s more than one kind of crime, more than one data set and more than one way to spin things.
So far, seven states have passed laws approving the use of Medicaid funds to pay for community-based programs intended to stop shootings. But unlocking the funds is complicated and it's unclear how much money will actually be diverted.
The polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of chemicals that help make firefighting gear so protective. But they also produce an increased risk of exposure to carcinogens.
The Legislature granted solicitors and public defenders the most funding ever last year to hire additional staff, while the state Supreme Court, for the first time, issued a concise order on how to manage the criminal court docket.
Across the nation, state transportation agencies are warning that public safety is at risk if lawmakers don’t overhaul how road maintenance gets funded. Some states are proposing new taxes and fees.
Alcohol killed 1,547 residents last year, not much fewer than the 1,799 who died from drug overdoses. While the state increased penalties for fentanyl possessions, voters expanded access to alcohol in grocery stores.
While home insurance rates and utility prices have increased across the country, Texas has been hit especially hard since its historical winter storm three years ago. Experts expect increases to continue.
State Rep. Dan Frankel has proposed a measure that would revoke the concealed carry permits of anyone who is caught with a firearm at a TSA checkpoint. State TSA agents seized 44 guns this year, nine more than the previous record year.
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