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UTA disputes its bottom ranking for progress toward new safety system — Lee Davidson | The Salt Lake Tribune

"The Utah Transit Authority's FrontRunner commuter rail is among 14 U.S. railways reporting 'zero percent' progress toward implementing new, required automated safety systems to help prevent crashes.

UTA says, however, that bottom ranking is misleading and results from a federal reporting system that it notes gives no credit for the partial work it has completed. The agency says it 'actually is far along' in implementation.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) released data Wednesday about progress by 41 railways nationally that are required to install 'positive train control' (PTC) systems. The original implementation deadline was last Dec. 31, but Congress extended it to the end of 2018...."

Railroads show little progress on key safety technology — Joan Lowy | Associated Press

" ... Railroads shouldn't wait for the deadline to complete their work on PTC, said Sarah Feinberg, head of the railroad administration.

" 'Every day that passes without PTC, we risk adding another preventable accident to a list that is already too long,' she said in a statement. ..."

Their Hair Fell Out. Should the F.D.A. Have the Power to Act? — Eric Lipton and Rachel Abrams | The New York Times

"When the Los Angeles hairstylist Chaz Dean pitched his almond mint and lavender-scented hair care products — endorsed by celebrities like Brooke Shields and Alyssa Milano — he sold millions. But his formula got an unexpected result: itching, rashes, even hair loss in large clumps, in both adults and children.

"More than 21,000 complaints have been lodged against his Wen Hair Care, and Mr. Dean, the blue-eyed, golden-haired stylist to the stars, has found himself at the center of a fierce debate over the government's power to ensure the safety of a cosmetics industry with about $50 billion in annual sales.

"The Santa Monica, Calif.-based national distributor of Mr. Dean's hair care line is part of a beauty care trade association that has been aggressively lobbying Congress to block the passage of tough new legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to test ingredients used in cosmetics and issue mandatory recalls for products found to be unsafe. ..."

" The former county prosecutor taking over for Pennsylvania's convicted attorney general is a central figure in the Bill Cosby case, having chosen a decade ago not to charge the entertainer with sex assault and then saying the decision was binding when called to the witness stand this year by Cosby's lawyers. ..."

IATA calls for stricter regulation on lithium batteries — Alan Dron | Air Transport World