Declarations

Failure to Gauge

“This is not a situation in which the Corps recognized a risk and chose not to mitigate it out of concern for some other public policy (e.g., navigation or commerce); it flatly failed to gauge the risk.”

—Judge Jerry Smith, writing for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected the federal government’s argument that it is entitled to immunity from lawsuits blaming Hurricane Katrina flood damage on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ operation and maintenance of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a New Orleans navigation channel. The court upheld a previous judgment that found the Corps liable for shoddy work on the MRGO.

Burned Out Hang-Out

“The suspects had been using the boarded-up building as a hang-out. … When San Angelo firefighters were called to the hotel, they found multiple small fires had been set all through the structure.”

—San Angelo, Texas, Fire Marshal Ross Coleman. Four San Angelo juveniles suspected of setting fire to an abandoned San Angelo hotel were arrested after a call to the state’s arson hotline. San Angelo fire investigators placed two suspects in custody; two others face arrests by the juvenile probation department. The suspects, three boys and one girl, are linked to the Dec. 21, 2012, fire at the old Quality Inn Hotel located along the Concho River.

Closing a Loophole

“It just makes sense to have an insurance policy that provides protection for the daycare operator, the children at the facility and their families.”

—State Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, comments on House Bill 1848, which eliminates an exemption that allowed home-based daycare facilities to operate without liability insurance. Under the legislation, if a daycare center cannot obtain insurance, the Department of Human Services would be able to provide an alternative certification for the facility that would alert parents that it does not have coverage. Shelton noted that such insurance can be purchased for as low as $4.50 per child per year.