Stephenville has banned text messaging and use of handheld cell phones while driving. The City Council considered a plan to ban all cell phone use by motorists, but rejected it during the April 6 voting. Fines will be up to $200.
El Paso prohibits texting and talking on a cell phone while driving in city limits. The City Council approved the ban on March 9 and it went into effect May 1. Hands-free cell phones OK. Fines up to $500. El Paso already outlawed use of handheld cell phones in school zones.
Galveston has banned text messaging while driving within city limits. Fines up to $500. The City Council voted to outlaw texting for motorists on Jan. 14 and the ban went into effect immediately.
Arlington%u2019s City Council refused to consider a ban on text messaging while driving.
Statistics show that driving while distracted has a higher percentage of fatalities compared to drunken drivers. A Virginia Tech study illustrates the distance required to stop while driving 35 mph and texting on a phone compared to a drunk driver stopping. A drunk driver travels an average of four feet more before stopping and the texting driver travels 25 more feet before stopping. The study also goes on to show that drunk driving increases the likelihood of causing a car crash by four times. A texting driver increases the likelihood of causing a crash by eight times.
Please join me in asking the City of Arlington to PLEASE help me and all of AISD’s bus drivers protect the children of Arlington, help us keep them SAFE by making the use of a hand held device against the law while in city limits.
Tell Arlington, TX to make txting and driving against the law!
In an important speech on foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton only spent a few minutes on U.S. policy toward Sudan (thanks to Travis Atkins, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who posed a question). But what she did say regarding North-South issues – “the situation… is a ticking time bomb” – provoked a torrent of follow-up questions when a State Department spokesperson held his daily briefing with reporters.
The State Department sought to step away from the suggestion that war in Sudan was “inevitable,” but the press secretary continued to convey a sense of urgency. “We are very mindful that if, for some reason, full implementation of the CPA is not forthcoming, or if the referendum is not seen as credible, there certainly is the risk of further conflict,“ he said.
As someone who peruses the press briefing transcript daily, I can say this is the most attention directed at Sudan from D.C. journalists in recent months, and the fact that it led off the press secretary’s updates is also significant.
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The global warming movement is in mourning this week.
Dr. Stephen Schneider, who died suddenly yesterday of a heart attack, devoted his life to the climate cause. If Al Gore is the poster child of the climate campaign, Stephen Schneider was the science, messaging and brains behind the show. This humble genius was a power-broker who changed the world and was doing it well before most others arrived on the scene.
Schneider has long been an inspiration in his ability to inspire other scientists, politicians and average citizens to care about global warming, which was, and still is, no small task. I first met him more than 10 years ago when he spoke at the annual conference of a faith-based global warming groups. What impressed me most was how he commanded the awe and respect of religious leaders of all denominations. He had the unique ability to speak with both scientific authority and with respect and honor for those who took stock in the power of faith. He knew, early on, the climate movement needed their voices and clout. Part of his genius was his ability to bring together people of all stripes.
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