Texas schools often used bus firm linked to fatal crash

According to a report by Matt Stiles and Chase Davis of the Houston Chronicle, "Angel Tours, the charter bus company tied to a deadly North Texas crash this month, also shuttled children and students on dozens of trips since 2006, mostly for extracurricular events paid by local schools and universities."  Records show the Houston Independent School District has paid $112,000 to Angel Tours, and the Pasadena Independent School District (PISD) has paid $23,000 for charters since October of 2006.  PISD had recently designated Angel Tours as a recommended vendor for the district.

Through a FOIA request, The Center for Public Integrity obtained the Environmental Protection Agency's internal pesticide incident database, called one of the "Ten Most Wanted Government Documents" by a watchdog group. Their analysis of the more than 90,000 "adverse-reaction" reports filed by manufacturers to the EPA found that the supposedly "safe" pesticide compounds now in thousands of consumer products -- pyrethrins and pyrethroids -- lead the list of poisonings, and that the reports on these compounds have jumped 300 percent in the past decade.

The recalibration of airbags in some 2005 Chrysler minivans meant to prevent potentially dangerous late deployments may be responsible for some fatalities when airbags fail to deploy, reports Mike Casey of The Kansas City Star. The family of the late Brooke Katz is suing the automaker because the airbag in her 2005 Dodge Caravan failed to deploy in a front-end crash. Both she and her unborn child were killed in the accident.

Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed how a chemical flame retardant that was taken out of children’s pajamas 30 years ago has found its way back as a popular flame retardant used in sofa cushions, baby carriers and bassinet mattresses. As part of their ongoing Chemical Fallout series, the reporters also found that an EPA program created to protect the public from chemical risks has listed on its Web site only studies paid for by chemical makers. All 15 of those studies claim the flame retardant known as chlorinated Tris is safe.