Declarations

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Culture of Indifference

“The federal government’s culture of indifference to worker safety at Hanford must end.”

—Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson asked a federal court to order the U.S. Department of Energy to implement enhanced safety and vapor monitoring measures in the aftermath of more than 50 workers exposed to toxic vapors at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Moving Forward

“The family is really focused on just moving forward and healing.”

—Sara Brady, spokeswoman for the Graves family, whose son, Lane, was killed by an alligator at a Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., in June. The family announced in July that it would not sue the resort over the death of their son. Brady didn’t say if a settlement had been reached with Disney World.

A Terrible Situation

“The fact is we comply with all local codes, and we exceeded the local codes in this jurisdiction. … This was an (EF5) tornado, and we’re confident the construction of the building would not have helped in that terrible situation.”

—Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Home Depot, comments after a federal judge threw out Edie Howard Housel’s wrongful-death lawsuit against the company over the deaths of her husband and two children who sought refuge inside the big-box store destroyed during the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo. U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool ruled Housel did not sufficiently prove any design failures of the 11-year-old store were to blame.

Some Better than None

“Given the scope of this crisis, some action is better than none. … However, I am deeply disappointed that Republicans failed to provide any real resources for those seeking addiction treatment to get the care that they need.”

—President Barak Obama, upon signing into law a bill to curb abuse of heroin and opioid drugs. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 authorizes $181 million in new spending; Obama had asked Congress for more than $1 billion. More than 47,000 U.S. drug abuse deaths were recorded in 2014, double the number in 2000.

Topics USA

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