Report: Long trains mean more danger
OMAHA, Neb. -- As freight trains grow ever longer, the number of derailments related to the forces created when railcars push and pull against each other also increased, so the National Academies of Sciences said Tuesday in a long-awaited report that regulators, Congress and the industry should reexamine the risks associated with them.
The report said there is a clear correlation between the number of derailments related to in-train forces and the long trains that routinely measure more than a mile or two long. So railroads must take special care in the way they assemble long trains, especially those with a mix of different types of cars.
That recommendation echoes a warning the Federal Railroad Administration issued last year.
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WASHINGTON -- Americans spent a bit more at retailers last month, providing a small boost to the economy just seven weeks before Election Day.
Retail sales ticked up 0.1% from July to August, after jumping the most in a year and a half the previous month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Online retailers, sporting goods stores, and home and garden stores all reported higher sales.
The data indicate that consumers are still able and willing to spend more despite the cumulative impact of three years of excess inflation and the higher interest rates intended to combat those rising prices. Average paychecks, particularly for lower-income Americans, have also risen sharply since the pandemic, which allowed many Americans to continue spending even as many necessities became more expensive.
BRIEFLY
UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. General Assembly considered a Palestinian resolution Tuesday demanding that Israel end its "unlawful presence" in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year and calling for sanctions. It will be put to a vote in the 193-member assembly Wednesday.
TYPHOON YAGI: Floods and landslides in Myanmar triggered by last week's Typhoon Yagi and seasonal monsoon rains have claimed at least 226 lives, with 77 people missing, state-run media reported Tuesday.
PIPELINE FIRE: A flame that towered over the southeast Houston suburb of Deer Park, Texas, subsided Tuesday but was still burning after a pipeline exploded when a vehicle drove through a fence and hit an above-ground valve, officials said.
NORTH CAROLINA: Parts of southeastern North Carolina were underwater Tuesday after a storm that wasn't quite organized enough to get a name dropped historic amounts of rain on an area that has suffered floods of a lifetime at least four other times in the past 25 years.
SPACEX FINED: SpaceX faces $633,000 in fines for alleged safety violations during two Florida launches last year. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it proposed the civil penalties because of the company's alleged failure to follow licensing requirements.
STOPGAP VOTE: House Speaker Mike Johnson will move ahead with a temporary spending bill that would prevent a partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. 1. The bill includes a requirement that people registering to vote must provide proof of citizenship.
-- Associated Press
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