Mine regulators plan higher fines
Federal mining regulators, in the wake of criticism that the penalties they impose on the industry are too low, announced plans Thursday to levy higher fines as a way to curb safety violations.
The “current penalty structure is 25 years old and needs updating to strengthen incentives for compliance,” said David Dye, acting administrator of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, in a statement.
Federal mine safety officials have been under fire in the wake of the deadly Sago Mine accident in West Virginia. Twenty-two people have died this year in U.S. mines, the agency Web site noted Thursday.
A Knight Ridder analysis published in January found that the number of major fines over $10,000 has dropped by nearly 10 percent since 2001 and the dollar amount of penalties, when adjusted for inflation, has plummeted 43 percent to a median of $27,584.
MSHA officials said they’ll begin the rulemaking process to revise the penalty structure, including increasing penalties. No details were available Thursday evening on when that would be completed.
Pensacola, Fla.
Teacher accused of accepting bribes
A middle school gym teacher let children sit out his class if they paid him $1 a day, collecting perhaps thousands of dollars, officials said Thursday.
Terence Braxton, 28, turned himself in on bribery charges and was released without bail.
Authorities said Braxton took the payoffs between September and December, resigning after the principal learned of the alleged scheme from a parent.
The charges accuse him of taking about $230 from six students, but sheriff’s spokesman Mike Ward said the teacher’s take was probably much greater.
Framingham, Mass.
Man denies killing wife and daughter
Neil Entwistle pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder charges and was jailed without bail in the killings of his wife and baby daughter, who were found shot to death in bed at the couple’s suburban Boston home.
Entwistle, 27, was ordered held without bail pending a hearing March 15.
He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife, Rachel, 27, and their 9-month-old, daughter Lillian, killed in their home in Hopkinton on Jan. 20. Entwistle flew to his native England a day after the shootings, was arrested there last week, and was flown back to Boston on Wednesday.
New Orleans
New Orleans center reopening
The convention center that became a squalid evacuation shelter in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina reopens today – the day before the city’s first major Mardi Gras parades roll – in an encouraging sign for New Orleans’ tourism industry.
The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center will host a four-day gift and jewelry show that has been held in New Orleans for 54 years. It is expected to draw 500 exhibitors and about 15,000 buyers.