skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

As shutdown deadline nears, Senate Democrats say they won't vote for GOP-led bill; After USDA funding freeze, Colorado farmers brace for tariffs; NM protests against Musk's Tesla dealerships expand to Sandoval County; Local economic partnership helps MT town embrace new work sectors.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Senate Democrats refuse to support GOP budget bill. The EU and Canada respond to steel and aluminum tariffs and some groups work to counter Christian Nationalism, which they call a threat to democracy.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Many fear the Trump administration's effort to raise money fast could include sale of public lands, thousands of farmers wait for payouts frozen by the USDA, and a shortage has rural America's doctors coming out of retirement.

WA Lawmakers Propose "Driving Under the Influence of Electronics" Act

play audio
Play

Wednesday, February 22, 2017   

OLYMPIA, Wash. – State lawmakers want to stop a habit that could be as harmful to Washingtonians as drinking and driving: using a cell phone while driving. Deaths from distracted driving have been on the rise in Washington state. Between 2014 and 2015, deaths rose from 130 to 171.

House Bill 1371, known as the Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act, seeks to curb that by increasing the penalties for drivers caught on their phones.

Larry Shannon, the government affairs director for the Washington State Association for Justice, points to a study that showed drivers distracted by their phones have reaction times equivalent to someone whose blood-alcohol level is two-and-a-half times the legal limit.

"What's different, though, is if you're driving while you're impaired, you're impaired and you should not be behind the wheel," he said. "If you are driving while distracted, all you have to do is put that instrument down and you will regain your senses and your reaction time almost immediately."

The measure has received bipartisan support from lawmakers. It would increase fines for distracted driving and report the offense to courts and insurance companies, potentially leading to increased insurance rates.

Washington state has a law against texting while driving, but it doesn't ban any other uses of phones. Sponsors of the bill call the old law a flip-phone law in the smartphone era. During a public hearing on the bill at the beginning of the month, Shannon notes an unusual coalition of interests came together to support it.

"The insurance industry and the trial lawyers' association coming together to both strongly support this," he added. "Some great testimony from the construction industry about the dangers that distracted driving poses to a lot of their workers out along our roadways and highways in the state."

Shannon also notes a campaign on the website "EndDD.org." Sponsored by the Casey Feldman Foundation, the website is offering scholarships to teenagers who come up with the most creative videos warning about the dangers of distracted driving.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
"In Utah, we've been consistently told that transitioning away from coal would devastate our rural communities, but this report reveals a different reality," said Luis Miranda, Utah-based Campaign Organizer for the Sierra Club. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

The Sierra Club's Utah chapter said electric utility PacifiCorp's long-term plan to embrace renewable energy has changed and is now placing more relia…


Social Issues

play sound

New data show fewer than half of rural Gen Z'ers believe they can find a good job in their community, compared to nearly 70% of their urban peers…

Environment

play sound

As federal funding for climate initiatives faces steep cuts, nonprofits and philanthropic organizations are stepping into the breach, calling out the …


The U.S. solar industry employs more than 263,000 workers, with jobs in installation, manufacturing, and research continuing to grow. (rh2010/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Michigan ranks 26th in the U.S. for total installed solar capacity, while global capacity rose 21% from 2023. However, there are industry concerns …

Social Issues

play sound

Educators are expressing outrage at the mass layoffs of half the U.S. Department of Education workforce. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said …

Social Issues

play sound

Republicans in Washington, D.C. remain focused on greatly reducing federal spending. However, a backlash is mounting in Congressional districts…

Social Issues

play sound

Maryland ranks second in the nation for charging children who have committed crimes as adults. But one expert says a more trauma-informed response in …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021