While You Were Sleeping

The Gist of What You Might Have Missed

by Brian K. Mahoney, September 25, 2009

On August 17, police in Lancaster, Ohio, responded to a report of a man darting in and out of traffic and yelling threats out a K-Mart. When police arrived on the scene, they saw 31-year-old Daniel Wood (pictured above), a homeless man with a criminal record, inhaling gas from an aerosol can. In an attempt to subdue Wood, who bit one of the arresting officers, another officer zapped Wood with a Taser. Wood immediately burst into flames that covered the upper half of his body, due to the flammable gas he had been inhaling. The officers put Woods out and then took him into custody, with second-degree burns.
Source: Columbus Dispatch

From 2006 to 2008, carriers of hazardous materials failed to report 1,199 serious incidents, such as spills that cause evacuations and road closures. The Department of Transportation, the agency that oversees hazmat transportation, has sanctioned just seven carries since 2006 for hazmat spills; four were fined $2,750 each. Nearly half of all hazardous material spills were not reported to the government, as carriers are required to do by law.
Source: USA Today

In early September, drug giant Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle civil and criminal allegations that it had falsely marketed Bextra, a painkiller that has been withdrawn from the market, for non FDA-approved uses, and encouraged its sales force to do so. It was Pfizer’s fourth settlement over illegal marketing since 2002. The $2.3 billion fine amounts to less than three weeks of sales for Pfizer. In January, Eli Lilly agreed to pay $1.4 billion over its marketing of Zyprexa, an antipsychotic.
Source: New York Times

Consumer debt dropped $21.6 billion in July, a the largest drop since the Federal Reserve started tracking the data in 1943. The sixth straight month of declining consumer debt, the longest streak since 1991, doesn’t bode well for the economy, according to analysts. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the nation’s economic activity.
Source: Los Angeles Times