The $900 million General Motors agreed on Thursday to pay the government for concealing a deadly ignition switch from regulators is a lot of money — nearly one-third of GM’s earnings last year — though hardly an existential threat to the company. Indeed, GM stock was up 11 cents to$31.31 a share on the news. But the

By: Patrick G. Lee, Source. U.S. highway guardrail systems made by Trinity Industries Inc. and Road Systems Inc. have “safety performance issues” in some real-world crash scenarios, the Federal Highway Administration said as it urged a national overhaul of standards to better protect American drivers. The regulator Friday released a report citing “performance limitations” of

By: David Gelles, Hiroko Tabuchi and Matthew Dolansept, Source: The New York Times. Shwetak N. Patel looked over the 2013 Mercedes C300 and saw not a sporty all-wheel-drive sedan, but a bundle of technology. There were the obvious features, like a roadside assistance service that communicates to a satellite. But Dr. Patel, a computer science

Judge rules that Birmingham police violated the constitutional rights of students by using excessive force for minor discipline problems, such as “backtalking” and “challenging authority.” Source: SPLC. A federal judge in Alabama has found that the Birmingham Police Department violated the constitutional rights of students in public schools by using pepper spray to deal with

By: Natasha Geiling, Source: Think Progress. A controversial Wyoming law is under legal fire after a broad coalition of environmental, justice, and animal rights groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday. The law, known as Senate File 12, or the Data Trespass Law, makes it illegal for anyone to collect data on public or

By: Thomas Frank, Source: USA Today. The U.S. government has drastically understated the number of people killed in high-speed police car chases, potentially by thousands of fatalities over several decades, a USA TODAY investigation shows. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationoverlooked at least 101 motor-vehicle deaths in 2013 that were related to a police chase, according to a