The quiet power of decency

September 03, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Terrorists specialize in shocking acts. That tactic wears off.

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California regulatory judges issued a $1.4 billion penalty on Tuesday against the state's largest utility for a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that engulfed a suburban San Francisco neighborhood in fire, killing eight people and prompting national alerts about aging pipelines. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said the figure reached by two administrative law judges against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. would be the largest safety related penalty it had ever imposed. PG&E can appeal the fine. The next largest CPUC safety related penalty imposed in the recent past was a $38 million penalty against PG&E as a result of a natural gas explosion on December 24, 2008, in Rancho Cordova, Calif., CPUC said in a statement Tuesday.

A court has barred ridesharing service Uber from operating in Germany, the latest shot in the popular app's fight with taxi drivers worldwide. Frankfurt state court spokesman Arne Hasse said Tuesday the decision that Uber can't offer its services without a specific permit under German transport laws applies nationwide. The injunction applies pending a full hearing of a suit brought against Uber by Taxi Deutschland, a German cab association that also offers its own taxi-ordering app. The suit is being heard in Frankfurt because it is one of the several German cities in which Uber operates. San Francisco-based Uber said in a statement it would use "all legal means" to fight the case.

Thirty-two teens escaped from a Nashville youth detention center by crawling through a weak spot in a fence late Monday, and more than half of them were still on the run Tuesday, a spokesman said. The teens – ages 14 to 19 – went out into a yard at Woodland Hills Youth Development Center all at once, shortly after a shift change, Tennessee Department of Children's Services spokesman Rob Johnson said. They escaped through the fence surrounding the yard about 11 p.m., Johnson said, but it wasn't clear whether that was spontaneous or a planned move. Two teens were captured immediately and 13 others were found overnight, Johnson said. Local police and the Tennessee Highway Patrol were searching for the 17 others.

Home Depot may be the latest retailer to suffer a credit card data breach. The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer told The Associated Press Tuesday that it's looking into "unusual activity" and that it's working with both banks and law enforcement. "Protecting our customers' information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are aggressively gathering facts at this point while working to protect customers," said Paula Drake, a spokeswoman at Home Depot, declining to elaborate. She noted that if the retailer confirms that a breach occurred, it will notify customers immediately.

A Delta Air Lines flight from New York to West Palm Beach, Fla., was diverted to Jacksonville because of a dispute between passengers over a reclining seat. Jacksonville station News 4 Jax reports that Delta says the flight was diverted Monday night. Passenger Aaron Klipin told the station a woman sitting next to him got into an argument with a passenger behind her. The woman was trying to recline her seat while the other passenger was trying to sleep on the tray table. Klipin says the woman who was trying to sleep started screaming. A flight attendant came over and the woman who was screaming demanded that the flight be diverted.

US manufacturing grew in August at the strongest pace in more than three years as factories cranked out more goods and new orders rose. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to 59 from 57.1 in July, the ISM said Tuesday. That was the highest reading since March 2011. Any measure above 50 signals that manufacturing is growing. Tuesday's ISM report coincides with other signs that manufacturing is helping drive the US economy's improvement.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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