Wreckers Want Time to Pull Used Car Parts

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to extend the time wrecking yards have to crush vehicles traded in under the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) program. Wreckers would have 270 days from receipt of a vehicle, to crush or shred it, instead of 180 days, under the proposed rule.
     The NHTSA estimated that it would take approimately 180 days for wrecking yards to demolish the 250,000 vehicles expected to be traded-in for more efficient ones. But, since the Government made available $3 million, instead of $1 million, for the program, wreckers have 700,000 vehicles to destroy.
     A representative of the wrecking yards had asked for additional time to process the vehicles, because the wreckers need the time they would spend destroying the vehicles to effectively inventory and sell the useable parts, which is also a part of their business.
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Wild Game May Be Processed for the Hungry

     WASHINGTON (CN) - State plans for emergency food assistance will be made permanent and the Emergency Food Assistance Program administrative funds may be used to process donated wild game, according to changes to United States Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service rules.
     The state plans will be made permanent to reduce the administrative burden on states, which, otherwise, would have to renew plans every four years. Allowing the administrative funds to go toward processing wild game is to increase the amount and variety of protein available to program participants.
     These changes, which go into effect March 1, are required by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.
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Rules Planned to Keep RR Workers From Being Hit

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Federal Railroad Administration plans to amend railroad maintenance worker safety rules to reduce the risk of a worker's being hit by a train on a nearby track.
     The agency has studied the nine railroad worker fatalities that have occurred since its 1997 worker safety rules went into effect. It found that most of these incidents occur within 14 feet of the track on which the work is being performed, when one worker is on the ground, when a worker might be distracted by work that involves noise or smoke, and when a single worker is meant to be in control of movement on nearby tracks as well as the one on which the work is being done.
     The agency's proposed rules would adopt certain safety standards for maintenance teams that have controlled tracks within 19 feet of the track they are working on. The agency also proposes to require that railroads, contractors to railroads, and roadway workers comply with these procedures.
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