A biography for Bill Dedmanhasn’t been written yet.
“FEMA says that it does not factor in previous losses into its decisions on applications to redraw the flood zones.”
“In Los Angeles, the Police Department buys a 40-foot refrigerated trailer truck every six months just to hold DNA evidence.”
“In Minneapolis, the overhead sky walks protect pedestrians from the winter cold and snow.”
“Many police departments still use DNA evidence the way they have used fingerprints and tire tracks: to determine whether a suspect committed the crime.”
“The Iraq war fueled distrust of the press from both sides.”
“John Glenn's father, known as Herschel, was mostly deaf from injuries in World War I. To help out at home, young Glenn sold rhubarb all over town from the family garden.”
“Ted Williams, an extraordinary hitter in his day, has said the swing starts in the hips, and Sosa arrived with one of the strongest lower bodies in the game.”
“In Chicago, integrated neighborhoods do not stay integrated for long.”
“In Montana, where Sen. William Andrews Clark made his fortune and lost his reputation, people had assumed that all his children were long dead. After all, he was born in 1839 and was of age to serve in the Civil War.”
“More than 30 of America's 100 nuclear power reactors have the same brand of General Electric reactors or containment system used in Fukushima.”
“It's hard to say whether the general incidence of school violence of all types is increasing or not.”
“I'm not a person who has people tell me things in parking garages.”
“Less than a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Qaida attacks were continuing: the firebombing of a synagogue in Tunisia in April, a bomb outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi in June.”
“Because appearing to be fair is part of being fair, most mainstream news organizations discourage marching for causes, displaying political bumper stickers or giving cash to candidates.”
“American nuclear reactors are well into middle age. The median age of an operating reactor in the U.S. is 34 years, placing start-up in midst of the Carter administration.”
“Federal regulations forbid delaying inspections for fracture-critical bridges like the fallen Minneapolis bridge - the kind with a lack of redundancy in design, so that a single failure in a load-bearing part can cause the entire bridge to collapse.”
“State courts usually rule that correspondence between government officials, about government business, are public records, whether they use their government e-mail accounts or private ones.”
“Even with good maps, there's no guarantee that the public will get the word about landslide hazards, or that state and local governments will take action to discourage or prevent building in dangerous areas.”
“The long view of the Census bureau allows some changes that are taken for granted to be studied in more detail. Everyone knows, for example, that people get married later than they used to.”
“After a plane or train crash, the National Transportation Safety Board dispatches its experts within two hours. The investigators in their familiar jackets take charge of the scene, secure evidence, follow leads.”