In 2006, Colorado passed a law requiring hospitals to publicly reveal their infection rates, it was with the expressed purpose to improve surgical hygiene. Consumers have demanded more transparency in health care in part because of stories about a drug-resistant "superbug" -- MRSA, the staph germ found in hospitals across the country. Since 2004, 20 states have passed laws requiring hospitals to report infection data.
Gov. Bill Ritter signed a bill last week which will help make Colorado roads safer for cyclists. The measure, Senate Bill 148, requires that drivers give cyclists at least 3 feet of space when passing or risk a $110 ticket. Anyone who throws an object at a cyclist could be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor, which carries a fine of between $250 and $1,000, and a possible sentence of three to 12 months in jail. The bill was sponsored by a bipartisan pair of avid cyclists -- Republican Sen. Greg Brophy of Wray and Democratic Rep. Michael Merrifield of Manitou Springs. The new law takes effect Aug
It's a mother's worst nightmare - a tragic accident befalls your child. Every year, about 50,000 children go to U.S. hospital emergency rooms because of injuries on home playground equipment. About 80% of the injuries occur when children fall from play equipment. Children are also injured when they are hit by swings or other moving equipment or are cut from sharp edges and protruding bolts on play structures.
And each year several children die on home playgrounds, primarily as a result of entanglement or strangulation from ropes, cords, or leashes attached to play equipment, or when clothing drawstrings and items worn around children's necks catch on the equipment. Others die when their heads or necks are trapped in narrow spaces, they fall from the equipment, or when they are struck by play equipment that moves or tips over.
Safer driving on Colorado roadways was the goal of two proposed bills which have been derailed in the state legislature.
A bill that would have required all drivers in Colorado to use hands-free devices to talk on their cellphones while driving got a major pruning in the state Senate when it gutted the ban on hand-held cellphone conversations for adult drivers. Instead, after the amendment, the bill merely bans text-messaging while driving, across all age groups. Drivers under 18 years old still would be barred from talking at all on cellphones while driving.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for the third time has recalled cribs made by Jardine Enterprises because of slats that break -- this time adding 96,000 cribs to the tally of those that could trap or strangle a baby. The move brings the total number of recalled Jardine cribs, sold largely at Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores, to almost half-million. Jardine first recalled some of its cribs in June 2008, and then expanded the recall in January of this year. The cribs in all three recalls were made in China and Vietnam.
