www.usatoday.com THE NATION’S NEWSPAPER $1.00 FINAL. SCORES mWhy ‘Idol’ ails — and what to do, 1, 7D ‘I’m not a Goodbye, complainer’ mMagic’s Dwight ‘Georgy Howard works on keeping his cool after Girl’ playoff outbursts, 1C mLynn Redgrave mSuns take 1- 0 lead dies at 67 after long battle with breast By Nell Redmond, AP vs. Spurs; Celtics rout 1999 photo by Bob Riha Jr., USA TODAY Cavs to tie series, 6C cancer, 3D Howard: Fined for blog remarks. NO. 1INTHE USA Redgrave: Part of noted acting family. Tuesday, May4, 2010 c mPrivate lenders, left out College loans: of federal loan program, Newsline Who has are back with beefed up n News n Money n Sports n Life offerings. Which way best deal? should you go? 1-2B By Sam Ward, USA TODAY ‘A catastrophe’ Few safety Surveillance video image; NYPD via AP mFloods ravage communities from Tennessee to checks in Suspect arrested in NYC Georgia as residents sort out extent of damage, 3A failed bombing attempt hazmat mMan apprehended at airport while trying to leave country, officials say, 5A transport AbreaK for the coast of Permits to require Louisiana review of records mWind, chemicals help rein in oil, 3A By Peter Eisler mSpill’s impact on USA TODAY region’s economy, WASHINGTON — The Department of Transporta- U.S. gas prices, 1-2B tion never conducted required safety checks on By Eric Gay, AP 20,000 to 30,000 companies that got special per- mits to move risky shipments of hazardous materi- als by road, rail, water and air, records show. Immigration Starting this month, the DOT will require all the companies to file new permit applications and un- poll shows dergo a “fitness review,” including assessments of U.S. divisions their safety and security records, before the permit is issued, according to an agency plan. The special mMost call for permits allow holders to move hazardous loads stricter border that normally are barred, such as mixed cargos of flammable, toxic or caustic compounds. measures — and Some companies using the permits have had se- fair deal for illegal rious hazardous materials accidents or safety vio- immigrants, 3A lations, according to data By Matt York, AP compiled by the DOT’s in- spector general. This year, Serious Defense tardy with contracting probe for example, a company got a special permit to incidents Serious hazmat inci- Members of Congress wanted report on retired haul a poisonous and dents, which involve officers who are paid advisers by March 31. 6A. flammable ammonia so- substantial spills of lution despite having 14 hazardous material British vote may alter relations with U.S. hazardous material spills or other serious Likely winners in Thursday’s vote in Great Britain in the past four years, in- consequences, such say they won’t kowtow to United States. 5A. cluding four “serious” in- as a major injury, highway closure or cidents that caused evac- evacuations: mMoney: Airline investors shift focus uations, major injuries, Last stand-alone carriers, US Airways and Ameri- highway closures or other can, not likely to merge despite latest deal. 1B. significant consequences. 400 uDow up 143, best gain in nearly 11 weeks. 4B. The company also had 11 492 uEuro continues dip despite aid to Greece. 2B. violations of hazardous- 428 materials rules. 200 mSports: Murder charge for Va. athlete By law, the DOT must University of Virginia men’s lacrosse player is ac- evaluate the fitness of ev- cused in death of women’s team member. 1-2C. ery company given a spe- 0 uBruins up 2-0; Blackhawks even. NHL, 1, 9C. cial permit, but it has is- ’04 ’08 sued dozens of blanket Source: U.S. Department mLife: Teachers don hearts to save jobs By Rusty Russell, Getty Images permits over the past of Transportation Educators push “Pink Hearts, Not Pink Slips” In Nashville: Michael Bunch makes his way downtown Monday after the region was pummeled by rains. decade to industry trade By Julie Snider, USA TODAY message amid warning 300K could be let go. 4D. Clear conditions are forecast, but flooded rivers will take days to recede, the National Weather Service said. groups. The thousands of companies using those permits were not vetted by Try a free 30-day DOT, which doesn’t even know all their identities. subscription to our The DOT’s failure to evaluate each permit holder replica e-Edition and you could win a Ford Fusion is a “pernicious” practice that “can significantly im- Hybrid. Details at readandridegiveaway.com. pact (public) safety,” Inspector General Calvin Sco- Ateachable moment at vel said last month. Permit holders range from one-trucK pool ser- ® USA TODAY Snapshots vices carrying chlorineto national firms that pack- age or ship bulk loads of explosive, flammable or Kent State, 40 years later toxic cargo. The 20,000 to 30,000 users of associa- Americans who fear job loss tion permits will have to reapply individually using Percentage of workers who say it’s likely anew, online system, and the DOT estimates it will they will be laid off in the following year: Fatal shootings during take about two years to issue all the new permits. Nov. 1982 Meanwhile, existing permits will remain in force. 19% anti-war clash become Failing to vet every permit holder is “completely Oct. 1990 16% enduring history lesson inappropriate — it never should have happened,” Cynthia Quarterman, chief of DOT’s Pipeline and June 1997 9% By Rick Hampson Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said in USA TODAY testimony to Congress last month. The program April 2007 12% suffered “years of neglect,” the Obama appointee April 2010 1 21% KENT, Ohio — Forty springs ago, on the day added, and fixes “will not happen overnight.” the Vietnam War came home as it never had The National Propane Gas Association called the before, Mary AnnVecchiowas there. She’s the re-application rule a “major change” in a message girl in the haunting photo — crying, kneeling to its 3,000 members. Its two blanket permits “in- over the student’s body. creased the safety of ... operations,” the association 1970 photo by John Filo, Valley Daily News, via AP 1 — Record high That was Kent State University, added in a written statement. Cover May 4, 1970, a few days after Iconic image: Mary Ann Vecchio, center, says Source: Gallup Poll By Anne R. Carey and Suzy Parker, USA TODAY The re-application process is likely to compound Richard Nixon, who had cam- shespent years “trying to outrun that picture.” existing backlogs in issuing permits that many Crossword, Sudoku7B story paigned for president on an im- companies need to do business, said Rep. Bill Shu- Editorial/Forum 10-1 1A plicit promise to end the war, Vecchio found Jeffrey Miller dead on the ster, R-Pa. The safety administration “is becoming Marketplace Today7B Market scoreboard 4B widened it by invading Cambodia. ground, a moment captured by a student pho- so knotted up in red tape that it’s not keeping pace QIJFAF-02005y(L)i State-by-state 8A Across the nation, students protested. At tographer. with the needs of the industries it oversees.” TV listings 7D Kent State, where the ROTC building was Rarely has an American home frontbeen so Even so, the DOT has a “regulatory obligation to ©COPYRIGHT 2010 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co., Inc. burned down two days earlier, National traumatized — Yale historian Jay Winter calls assess the fitness and safety” of each permit user, Subscriptions, customer service Guardsmen fired into a crowd and killed four the Kent State shootings “a wound in the na- said Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the 1-800-USA-0001 www.usatodayservice.com unarmed students, the closest of whom was House transportation panel. Anything less can have nearly a football field away. Please see COVER STORY next page u “very serious consequences for the ... public.” Save up to $450.* Just book your flight and hotel at the same time and watch the savings add up. 1-800-EXPEDIA *Savingsbased on all vacation packagebookingswithFlight+Hotel on Expedia.com in 2009,ascomparedtoprice of the samecomponentsbookedseparately. See site fordetails. ©2010Expedia,Inc.All rightsreserved. Expedia,Expedia.com and the Airplane logo areeither registered trademarksortrademarks of Expedia,Inc.inthe U.S.,Canada and/orother countries.CST 2029030-50 FA.