Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/661984
ByMichaelR.Sisak The Associated Press CHESTER, PA. An Amtrak passenger train was going 106 miles per hour in a 110 mph zone when it struck a backhoe sitting on the same track, killing the backhoe operator and a track super- visor, federal and local offi- cials said Monday. The engineer applied the emergency brakes five sec- onds before impact, the National Transportation Safety Board said late Mon- day. No one on board was killed, although more than 30 passengers were injured. Videos showed construc- tion equipment on the track and a contractor's equip- ment on an adjacent track before the crash Sunday morning, NTSB investi- gator Ryan Frigo said. He could not comment on who was authorized to be there, but said work crews were scheduled to be interviewed on Tuesday "There is a large amount of data to be looked at," Frigo added. The Delaware County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victims as backhoe operator Joseph Carter Jr., 61, of Wilming- ton, Delaware, and Peter Adamovich, 59, of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania. They died of blunt force trauma. Amtrak trains on the Northeast Corridor re- sumed regular service on Monday. The train was heading from New York to Savan- nah, Georgia, at about 8 a.m. Sunday when it hit a piece of equipment in Ches- ter, about 15 miles outside of Philadelphia. The impact derailed the lead engine of the train, which was carry- ing more than 300 passen- gers and seven crew mem- bers. The injuries were not considered life-threaten- ing. Rail safety workers said track workers are supposed to double-check their as- signments with dispatch- ers to be sure they are not working on or around an active track. "Typically, the dispatcher has to give very specific per- mission for maintenance ... equipment, like a backhoe, to be on the track. They have to take the track out of service for a defined dis- tance and a defined time period," said professor Al- lan Zarembski, who teaches railroad engineering at the University of Delaware. "And then, they have to con- firm that they understand it, repeat back the instruc- tions, and only then can they get on the tracks." A Minnesota company called Loram Maintenance of Way had several employ- ees working in the area. Lo- ram official Tom DeJoseph said the company was do- ing maintenance on the bal- last between the railway ties. He estimated the com- pany had three or four peo- ple working there at a time and more at shift changes. He declined to say if any of them witnessed the crash. The event data recorder and forward-facing and in- ward-facing video from the locomotive were recovered, officials said. The derailment comes al- most a year after a speeding Amtrak train from Wash- ington, D.C., to New York City went off the tracks in Philadelphia. Eight people were killed and more than 200 were injured. The ex- act cause of that derail- ment is still under investi- gation, but authorities have said the train had been trav- eling twice the speed limit. Nearly three decades ago, an Amtrak train struck maintenance equipment on tracks in Chester, near the site of Sunday's derail- ment. More than 20 people were injured in that Janu- ary 1988 crash. The NTSB determined that an Amtrak tower operator had failed to switch the train to an unoc- cupied track. PENNSYLVANIA Am tr ak t ra in s tr uc k ba ck ho e at 106 mph; 2 killed on track PHOTOSBYMICHAELBRYANT—THEPHILADELPHIAINQUIRER Emergency personnel stand by debris from a deadly train crash in Chester, Pa., on Sunday. Amtrak investigators inspect the deadly train crash in Chester, Pa., on Sunday. By Mark Sherman The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Su- preme Court unani- mously endorsed elec- tion maps that bolster the growing political in- fluence of America's La- tinos on Monday, ruling that states can count ev- eryone, not just eligible voters, in drawing voting districts. The decision rejected a challenge from Texas vot- ers that also could have diluted the voting power of urban Democrats, to the benefit of rural Re- publicans. The case offered a test of the principle of "one person, one vote," the re- quirement laid out by the Supreme Court in 1964 that political districts be roughly equal in pop- ulation. The issue here, though, was what popu- lation to consider: every- one or just eligible vot- ers. All 50 states use total population as their basis for drawing district lines, but the challengers said the rural state Senate dis- tricts in which they lived had vastly more eligible voters than urban dis- tricts, making their votes count for less, in viola- tion of the Constitution. In Texas, and other states with large immi- grant populations, urban districts include many more people who are too young, not yet citizens, in the country illegally or otherwise ineligible to vote. All of them, recorded by the census, count for the purpose of drawing political districts. Civil rights groups said forcing states to change their method of con- structing districts would have damaged Latino po- litical influence. "Jurisdictions, we hold, may design state and lo- cal legislative districts with equal total popula- tions; they are not obliged to equalize voter popula- tions," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, summa- rizing her opinion for the court. Ginsburg said that "his- tory, our decisions and settled practice in all 50 states and countless local jurisdictions point in the same direction." She also declared that "representa- tives serve all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote" and that nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates. The court stopped short of saying that states must use total popula- tion. And it also did not rule on whether states are free to use a differ- ent measure, as Texas had asked. Ginsburg said the court was not resolving whether states may base maps on voter population. Richard Hasen, an ex- pert in election law at the University of California at Irvine Law School, said, "A contrary ruling would have shifted power to Re- publican, rural districts, and away from Demo- cratic, urban areas." Edward Blum, whose Project on Fair Represen- tation backed the law- suit, said he was disap- pointed in the outcome but predicted that "the issue of voter equality in the United States is not going to go away." Though the justices were unanimous in up- holding Texas' use of total population, Justices Clar- ence Thomas and Sam- uel Alito declined to join Ginsburg's opinion. Thomas said the Con- stitution gives the states the freedom to draw polit- ical lines based on differ- ent population counts. Re- ferring to the 1964 case of Reynolds v. Sims, he said the high court "has never provided a sound basis for the one-person, one-vote principle." Alito objected to Gins- burg's reliance on the Con- stitution's prescription for using the once-a-decade census to divvy up seats in the House of Represen- tatives among the states. Alito said the history of congressional represen- tation was the product of political compromise. Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the court avoided "the ele- phant in the voting booth. The court failed to fill the gaping hole in its voting- rights jurisprudence: the question whether the ven- erable 'one-person, one- vote' principle requires equalizing people or vot- ers ... when crafting repre- sentational districts." VOTING RIGHTS Su p re me C ou rt b ol st er s influence of US Latinos SPRING SPECIAL MODERNCLEANERS 609WalnutSt.,RedBluff•527-4308 20 % off HOUSEHOLDSITEMS, SPREADS, COMFORTERS! Mustbepresentedwithincomingorder.Notgoodwithotheroffers. Expires 4/30/16 FD652 -BurialorCremation - Personalized Services - Pre Planning - Customized Burial Option 816WalnutSt.,RedBluff,CA (530) 527-1174 www.chapeloftheflowers.net Youcanhavepeaceofmindknowing your loved one has rested with dignity. Hoyt-ColeChapeloftheFlowers Amazing Finds New&ConsignedFurniture,Mattress,&More Redding • 1551 S. 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