SUMMARY: Robotics experts at Carnegie Mellon University are harnessing technology to address the rush-hour traffic that plagues commuters across the country. Using artificial intelligence and existing infrastructure, their software could reshape the daily commute for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians by reducing travel times and fixing potholes. Jeffrey Brown reports.
Mississippi lawmakers are once again tackling the big issues in the state. The highest poverty rate of any state in the country? Hahahaha ... no. The second-highest high school dropout rate in the country? No, no. The second-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country? Awww, hell no.
What is more pressing than extreme poverty? Well, the Mississippi House did pass a bill (HB 132), nicknamed the "Jesus Take the Wheel Act", that would exempt churches from commercial driver's license requirements:
"This just allows small churches, some don't have people with commercial licenses at all, and they can pick a person to drive the bus," said state Rep. Robert Johnson III, D-Natchez, who chairs the Transportation Committee which had passed the bill earlier in the session.
Current law requires CDL-certified drivers for any vehicle transporting more than 16 passengers, including the driver. The bill would amend that law to exempt church buses designed to carry 30 passengers or less.
To be clear, we aren't talking about extended passenger vans. Thirty-passenger buses, like the one pictured below, are much larger than vans and all other business and schools would still have to have a CDL license to operate such a vehicle.
Since the exemption would also include buses and large transport vehicles carry children to and from events, not everyone is happy about the exemption:
When contacted by The Clarion-Ledger, longtime CDL-certified driver Troy Coll of Hattiesburg called the measure potentially dangerous.
"I think this bill is trading the safety of everyone on the road for the convenience of those operating church vehicles," Coll said. "Since the bill covers vehicles up to 30 passengers, we're not just talking vans with extra rows of seats – these are buses, with long frames and much larger blind spots than passenger vehicles."
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.
* Any attempt to suppress human or Constitutional rights.
* Any law or policy that supports discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race/color, gender, sexual orientation, or any law that does NOT support Equal Treatment under the law.
*Any law or policy that attempts to suppress Freedom of the Press or Free Speech.
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