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About half of the 189,500 highway vehicle fires in the United States in 2019 were in electric cars, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Officials from The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), who have been investigating the fires in electric cars, point to the lithium-ion battery systems, and say the fires’ duration and intensity,…

Residents in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago have launched an effort to get the city or state to make their location safer for pedestrians. After a recent accident in which a vehicle struck a person crossing the street, residents say they want stop signs installed at the main intersection. The Illinois Department of Transportation…

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on March 5 issued a recall for its popular at-home Peloton Tread+ exercise machine after multiple incidents occurred, including the death of a six-year-old child and injuries to dozens of others who were sucked in underneath the product. In a statement, CPSC said it believes the Tread+ poses…

Most urban dwellers are familiar with rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft as a convenient alternative to driving their own cars, taking public transportation, biking and walking. With a rideshare account, you can request a ride 24 hours a day, seven days a week in any city where they operate. Despite the obvious benefits and…

News broke this month that a senior official in the Trump administration instructed Chicago-based environmental regulators not to investigate the Sterigenics medical sterilization plant in suburban Willowbrook for charges that it released cancer-causing ethylene oxide into the air, according to a report from the EPA inspector general. Ethylene oxide is a volatile, easily absorbed chemical…

Brachial plexus birth injury (BPBI), the leading cause of infants’ upper extremity paralysis, is a condition affecting the nerves responsible for muscle control and sensation in the shoulder, arm, forearm, hand and fingers. It is the single most common birth injury and occurs in 1 to 3 per 1,000 births. Infants who have mild nerve…

Many in Illinois choose alternate forms of transportation, especially in areas with higher levels of traffic and congestion. You may be one who chooses to ride your bike for exercise, enjoyment or transportation, but you also know this can be risky. Many do not know how to properly share the road with people on bikes,…

Some jobs are more dangerous and have a higher risk of fatal injuries than others. You may think that being a firefighter, police officer or construction worker is the most dangerous, but in Illinois at least, work that requires driving a small or large truck to deliver goods is number one. According to the Bureau…