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Pete Buttigieg announces new rule to require two-person train crews to bolster rail safety
Washington — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a new rule on Tuesday requiring two-person crews on railroads in a move to bolster safety as rail regulation has come into the spotlight after the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment last year.
“This is a good day for the safety of rail workers, rail passengers and every American who lives near a rail line all across this country because America’s rails are safer today than they were yesterday,” Buttigieg said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The Federal Railroad Administration’s provision establishes a minimum crew size for all railroads, including freight, passenger, and commuter trains, requiring at least two crew members. Buttigieg called a second crew member “vital” to train safety operations, like handling track switches and assisting in emergencies. Before the rule, he said a railroad could unilaterally decide to employ a one-person crew without checking in with the Transportation Department.
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The transportation secretary said people have been urging the department to address crew size for over a decade. And he added that the bridge collapse in Baltimore last week reminded Americans of “what is at stake in the safety of our transportation systems.” Buttigieg said that the rule was a priority for President Biden and will address the patchwork of differing requirements across states.
“This is a rule that is good for workers, it is good for communities, it is good for America’s economy.” But he added that it alone won’t prevent accidents, and the department will continue to push for changes to the industry and press Congress to pass the Railway Safety Act.
Rail safety came into the spotlight in the aftermath of a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last year. Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan rail safety bill shortly after, which has long been delayed in the Senate, where it’s unclear if enough Republican support exists for the measure to clear a filibuster.
Buttigieg said railway safety should be a “completely bipartisan, nonpartisan issue,” adding that Congress “must pass it into law.”
Since the East Palestine derailment, there have been more than 1,500 derailments in the U.S., the president of the Washington, D.C. Fire Fighters Association, David Hoagland, said Tuesday. He noted that requiring two-person crews pers train is a “critical safety feature” since the members post the first line of defense before emergency personnel arrive.
Chipotle Mexican Grill job applicants better get used to conversing with AI — their first interview could be with an artificial intellgence-powered system named “Ava Cado” rather than a human hiring manager.
The fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain said Tuesday that it is partnering with Paradox, a maker of what the technology company calls “conversational” AI, to launch the new hiring platform.
By collecting basic information about candidates, Ava will free up restaurant managers to focus on other tasks, according to the company. The AI can also schedule interviews and even make job offers in real time, the company said. Ava is also a polyglot and able to conduct interviews in English, Spanish, French and German.
The new technology is expected to reduce the amount of time it takes Chipotle to hire an employee for an in-restaurant position by as much 75%, Chipotle said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
Chipotle plans to deploy the system across more than 3,500 restaurant locations in North America and Europe. The technology is currently being introduced at restaurants in a phased approach that’s expected to be complete by the end of October.
In addition to collecting biographical information, Ava can engage with job applicants and answer their questions about the company, according to Chipotle.
“Paradox operates as if we’ve hired additional administrative support for all our restaurants, freeing up more time for managers to support team members and provide an exceptional guest experience. We’re excited about the early improvements we’re seeing,” Chipotle chief human resources officer Ilene Eskenazi said in a statement.
A number of other major restaurant chains, retailers and other companies have turned to Paradox’s AI hiring tech, including Applebee’s, McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Taco Bell and Wendy’s.
Although AI can expedite the hiring process, it can also be controversial as a recruiting tool. Some studies have found that it can lead to biased assessment of candidates and unintentionally discriminate against people based on their race or gender.
To guard against the misuse of AI in hiring, New York City in 2021 passed a law that requires companies that use the technology to disclose its use to job candidates. Employers are also required to conduct annual third-party “bias audits” of their automated hiring systems to ensure the technology isn’t discriminating against certain types of candidates.
The North Carolina county that is home to Asheville overcounted deaths caused by Helene by as many as 30, according to a statement Tuesday from its sheriff’s office and data from the state, significantly reducing the death toll from the historic storm.
Buncombe County officials, who previously reported 72 deaths, are now deferring to a state tally of 42 deaths for the county.
The county’s number dates back to an Oct. 3 news release in which county officials reported that “72 lives have been lost due to Hurricane Helene,” repeating a number cited by Sheriff Quentin Miller at an earlier media briefing. But state officials, relying on reviews by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh, have consistently reported a number lower than that for the county. The number for Buncombe County included in the state’s tally has stood at 42 since at least Oct. 10.
On Tuesday, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s office acknowledged in a statement that the number of deaths in the county was lower than the number it provided.
“In the early aftermath of Hurricane Helene, all deaths were being classified as storm related and from Buncombe County. However, as the days progressed, BCSO was able to identify who had passed away due to the hurricane, who was in fact from Buncombe County, and who passed away from other causes,” Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Christina Esmay told CBS News in a statement Tuesday. “Compounded with the lack of consistent communication, due to widespread outages, the Buncombe County fatality number that was initially provided to Sheriff Miller has decreased.”
The sheriff’s office did not provide additional information.
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh typically reviews weather deaths and makes a ruling on cause before reporting numbers through state officials, a process it has used in past storms for years. But in the chaos following Helene, a number of counties reported fatality numbers independently of the state. The state’s tally has gradually increased through Tuesday, but the climb has slowed as bodies have been examined.
A spokesperson from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services told CBS News that Buncombe County is “relying on the state to report storm-related deaths.” Hannah Jones, the spokesperson, said the state’s count of storm-related fatalities stands at 96, with 42 of these deaths were in Buncombe County.
“We do not have information about how Buncombe County was determining fatality numbers for the death totals they were reporting for their county. We understand that Buncombe County decided to stop their independent reporting a couple weeks ago and are relying on the state to report storm-related deaths,” Jones said.
Another county, Henderson, had previously reported two more deaths than the state, but said on Tuesday that it agrees with the state’s tally of 7 deaths.
Using the new North Carolina figures, CBS News has now confirmed through Tuesday at least 215 total deaths across multiple states due to Helene.
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