POLICY ROUNDUP

Thanks to lower gas prices, more drivers are hitting the road this summer. But more drivers leads to more accidents, which results in higher insurance rates for everyone. April’s 6 percent jump was the biggest the nation has seen since 2003.

“Unfortunately, out on our roadways, we’re seeing a collision course of all the factors that affect what we pay for car insurance,” Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, told Legal Reader.

The National Safety Council said 2015 was the deadliest year since 2008, with 38,300 deaths. The NSC reported that 4.4 million people were seriously injured.

Nearly every state is feeling the burden and “good” drivers are not exempt from rate hikes, Walker said.

Auto insurer Allstate recorded one of the biggest rate increases so far in Georgia, where prices went up by an average of 25 percent, while traffic fatalities in the state increased 21 percent.

In recent years, insurance companies have experienced a decline in profits. From 2005-13, the average payout for bodily injury claims rose 32 percent, according to the Insurance Research Council.

Avoiding moving violations and at-fault accidents are the most effective ways to lower costs, Walker said. Drivers also can ask insurance agents about other ways to save.

“Can I be a better driver? Can I take a defensive driving class? What kind of car do I drive? Is it more crash-worthy?” Walker said. “That will also offer you discounts on what you pay.” — Joana Suleiman

FOOD SAFETY

GAO to FDA: Improve tool for assessing imported food risk

After looking at the Food and Drug Administration’s food import data from 2012-14, the Government Accountability Office found that PREDICT, the agency’s computerized risk assessment tool, could be more effective.

Since the FDA can only physically examine about 1 percent of all the imported food coming into the United States each year, computer tools such as PREDICT are more important than ever.

“PREDICT improves import screening and targeting to prevent entry of adulterated, misbranded or otherwise violative goods, expedites the entry of non-violative goods. PREDICT uses automated data mining, pattern discovery and automated queries of FDA databases to determine the potential risk of a shipment for examination. It also expedites the clearance of lower-risk cargo, but only if accurate and complete data are provided by importers and entry filers,” the FDA explained after it rolled out the system.

GAO analysts noted that PREDICT was pretty good at flagging for physical examination those imported food items at higher risk of violating either safety regulations or labeling rules. However, there were two things the FDA could do to make PREDICT even more useful. One is to set up a documentation process to identify those open-source data, acquire these data and then determine how PREDICT should use them.

Furthermore, new rules and programs set up under the Food Safety Modernization Act will result in more information for PREDICT to use in helping to assess food safety of imported goods, the GAO reported. — Joana Suleiman

ENERGY

FERC kicks Berkshire out of the market

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s holding company is getting booted from participating in the wholesale electric market because it couldn’t convince federal regulators that 20 of its power companies aren’t a monopoly.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the order banning 20 of Berkshire Hathway’s affiliate energy firms from selling energy until it can prove that the companies do not constitute a monopoly.

The commission said the company’s analysis was flawed, saying the constitution of Bershire’s market-based rate authority to sell power “is not just and reasonable,” and revoked its license to sell power.

“The commission provided the Berkshire MBR Sellers ample opportunity to correct their [analysis and market power modeling] consistent with the commission’s regulations,” FERC said. But in the end, “FERC revoked market-based rate authority for 20 BHE entities operating in the PacifiCorp-East, PacifiCorp-West, Idaho Power and NorthWestern balancing authority areas.”

However, the commission found that Berkshire Hathaway entities operating in the Arizona Public Service, Bonneville Power Administration, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Western Area Power Administration-Colorado Missouri and Western Area Power Administration-Lower Colorado balancing authority areas, and the California grid operator’s markets were not monopolies. — John Siciliano

ENVIRONMENT

Robots to farm the earth

The Energy Department is putting money into building robotic farmers to raise and produce bioenergy crops for producing clean-burning fuels.

The agency’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, is bringing together experts on plant genetics, information technology and robotics in the search for bioenergy crops that are sustainable, affordable and can yield abundant crops for biofuel.

The project is called TERRA, or “Transportation Energy Resources from Renewable Agriculture,” and features researchers “building robots armed with cutting-edge sensors to collect data on plant characteristics” to improve the harvest of biofuels.

“Meanwhile, other teams develop tools that use this data to predict which plants will grow more quickly, thrive in stressful environments and generally show greater potential to fuel and feed our planet,” the agency says.

Already built is a robot called the “Scanalyzer,” which combines a small ground-based droid with an airborne drone to monitor field production.

The information gathered by the device “could give farmers valuable insight into which plants are more resilient in the Arizona desert — which, in turn, could have a transformational impact on the future of global energy and food security.” — John Siciliano

EDUCATION

Teachers play role in decline of interracial friendships

According to a study published in the Journal of Early Adolescence, teachers are part of the reason why interracial friendships among students decline during the school year.

“Same-race friendships increase over time, with greater increases among European-Americans and older children,” researchers said. When the school year began in third grade, white students had 2 percent more white friends than would be expected by random chance, increasing to 6 percent more at the end of the year. In fifth grade, the increase for white students was from 23 percent more to 33 percent more.

Previous research had already established similar conclusions, so this study sought to find out why that was occurring. In classrooms where students said teachers cared about their feelings, students were more likely to maintain interracial friendships. In classrooms where teachers paid less attention to students’ feelings and had less respect for students, same-race friendships were more likely to form.

Researchers looked at data from the 1996-97 school year, with 553 students in 53 classrooms, ranging from third grade to fifth grade. The study was authored by Elise Cappella and Diane Hughes, with New York University, and Meghan McCormick, with MDRC, a nonprofit social policy research organization. — Jason Russell

HEALTH

Progress stalled on state-level smoking

Progress by states to curb smoking has stalled, as a new report found that only a small number of states have enacted smoking bans or raised taxes on cigarettes recently.

The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at state anti-smoking laws from 2000-14. It found that from 2000-09, 21 states and the District of Columbia implemented smoke-free laws prohibiting smoking in restaurants, bars and work sites. However, from 2010-14, only five states passed such bans, bringing the total to 26 states.

In addition, fewer than one-third of U.S. states have raised their excise tax on cigarettes in recent years.

From 2000-09, 46 states and the District of Columbia increased their cigarette tax by 92 cents. From 2010-14, only 14 states plus D.C. increased their excise tax and only by an average 20 cents.

The CDC lamented the lack of progress on the state laws, saying that it may “undermine tobacco prevention and control efforts in the United States, undercutting efforts to reduce tobacco use, exposure to secondhand smoke, health disparities and tobacco-related illness and death.” — Robert King