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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

A New Way to Report, Research Unsafe Products

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Monday, March 14, 2011   

AUGUSTA, Maine - There's a new way to alert the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the public, about products that could be dangerous. It's a website just launched by the CPSC, "SaferProducts.gov," where anyone can file a report or look up safety information about a product.

Consumer protection attorney Maria Diamond sees the new site as not just for consumers' benefit, but also as a way for the CPSC to find out earlier about potential safety issues.

"This is really all about transparency in the marketplace, and that should be a good thing for everybody."

Diamond says the CPSC is a relatively small agency responsible for monitoring the safety of thousands of products, including toys, cribs and children's clothing. She thinks "SaferProducts.gov" will allow it to do a better job, and provide information faster.

However, there are a lot of product categories the CPSC doesn't cover, and some people are concerned that the database will contain information only about defects that result in injuries or deaths, not complaints about products' reliability or quality.

The new website almost didn't make it onto the Internet. Some Republican congressmen want to cut its funding, saying there would be no way to prevent false or misleading reports, which could harm companies' reputations. But attorney Maria Diamond says there are filters built into the new website to prevent that.

"You can't have anonymous complaints. The complaints have to be safety-related. And there's notice to the manufacturers, and they have an opportunity to correct information and provide comment."

Diamond says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration already has a similar public database for automotive complaints.

The CPSC says reports filed this week on "SaferProducts.gov" will show up as part of the database in April.

For a look at the new site, go to www.saferproducts.gov




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