Briefly

Philadelphia

Study: High speed limit imperils women, elderly

Raising the speed limit to 70 mph or more increases the risk of deaths for women and the elderly, but not for younger men, a study has found.

Twenty-nine states have raised their speed limits to at least 70 mph since Congress abolished the national 55-mph limit in 1995.

While states that raised their speed limits experienced no increase in the overall number of deaths, fatalities rose 10 percent for women and 13 percent for the elderly, researchers found. There was no increase for men under 65, says the study, which appears in Economics Letters.

The study doesn’t explain the reasons for the difference, but co-author Thomas Dee, said: “The conventional view is often that speed kills. But some people … would argue that the variance of speed kills.”

Pennsylvania

Former Rite Aid officer pleads to conspiracy

A former Rite Aid executive pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to defraud Rite Aid investors and vendors, four days before he was to go on trial with two other executives.

Franklyn Bergonzi, 57, former executive vice president and chief financial officer, could get up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine. Under terms of a plea deal, 26 other counts will be dismissed.

Prosecutors said Bergonzi and other top company executives falsified Rite Aid’s books to inflate the stock price.

Idaho

State motorcycle officer stops runaway train

A state police motorcycle officer jumped aboard a runaway locomotive Thursday afternoon and helped bring it safely to a halt.

No one was hurt as the locomotive rolled through rural neighborhoods, with officers racing from crossing to crossing to block traffic.

Eventually, Cpl. Duane Prescott managed to jump aboard the 400,000-pound Union Pacific locomotive, then pushed and pulled every control he could find.

The engine started to back up, and railroad employees stopped it by placing ties across the tracks.

Indiana

Inspectors call coaster safe after rider’s death

State inspectors Wednesday said they found nothing wrong with an amusement park roller coaster from which a woman fell to her death.

Holiday World shut down its two wooden coasters Saturday after 32-year-old Tamar Fellner of New York, a member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts, tumbled off the last car of a ride called The Raven.

Witnesses found Fellner’s seat belt unbuckled and saw her standing up in the car as it neared a 69-foot-high hill, investigators said.