Mini Bike Ban

Mini Bike Ban - Thanks to the new federal law that went into effect last week, many mini bikes and ATVs have been removed from sales floors. The mini bike ban that includes ATVs as well is a result of the new law passed that limits the amount of lead contained in products aimed at children 12 and under.

The new MiniBike Ban has consumers and lawmakers in an uproar for obvious reasons. The Star Tribune reported: “Last year, more than 100,000 of the youth-oriented vehicles were sold. Industry experts estimate that 13,000 dealers nationwide might be stuck holding $100 million in inventory because the vehicles contain lead levels greater than allowed under the law.”

Is a mini bike ban necessary to keep children from ingesting lead? Certainly a young child could eat paint on many toys, but is a child going to chew on tire stems and battery terminals on their ATV or mini bike? This coming at a time when retailers nationwide are reeling from the economic downturn and many are suffering from store closings or outright bankruptcy.

Sabrina Pina

Sabrina Pina’s loved ones grasped a sliver of hope on Sunday as they waited for the medical examiner to determine whether a body found in a northwest Harris County ditch is that of the 27-year-old who vanished while shopping this weekend. The Houston woman disappeared Saturday afternoon from a Kohl’s a few miles from her Spring home. Her parents found her pickup, filled with shopping bags, in the parking lot several hours later.

Early Sunday morning, the body of a woman was discovered about a 20-minute drive from the shopping center. Sheriff’s deputies spoke with some of Pina’s relatives at her home Sunday night after dusting her truck for fingerprints. Her husband and parents met with homicide detectives downtown. “I don’t know what to think,” said Jeffrey Armenta, one of Pina’s best friends, after speaking with deputies. “It was the middle of the day. She was four miles from home.”

Pina is the second woman to disappear from a Houston suburb in recent weeks. Police are still searching for 37-year-old Susana De Jesus, who was kidnapped three weeks ago in the parking lot of a Pearland women’s clothing store where she worked. Family members said authorities confirmed Sunday that the body discovered in the ditch doesn’t belong to De Jesus. Pina was running errands Saturday afternoon when she last spoke to her husband: She called him from Home Depot around noon to ask what kind of garbage disposal to buy. The new disposal remained in the back of her truck on Sunday.

Timothy Dolan

Timothy Dolan was named this morning the future head of the Archdiocese of New York. Dolan will replace Cardinal Edward M. Egan, who served for nine years. It is the first time in the 200-year history of the bishopric that a prelate has been replaced before his death. Last year New York looked at the top six candidates to replace Egan, and even at that time Dolan topped the list. He was popular in Milwaukee, choosing to marshal his troops using persuasion and gregariousness rather than censure and imperiousness.

From what we read this morning, it seems like Dolan's a good match for New York, and will be more accessible than the sometimes imperious Egan. Still, we can't help but wonder when we'll next have a non–Irish Catholic leader presiding from St. Patrick's. Roughly one-third of Catholics in the archdiocese are Spanish-speaking — and Dolan's mastery of the language ends at "hola" and "como estas.

Timothy Dolan, widely seen as an affable and media-friendly priest, succeeds 76-year-old Cardinal Edward Egan, who is retiring after nearly nine years in the job. Well known in Vatican circles, the St. Louis native was long considered a front-runner for Egan's post. He is a former rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, an elite seminary which counts prominent U.S. Church leaders, including Egan, among its alumni.