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ETNA, Ohio — A truck driver in Ohio has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide because of his involvment in a November 2023 chain-reaction crash involving a charter bus filled with high school students that left six people dead and 18 injured.  Jacob McDonald, of Zanesville, Ohio, was indicted Thursday, July 18, on charges that also include vehicular assault; he is being held in jail on a $1 million bond. Court records did not list an attorney for McDonald. Calls to listings for McDonald were not answered. An Ohio Department of Public Safety report stated that McDonald, the driver of the 18-wheeler, was following too closely in traffic. According to state investigators, McDonald failed to slow down in traffic, struck a vehicle and pushed it into the bus, which was carrying students and chaperones from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District in eastern Ohio.  According to Licking County Emergency Management Agency Director Sean Grady, the charter bus was transporting students from a school in eastern Ohio. A total of 57 people were on board the bus.  The crash on Interstate 70 last November killed three students on the bus and a teacher and two chaperones who were in a separate vehicle hit by the tractor-trailer.  Five vehicles were involved in the crash in Licking County, east of Columbus. 

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday, July 21, ending his bid for reelection after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about the incumbent’s fitness for office. The unprecedented announcement, delivered less than four months before the election, immediately upended a campaign that both political parties view as the most consequential in generations. The president — intent on serving out the remainder of his term in office — quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take on Trump and encouraged his party to unite behind her, making her the party’s instant favorite for the nomination at its August convention in Chicago. The announcement is the latest jolt to a tumultuous campaign for the White House, coming a week after the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally. A party’s presumptive presidential nominee has never stepped out of the race so close to the election. President Lyndon Johnson, besieged by the Vietnam War, announced in March 1968 that he would not seek another term after just a single state’s primary. Biden’s July decision comes after more than 14 million Democrats cast votes supporting him through the primary process. Harris, in a statement, praised Biden’s “selfless and patriotic act” and said she intends to “earn and win” her party’s nomination. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” she said. Biden’s decision to bow out came after escalating pressure from his Democratic allies to step aside following the June 27 debate, in which the 81-year-old president trailed off and often gave nonsensical answers. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted Sunday to his X account. Nearly 30 minutes after he delivered the news that he was folding his campaign, Biden threw his support behind Harris. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” he said in another post on X. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.” Harris, who is the first woman, as well as the first Black person or person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president, would be the first woman to serve as president if she garners the Democratic party nomination and defeats Trump in this November’s election. There were early signs that the party was moving to coalesce around Harris, who scored the endorsements of the Congressional Black Caucus and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even before she had commented on Biden’s decision to quit the race. But notably, former President Barack Obama held off, pledging support behind the eventual party nominee. “We are honored to join the President in endorsing Vice President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her,” former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement. But Obama, who had privately shared doubts about Biden’s reelection chances, stopped short of endorsing Harris even as he praised Biden for his decision to leave the race. “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” he said in a statement. Members of the trucking industry will be following the Democratic nomination process with interest. When Trump named Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate last week, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOID) was quick to point out Vance’s history of showing support for the industry. As part of the Biden administration, Harris has voiced general support for the trucking industry as well as support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s goal of zero emissions for heavy trucks. Should she gain the presidential nomination, her final stance on industry issues, as well as the stance of her running mate, will be subject to scrutiny. Harris found out about Biden’s plans on Sunday morning and senior campaign and White House staff were notified just minutes before the letter went out, according to people familiar with the matter who commented on the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Biden had been reflecting on his future for the past couple days and the decision was closely held. Now, Democrats must urgently try to bring coherence to the nominating process in a matter of weeks and convince voters in a stunningly short amount of time that their nominee can handle the job and beat Trump. And for his part, Trump must shift his focus to a new opponent after years of training his attention on Biden. The decision marks a swift and stunning end to Biden’s 52 years in electoral politics, as donors, lawmakers and even aides expressed to him their doubts that he could convince voters that he could plausibly handle the job for another four years. Biden won the vast majority of delegates and every nominating contest but one, which would have made his nomination a formality. Now that he has dropped out, those delegates will be free to support another candidate. Harris, 59, appeared to be the natural successor, in large part because she is the only candidate who can directly tap into the Biden campaign’s war chest, according to federal campaign finance rules. Biden’s campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President, reflecting that she is inheriting his political operation — a sign of the leg up she has in the race for the Democratic nomination. Democratic groups, including the Democratic National Committee, also filed paperwork changing the names of their joint fundraising committees to reflect Harris’ candidacy. The Democratic National Conventions is scheduled to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, but the party had announced it would hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin. It remained to be seen whether other candidates would challenge Harris for the nomination. The Democratic National Committee’s chair, Jaime Harrison, said in a statement that the party would “undertake a transparent and orderly process” to select “a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.” Harris was spending Sunday afternoon calling Democratic elected officials and delegates as she works to lock up the nomination. Harris received her first delegates for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday. The Tennessee Democratic Party posted on X that its delegation voted during a meeting Sunday to back Harris after Biden’s departure from the campaign. Trump reacted to the news in a post on his Truth Social site, in which he said Biden “was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve.” “We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly,” he added. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” While Trump and his team had made their preference for facing Biden clear, his campaign had nonetheless ramped up its attacks on Harris as pressure on Biden to step down intensified. Democratic officials, including many who were behind the effort to push Biden from the race, quickly released statements praising Biden’s decision. “His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Joe, today shows you are a true patriot and great American.” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York praised Biden as “one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history.” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Biden should immediately resign if he is not fit enough to run for office. In a statement, Johnson said, “November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.” In addition to his planned address to the country, Biden still intends to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, according to a person familiar with the president’s schedule who was not authorized to comment publicly. The exact timing of the meeting is still not set in stone as Biden continues to recover from COVID. Netanyahu is scheduled Wednesday to deliver an address to Congress and he is also expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris while in Washington. In 2020, Biden pitched himself as a transitional figure who wanted to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders. But once he secured the job he spent decades struggling to attain, he was reluctant to part with it. Biden was once asked whether any other Democrats could beat Trump. “Probably 50 of them,” Biden replied. “No, I’m not the only one who can defeat him, but I will defeat him.” Biden is already the country’s oldest president and had insisted repeatedly that he was up for the challenge of another campaign and another term, telling voters all they had to was “watch me.” And watch him they did. Biden’s poor debate performance prompted a cascade of anxiety from Democrats and donors who said publicly what some had said privately for months, that they did not think he was up to the job for four more years. Concerns over Biden’s age have dogged him since he announced he was running for reelection, though Trump is just three years younger at 78. Most Americans view the president as too old for a second term, according to an August 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center of Public Affairs Research. A majority also doubt his mental capability to be president, though that is also a weakness for Trump. Biden often remarked that he was not as young as he used to be, doesn’t walk as easily or speak as smoothly, but that he had wisdom and decades of experience, which were worth a whole lot. “I give you my word as a Biden. I would not be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul I can do this job,” he told supporters at a rally in North Carolina a day after the debate. “Because, quite frankly, the stakes are too high.” But voters had other problems with him, too — he has been deeply unpopular as a leader even as his administration steered the nation through recovery from a global pandemic, presided over a booming economy and passed major pieces of bipartisan legislation that will impact the nation for years to come. A majority of Americans disapprove of the way he’s, and he’s faced persistently low approval ratings on key issues including the economy and immigration. Biden’s motivation for running was deeply intertwined with Trump. He had retired from public service following eight years serving as vice president under Obama and the death of his son Beau but decided to run after Trump’s comments following a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when white supremacists descended on the city to protest the removal of its Confederate memorials. Trump said: “You had some very bad people in the group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. On both sides.” Biden’s wife, first lady Jill Biden, responded to the president’s announcement by reposting Biden’s letter announcing his decision and adding red heart emojis. Granddaughter Naomi Biden Neal said on social media, “I’m nothing but proud of my Pop.” She said he has served the country “with every bit of his soul and with unmatched distinction” and “our world is better today in so many ways thanks to him.” By Zeke Miller, Colleen Long and Darlene Superville. Superville reported from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. The Trucker News Staff also contributed to the report.

DETROIT — A horrific crash that killed six high school girls in Oklahoma two years ago has the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) urging parents to warn teenagers about the risk of driving after using marijuana. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy made the appeal to parents Thursday, July 18, as her agency released the final report on the March 22, 2022, collision between a tiny Chevrolet Spark hatchback and a gravel-hauling semi in the small town of Tishomingo, Oklahoma. The board, after an investigation by its staff, determined that the crash was caused by the 16-year-old driver slowing for an intersection, then accelerating through a stop sign because she likely was impaired by recent marijuana use and was distracted by having five teen passengers in the car, the NTSB report said. In an interview, Homendy also said the cannabis problem isn’t limited to teens. As more states have legalized recreational marijuana, teens and adults tend to underestimate the risks of driving under its influence. “There’s a perception that in states where it’s legal that it’s safe and legal to drive impaired on marijuana,” she said. In its report on the crash, the NTSB cited studies showing that marijuana decreases motor coordination, slows reaction time and impairs judgment of time and distance, all critical functions for driving. Currently it’s legal for people 21 and older to use marijuana recreationally in 24 states plus Washington, D.C., according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Oklahoma doesn’t allow recreational use, but like most states, it’s legal for medical purposes. Driving while impaired by marijuana is illegal in all states and Washington, D.C. The NTSB, which investigates transportation-related crashes but has no regulatory power, put out a safety alert Thursday urging parents to talk to young drivers about how marijuana can impair driving, and how they can make responsible choices to avoid driving while impaired or riding with impaired drivers. Homendy said states that have legalized marijuana are behind in making sure people know that it’s illegal to drive under its influence. Over half of Americans live in a state where recreational cannabis use is legal, she said. “Unfortunately, I think state laws that are legalizing recreational and medicinal use of marijuana have really come before thoughts or action on what are they going to do about traffic safety,” Homendy said. “They are far ahead on legalizing it, but very behind when it comes to traffic safety.” States, she said, need to collect more data on how legalizing marijuana has affected traffic safety, and they need to start enforcing laws against driving while impaired by cannabis. “Enforcement has got to be there in order to deter,” she said. One study on crashes in Washington state, which has legalized recreational marijuana use, showed that more drivers involved in fatal crashes tested positive for marijuana after it became legal, the NTSB said. In Tishomingo, about 100 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, six high school girls got into the car, which was designed to carry only four, for a lunch break, the NTSB report said. At an intersection, the driver slowed to 1 mile per hour, but accelerated and didn’t come to a complete stop for a sign. Instead, she sped up and turned left in front of the gravel truck. The truck driver braked and steered to avoid the Spark, but hit the driver’s side at just under 50 mph. All six teens died of multiple blunt force injuries. Tests on blood taken from the driver’s body found a THC concentration of 95.9 nanograms per milliliter, the NTSB said. If such a level of THC, the main chemical component of marijuana, were found in a living person, it would indicate “a high likelihood that the person had used cannabis very recently, and therefore was likely still experiencing acute impairing cannabis effects,” the report said. However, the NTSB cautioned that body-cavity blood samples can sometimes be contaminated by other body fluids or by THC from other tissues, including the lungs, that may contain high concentrations. In addition, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol found vaping mouthpieces and cannabis buds in the car at the scene of the crash, the report said. The NTSB recommended in the report that the Oklahoma State Department of Education develop a drug and alcohol abuse curriculum for local school districts that tells students about the risk of cannabis-impaired driving. At present, only Massachusetts and Rhode Island have such course requirements, the NTSB said. The agency also wants the Governors Highway Safety Association, a group of state highway safety officers, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Association of State Boards of Education to inform members about the Tishomingo crash and the need for cannabis information in school and driver education coursework. The safety association said in a statement that cannabis-impaired driving is a growing safety concern, and state highway safety offices are focused on eliminating all impaired driving. “We have to start communicating well ahead of time, to kids, that driving, having ingested or smoked or inhaled marijuana is impairing, and it’s a risk to them and a risk to others,” Homendy said. By Tom Krisher, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Dozens of aging bridges in 16 states will be replaced or improved with the help of $5 billion in federal grants announced Wednesday, June 17, by President Joe Biden’s administration, the latest beneficiaries of a massive infrastructure law. The projects range from coast to coast, with the largest providing an additional $1.4 billion to help replace two vertical lift bridges over the Columbia River that carry Interstate 5 traffic between Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the bridges are “the worst trucking bottleneck” in the region. The bridges also received $600 million in December. Other projects receiving $500 million or more include the Sagamore Bridge in Cape Cod, Massachusetts; an Interstate 10 bridge project in Mobile, Alabama; and the Interstate 83 South bridge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which Buttigieg planned to highlight Wednesday with a visit. “These bridges affect whole regions and ultimately impact the entire U.S. economy,” Buttigieg said. “Their condition means they need major urgent investment to help keep people safe and to keep our supply chains running smoothly.” The grants come from a $1.2 trillion infrastructure law signed by Biden in 2021. The law directed $40 billion to bridges over five years — the most significant dedicated bridge investment in decades. Biden has touted the infrastructure law while campaigning for reelection against former President Donald Trump. But even Wednesday’s large grants will make only a dent in what the American Road & Transportation Builders Association estimates to be $319 billion of needed bridge repairs across the U.S. According to the federal government, about 42,400 bridges nationwide are in poor condition, yet they carry about 167 million vehicles each day. Four-fifths of those bridges have problems with the substructures that hold them up or the superstructures that support their load. More than 15,800 of the poor bridges also were listed in poor shape a decade ago, according to an Associated Press analysis. The nation’s poor bridges are, on average, 70 years old. Bridges fulfill a vital role that often goes overlooked until their closure disrupts people’s commutes and delays commerce. That was tragically highlighted in March when a cargo ship crashed into a support column of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, causing the bridge to crumple into the water and killing six road crew workers. Maryland officials have said rebuilding the bridge could take four years and up to $1.9 billion. Some projects announced Wednesday include multiple bridges, such as a $251 million grant to improve 15 bridges around Providence, Rhode Island. That project is separate from the one to replace the Interstate 195 Washington Bridge over the Seekonk River, which suddenly closed to traffic late last year because of structural problems. In Florida, Miami-Dade County will receive $101 million to replace 11 nearly century-old Venetian Causeway bridges. Other bridge projects receiving funding include the Interstate 55 bridge over the Mississippi River connecting Arkansas and Tennessee; the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington, North Carolina; four bridges carrying Interstate 95 over Lake Marion in South Carolina; the U.S. 70 bridge over Lake Texoma in Oklahoma; two bridges carrying Interstate 25 over Nogal Canyon in New Mexico; the 18th Street bridge in Kansas City, Kansas; and the Market Street bridge over the Ohio River connecting Steubenville, Ohio, with East Steubenville, West Virginia.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is providing nearly $400 million to build a new Interstate 55 bridge connecting Tennessee and Arkansas across the Mississippi River, replacing the existing 75-year-old span, officials said Friday, July 12. In separate news releases, Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis said the USDOT informed Congress on Friday that it is investing more than $393 million to build the new bridge. The existing I-55 bridge was built in 1949 but it remains a vital and heavily traveled artery, with thousands of cars and commercial vehicles crossing it each day. The aging bridge is one of two that connects Memphis with Arkansas, along with the Interstate 40 bridge. Officials have been pushing for a modernized I-55 bridge since the I-40 bridge was closed for weeks in 2021 to repair a crack in the structure. The new bridge will be built to modern seismic codes and is projected to accommodate approximately 64,000 vehicles daily, significantly higher than the current 48,000 vehicles, by 2050, Lee’s office said. The governor’s office said the transportation departments in Tennessee and Arkansas have each committed up to $250 million to the project. “This unprecedented investment in Memphis marks the single-largest transportation investment in Tennessee state history and will be transformative for our infrastructure,” Lee said. Cohen, a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has discussed the project in committee hearings, most recently with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on June 28. Buttigieg visited Memphis when the I-40 bridge was shut down. Cohen said the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021 helped provide the funds for the project. “Transportation across America creates jobs and improves our economy — America’s River Crossing,” Cohen said. By Adrian Sainz, The Associated Press

BINGHAM COUNTY, Idaho —The Idaho State Police (ISP) is investigating a vehicle fire that caused a semi-truck to be engulfed in flames on Sunday evening.  According to an ISP press release, the accident occurred at approximately 6:15 p.m. MDT in Bingham County.  “At about 6:15 p.m., a 52-year-old male from Atlanta, Ga. was traveling southbound on I-15 at milepost 102 in a maroon 2019 Freightliner semi,” the release said. “The 2019 Freightliner had mechanical failure and the trailer caught fire. The driver managed to detach the trailer from the power unit.”  Southbound Interstate 15 was blocked for some time to allow emergency personnel to assist those on scene and put out the fire. The Idaho Transportation Department assisted with traffic control. All lanes are currently running as normal.  The ISP was assisted by Bingham County Sheriff’s, Shelley Dire Department, and Wildland Fire.  The incident remains under investigation by the Idaho State Police. 

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Reginald Walton had just rolled his 18-wheeler into Louisiana, eastbound on Interstate 10 after making a Texas delivery, when he spotted what looked like a discarded baby doll sitting on the embankment. Then he saw movement. “I noticed that it moved and I called 911 and told them I thought I saw a child on the side of the road,” Walton told The Associated Press in a Friday telephone interview. Walton, of Texarkana, Texas, didn’t know it as he maneuvered his semitrailer to the roadside Tuesday morning, but the abandoned child had been the object of an intense search since his 4-year-old brother was found dead the day before. The sheriff of Calcasieu Parish later called the surviving child a “miracle baby,” saying the 1-year-old boy had been left outside and alone for around two days as intermittent storms spun off of Hurricane Beryl, which hit Texas Monday. Walton said authorities stayed on the phone with him while he stopped his rig. “Running about 65 or 70 miles an hour in a tractor-trailer took me about a quarter of a mile to even come to a complete stop.” He then walked back to where he had spotted the child while police made their way there. “When I got to him, he was sitting down and as soon as he made visual contact with me, he smiled,” Walton remembered. “And then he stood up, started crying and walked toward me. And once I grabbed his hand, he stopped crying.” Walton, who also related his story to KADN-TV in Lake Charles, only learned the full backstory hours later on the internet. On Monday, authorities in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, had pulled the boy’s 4-year-old brother from a lake behind an interstate welcome center near the Texas line. The children’s mother was arrested hundreds of miles away in Meridian, Mississippi, and faces multiple charges in Louisiana, including second-degree murder. Hours after Walton rescued the baby, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Gary “Stitch” Guillory said the child appeared to be in good condition, although he had numerous insect bites. The child was to be turned over to state family services authorities. “It was just sad to know someone would leave a child by the side of the road,” Walton said Friday. “I was just glad that I was the one to be there — to be able to help him.”

LAKELAND, Fla. — When Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas on Monday, July 8 as a category 1 hurricane, bringing heavy winds, flash flooding, and state-wide power outages. American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) sprung into action. The organization mobilized its network and is currently working with non-profit and business partners to aid response efforts. The first order of ALAN’s business was to get organized. The organization hosted a logistics coordination call with responding non-profit partner organizations. During this call partners shared their current response capabilities and identified potential logistics gaps. ALAN’s response coordination efforts, which include fielding and filling specific requests for logistics help, will continue this week as additional needs are identified, according to a release issued on Wednesday afternoon. “Most of our requests for assistance arrive after a hurricane or tropical storm has hit, sometimes weeks, months or even years into recovery” said Alexia Nobles, ALAN’s Operations Coordinator. “That’s because each storm winds up having very different outcomes and pain points. And you really can’t predict what those will be – and where relief organizations will require supply chain assistance the most – until after the storm has moved through.” ALAN’s Disaster Micro-Site is the best resource to view open logistics needs for response efforts. It’s also where we post critical resources and information in the form of Situation Reports as we receive new updates. “We are likely to witness supply chain impacts given parts of the Caribbean, Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast were all affected,” said Kathy Fulton, ALAN’s Executive Director. “ALAN will continue to convene its public and private sector networks to provide visibility, smart logistics solutions, and compassionate humanitarian response as relief efforts demand.” The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that after Hurricane Beryl slammed into Texas early Monday, knocking out power to nearly 3 million homes and businesses, unleashing heavy rain and killing at least three people it moved east and later weakened to a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center said Monday evening. The fast-moving tempest threatened to carve a harsh path over several more states in coming days. Texas state and local officials warned it could take several days to restore power after Beryl came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane and toppled 10 transmission lines and knocked down trees that took down power lines, according to the AP. Beryl later weakened into a tropical storm and then a tropical depression, far less powerful than the Category 5 behemoth that tore a deadly path of destruction through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean last weekend. But the winds and rains of the fast-moving storm were still powerful enough to knock down hundreds of trees that had already been teetering in water-saturated earth, and strand dozens of cars on flooded roadways. As it moved inland, the storm threatened to spawn tornadoes and the National Weather Service confirmed on social media that tornadoes had been spotted in northeastern Louisiana. ALAN was founded in 2005, and provides donated logistics assistance to disaster relief organizations before, during and after catastrophic events. It is aided in these efforts by financial supporters, volunteers and in-kind donors. In 2024 and 2023 it coordinated compassionate supply chain services for disasters such as the Arkansas tornadoes, Hurricane Idalia, the Maui wildfires, the California winter storms, the attacks on Ukraine, U.S. southern border response and the COVID-19 pandemic.

HARALSON COUNTY, Ga. — While trying to avoid a grass-cutting crew in rural Haralson County, Ga.,a semi truck driver reportedly caused a log truck to overturn. The accident happened on Highway 100  near the town of Tallapoosa, Ga. on Monday. According to a press release issued by the Haralson County Sheriff’s Department, deputies responded the incident near Crossroads Church Road in reference to an overturned log truck. Authorities say the driver of a Kenworth semi truck, Corcedric Lathan, 33, of Birmingham, Ala. stated to deputies on the scene that he was driving south on Highway 100 when he “came across a grass cutting crew.” According to the press release, Latham stated that he went around the crew on the wrong side of the road and then met a log truck in their lane. Latham stated that he was able to get back over narrowly missing the log truck. The Haralson County Sheriff’s Department release stated that the driver of the Mack log truck, Jeffery Farlow, of Ranburne, Ala. stated that he was traveling north on Highway 100 when a truck came into his lane, and he jerked the wheel to avoid hitting him. Farlow was able to miss the other truck but did go into the embankment and roll over. Farlow was not injured during the wreck. A witness at the scene corroborated the drivers’ accounts of the events according to the Sheriff’s Department release. This wreck could have been so much worse, and we are thankful that no one was seriously injured,” stated Haralson County Sheriff Stacy Williams. “It can be dangerous to go around workers on the roadways. Best practice if you must pass is to make sure you can see a good distance ahead. A little patience and carefulness could save a life.” Latham was cited for Failure to Maintain Lane.