The Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 18

The cool quotient for getting around Columbus has ramped up a notch or two with the appearance in recent weeks of new rental bikes and sleek motorized scooters.

For now, dockless Lime and Bird scooters and Lime bicycles that can be unlocked with smart phone apps are still mostly novel and fun attractions. That’s apparent from grins bare-headed scooter riders sport as they zip around Downtown, across the Ohio State University campus and through neighborhoods including Clintonville, Linden and the South Side.

How well they are ultimately embraced as requisite last-mile transportation options may be told by how many Downtown workers get serious and start carrying helmets into the office.

But pedestrians are already voicing concerns about getting mowed over by fast-moving vehicles that have suddenly invaded shared sidewalks.

…

Determining where they can be legally operated should be a top priority for Columbus City Council when it returns to work from an August recess. Additional aspects of “shared active transportation systems” that other cities regulate include how they fit in local zoning laws, whether these businesses are licensed and how many such businesses may operate in a given area.

Online: https://bit.ly/2PlruPr

The Marietta Times, Aug. 18

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, federal officials have devoted an enormous amount of effort and resources to making airline travel safe. In general, they seem to have done a good job.

But last Friday, a mentally disturbed ground crew member stole a 76-seat plane from the airport in Seattle. He flew around for 75 minutes, tailed for much of the time by fighter planes, before he crashed the aircraft and died.

It was a “one-in-a-million experience,” one official commented.

Really? Had the man been a terrorist, the death toll might have been much higher.

Clearly, airport security measures need to be re-examined. That always needs to be a priority for the FAA and Homeland Security.

Online: https://bit.ly/2nTExLI