Endorsements set for school boards
The following school board trustee candidates requested and were granted an endorsement from the Political Action Committee of the Greater Detroit Building and Construction Trades Council.

These are just a handful of candidates that will appear on Board of Education elections across the state on Tuesday, May 5. Building trades union members are urged to vote for candidates who support the goals of organized labor.

Capac Community School Board – Norm McDunnah
Chippewa Valley School Board -Frank Bednard, Henry Chiodini, Julie Ariganello Fitzgerald
Clintondale Board of Education – Michael Scott
Fitzgerald Board of Education – Cheryl Moreno
Hazel Park School Board – Charles Hemple
Roseville School Board – Joseph Steenland, Brent White
Wyandotte School Board – Daniel Cusson

Welcome drop for work zone fatalities
WASHINGTON -National Work Zone Awareness Week kicked off April 6 with the announcement of a 17 percent drop in work zone fatalities and injuries in 2007 vs. 2006.

“I am encouraged by the decrease in fatalities and injuries,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “With $27 billion in economic recovery funds fueling thousands of highway construction and repair projects nationwide, drivers must be more careful than ever.”

The drop in injuries and fatalities came during the busiest road work season in the U.S. in seven years. Work zone fatalities and injuries have fallen over the last ten years. The 17 percent drop in 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, represents the sharpest single-year percentage decline since the week’s inception a decade ago.

There were 835 fatalities in 2007, down from 1,004 fatalities in 2006. Four of every five victims in a work zone crash are motorists, not highway workers as is commonly believed.

The National Work Zone Awareness Week is a national campaign conducted at the start of construction season to encourage safe driving through highway construction sites. It is observed nationally by state, local and federal transportation officials the first week of April, which coincides with the start of highway construction season.