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Today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released a statement calling on the U.S. Capitol Police to allow sledding at the Capitol tomorrow and next week in anticipation of a snowstorm. “The west side of the Capitol is well known as perhaps the best place for sledding in D.C.’s high-density urban environment. Annually, I get a provision included in the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill directing the Capitol Police to allow sledding on Capitol grounds. While the Capitol complex has been closed since the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, sledding can be done safely by allowing only children and...

As snow piles up in yards and parks across the United States this winter, many children will be hitting their neighborhood hills to sled on their days away from school. Common injuries centered around the time-honored winter activity, however, have led some cities in the Midwest to put the brakes on sledding.

Snow surrounded a car on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester during early morning hours on Feb. 7, 1978. The 1978 blizzard blanketed much of the region with snow on Feb. 6 and 7, with 27.1 inches accumulating at Logan Airport. [snip] Gandolf, an Irish setter, watched Martine Carroll, 14, walk down Trenton Street. [snip]

As anyone who has grown up around snow knows, part of the fun of sledding is the risk of soaring off a jump or careening around a tree. But faced with the potential bill from sledding injuries, some cities have opted to close hills rather than risk large liability claims. No one tracks how many cities have banned or limited sledding, but the list grows every year. One of the latest is in Dubuque, Iowa, where the City Council is moving ahead with a plan to ban sledding in all but two of its 50 parks. […] A study by...

Police in England said a group of officers caught on camera using a riot shield as a sled on a snow slope were reprimanded by a superior. Superintendent Andrew Murray, Oxford City commander with Thames Valley Police, said a bystander captured video of a group of officers arriving at the slope and encouraging a colleague to sled down the hill while clinging to the straps for steering, the Daily mail reported Thursday. The video was later uploaded to YouTube. "The snow has a habit of bringing out the child in all of us," Murray said. "I have spoken to the...

With the average speed of a sled reaching 19 mph, some health officials push for wearing helmets Although she can't remember, Emily Ziebell was probably having fun four years ago while night sledding in Waukesha. It was close to midnight at Lowell Park, which has one of the best sledding hills in the county, and Ziebell, who had just turned 20, jumped on a snow tube with a friend. The friend fell off while they were zooming down the hill, but Ziebell continued and slammed into a tree trunk, splitting open her skull and crushing her left arm. Ziebell, now...

Mayor Phil Mitman said he grew up sledding in Nevin Park and later watched his children do the same. But we live in such a litigious society that a municipality's primary job today is to find ways to avoid lawsuits, he said. Anyone who headed to Hackett or Nevin parks this week for the season's first snow was greeted by signs banning sledding, tubing, skiing and snowboarding at the risk of a $300 fine. "If people wouldn't sue the city, we wouldn't have to do this," Mitman said Wednesday. "Those signs protect the city of Easton in a court of...

BOSTON -- If one lawmaker has his way, children in Massachusetts will have to put on helmets to go sledding. State Sen. Steven Panagiotakos said he plans to file a bill to require children under 13 to wear helmets while sledding or skiing. He said most kids already have bicycle helmets, and those could be used for sledding as well.

NEW YORK - Halfpipe star Shaun White showed up for an interview with NBC's Bob Costas as an Olympic champion, the pressure lifted from his shoulders and clearly juiced by his new jewelry. So "The Flying Tomato" decided to test the power of a gold medal by trolling for a date with skater Sasha Cohen. Hey, what's the worst that could happen? Chicks dig a little bling, right? White's interview shortly after his gyrating ride to gold was a memorable television moment precisely because it was everything that NBC's prime-time Olympics coverage mostly wasn't — fun, spontaneous and infused with...

Lawsuit in sledding tragedy Family of crash victim launches $255G action against City of Gatineau, claiming hill was unsafe THE FAMILY of a 12-year-old Gatineau boy who died in a sledding accident last winter has launched a lawsuit against the City of Gatineau in the hope that no one else will have to experience what they have lived through. "It hurts so much when the doctor is telling you that your son is dead following an activity like that, so I don't want no one else to live it," said Francois Lessard, whose son Simon died as a result of...

A Canton teenager is recovering after being impaled by a crowbar over the weekend. Fourteen-year-old Magen Stephens was sledding while being pulled by a four-wheeled ATV when a crowbar hooked to the lid of a septic tank, ripped the sled in half and then lodged in Magen's leg. She lay stuck there for 45 minutes with the bar coming out through her hip until a neighbor used bolt-cutters to set her free. Magen's mother Tracy says, "If it would have been a centimeter either way, it could have killed her, because it went through and it hit nothing. It hit...

A former Milwaukee police sergeant who resigned from the department after he was caught lying to cover for officers who went sledding on duty was sentenced Friday to four months in jail. Brian P. Hinkle, 37, admitted coming up with a cover story for the sledding officers and pleaded guilty to a felony count of misconduct in public office for reporting that an officer injured sledding had been hurt chasing a suspect. Three police officers were fired and a fourth was suspended after the Jan. 27 sledding came to light. Friday, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Mary Kuhnmuench chastised Hinkle for...

While we're slip-sliding around these frozen streets and the groundhog remains in his cozy den for at least another day or two, we harken back to the old days of sled-riding, or coasting, on the same, though not so crowded, roadways. Morgantown's hilly terrain has always been a blessing for winter recreational activity, in particular the free sledding on snow-covered slopes. The practice dates back as far as records are kept and since the city has had improved streets.For many decades the city designated "coasting streets." Lists of those basically closed to vehicular traffic during snowy times were published in...

MERRIMACK – Two 11-year-old girls will have quite a story to tell when they return to school today after the holiday. Police say both girls escaped serious injury late Monday afternoon when a service van backed over the two as they slid down a driveway on a pair of plastic sleds.The incident happened at about 4:25 p.m. at 23 Windover Lane, and the mother of one of the girls called police to report that the girls had been run over by an EnergyNorth propane van that had failed to stop.The woman reported that the girls, who had been sledding down...