Schlitterbahn co-owner plagued with financial, legal troubles before murder charge in boy’s death | The San Antonio Express-News

Express-News reporters dug through court files and state records to reveal the troubled history of Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry, who was arrested in connection with the death of a 10-year-old boy who died on a towering, 17-story tall Schiltterbahn water slide in Kansas. Story by Joshua Fechter, Zeke MacCormack and Patrick Danner

Sid Miller put ex-doctor with 2 revoked licenses on rural health panel | The Austin American-Statesman

Rick Ray Redalen, a former physician who had his medical license revoked or suspended in three states, was appointed by Texas Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller in 2016 to the state’s Rural Health Task Force after contributing $17,000 to Miller’s campaign. Buck Wood, a lawyer who helped write many of Texas’ ethics laws, said the situation “sure stinks to high heaven.” Story by Sean Collins Walsh

Silent Spills: In Houston and beyond, Harvey’s spills leave a toxic legacy | The Houston Chronicle and the Associated Press

A review of county, state and federal records by reporters reveals far more toxic impact from Hurricane Harvey than authorities publicly reported after the storm slammed into the Texas coast in late August. “Benzene, vinyl chloride, butadiene and other known human carcinogens were among the dozens of tons of industrial chemicals released throughout Houston’s petrochemical corridor and surrounding neighborhoods and waterways following Harvey’s torrential rains,” the review found. Story by Frank Bajak and Lise Olsen

City official placed on leave after newspaper investigation found he helped friend get $825,000 housing gig | The Dallas Morning News

At least eight houses, paid for by the city of Dallas for people with limited incomes, have suffered construction problems — and all the homes were built by the friend of a city official who sought special permission to help get his pal some work, a Dallas Morning News investigation found. The city official was placed on leave as a result of the newspaper’s story. Story by Sue Ambrose and Sarah Mervosh

As wait times grow, calls to the Texas abuse hotline go unanswered | The Austin American-Statesman

A newspaper investigation found that “more than 100,000 callers each year to report potential child or elder abuse and neglect in Texas are hanging up before reaching an operator because of long wait times.” The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is on track this year to exceed 180,000 abandoned calls to the agency’s abuse hotline, the most in at least a decade. Story by Julie Chang

Most homes damaged by Harvey were outside flood plain, data show | The Houston Chronicle

A new analysis by the Houston Chronicle shows most of the homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey’s floodwaters were outside the federally regulated 100-year flood plains. “The findings raise questions about local government plans to prevent flooding that focus on tightening building codes inside the flood plain. They also cast further doubt on the accuracy of the maps used to identify housing most in danger of flooding.” Story by David Hunn, Matt Dempsey and Mihir Zaveri

Did I miss a good story? Contact me or leave a comment below. Don’t forget to sign up for blog updates and check out more watchdog journalism from the great state of Texas.

The post Must reads: Texas watchdog journalism roundup for April 9, 2018 appeared first on John Tedesco.

After 20 years, a fearsome monster called the Rattler is closing down at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. It’s a good time to reflect on the park’s flagship roller coaster — and how it suffered from excessive speeds when it opened in 1992.

These internal memos and letters were uncovered in lawsuits filed against Fiesta Texas by riders who complained of head and neck injuries after riding the Rattler during the early 1990s. They show how the ride’s manufacturers were struggling to control the Rattler’s high speeds, even after opening day.

Meanwhile, the public knew little about the problems — and was falsely told the ride was tamer than it actually was.

Related: How to contact an investigative reporter in Texas

Years later, the Express-News wrote a series of stories about amusement ride safety and published the main material in the documents. Here are three key records (click on the bottom-left corner of each record for a full-screen view):

Excessive speeds of the Rattler

Dana Morgan, who built the Rattler’s train cars, criticized the decision to open the ride without adequate testing. He also criticized design changes that increased the height and steepness of the first stomach-churning drop.

Publicly, Fiesta Texas was saying riders enjoyed gravitational forces of “3 g’s,” or forces three times the earth’s gravity. Morgan’s letter said the ride was actually exerting forces of 5 g’s on riders, which increased the risk of injury.

Rushed construction at Six Flags

Dana Morgan, who built the Rattler’s train cars, criticized the decision to open the ride without adequate testing. He also criticized design changes that increased the height and steepness of the first stomach-churning drop.

Publicly, Fiesta Texas was saying riders enjoyed gravitational forces of “3 g’s,” or forces three times the earth’s gravity. Morgan’s letter said the ride was actually exerting forces of 5 g’s on riders, which increased the risk of injury.

Questionable excess g-forces

Rattler builder Mike Black pointed out to Fiesta Texas owner USAA that design changes had increased the ride’s height and produced “questionable excess g-forces.”

So how was all this resolved? After two years, Fiesta Texas finally lowered the height of the Rattler’s first drop. Fiesta Texas insisted it had nothing to do with the scores of personal injury lawsuits filed against the park.

The Rattler is now a tamer ride — but still a tricky one. On its final days of operation, the cars froze yesterday and 20 riders were stranded for 45 minutes.

The post Internal memos: Fiesta Texas struggled to control the Rattler’s ‘excessive speeds’ appeared first on John Tedesco.

Kiddie Park, the troubled children’s attraction that I wrote about in June, is under new ownership. Reporter Elizabeth Allen covered the reopening yesterday of the remodeled park. There’s also a neat slideshow by photographer Lisa Krantz of kids having a blast.

The decades-old rollercoaster, which suffered structural failures on at least two occasions and knocked a boy’s teeth out in 2004, has been sold for scrap metal.

Read more: Meet Chris Lykins, the funny weather guy at the Express-News

My stories about Kiddie Park and other theme parks in San Antonio were based on a database of ride injuries reported to the Texas Department of Insurance. The Express-News posted the data online, so everyone can look up the safety record of any carnival or theme park in Texas.

The post After mishaps, Kiddie Park opens for business appeared first on John Tedesco.

Here’s a recording of my radio interview last week with KTSA’s Paul Alexander.

We talked about a San Antonio Express-News investigation of the thrill ride industry, and how the public can check a little-known government database that tracks amusement ride injuries in Texas. The Express-News posted the injury data online for anyone interested in checking the safety record of a theme park or carnival.

Read more: Sign up for updates from John Tedesco’s blog

The post KTSA’s Paul Alexander discusses thrill-ride injuries appeared first on John Tedesco.

Many readers who commented about our story that examined ride malfunctions at Kiddie Park in San Antonio reflected on their love for the old park, and their hope that its woes can be addressed.

Here are a few examples:

Kiddie Park holds a special place in my heart, but I was fearful taking my children there in the 1980’s due to exposed moving parts, evidence of inadequate repairs, and minimal passenger restraints. Complete overhauls by the most competent professionals could never bring many of the antiquated attractions my father rode in the 1920’s and I rode in the 1950’s to modern safety standards. Good fortune alone has spared more serious injuries; I regret not acting as a concerned citizen to prevent the trauma that has been suffered by innocent children. — Alfred E. Neuman

I recently took my son to kiddie park in hopes of him reliving the fun I had there as a child. But when we got there I was disappointed at the poor condition it was in & didn’t put my son on any of the rides. I’m not surprised children have been hurt in the past & I won’t be returning until someone makes this a safe park for kids. — Bonnie

Related: Top five books every student journalist should own right now

What a shame this wonderful relic from another era has fallen into such direpair. Like so many others I have great memories from childhood of being taken there. I can’t help but think some savvy business person could take this over, spruce it up and turn it back into a prosperous, safe and inviting miniature Tivoli Gardens that would be a treat for all of us. — Will

What really gets me is when people say “Remember Playland? Don’t you wish it was still here?” I know I do. It’s amazing that Kiddie Park is still around in spite of these issues which I’m sure all amusement parks have. This city is so proud of their history with the Missions, La Villita, and all its different cultures. I’m surprised that there isn’t a public effort to “Refurbish Kiddie Park”. My understanding is that it’s officially the oldest Kiddie Park in the nation. It would be another sad day in San Antonio history if this park closed. I no longer have kids young enough to enjoy Kiddie Park but I’d be willing to do something to help keep this going for future generations. — Robert

The post What readers are saying about Kiddie Park appeared first on John Tedesco.

Nice to see Brooks Egerton at the Dallas Morning News used our new database of amusement ride injuries to check the safety record of the Texas Giant rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Texas. In his blog post today, Egerton discussed how the Texas Giant is closed and he was quickly able to check whether people had been seriously hurt on the ride.

The post Tracking the safety history of the Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas appeared first on John Tedesco.

Our second story in our series about the safety record of amusement parks in Texas focused on Kiddie Park, a San Antonio landmark that opened in 1925 but has fallen on tough times. In at least three incidents, the park’s aging rides malfunctioned or broke with scared children on board. One 6-year-old boy knocked his teeth out in a rollercoaster accident.

The post Mishaps mar Kiddie Park memories appeared first on John Tedesco.

Ten years ago (wow, I’m getting old) I wrote a series of stories about the safety record of San Antonio’s major theme parks — Six Flags Fiesta Texas, SeaWorld San Antonio, and Splashtown. I learned state officials keep a little-known database that tracks amusement-ride injuries in Texas.

The database isn’t perfect. The injuries are self-reported by parks, and there’s missing cases of devastating, bone-breaking injuries, as my story published today points out. And the injury reports are written by ride owners, so it’s their version of events.

Related: Telling stories with data: Police chases and drug smugglers on the Texas-Mexico border

Despite the limitations, the injury data can be an interesting starting point for someone who’s wondering, just how safe is my local theme park or carnival?

Over the years, B.J. Morris, the friendly amusement-ride administrator at the Texas Department of Insurance, has e-mailed me updates to the data. Meanwhile, the data geeks at the Express-News have been doing a good job posting public data online for readers to slice and dice. Last year, we posted a salary database of city employees and it was wildly popular. It got me to thinking, maybe I need to stop hoarding that ride injury database on my computer’s hard drive and put that puppy in the public realm.

Here’s the result: A database of amusement ride injuries that’s available to everyone. For the first time, you can go online and look up injuries by ride owner and injury type. Many reports describe minor bumps and scrapes.

But one thing that struck me was the sheer variety of painful ways people get hurt at theme parks and carnivals. One report describes a 10-year-old girl who got her finger caught in a gate at Six Flags Over Texas.

Her fingertip was amputated.

You can look up these records yourself and see what exactly goes wrong at your favorite theme park. Just keep in mind you might not be getting the whole story.

The post Theme park injuries go unreported in Texas appeared first on John Tedesco.

You can check the safety record of Texas theme parks and carnivals by searching a unique database of 1,800 reports detailing broken bones, chipped teeth and other injuries.

Officials at the Texas Department of Insurance collect injury reports from amusement ride owners and type the information into a database. We obtained a copy of the data and posted it online this afternoon. The major parks include Six Flags and SeaWorld.

Related: Theme park injuries go unreported

The data is part of a story scheduled to be published this Sunday in the San Antonio Express-News that examines the safety-record of the thrill-ride industry. More to come.

The post Texas database tracks theme park injuries appeared first on John Tedesco.