mr. williams. >> (clapping) >> (calling names). >> who's up. >> lance. >> mr. lance is up first sir, your after him. >> good afternoon mr. karen's. >> yeah. good afternoon mr. chairman and members of the board i'm here to pass along information we got recently about the bus scheduling problems could i get the overhead federal transit administration issued a report no august that indicated it was severe problems with the budget and schedule for the central subway standard you know the standard mantra from sfmta is that the central subway is on on time and on budget this is repeated for the models report it turns out it is not true a report in august there's severe problems with the schedule for the central subway in addition there are approximately 4 hundred reasons comparing sfmta capital projects that either had or will have cost overruns as revealed in the sfmta cpa program and the 2012 audit so the bottom line is the loosely written 5 hundred prop measure will further cost overruns not related to the mayors transit p t f plan with the prop a fund only a porti

. >> mr. lance, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. miller, the changes that you've made in recent years, the rules change, the increased penalties, suspensions for rule violations, reducing full contact practice days, can you share with the committee data you have that this, i hope, has had a positive impact on concussion incidents that might encourage leaders at other levels of football? >> absolutely. we're happy to share with the committee, you know, some greater information that i can offer in my oral testimony. >> certainly. >> but the most interesting number from my perspective is when you count up the number of all the concussions diagnosed in games and practices, preseason and preseason practices and postseason and postseason practices. you see a 13% decrease year over year. >> 13% each year? >> 13% between 2012 and '13. >> very good. >> the emphasis has been on eliminating the use of the head in the game, especially helmet-to-helmet hits, which are a significant cause of the injury. and in those circumstances that we've been

mr. williams. >> (clapping) >> (calling names). >> who's up. >> lance. >> mr. lance is up first sir, your after him. >> good afternoon mr. karen's. >> yeah. good afternoon mr. chairman and

. >> mr. lance, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. miller, the changes that you've made in recent years, the rules change, the increased penalties, suspensions for rule violations, reducing full contact practice days, can you share with the committee data you have that this, i hope, has had a positive impact on concussion incidents that might encourage leaders at other levels of football? >> absolutely. we're happy to share with the committee, you know, some greater information that i can offer in my oral testimony. >> certainly. >> but the most interesting number from my perspective is when you count up the number of all the concussions diagnosed in games and practices, preseason and preseason practices and postseason and postseason practices. you see a 13% decrease year over year. >> 13% each year? >> 13% between 2012 and '13. >> very good. >> the emphasis has been on eliminating the use of the head in the game, especially helmet-to-helmet hits, which are a significant cause of the injury. and in those circumstances that we've been

at this time i recognize vice chairman of the committee, mr. lance, of new jersey. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this extremely important hearing. i want to thank dr. james johnston who will be one of the witnesses who came to my office earlier this morning. thank you, dr. johnston. experts generally agree that a concussion can be classified as a brain injury ranging in seriousness from mild to dramatic. the center for disease control states a concussion is caused by a bump, a blow he or a jolt to the head or a blow to the body. it causes the head to move quickly. according to the cdc, the sports that reported the highest number of traumatic brain injuries are bicycling, football, playground activities, basketball and soccer. from 2010 through 2013, the participation rate of children in youth soccer and football dropped considerably. some have pointed to the increased risk of tbis as a result of participating in these sports. as a reason for the drop in that participation. the increased spotlight on concussions in sports

mr. chairman lance and folding by howard wong. >> sir. >> hello, again in the agenda for this meeting the wording of the $89 million bond resolution that you're about to consider is indicated it is a craft of that and the prop a the $89 million in the resolution you're about to consider to has allocated funds whereas prop a the measure did not there or lots of possibilities where expenses occur but importing and exporting nothing two specific a question why is it sfmta duplicating a lot of the expenditures from prop a in a separate bonds passage adding another $89 million on the backs of taxpayers i have appeared before this board on you numerous occasions in opposition to the central subway, however, in general, i rely on muni for transportation within the city and look forward to it being a serviceable system in recent conversations with director reiskin the director of mta i asked why prop a doesn't talk about the expenditures he said the lawyers wrote me it that way prop a will not insure the money will be used for safer streets as director reiskin pointed out in defense of prop a it

mr. lance? gentleman from missouri gets to ask another question. mississippi. i thought you were billy long. >> that hurt. that hurt. thank you, mr. chairman. and a couple of questions that i would have. one would be if we're looking at this -- doctor, if the i may ask a question? >> yes, sir. >> in your testimony you state that football players at the elite levels are shedding equipment to increase speed and mobility. >> yes. >> but the decision of which helmet to wear is their own and that player often chooses a helmet's looks, shape, feel, over its collision cushioning ability or safety features. do some physicians require different levels of cushioning? would you recommend a specific helmet? >> that's a great question. currently there are no position specific helmets being made. i think the helmet manufacturers try to do the best they can for everybody. i would say that not to belabor the point but i think for a lineman where you typically get no severe hits but a lot of subconcussive blows, that horse collar is crucial. i wouldn't recommend that a whiteout

mr. lance? gentleman from missouri gets to ask another question. mississippi. i thought you were billy long. >> that hurt. that hurt. thank you, mr. chairman. and a couple of questions that i would have. one would be if we're looking at this -- doctor, if the i may ask a question? >> yes, sir. >> in your testimony you state that football players at the elite levels are shedding equipment to increase speed and mobility. >> yes. >> but the decision of which helmet to wear is their own and that player often chooses a helmet's looks, shape, feel, over its collision cushioning ability or safety features. do some physicians require different levels of cushioning? would you recommend a specific helmet? >> that's a great question. currently there are no position specific helmets being made. i think the helmet manufacturers try to do the best they can for everybody. i would say that not to belabor the point but i think for a lineman where you typically get no severe hits but a lot of subconcussive blows, that horse collar is crucial. i wouldn't recommend that a whiteout

mr. lance? >> i have no questions. >> the gentleman from missouri gets to ask another question. mississippi. i thought you were billy long. >> that hurt. that hurt. thank you, mr. chairman. and a couple of questions that i would have. one would be if we're looking at this -- doctor, if i may ask a question? >> yes, sir. >> in your testimony you state that football players at the elite levels are shedding equipment to increase speed and mobility. >> yes. >> but the decision of which helmet to wear is their own and that player often chooses a helmet's looks, shape, feel, over its collision cushioning ability or safety features. do some physicians require different levels of cushioning? and, if so, would you recommend a special helmet for specific positions that would meet all safety standards? >> that's a great question. currently there are no position specific helmets being made. i think the helmet manufacturers try to do the best they can for everybody. i would say that -- not to belabor the point but i think for linemen where you typically get no severe hits but a lot of subconc

university hospital in atlanta that nbc free lance journalist now being treated in nebraska, they say there was one standard for them, a different standard for mr. duncan. is that criticism fair? >> you know, i don't think so, wolf. obviously there's a lot of emotion associated with this. it's very unfortunate that mr. duncan died. everyone knows that when he first went to the emergency room, it was not recognized that he had ebola. i mean, that was a misstep that's very clear, unfortunate. certainly was not deliberate. i think it was a mistake that could have been made no matter who the person was. once mr. duncan got into the hospital in texas, it's an excellent hospital, they provided excellent medical care. i think people need to appreciate even under the best of circumstances, ebola is a very serious disease, in this particular epidemic, with an overall mortality of a bit more than 50% and some circumstances even a lot more, so i think you have to put that into consideration. >> here are some of the questions we're getting on twitter and elsewhere from viewers out there. you're the expert. they say mr. duncan did not receive a blood donati

kent bradley has donated his blood to the free lance cameraman who was working for nbc who is being treated. it offered his blood as well to the man that mr. duncan sadly died and he wasn't a match, but he is a good match with the journalist. we assume that the blood because of antibodies might be helpful? we don't know what is going to work. is that correct? >> we don't know. hypothetically it could work. we don't know what the protection is. the same experiment has been tried with a monkey that was vaccinate and given to another monky and it did not protect it. that doesn't mean that transfusing plasma from a human who is recovering into someone who is sick may not help. it might. as you pointed out, we do not know that. a clinical study will have to be done to see if that approach works. >> thank you so much. a very busy time for you. we appreciate you taking the time. thank you for being with us. >> good to be with you. >> turning to isis, canada is monitoring hundreds of people who traveled or tried to travel to syria and talking about carrying out attacks here in north america. the u.s.-led coalition pounds targets near turkey. 23 s