BRICKBATS.

• Author: Oliver, Charles

Heritage train companies, which run steam engine tours, will have to shell out millions to retrofit passenger cars to comply with new British safety regulations. The rules mandate bars over the windows to keep passengers from leaning out and locking systems that keep doors from being opened until the trains fully stop. The train cars had operated for 70 years without incident until 2016, when a man died after leaning out of a window and striking his head on a signal gantry.

In Australia, federal transportation officials, along with those of the various states, have agreed to ban vehicles with sexist, obscene, or offensive slogans and images. The move is specifically aimed at Wicked Campers, a van rental company. The company's vans have spray-painted designs with pop culture references that some consider offensive.

A Marion County, Indiana, sheriff's deputy went to a TV station to accuse workers at a local McDonald's of taking a bite of his chicken sandwich because he is a cop. After an investigation, the sheriff's office released a statement saying the deputy took a bite out of the sandwich before starting his shift, then placed it in a break room refrigerator. When he came back hours later to heat his meal and eat it, he'd forgotten he'd taken the bite.

The Chicago Police Department has apologized after a local newspaper reported it ran background checks on nearly 60 people who spoke out at meetings of the Chicago Police Board. Cops searched police databases for outstanding warrants and criminal history and scrutinized speakers' social media accounts.

Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley West School District has sent letters to parents warning them that if they don't pay overdue lunchroom bills, their children could be taken from them and placed into foster care. School officials say...