By Michael Virtanen 11 November 2017 GLEN DANIEL, W.Va. (Associated Press) – Chuck Nelson spent his life in this corner of Appalachia, working for years in the coal mines — a good job in the economically depressed area. But he says the industry that helped him earn a living cost him his health, and his […]
By Umair Irfan 10 November 2017 (Vox) – Millions of Puerto Ricans are again without power after a high-voltage transmission line that had been repaired by Whitefish Energy, a Montana contractor now facing an FBI investigation, failed Thursday.The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority reported that power generation across the island plummeted from 40 percent to […]
By Michael J. Paul 7 November 2017 (GIS Use in Public Health) – Today’s map of the day shows the prevalence of obesity in the United States by county. According to the Centers for Disease Control, a person with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 is considered obese. From the […]
By Jasmine Spearing-Bowen and Karl Schneider 17 August 2017 PHOENIX (News21) – In Ringwood, New Jersey, Ford Motor Co. dumped more than 35,000 tons of toxic paint sludge onto lands occupied for centuries by the Turtle Clan of the Ramapough Lenape tribe, poisoning groundwater with arsenic, lead and other harmful chemicals. Today, more than 43 […]
5 November 2017 (Vice News) – A vast new trove of 13.4 million leaked documents dubbed the Paradise Papers have been published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) exposing the offshore banking activities of more than 120 politicians around the world. Included in the leak are documents connecting U.S. Commerce Secretary and billionaire […]
By Adrian Carrasquillo 6 November 2017 (BuzzFeed) – Celebrity chef José Andrés has helped cook and deliver 2.2 million meals in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria flattened the island, at one point cranking out 150,000 meals a day. But while his effort has been loudly praised across the country, the Trump administration, which awarded him […]
By Stuart Leavenworth 8 November 2017 WASHINGTON (McClatchy) – Ever-higher temperatures are melting the ice sheets faster than projected. Sea level is rising. International efforts to reduce greenhouse gases are taking longer than expected. It’s a nightmare scenario that could soon demand an emergency response. What to do? One idea gaining traction is to seed […]
By Robin McKie 5 November 2017 (The Observer) – The Republican majority in the US Congress has been accused of deliberately obstructing research on global warming after it emerged that a critically important technique for investigating sea-ice cover at the poles faces being blocked. The row has erupted after a key polar satellite broke down […]
7 November 2017 (AFP) – U.S. President Donald Trump is not among the 100 heads of state and government invited to next month’s climate summit in Paris, a French presidential aide said on Tuesday. “For now, President Donald Trump is not invited,” he said, while noting that representatives of the U.S. government would attend. In […]
By Andrew Kolodny 6 November 2017 (Quartz) – Drug overdose deaths, once rare, are now the leading cause of accidental death in the US, surpassing peak annual deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents, guns, and HIV infection.As a former public health official, clinician, and researcher, I’ve been engaged in efforts to control the opioid addiction […]