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Oelde,Germany - The emergency services in a north-western German town were placed on high alert after two six-year-olds built a toy atomic reactor complete with radioactivity warning signs, the police said on Tuesday. The two boys in the town of Oelde had set up bits of computer casing on the pavement and attached a radioactivity warning sign downloaded from the internet, before heading home for a rest. When the kids reappeared to play with their toy reactor, the surrounding area had been sealed off. Emergency alerts were issued on the radio, warning neighbours not to leave their homes after a...

It had been somebody's lunch once. Or maybe a soft-cheese snack, tucked away — and then forgotten — in the back of an office mini-fridge at the AT&T call center in North San Jose. That was long ago, before figs become fur-bearing and corned beef mutates into stink on rye. Nobody really knows what it was in the offending refrigerator that prompted an evacuation Tuesday morning and ambulance rides to the hospital for seven people, who were overcome by the stench and fumes from an ill-fated attempt to clean it. It finally became so unbearable that the San Jose Fire...

Police: Man Found With IED Arrested; Home Searched Hazardous Materials Team Removes Chemicals From Pittsburgh Home PITTSBURGH -- SNIPPET: "When police searched the man's Parkview Street home in the city's Oakland neighborhood, they said officers found chemicals for making explosives devices. Police described the chemicals as extremely dangerous."

WIND GAP, Pa. – Evacuation orders for about 5,000 people in northeastern Pennsylvania remain in effect even as authorities say the leak of a hazardous chemical has been contained. Authorities say a tanker truck carrying more than 16 tons of hydrofluoric acid overturned early Saturday near Wind Gap, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia.

WIND GAP, Pa. – Evacuation orders for about 5,000 people in northeastern Pennsylvania remain in effect even as authorities say the leak of a hazardous chemical has been contained. Authorities say a tanker truck carrying more than 16 tons of hydrofluoric acid overturned early Saturday near Wind Gap, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia.

Senior Hamas officials in Gaza are hiding out in a "bunker" built by Israel, intelligence officials suspect: Many are believed to be in the basements of the Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City, which was refurbished during Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip. Shifa, the coastal strip's largest hospital, was built while Gaza was under Egyptian rule, before 1967. During the mid-1980s the building underwent massive refurbishment as part of a showcase project to improve the living conditions of residents. Millions were invested in the project, which was overseen by Shmuel Goren, the coordinator for activities in the territories at...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Greenfield man has been indicted on accusations he tried to sell the names of U.S. intelligence agents to Iraq before the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Authorities: Man Was In Iraq In '02 Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban, a 52-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested Thursday after an investigation of more than a year by the FBI and other agencies, U.S. Attorney Susan W. Brooks said. Shaaban, also known as Shaaban Shaaban Hafed and Joe H. Brown, is suspected of going to Iraq in 2002 and making a deal to sell the names. He isn't accused...

The Port Orange Police Department got a call this afternoon from the office of U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, in Port Orange City Hall, saying secretarial staff had opened an envelope that contained what appeared to be a white powder substance. Capt. Wayne M. Miller said the city's fire department and Haz-Mat team responded and the building was evacuated. No word on any injuries -- or who might have sent the envelope.

Hazmat crews are investigating separate incidents at two area hospitals. Sources say several people came into contact with a chemical and drove themselves to DePaul and St. Anthony’s hospitals. Both emergency rooms were placed on lockdown and ER patients were quarantined. There is no word yet on the origin of the chemical or the incident that sent the victims to the hospital. FOX 2 has crews at St. Anthony’s and at DePaul and will have more information as it develops.

Ramsey County sheriff's deputies found weapons and devices to disable buses - among other items - in searches in the Twin Cities last night and today. Authorities said the items came from "key members of the RNC Welcoming Committee," a self-described anarchist group. Five people have been arrested and four properties have been searched, according to the sheriff's office. At 8 a.m. today, the sheriff's office executed search warrants at three Minneapolis homes - 2301 23rd Ave. S., 3500 Harriet Ave. and 3240 17th Ave. S. The FBI, Minneapolis police and the Hennepin County sheriff's office assisted them. "The 'Welcoming...

A 22-year-old Massachusetts man was arrested Monday after police saw him carrying a bottle filled with feces, according to a police report. Zachary Patrick Grey, a University of Massachusetts student from Marion, Ma., was arrested at 1:40 p.m. Monday following a foot chase, according to a Denver County Court complaint. He was the first known person to be charged with possessing bodily waste during the DNC, though the threat of its use has been rumored by police and protesters alike for weeks leading up to the event. "It's disgusting for anyone to throw that at anyone," said Denver Police Lt....

7/14/2008 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFPN) -- One Airman's initiative has cut the response times for hazardous material teams from hours to minutes, and his supervisors want civil engineer units throughout the Air Force to adopt the idea. Senior Airman Michael Blair, an emergency management equipment technician with the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's Emergency Management Flight, packed the flight's frequently used tools into a single 12-cubic-foot box, a large reduction from the flight's previous four-case response package. "During training, we were taking three or four different cases in at a time," said Airman Blair, who is deployed here...

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Department of Water and Power are expected to announce on May 15 a revised water use and management plan for this city that includes using recycled wastewater to recharge drinking water aquifers, according to a May 15 Los Angeles Times article. The new plan allocates about $1 billion for the proposed reclamation system, also known as “toilet-to-tap” or “sewer-to-spigot.” The city would recycle about 4.9 billion gallons of treated wastewater to drinking standards by 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported on May 15. Villaraigosa, who less than a decade ago opposed such...

D.C. Fire Hazmat Teams responded to an apparent suicide in the District after fire officials said the man may have killed himself using cyanide. Police got a call around 4:30 p.m. on Monday for an unconscious male at a house in the 4300 block of 36th Street. Two officers responded and found a man laying next to a small vile of cyanide. Immediately, fire officials said police left the home and called in the hazmat crew, which is standard procedure. -snip-

U.N. Keeps Quiet on Suspect Boxes From North Korea By BENNY AVNI Staff Reporter of the Sun February 1, 2008 UNITED NATIONS — U.N. officials failed to inform New York or federal authorities about an illness suffered by two employees who had handled boxes shipped here from North Korea — boxes that might have been contaminated — U.N. sources said. The U.N. contractors suffered headaches and nausea and felt sick enough to report the incident and seek treatment. The U.N. security authorities were concerned enough to deploy their own hazardous-material team but failed to seal the site where the incident...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and propulsion and could hit the Earth in late February or March, government officials said Saturday. The satellite, which no longer be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret.

Rockwall man boasts of nuclear reactor, but no arrest made Thursday, January 10, 2008 By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News A 22-year-old Rockwall man's Internet boasts that he had made a mini-nuclear reactor in his garage resulted in a visit recently by federal authorities. Representatives with the FBI and the Texas Department of State Health Services' Radiation Control Program took away the man's science equipment on Friday – but not because he was doing anything dangerous or illegal. Rather, the man's parents, with whom he is living, asked that the equipment be removed, officials said. The man, who...

Reid: Banning Incandescent Bulb Appropriate Federal Act By Josiah Ryan CNSNews.com Staff Writer December 20, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) told Cybercast News Service yesterday that a provision in the new energy law that will effectively ban the use of the incandescent light bulb in the United States by 2020 was an appropriate exercise of federal power. "Do you think it is the appropriate role of the federal government to effectively bar incandescent light bulbs in 2020 from American homes?" CNSNews.com asked Reid. "Yes," he said. (Listen to the audio) Reid had just attended a ceremony...

"Tony McDonald, a member of the University of Texas Young Conservatives, sets up a protest anti- American Civil Liberties Union nativity scene, dubbed a 'solstice barn,' on the university's campus in Austin December 4, 2006. The display features a 'Nancy Pelosi' angel, a 'suicide bomber' shepherd, and Marx, Lenin and Stalin as the Three Wise Men." "Josh Perry, a member of the University of Texas Young Conservatives, spreads hay as he sets up a protest anti-American Civil Liberties Union nativity scene, dubbed a 'solstice barn,' on the university's campus in Austin, Texas December 4, 2006. The display features a...

FORT WORTH -- A box containing depleted uranium that fell from a truck yesterday has been found. Police and emergency hazardous material workers searched an area of northwest Fort Worth overnight for the device that is used to X-ray construction welds. A driver with a company identified as Desert Industrial X-Ray was transporting the device through the area of Blue Mound Road and U.S. 287 just before 11 p.m. when the box apparently bounced out of the back of his pickup, police said. Lt. Kent Worley, a spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department, said this morning that a man...

ATLANTA -- Emergency officials are on the scene of an incident/HazMat situation at the Science and Technology building at Georgia Tech. The incident took place on the second floor of the building. That building has been evacuated. Officials said there is one minor injury -- they are still determining if it's relation to the spill or the evacuation. HazMat crews are on the scene and entered the building just after 12:45 p.m. The type of chemical they are dealing with has not been determined. -snip-

Why does Mattel's third recall of China-made toys in less than six weeks prove that concern over global warming is nothing but a luxury that only people in the developed world have the time and lifestyle to indulge? Well, it proves that only indirectly. But it does show how easily elites in the West miss real threats by becoming preoccupied with fashionable (and meaningless) causes. China is a mess. Its environment is one of the most hazardous in the world; not only to its own citizens, but increasingly to others as well. This summer, there have been reports that Chinese...

Forklift accident caused radioactive spill at LAX Daily News Wire ServiceLA Daily News Article Last Updated: LOS ANGELES - A forklift punctured a cargo box containing low-grade radioactive material at Los Angeles International Airport tonight, causing a spill, authorities said. The accident - not an act of terrorism - occurred at about 8:10 p.m. when the forklift punctured one of three boxes containing the material while unloading cargo from a Lufthansa flight, said Nancy Castles, spokeswoman for Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX. Los Angeles City firefighters contained the spill to the tarmac, and a hazardous materials crew...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The Clarksville Police Department has been quarantined and specialists from Fort Campbell were summoned to identify a suspicious package found near the station. Citing scanner traffic, the Leaf-Chronicle reported that "the station may be contaminated by an undisclosed hazardous biological substance."

A fender-bender at Hoboken and Summit avenues ended with the trunk of a parked car popping open to reveal a box labeled as having radioactive materials, Jersey City police have told The Jersey Journal. After a response that included cops, firefighters, HAZMAT and other emergency personnel, the father of the car's owner gave cops a plausible explanation for the box, police said. Get the full story in tomorrow's Jersey Journal.

FALLUJAH — The 329th Chemical Platoon, Task Force Phantom, Multi-National Corps-Iraq, participated in a joint operation July 12-17 to recover a large quantity of nitric acid found in a cache in the city of Fallujah. The platoon, a reserve unit from Winter Park, Fla., helped remove of 40,000 gallons of the acid, said Army Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Hart, platoon leader, 329th Chem. Platoon, TF Phantom, MNC-I. Nitric acid is a toxic, acidic, colorless liquid used to make fertilizers, dyes, explosives and other chemicals. Twenty Soldiers from the platoon worked in conjunction with Marines from Multi-National Force-West and Soldiers from...

Prince George's and Montgomery County are investigating a possible chemical exposer and a strange substance at several above ground Green line Metro stations, Sunday afternoon. Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato says the Greenbelt and Takoma Park stations on the green line are closed while authorities investigate an early report of a man seen spraying some sort of chemical. Asato says the Greenbelt station had as many as 20 dead birds outside, and the others had one to three each. The first report came from Naylor Road just after noon Sunday.The Anacostia Stations, College Park, and Branch Avenue stations have also been...

Watch for update.

Trucking student faces deportation Instructors at a truck driving school in Rhode Island thought it was suspicious that one of their students – who was going for a CDL with hazmat endorsement – wasn’t interested in learning how to back up. According to the Providence Journal, the staff at the Nationwide Tractor Trailer Driving School in Smithfield, RI, became suspicious and contacted federal officials. It turned out the student, Mohammed Mullawala, was in the U.S. illegally, had driver’s licenses from three states and had falsified documents to get one of the licenses. Mullawala now faces deportation. “Maybe he’s not a...

September 22, 2006 Remember the Muslim-Dominated Trucking School w/ HazMat Applicants? Printer Friendly By Debbie Schlussel Remember the Muslim-dominated trucking school run by Missouri's West Plains School District? We wrote about it back in February, when the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force raided one of the schools. Knight-Ridder Wire reports that, Wednesday, indictments against the Muslim operators of that school and others in Kansas City were handed down. Here's an excerpt of what we wrote about the school: Are potential Islamic terrorists trying to get commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) and hazardous materials hauling certificates? You bet, they are. In...

APEX, N.C. -- Authorities evacuated Apex residents and closed downtown streets late Thursday after a cloud containing chlorine gas spewed from a volatile industrial fire. Apex Town Manager Bruce Radford said a leak at the EQ North Carolina plant on Investment Boulevard sent several large plumes of chlorine gas into the air around 9 p.m. A large fire broke out at the plant afterward, with multiple explosions heard nearby. "This is the worst possible hazardous materials incident you could have," Radford said.

Short report... 20 being treated by Haz Mat in Van Nuys.

pair of illegal immigrants carrying drugs, weapons, and a suspicious liquid was busted on the border. Authorities say that suspicious liquid could be used to make liquid methamphetamine. It happened Thursday morning, in Santa Cruz County just outside Rio Rico and only a few miles from the Mexican border. "You can't be a hundred percent sure that's what's on the label is in the bottle," said Battalion Chief William Rowe with the Tubac Fire Department. Labels on bottles found read "ethanol." Officials say the lids had been tampered with, so no one could be sure exactly what was inside. The...

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) - An attempt to control pigeons at a hospital escalated into a hazardous material incident as sick and dying birds falling from the sky forced a temporary shutdown of the emergency room. "Birds were coming down like dive bombers," said Schenectady Fire Chief Robert Farstad.

Anybody know what is going on in NW DC on Calvert St. past the Omni Shoreham? I work near there and have been hearing sirens since 11:30 a.m. I walked up there a few minutes ago and saw a lot of fire trucks (but there is no fire or smoke that I could see), police cars, an ambulance and other first responder vehicles. I stopped when I saw a guy dressed in a white space suit with a mask and an oxygen tank strapped to his back standing next to one of the fire trucks. Also, even though the situation...

HAZMAT Called in...local media covering the story. JCPD officer who had been in Iraq for a few months. He returned home and was feeling ill. Found in his apartment dead.

(New Haven-WTNH, Jan. 16, 2006 3:30 PM) Police are on the lookout for a stolen DEP Hazmat vehicle. Police say that a newer model Ford Expedition with the words DEP Hazmat across the center of the light bar was stolen while parked outside the Peabody Museum. The DEP was cohosting MLK day events at the museum. No word on how the vehicle was taken. Anyone with information is asked to call police.

<p>Channel 7 KABC News Los Angeles just reported on scene with helicopters overhead at the Mandeville Canyon Water Reservoir.</p> <p>HAZMAT Crews, Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials are investigating damage done by vandals at the Mandeville Canyon Water Reservoir.</p>

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Trucker bombs, torpedoes and Mountain Dew are the nicknames for these fluid-filled roadside bottles. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Some may call them “trucker bombs,” but road crews that have to pick them up have another word for them — disgusting. A bottle containing some unknown liquid near Nebraska Highway 50 and Interstate 80 may be an infamous “trucker bomb.” But for the highway crews that have to pick them up, there’s only one word for them — disgusting. Each year, truckers and other drivers toss out hundreds of plastic bottles and jugs filled with urine along...

Three or four injured in Perdue explosion SALISBURY, Md. Firefighters in Salisbury, Maryland say three or four people were taken to the hospital following a chemical explosion this morning at the Perdue Farms plant. Fire department spokesman Steve Dickerson tells The Associated Press the explosion happened about 5:30 a-m while a truck was unloading sodium chloride at the plant. The exact cause of the explosion isn't clear. Dickerson says the injuries are NOT serious. Workers reported a partial building collapse. Some cinder blocks appeared to be missing from one of the buildings at the plant. Hazardous materials teams from two...

NEW YORK -- For the second time in two months, a mysterious maple syrup aroma wafted over Manhattan on Thursday, and city officials still don't know what caused it. Callers to the city's 311 help line and the Fire Department reported the pleasant scent around 3:30 p.m. in neighborhoods from midtown to the Upper East and West sides. "The calls aren't exactly complaints," city Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Ian Michaels said Friday. That's no surprise in a city where a host of less appetizing smells are often on the menu. Michaels said the odor appeared to be the same...

THU 12/8/2005 17:1:12 STATUS: OPEN/ACTIVE PROGNOSIS: MONITORING HAZMAT - OTHER CW UPPER MANHATTAN & BRONX SINCE 1400 HOURS...911 IN NEW YORK CITY HAS RECEIVED SEVERAL TELEPHONE CALLS INDICATING A STRONG AND SWEET ODOR (SIMILAR TO MAPLE SYRUP) BEING DETECTED BY RESIDENTS IN THE UPPER WEST SIDE & UPPER EAST SIDE OF MANHATTAN AS WELL AS AREAS IN THE BRONX. FDNY RESOURCES HAVE RESPONDED TO SEVERAL LOCATIONS REPORTED TO 911 AND SEARCHES AND INVESTIGATIONS HAVE YIELDED NEGATIVE RESULTS AT THIS TIME. DEP HAZ MAT HAS BEEN NOTIFIED AND HAS DEPLOYED PERSONNEL TO CONDUCT AIR SAMPLING. NJSP-OEM HAS BEEN CONTACTED AND IS...

Mentor, Ohio, just announced on the news.

ATA: there is a better way to screen hazmat drivers WASHINGTON — As of May 31 every hazardous materials hauler, even those who have hauled hazmat loads for as many as 30 years, must undergo a fingerprint-based background check. However, officials at the American Trucking Associations said the program needs “immediate attention.” In testimony May 11, Daniel E. England, CEO of C.R. England Inc., testified on behalf of ATA before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Highways, Transit and Pipelines.The hearings resulted from those in the trucking industry who sought help because of problems they say are associated with...

Sunday, 29 May 2005; 10:15 PM EDT: Ambulances and HAZMAT crews have responded to an incident at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, NY - one of three bridges located in western NY spanning between the U.S. and Canada - following only what tight-lipped Customs authorities are calling "an incident" that took place at approximately 6:00 PM EDT (corrected from 9:00 PM) inside of the Customs area. Bridge traffic has been halted in both directions and those traveling into Canada have been advised to use an alternate route. Authorities have confirmed that at least six-(6) people were rushed to Niagara...

Mailroom closed, evacuated while hazmat team investigates WASHINGTON - A hazardous materials team investigated an alarm Monday that was triggered by sensors that detected the presence of chemical or biological agents at the Pentagon's mail delivery building, a military spokesman said. Officials evacuated and shut down the facility, which is in a separate building on the northwest side of the Pentagon grounds, shortly after the sensors were triggered around 10:30 a.m. ET, spokesman Glenn Flood said.

By John D. Banusiewicz American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 14, 2005 - Defense Department officials confirmed that a positive test for the presence of anthrax bacteria during routine mail operations today led to the evacuation of a Pentagon outbuilding. However, officials stressed, subsequent tests have been negative.

WASHINGTON - A hazardous materials team on Monday investigated an alarm triggered by sensors that detected the presence of chemical or biological agents at the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s mail delivery building, a military spokesman said. Officials shut down the facility, which is in a separate structure on the northwest side of the Pentagon grounds, shortly after the sensors were triggered around 10:30 a.m. EST, spokesman Glenn Flood said. It was expected to remain closed until at least Tuesday while the investigation continued.

A mercury spill at Farrington High School sent students and a teacher to the health office. It happened when a ninth-grader cracked a 12-inch thermometer during a science experiment. Hazmat crews say about a teaspoon of mercury spilled onto the floor. A handful of students were exposed before the teacher cleaned up the mess. No one complained of itching skin or headaches -- effects of extended exposure to mercury. But the teacher and eight students were taken to the health office as a precaution. The classroom remained off-limits until an environmental firm did a thorough clean-up. Farrington uses mercury thermometers...

Toxic waste sickening Somalia04/03/2005 20:12  - (SA)   Related Articles Toxic waste on Somali beaches    Nairobi - Very toxic waste washed on to Somali's coastline by last December's tsumani have spawned diseases bearing symptoms of radioactive exposure in villagers along the shorelines of the shattered African nation, UN Environment Programme said on Friday. Citing initial reports, Unep spokesperson Nick Nuttall told AFP that "there are indications that harzardous waste, radioactive waste, chemical waste and other substances, (in containers) which have been dumped on the Somali coastline, were damaged by the tsunami". United Nations officials said the deadly waves, which originated off...