Free Republic

Air pollution kills around 200,000 Americans each year even when pollution levels remain below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current guidelines, a report published in JAMA Network Open has found. A team of scientists identified nine causes of death associated with exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), including three not previously recognized—chronic kidney disease, hypertension and dementia. Cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, lung cancer, and pneumonia also contributed to the count. PM2.5 are pollution particles (or droplets) equal or smaller to 2.5 microns—a size so minuscule it is roughly 30 times smaller than a...

Linda Pelzman appreciates the beauty of the outdoor world, sometimes pulling her children into the yard to gaze at a full moon or peer into a dense fog. An educator and founder of a summer camp, she only wishes her enthusiasm was fully shared. "Kids don't think about going outside like they used to, and unless there is some scheduled activity, I don't think they know what to do outdoors anymore," Pelzman said. "I'm not saying that a child who grows up without nature is going to have terrible problems," Louv said, "but if you look at the studies that...

$6.5 million awarded in job bias verdict Jury grants judgment to Sonoma County employee suffering from panic disorder By LORI A. CARTER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT In what may be the largest civil judgment in Sonoma County history, a jury awarded a county employee with fear of crowds $6.5 million in damages in an employment discrimination lawsuit. After a five-week Superior Court trial, the six-woman, six-man panel awarded $1.5 million in lost wages and $5 million in pain-and-suffering and other noneconomic damages to George Alberigi of Forestville. Alberigi, 52, a Medi-Cal eligibility case worker for Sonoma County's Human Services Department, argued...

"Sub Rosa Vepres" Posted by Doc Farmer Saturday, June 28, 2003 We’re all familiar with the Latin phrase ''Sub Rosa'' (under the rose) which stands for something secret or hidden. Well, now I believe we should add a new phrase to the lexicon: ''Sub Rosa Vepres,'' or under the rose bush. Thanks to our friendly neighbourhood Iraqi Nuclear Weapons Developers, that is. Yes, you’ve read by now that one of these scientists under Saddam Hussein’s employ (see also: death threat) was ordered to hide critical atomic weapons development equipment in his back yard, under (of all things) a rose bush....