The 2002 Canadian scientific report "Air pollution induces heritable DNA mutations" finds "Integrated steel production generates chemical pollution containing compounds that can induce genetic damage." And, the 2009 German report "Long-term exposure to traffic-related particulate matter impairs cognitive function in the elderly" finds "chronic exposure to traffic-related PM (particulate matter) may be involved in the pathogenesis of AD (Alzheimer's Disease)". 

So, who thought it was a good idea to spend $43 million of scarce government and quasi-public funding to build Tremont Pointe government-subsidized housing, located within scent and fallout of the Mittal Cleveland Works Steel mill, and other highly polluting industry of the Cleveland Flats, and directly adjacent to the I-490 freeway, planned to have increased polluting traffic through expansion as the "Opportunity Corridor"?

Donna Smith @ Common Dreams - Could we make this stuff up? We cannot get healthcare as a basic human right for one another. But we sure can make sure gun ownership protections are tucked into the Senate health reform bill that is so celebrated as historic by the White House. 

Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the National Nurses United - After all the fanfare and high expectations that accompanied the prospect of national health care reform at the outset of this year, the legislation is staggering to a particularly inglorious end.

While noting that the Senate bill includes some "salutary provisions" like an expansion of Medicaid, increased funding for community clinics and the curbing of some

Max Eternity - Ever since Senator Obama announced his support for a Single-Payer, Medicare-for-all, style of Universal Healthcare--while campaigning to be President--Progressives have heeded the call and lent their support.

Shahien Nasiripour @ The Huffington Post - Investors are seeing the Senate's version of health care reform as a massive public subsidy for insurance companies -- and as a result, are sending the sector's stock prices shooting up, up, up. Stripped of a government-run insurance plan, the bill would give tens of millions of Americans no option but to start paying hefty premiums to private companies.

Government officials acknowledge that the practice happened, but emphasize that it ended years ago.

The material is produced by power plant "scrubbers" that remove acid rain causing sulfur dioxide from plant emissions. A synthetic form of the mineral gypsum, it also contains mercury, arsenic, lead and other heavy metals.

The Associated Press - Mayor Michael Bloomberg has criticized two New York City emergency medical technicians accused of ignoring a pregnant woman who had collapsed in the coffee shop where they were taking a break. The woman and her baby later died.

Bloomberg said Monday that refusing to help goes against human decency.

The Fire Department is investigating the Dec. 9 death of 25-year-old Eutisha Revee Rennix. The EMTs are accused of telling employees at the eatery in Brooklyn to call 911 and then leaving when employees asked them to help.