National (U.S.)

"Five engineer climbers will take four more days to meticulously photograph every marble block as they look for damage caused by the August earthquake."

"When Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) recently suggested that the human papillomavirus vaccine — recommended for girls and young women to protect against cervical cancer — was dangerous and could cause mental retardation, the American Academy of Pediatrics pushed back hard. The AAP, which represents 60,000 pediatricians, issued a statement saying the claim had 'absolutely no scientific validity.'"

"So what the heck is a pawpaw?"

"Global warming-denying governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry can't escape a major reckoning at home."

"The last decade was the greater Yellowstone region's hottest on record, according to a study released Tuesday by a pair of environment-oriented nonprofits."

"GLENDIVE, Mont. — The final days of rancorous public debate over a $7 billion oil pipeline that would snake from Canada through the midsection of the United States have taken on an unexpected urgency this week, as the economic and environmental stakes of the massive project snap into focus at a time of festering anxiety about the nation's future."

"The Environmental Protection Agency cut corners in its effort to regulate greenhouse gases but met rulemaking requirements, a federal watchdog found. The EPA, disagreeing strongly, countered the science - and the case for action - was unquestioned."

"They're arguing that a new study shows canned foods to be safe, even when lined with BPA. The problem? That's not what the study says."

Elizabeth Grossman reports for The Atlantic September 27, 2011.

SEE ALSO:

"BPA: What To Make of Pollutant-Laced Kids’ Foods" (Science News)


 

"At least 13 people in eight states have died after eating cantaloupe contaminated with listeria, in the deadliest outbreak of food-borne illness in the United States in more than a decade, public health officials said on Tuesday."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor pressed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to send disaster aid funds to his own district even as he argued on the floor that all other parts of the US should not receive natural disaster aid from the general Treasury without offsets.