Palace says Duchess of Cambridge expecting a baby












LONDON (AP) — Get the nursery ready: Prince William and his wife Kate are expecting their first child.


St. James’s Palace announced the pregnancy Monday, saying that the Duchess of Cambridge — formerly known as Kate Middleton — has a severe form of morning sickness and is currently in a London hospital. William is at his wife’s side.












The palace said since the pregnancy is in its “very early stages,” the 30-year-old duchess is expected to stay in the hospital for several days and will require a period of rest afterward.


It would not say how far along she is, only that she has not yet reached the 12-week mark.


News of the pregnancy drew congratulations from across the world, with the hashtag “royalbaby” trending globally on Twitter.


Not only are the attractive young couple popular — with William’s easy common touch reminding many of his mother, the late Princess Diana — but their child is expected to play an important role in British national life for decades to come.


William is second in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, so the couple’s first child would normally eventually become a monarch.


In recent days, Middleton has kept up her royal appearances — recently playing field hockey with schoolchildren at her former school.


The confirmation of her pregnancy caps a jam-packed year of highs and lows for the young royals, who were married in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey last year.


They have traveled the world extensively as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and weathered the embarrassment of a nude photos scandal, after a tabloid published topless images of the duchess.


Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said the news bookended a year that saw the royal family riding high in popular esteem after celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne.


“We’re riding on a royal high at the moment at the end of the Diamond Jubilee year,” he said. “People enjoyed the royal romance last year and now there’s this. It’s just a good news story amid all the doom and gloom.”


Speculation about when the couple would start a family has been rife since their wedding.


William’s mother — the late Princess Diana — got pregnant just four months after her wedding in 1981. Diana reportedly suffered from morning sickness for months and complained of constant media attention.


“The whole world is watching my stomach,” Diana once said.


American tabloid speculation of the pregnancy has been rampant for months. One newspaper even cited anonymous sources talking about Kate’s hormone levels. Others have focused on the first signs of the royal bump.


The palace said the royal family was “delighted” by the news, while British Prime Minister David Cameron wrote on Twitter that the royals “will make wonderful parents.”


Whether boy or girl, the child will be next in line behind William in the line of succession to the throne, Cabinet Office officials have said.


Leaders of Britain and the 15 former colonies that have the monarch as their head of state agreed in 2011 to new rules which give females equal status with males in the order of succession.


Although none of the nations had legislated to make the change as of September 2012, the British Cabinet Office confirmed that this is now the de-facto rule.


On the couple’s recent tour of Malaysia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu in September, William reportedly said he hoped he and Kate would have two children.


___


Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Paisley Dodds contributed to this report.


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Explainer: Why was pregnant duchess hospitalized?












LONDON (AP) — While morning sickness in pregnant women is common, the problem the Duchess of Cambridge has been hospitalized with is not.


In a statement Monday, palace officials said she was hospitalized with hyperemesis gravidarum, a potentially dangerous type of morning sickness where vomiting is so severe no food or liquid can be kept down. Palace officials said the duchess was expected to remain hospitalized for several days and would require a period of rest afterwards.












“It’s not unusual for pregnant women to get morning sickness, but when it gets to the point where you’re dehydrated, losing weight or vomiting so much you begin to build up (toxic) products in your blood, that’s a concern,” said Dr. Kecia Gaither, director of maternal fetal medicine at Brookdale University and Medical Center in New York.


The condition is thought to affect about one in 50 pregnant women and tends to be more common in young women, women who are pregnant for the first time, those expecting multiple babies and in non-smokers. Gaither said that fewer than one percent of women with the condition need to be hospitalized.


Doctors aren’t sure what causes it but suspect it could be linked to hormonal changes or nutritional problems.


Women admitted to the hospital with hyperemesis gravidarum are usually treated with nutritional supplements and given fluids intravenously to treat dehydration. Dr. Dagni Rajasingam, a spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said most women hospitalized with the condition are discharged within several days.


“It depends on how well the woman is keeping fluids down,” she said.


If the problem is recognized and treated early, doctors say there are no long-term effects for either the mother or the child. Left untreated, the mother could be at risk of developing neurological problems — including seizures — or risk delivering the baby early.


Gaither said the condition usually subsides by the second trimester.


“The rest of the pregnancy could be entirely uneventful,” she said, adding that pregnant women treated for the condition are usually advised to avoid fatty foods that could aggravate the problem.


Gaither said the duchess would probably be able to meet her usual royal obligations by her second trimester.


“She should be able to meet all her public obligations soon,” she said, advising her to take her vitamins and ensure there are no other underlying health problems. “She should just be looking forward to having a healthy little plump person.”


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Duchess of Cambridge expecting a baby

ABC News' Christina Ng and Carolyn Durand report:



Kate Middleton is pregnant.


The most eagerly awaited pregnancy was announced today by St. James Palace on behalf of Middleton and her husband Prince William.


The child, whether boy or girl, will eventually be heir to the British
throne according to new legislation awaiting final approval.



The duchess was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital today in central
London with hyperemesis gravidarum, an acute morning sickness which
requires supplementary hydration and nutrients, the palace said.

Click here for photos of Kate through the years.

"As the pregnancy is in its very early stages, Her Royal Highness is
expected to stay in hospital for several days and will require a period
of rest thereafter," the statement said.

The royal family was clearly delighted with the news.


"Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very
pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby,"
the palace said in a statement today. "The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh,
The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry and
members of both families are delighted with the news."



The baby will be the queen's third great-grandchild.




Robert Lacey, author of the definitive book "Majesty" said, "The British
public and indeed the whole world will be delighted for the same, it
keeps the monarchy going. The royal wedding brought a magic back to the
monarchy and people are fascinated by William and Catherine."



The announcement follows relentless public and media speculation about
when Prince William and his wife would have an heir. The guessing game
began almost immediately after the couple said, "I do."

VOTE: What Should They Name the Baby?



Tabloids began snapping close-ups of Middleton's stomach for any
indication of a baby bump. Baby rumors abounded when the duchess held a
baby at a press event and when she declined peanut butter at another
event. British physicians are known to warn women against eating peanuts
during pregnancy. When the couple got a dog, Lupo, headlines wondered
if they were practicing for another addition to the family.



The palace, which rarely comments on speculation, took the unusual step
of saying, "We would be the ones to make the announcement, not
Hollywood."



"It is quite strange reading about it, but I try not to let it bother
me," Prince William said in an interview with ABC News' Katie Couric in
May 2012. "I'm just very keen to have a family and both Catherine and I
are looking forward to having a family in the future."



Asked by Couric if there was anything else he wanted to share, he coyly
answered, "You won't get anything out of me. Tight lipped."




Due to a dramatic change in the rules of succession, the royal couple's
first-born will likely be the heir to the throne, regardless of the
baby's gender.



Last year, the heads of 16 Commonwealth countries agreed to a change in
the rules of succession so that first-born children of either gender can
take the throne. Queen Elizabeth II was only eligible to be monarch
because her father had no male children. The British Parliament must
still amend existing law to make the succession change official.



"Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little
girl, that girl would one day be our queen," British Prime Minister
David Cameron told reporters in 2011.



Royal babies have typically been born within one year of marriage.
Princess Diana gave birth to William just 11 months after her wedding
and the queen gave birth to Prince Charles six days before her first
wedding anniversary.

PHOTOS: Royal Heirs Around the World



Prince William and Kate were married on April 29, 2011.



Click here for an interactive look at William and Kate's love story.

William, who has long been known for making privacy a priority, will now
be faced with the inevitable fascination with his first child. And the
scrutiny will doubtless be familiar to him.




From his infant trip to Australia with his mother to his graduation from
St. Andrews University, William's life was filled with photo ops.



"We have a paradox here. William loathes the press and exposure to the
publicity. On the other hand, Diana exposed both sons at an early age.
They are immensely assured young men," Lacey said. "While he may want to
keep his children out the limelight, as a modern monarch he knows he
has to deal with the media."

PHOTOS: William and Kate: The College Years



Now, the name guessing game begins.



"They'll stick to traditional names," Lacey predicts. "William has a
great sense of history from working with his grandmother. The queen
would have him over for tea to teach him about history and the workings
of the monarchy."



It's typical for royals to have three or four names. Prince William's full name is William Arthur Philip Louis.



"If it's a girl it's not likely to be called Diana," Lacey said. "But
you're very likely to see Diana in one of the middle names. You might
very likely get Elizabeth Diana something. It shows the bravery with
which he's kept his mother's memory alive, right down to the ring on
Kate's finger."

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Italy votes for center-left candidate for premier












ROME (AP) — Italians are choosing a center-left candidate for premier for elections early next year, an important primary runoff given the main party is ahead in the polls against a center-right camp in utter chaos over whether Silvio Berlusconi will run again.


Sunday’s runoff pits a veteran center-left leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, 61, against the 37-year-old mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, who has campaigned on an Obama-style “Let’s change Italy now” mantra.












Nearly all polls show Bersani winning the primary, after he won the first round of balloting Nov. 25 with 44.9 percent of the vote. Since he didn’t get an absolute majority, he was forced into a runoff with Renzi, who garnered 35.5 percent.


After battling all week to get more voters to the polling stations for round two, Renzi seemed almost resigned to a Bersani win by Sunday, saying he hoped that by Monday “we can all work together.”


Bersani, a former transport and industry minister, seemed confident of victory as well, joking about Berlusconi’s flip-flopping political ambitions by asking “What time did he say it?” when told that the media mogul had purportedly decided against running.


Next year’s general election will largely decide how and whether Italy continues on the path to financial health charted by Premier Mario Monti, appointed last year to save Italy from a Greek-style debt crisis.


The former European commissioner was named to head a technical government after international markets lost confidence in then-Premier Berlusconi’s ability to reign in Italy’s public debt and push through sorely needed structural reforms.


Berlusconi has largely stayed out of the public spotlight for the past year, but he returned with force in recent weeks, announcing he was thinking about running again, then changing his mind, then threatening to bring down Monti’s government, and most recently staying silent about his political plans.


His waffling has thrown his People of Freedom party into disarray and disrupted its own plans for a primary — all of which has only seemed to bolster the impression of order, stability and organization within the center-left camp.


A poll published Friday gave the Democratic Party 30 percent of the vote if the election were held now, compared with some 19.5 percent for the upstart populist movement of comic Beppe Grillo, and Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party in third with 14.3 percent. The poll, by the SWG firm for state-run RAI 3, surveyed 5,000 voting-age adults by telephone between Nov. 26 and 28. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.36 percentage points.


It’s quite a turnabout for Berlusconi’s once-dominant movement, and a similarly remarkable shift in fortunes for the Democratic Party, which had been in shambles for years, unable to capitalize on Berlusconi’s professional and personal failings while he was premier.


But Berlusconi’s 2011 downfall and a series of recent political party funding scandals that have targeted mostly center-right politicians have contributed to the party’s rise as Italy struggles through a grinding recession and near-record high unemployment.


Angelino Alfano, Berlusconi’s hand-picked political heir, seemed again exasperated Sunday after a long meeting with his patron over Berlusconi’s plans. News reports have suggested Berlusconi might split the party in two and re-launch the Forza Italia party that brought him to political power for the first time in 1994.


“We have to work to reconstruct the center-right, and reconstructing it means having a big center-right party,” not a divided one, Alfano said.


He added that Berlusconi didn’t say one way or another if he would run himself. “It’s his choice,” he said. “If there are any decisions in this regard, he’ll be the one to say so.”


___


Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield


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Bryce Dallas Howard film among the live-action short films on Oscar nominations shortlist












LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – “when you find me,” directed by “Twilight” star Bryce Dallas Howard and executive-produced by her father Ron Howard, is among 11 films that have been shortlisted for possible Oscars nomination, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Thursday.


Though the Academy typically only short-lists 10 entries, a tie in the nominations balloting resulted in an 11th title making the list. In all, 125 films originally qualified in the category.












From here, members of the Academy’s Short Films and Feature Animation Branch will select three to five nominees for the Oscars during December screenings in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.


Nominations will be announced January 10, with the Academy Awards taking place February 24.


Read the full short-list below.


“A Fábrica (The Factory),” Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual)


“Asad,” Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man)


“Buzkashi Boys,” Sam French, director, and Ariel Nasr, producer (Afghan Film Project)


“Curfew,” Shawn Christensen, director (Fuzzy Logic Pictures)


“Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw),” Tom Van Avermaet, director, and Ellen De Waele, producer (Serendipity Films)


“Henry,” Yan England, director (Yan England)


“Kiruna-Kigali,” Goran Kapetanovic, director (Hepp Film AB)


“The Night Shift Belongs to the Stars,” Silvia Bizio and Paola Porrini Bisson, producers (Oh! Pen LLC)


“9meter,” Anders Walther, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions A/S)


“Salar,” Nicholas Greene, director, and Julie Buck, producer (Nicholas Greene)


“when you find me,” Ron Howard, executive producer, and Bryce Dallas Howard, director (Freestyle Picture Company)


Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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Investigation under way into New Jersey train derailment, chemical leak












PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Federal transportation investigators have begun interviewing the crew of a train that was carrying hazardous materials when it derailed on a railroad bridge in New Jersey, officials said on Saturday.


National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said the agency would spend the next two weeks preparing a preliminary report on Friday’s accident in the industrial town of Paulsboro.












A bridge collapse derailed seven of the 82 Conrail freight train cars, and a tanker car that fell into Mantua Creek leaked vinyl chloride into the waterway, which feeds into the Delaware River near Philadelphia.


More than 12,000 gallons (45,425 liters) of the highly toxic and flammable industrial chemical vinyl chloride leaked from a gash in the tanker car’s side following the derailment on Friday morning.


Twenty-two people were examined at a nearby hospital, but air monitors in the area did not register any problem, officials have said. Exposure to vinyl chloride can cause a burning sensation in the eyes or respiratory discomfort.


Investigators were obtaining records from Conrail on inspections of the bridge over the Mantua Creek. They also examined a derailment on the bridge in 2009, as well as any possible impact on the bridge from the high winds and rising waters that accompanied superstorm Sandy.


“We are continuing to question the crew to get additional information,” Hersman said at a press briefing. “We still have some work to do.”


State Senator Steve Sweeney, whose district includes Paulsboro, told Reuters on Saturday that 106 residents who live close to the crash scene were evacuated from the area on Friday night in case any more of vinyl chloride escaped into the air or water.


“What it really was was just to be cautious,” Sweeney said. The residents will be out of their homes for several days, and are staying with friends and relatives or hotels, he said.


Conrail is jointly owned by rail operators CSX Corp and Norfolk Southern Corp.


(This story corrects name of town in second paragraph to Paulsboro, not Paulson)


(Editing by Paul Thomasch and Bill Trott)


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Geithner on averting cliff: 'I actually think we're going to get there'

Boehner, Geithner (AP/Getty)


With the fiscal cliff looming--and Republicans, like House Speaker John Boehner, slamming the White House's latest proposal--U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hit the Sunday morning talk show circuit, saying the partisan posturing is a necessary part of "political theater" but that he's hopeful a deal will get done before the end of the year.


"I actually think that we're gonna get there," Geithner said on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos." "I mean, inevitably [there is] gonna be a little political theater in this context--sometimes that's a sign of progress. I think we're actually making a little bit of progress, but we're still some distance apart."


Geithner said the GOP lawmakers need to realize that the burden is now on them to work with Democrats--and that the ball is in their court.


"There's just no reason why 98 percent of Americans have to see their taxes go up because some members of Congress on the Republican side want to block tax rate increases for 2 percent of the wealthiest Americans," the treasury secretary said.


"They really are in a difficult position," he added. "And they're going to have to figure out their politics of what they do next."


On CNN's "State of the Union With Candy Crowley," Geithner dismissed Boehner's contention that debt talks were at a "stalemate."


"I think we're far apart still, but I think we're moving closer together," Geithner said. "Republicans have said for the first time in decades, if I'm not mistaken, that they are prepared to raise taxes as part of a deal that helps reduce our long-term deficits. Now, what they haven't said to us is how far they're willing to go both on rates and revenues. And that's something we're going to need to see from them if we're going to have an agreement."


He added: "There's going to be a lot of political theater between now and when we get there."


On "Meet The Press," Geithner said he thinks a deal will get done by the end of the year.


"The only thing standing in the way of that would be a refusal by Republicans to accept that rates are going to have to go up on the wealthiest Americans," he said. "And I don't really see them doing that."


Geithner's Sunday talk show tour was met with immediate criticism from the GOP.


"The president and the White House have had three weeks and this is the best we've got?" Boehner asked on "Fox News Sunday." "We are nowhere."


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Cargo plane crashes in Brazzaville, 3 dead












BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) — A cargo plane owned by a private company crashed Friday near the airport in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, killing at least three people, officials said.


The Soviet-made Ilyushin-76 belonged to Trans Air Congo and appeared to be transporting merchandise, not people, said an aviation official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.












The plane was coming from Congo‘s second-largest city, Pointe Noire, and tried to land during heavy rain, he said.


Ambulances rushed to the scene in the Makazou neighborhood, located near the airport, but emergency workers were hampered by the lack of light in this capital, which like so many in Africa has a chronic shortage of electricity.


“At the moment, my team is having a hard time searching for survivors in order to find the victims of the crash because there is no light and also because of the rain,” Congolese Red Cross head Albert Mberi said.


He said that realistically, they will only be able to launch a proper search Saturday, when the sun comes up.


Reporters at the scene fought through a wall of smoke. Despite the darkness, they could make out the smoldering remains of the plane, including what looked like the left wing of the aircraft. A little bit further on, emergency workers identified the body of the plane’s Ukrainian pilot, and covered the corpse in a blanket.


Firefighters were trying to extinguish the blaze of a part of the plane that had fallen into a ravine. They were using their truck lights to try to illuminate the scene of the crash. Although the plane was carrying merchandise, emergency workers fear that there could be more people on board.


Because of the state of the road connecting Pointe Noire to Brazzaville, many traders prefer to fly the roughly 400 kilometers (250 miles).


Africa has some of the worst air safety records in the world. In June, a commercial jetliner crashed in Lagos, Nigeria, killing 153 people, just a few days after a cargo plane clipped a bus in neighboring Ghana, killing 10.


Africa News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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“Honey Boo Boo” star arrested for going ape on Georgia Freeway












LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – If you tend to believe that the cast members of TLC reality series “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” are less than totally evolved, rejoice; this story might just confirm your suspicions.


“Crazy” Tony Lindsey – the cousin of “Honey Boo Boo”‘s titular star Alana Thompson” – was arrested in Georgia earlier this week following a goofy, but dangerous, stunt involving a gorilla suit, TMZ reports.












A police report says that Lindsey was among a group of men arrested for reckless behavior after one of them, dressed in a gorilla suit, prepared to jump into a lane along Highway 20 at approximately 11 p.m. Unfortunately for the band of wrongheaded pranksters, Deputy Joe Rozier happened to be driving by as he was about to take the leap from the side of the road.


“I observed a white male dressed in a gorilla suit acting as if he was going to jump into my lane of travel. I swerved into the left lane to avoid an accident with the person,” Rozier said in a police report.


Rozier took pursuit, and “observed several white males run up the embankment and into the woods,” the report notes. After threatening to release his police dog, he heard a voice yell back, “You don’t have to do that, we’re coming back.”


A group of five adults and two minors emerged – but with no gorilla suit. After a while, however, they admitted to hiding the suit in the woods.


It’s not known if Lindsey was the one in gorilla suit, or if the stunt will be incorporated into an upcoming episode of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”


A spokesperson for the show has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.


TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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Cold, mold loom as hazards in Sandy disaster zones












NEW YORK (AP) — A month after Sandy’s floodwaters swept up his block, punched a hole in his foundation and drowned his furnace, John Frawley still has no electricity or heat in his dilapidated home on the Rockaway seashore.


The 57-year-old, who also lost his car and all his winter clothes in the flood, now spends his nights shivering in a pair of donated snow pants, worrying whether the cold might make his chronic heart condition worse.












“I’ve been coughing like crazy,” said Frawley, a former commercial fisherman disabled by a spine injury. He said his family doesn’t have the money to pay for even basic repairs. So far, he has avoided going to a shelter, saying he’d rather sleep in his own home.


“But I’m telling you, I can’t stay here much longer,” he said.


City officials estimate at least 12,000 New Yorkers are trying to survive in unheated, flood-damaged homes, despite warnings that dropping temperatures could pose a health risk.


The chill is only one of the potential environmental hazards that experts say might endanger people trying to resume their lives in the vast New York and New Jersey disaster zone.


Uncounted numbers of families have returned to coastal homes that are contaminated with mold, which can aggravate allergies and leave people perpetually wheezing. Others have been sleeping in houses filled with construction dust, as workers have ripped out walls and flooring. That dust can sometimes trigger asthma.


But it is the approaching winter that has some public health officials worried most. Nighttime temperatures have been around freezing and stand to drop in the coming weeks.


New York City‘s health department said the number of people visiting hospital emergency rooms for cold-related problems has already doubled this November, compared with previous years. Those statistics are likely only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.


Mortality rates for the elderly and chronically ill rise when people live for extended periods in unheated apartments, even when the temperature is still above freezing, said the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley.


“As the temperatures get colder, the risk increases,” he said. “It is especially risky for the elderly. I really want to encourage people, if they don’t have heat in their apartment, to look elsewhere.”


Since the storm, the health department has been sending National Guard troops door to door, trying to persuade people to leave cold homes until their heating systems are fixed. The city is also carrying out a plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars helping residents make emergency repairs needed to restore their heat and hot water.


Convincing people that they could be endangering themselves by staying until that work is complete, though, isn’t always easy.


For weeks, Eddie Saman, 57, slept on sheets of plywood in the frigid, ruined shell of his flooded Staten Island bungalow. He stayed even as the house filled up with a disgusting mold that agitated his asthma so much that it sent him to the emergency room.


Volunteers eventually helped clean the place up somewhat and got Saman a mattress. But on Sunday the wood-burning stove he had been using for heat caught fire.


Melting materials in the ceiling burned his cheek. A neighbor who dashed into the house to look for Saman also suffered burns. The interior of the house — what was left of it after the flood — was destroyed.


Two days later, another fire broke out in a flood-damaged house across the street, also occupied by a resident trying to keep warm without a working furnace.


Asked why he hadn’t sought lodging elsewhere, Saman said he didn’t have family in the region and was rattled by the one night he spent in an emergency shelter. He said it seemed more populated by homeless drug addicts than displaced families.


“That place was not for me,” he said.


The Federal Emergency Management Agency offered to pay for a hotel, but Saman said he stopped looking because every inn within 100 miles of the city seemed to be booked solid through December.


Saman’s case may be extreme, but experts said it isn’t unusual for people to hurry back to homes not ready for habitation.


After Hurricane Katrina, medical researchers in New Orleans documented a rise in respiratory ailments among people living in neighborhoods where buildings were being repaired.


The issue wasn’t just mold, which can cause problems for years if it isn’t mediated properly, said Felicia Rabito, an epidemiologist at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. There was simply so much work being done, families spent their days breathing the fine particles of sanded wood and drywall.


People complained of something that became known as the “Katrina cough,” and while it subsided once the dust settled, researchers later found high lead levels in some neighborhoods due to work crews ignoring standards for lead paint removal.


A group of occupational health experts in New York City, including doctors who run programs for people sickened by World Trade Center dust after 9/11, warned last week that workers cleaning up Sandy’s wreckage need to protect themselves by suppressing dust with water, wearing masks and being aware of potential asbestos exposure.


“There are clearly sites that you don’t want children at … and it is very challenging for homeowners to know whether it is safe to go home,” said Dr. Maida Galvez, a pediatrician and environmental health expert at The Mount Sinai Hospital who is part of a team evaluating hazards in the disaster zone.


U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler has urged FEMA and the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a testing program that could give residents an indication of whether their homes were free of mold, sewage and other hazardous substances.


Farley, New York City’s health commissioner, said people entering rooms contaminated by floodwater should wear rubber boots and gloves, and exercise care in cleanup. The hazard posed by spilled sewage is a short-term one and experts say the disease-causing bacteria found in it can be wiped out with a good cleaning. But they say anything absorbent that touched tainted water, like curtains or rugs, should be thrown out.


As for the bitter cold, there was no test needed to tell John Frawley that his home is no place to be spending frigid autumn nights.


“A couple of days ago, I was shivering so badly, I just couldn’t stop,” he said.


Yet with winter nearly here, he still had no plan for getting his heat working again or his ruined electrical system restored, although he also has passed up some of the programs designed to help people like him.


And he has no intention of heading to a shelter.


Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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