SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) ? An early morning fire swept through a two-story wood frame house in eastern New York on Thursday, killing four people, including three children, authorities said.
A fourth child was injured and taken to a burn unit at Westchester Medical Center.
The fire in Schenectady, just west of the capital of Albany, broke out shortly after 4 a.m. It was the third fire of the night in the city of about 66,000 people and struck shortly after firefighters fought another blaze about a half-mile away.
The investigation will look for any connections between the two nearby fires, but Fire Chief Michael Della Rocco said they are believed to be unrelated.
Two adults and four children lived in the upstairs unit, Della Rocco said. The father was killed along with three of his children. Della Rocco said they haven't been able to locate the mother, who was not in the house at the time of the fire.
The building burned quickly and completely largely because it was made in a late 19th- and early 20th-century building style known as "balloon construction" in which studs run from the ground to the roof without the fire-breaks required by modern codes, Della Rocco said.
The house, gray with maroon trim, was tucked closely between two other two-story homes on a residential street where many of the houses are two-family. The second-floor was gutted and the roof gone. The fire curled siding on the house next door, separated by a narrow alley barely the width of a car and filled with charred debris.
City fire investigators were working with state and federal agencies to try to determine the cause. Della Rocco said the building will be condemned and demolished.
Krystal Ashline knew the family and said the children ranged in age from about 11 months to 7 years.
"The kids were great kids," she said. "My kids played with them. He was a really good father. He was the one who mainly took care of the kids.
"It's a tragedy," she said. "It just broke my heart."
Shane Conway, who lives on the first floor of the house, told The Daily Gazette that he awoke around 4:30 a.m. to the shouts of his stepfather's girlfriend.
"I got up, got everyone out, made sure my son got out," Conway told the newspaper.
Three children and four adults escaped the first-floor dwelling.
James Moloney, who also lives downstairs, said he could hear what he thought were smoke detector alarms.
"I wanted to go back in to see if I could get any of them, but you can't," Moloney told the newspaper. "It was fully engulfed."
Annette Singh said the neighborhood is a mix of people from Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad. She said people generally help each other out there.
But Ashline said the street is plagued by drugs and crime, including shootings and assaults.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Fresh off a huge victory over President Barack Obama on gun control, the message from the National Rifle Association is clear: The fight has just begun.
The powerful gun rights lobby gathers in Houston this weekend for its annual convention and organizers anticipate a rollicking, Texas-sized party ? both to celebrate the victory in Washington and recharge the troops for more political struggles as gun control advocates tally their own successes in states around the country.
"If you are an NRA member, you deserve to be proud," Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's brash, no-compromises chief executive wrote last week to the organization's 5 million members, telling them they "exemplify everything that's good and right about America."
The NRA couldn't have picked a friendlier place to stage its annual event. More than 70,000 people are expected to attend the three-day "Stand and Fight"-themed event, which includes a gun trade show, political rally and strategy meeting.
Texas, with its frontier image and fierce sense of independence, is one of the strongest gun rights states in the country. More than 500,000 people are licensed to carry concealed handguns, including Gov. Rick Perry, who once bragged about shooting a coyote during a morning jog.
Concealed handguns are allowed in the state Capitol, where simply showing a license allows armed visitors to bypass metal detectors.
Friday's big event is a political forum with speeches from several state and national conservative leaders, including Perry, former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former Pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum and Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican Texas firebrand who has become one of the top tea party voices in Washington since being elected last year. LaPierre speaks to the convention Saturday before the "Stand and Fight" rally at night.
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam predicted the convention will draw the largest crowd in its history.
"The geography is helpful," Arulanandam said. "The current (political) climate helps."
For NRA member Mike Cox, a concealed handgun license instructor from rural Wimberley, the recent Senate vote showed not only the power of the NRA, but demonstrated to its members the need to dig in and recruit more members.
"There's a lot of enthusiasm right now," Cox said. "This isn't over by any means."
Gun control advocates say they will have a presence around the NRA convention, with plans for a vigil for victims of gun violence, a petition drive to support background checks and a Saturday demonstration outside the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Sandy Phillips, whose daughter Jessica Ghawi was killed in the Colorado theater shooting last July, met privately with Cruz in San Antonio this week. Phillips said Cruz refused to budge on expanding background checks and told her he considered it the first step toward government confiscation of guns.
"They're always good at saying the right thing, 'I'm so sorry for you loss and da da da da da,'" Phillips said. "If you're really sorry for my loss, do something about it."
In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Cruz called efforts by Obama and gun control advocates to push for expanded background checks an attempt to "undermine the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms."
Despite polls that show most Americans favor some expansion of background checks, Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said a big challenge facing gun control advocates is matching the NRA's grassroots organizing, or as he called it "closing the passion gap."
"The NRA knows this issue is very much in play. People were sickened by that Senate vote," Everitt said.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has said he will re-introduce the bill to require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online. And despite their loss on the federal level, gun control advocates have scored some significant victories at the state level.
Lawmakers in Colorado passed new restrictions on firearms, including required background checks for private and online gun sales and a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Connecticut recently added more than 100 firearms to the state's assault weapons ban and now requires background checks for private gun sales.
Maryland and New York have passed sweeping new guns laws, and in Washington state, supporters of universal background checks recently announced a statewide campaign to collect 300,000 signatures to put the issue straight to voters.
"There have been significant victories (at the state level). We expect that to continue and we're not giving up on the federal level," Everitt said.
John Ridlehuber, a gun dealer from Lott, Texas, a rural hamlet of about 700 people, said NRA members see no room for compromise on new gun restrictions. Gun rights advocates have given up far too much ground over the years, he said.
"We have capitulated in far too many places. We should never give anything up again," Ridlehuber said. "We're not the bad guys. We're the good guys."
___
Associated Press writer Alan Fram in Washington contributed to this report.
Troubling levels of toxic metals found in lipstickPublic release date: 2-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sarah Yang scyang@berkeley.edu 510-643-7741 University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley A new analysis of the contents of lipstick and lip gloss may cause you to pause before puckering.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health tested 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores. They detected lead, cadmium, chromium, aluminum and five other metals, some of which were found at levels that could raise potential health concerns. Their findings will be published online Thursday, May 2, in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Prior studies also have found metals in cosmetics, but the UC Berkeley researchers estimated risk by analyzing the concentration of the metals detected and consumers' potential daily intake of the metals, and then comparing this intake with existing health guidelines.
"Just finding these metals isn't the issue; it's the levels that matter," said study principal investigator S. Katharine Hammond, professor of environmental health sciences. "Some of the toxic metals are occurring at levels that could possibly have an effect in the long term."
Lipstick and lip gloss are of special concern because when they are not being blotted on tissue or left as kiss marks, they are ingested or absorbed, bit by bit, by the individual wearing them, the study authors said. The researchers developed definitions for average and high use of lip makeup based on usage data reported in a previous study. Average use was defined as a daily ingestion of 24 milligrams of lip makeup per day. Those who slather on the lip color and reapply it repeatedly could fall into the high use category of 87 milligrams ingested per day.
Using acceptable daily intakes derived from this study, average use of some lipsticks and lip glosses would result in excessive exposure to chromium, a carcinogen linked to stomach tumors. High use of these makeup products could result in potential overexposure to aluminum, cadmium and manganese as well. Over time, exposure to high concentrations of manganese has been linked to toxicity in the nervous system.
Lead was detected in 24 products, but at a concentration that was generally lower than the acceptable daily intake level. However, the lead levels still raised concerns for young children, who sometimes play with makeup, since no level of lead exposure is considered safe for them, the researchers said.
The study authors say that for most adults, there is no reason to toss the lip gloss in the trash, but the amount of metals found do signal the need for more oversight by health regulators. At present, there are no U.S. standards for metal content in cosmetics. The authors note that the European Union considers cadmium, chromium and lead to be unacceptable ingredients at any level in cosmetic products.
"I believe that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) should pay attention to this," said study lead author Sa Liu, a UC Berkeley researcher in environmental health sciences. "Our study was small, using lip products that had been identified by young Asian women in Oakland, Calif. But, the lipsticks and lip glosses in our study are common brands available in stores everywhere. Based upon our findings, a larger, more thorough survey of lip products and cosmetics in general is warranted."
###
Ann Rojas-Cheatham, director of research and training at the Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice in Oakland, Calif., co-authored the study. The National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Education Research Center helped support this research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Troubling levels of toxic metals found in lipstickPublic release date: 2-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sarah Yang scyang@berkeley.edu 510-643-7741 University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley A new analysis of the contents of lipstick and lip gloss may cause you to pause before puckering.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health tested 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores. They detected lead, cadmium, chromium, aluminum and five other metals, some of which were found at levels that could raise potential health concerns. Their findings will be published online Thursday, May 2, in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Prior studies also have found metals in cosmetics, but the UC Berkeley researchers estimated risk by analyzing the concentration of the metals detected and consumers' potential daily intake of the metals, and then comparing this intake with existing health guidelines.
"Just finding these metals isn't the issue; it's the levels that matter," said study principal investigator S. Katharine Hammond, professor of environmental health sciences. "Some of the toxic metals are occurring at levels that could possibly have an effect in the long term."
Lipstick and lip gloss are of special concern because when they are not being blotted on tissue or left as kiss marks, they are ingested or absorbed, bit by bit, by the individual wearing them, the study authors said. The researchers developed definitions for average and high use of lip makeup based on usage data reported in a previous study. Average use was defined as a daily ingestion of 24 milligrams of lip makeup per day. Those who slather on the lip color and reapply it repeatedly could fall into the high use category of 87 milligrams ingested per day.
Using acceptable daily intakes derived from this study, average use of some lipsticks and lip glosses would result in excessive exposure to chromium, a carcinogen linked to stomach tumors. High use of these makeup products could result in potential overexposure to aluminum, cadmium and manganese as well. Over time, exposure to high concentrations of manganese has been linked to toxicity in the nervous system.
Lead was detected in 24 products, but at a concentration that was generally lower than the acceptable daily intake level. However, the lead levels still raised concerns for young children, who sometimes play with makeup, since no level of lead exposure is considered safe for them, the researchers said.
The study authors say that for most adults, there is no reason to toss the lip gloss in the trash, but the amount of metals found do signal the need for more oversight by health regulators. At present, there are no U.S. standards for metal content in cosmetics. The authors note that the European Union considers cadmium, chromium and lead to be unacceptable ingredients at any level in cosmetic products.
"I believe that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) should pay attention to this," said study lead author Sa Liu, a UC Berkeley researcher in environmental health sciences. "Our study was small, using lip products that had been identified by young Asian women in Oakland, Calif. But, the lipsticks and lip glosses in our study are common brands available in stores everywhere. Based upon our findings, a larger, more thorough survey of lip products and cosmetics in general is warranted."
###
Ann Rojas-Cheatham, director of research and training at the Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice in Oakland, Calif., co-authored the study. The National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Education Research Center helped support this research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mothers who are mildly iodine deficient are more likely to have children who perform poorly in spelling, grammar and literacy, according to a new study from Australia.
Severe iodine deficiency during pregnancy is known to cause serious mental disabilities in children, but researchers examined the test scores of nine year olds whose mothers were only slightly iodine deficient during pregnancy and found the kids performed between 6 percent and 10 percent worse than peers born to mothers with sufficient iodine.
"This is to show in areas where there is even mild deficiency it can have long-term impacts on children," said Kristen Hynes, the study's lead author from the University of Tasmania in Sandy Bay.
Throughout life, everyone needs iodine to make thyroid hormones, but it's also crucial that pregnant women get enough of the element to support their children's brain development.
Past research has found that women who are severely iodine deficient give birth to children with motor, cognitive and auditory defects, Hynes' team writes in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Little is known, however, about what impact a mother's mild iodine deficiency might have on her child.
The U.S. Institute of Medicine recommends the average adult get 150 micrograms (mcg) of iodine every day. Pregnant women are told to get 220 mcg every day and women who are breastfeeding are told to get 290 mcg.
The main source of iodine in the American diet is milk, but it can also be found in some fish and vegetables as well as in "iodized" table salt.
One cup of reduced-fat milk contains about 56 mcg of iodine and one serving of baked cod has about 99 mcg, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
For the new study, Hynes and her colleagues used data on about 228 pregnant women who were patients at The Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania between 1999 and 2001 and the children they delivered at the time.
The researchers compared the standardized test scores of the nine-year-old children born to women whose urinary iodine levels fell below 150 mcg (mildly deficient) during pregnancy to the children of women whose iodine levels exceeded 150 mcg (sufficient).
The children of women who were iodine deficient scored about 371 points on the national student test for spelling and about 377 points for grammar. That compared to about 412 points for spelling and 408 points for grammar among children of women who had sufficient levels of iodine while pregnant.
The average score for all of Tasmania at that time was about 390 for spelling and about 410 for grammar in that age group.
The researchers also found that children born to mothers who were mildly iodine deficient scored about 6 percent lower on English literacy scores, compared to those whose mothers had sufficient iodine levels.
Hynes told Reuters Health her group suspects that iodine deficiency may have some impact on a child's auditory pathways to the brain, which may hurt their ability to quickly process the information they hear.
"It's really only a theory at this stage," she cautioned.
The researchers can't say for certain whether the mothers' iodine deficiency led to their children's poor scores, but she said there is an association.
"I think people working in education will realize this is important, but there are a lot of other things going on as well," Hynes said.
Dr. Elizabeth Pearce, who researches iodine but was not involved in the study, said the findings support recommendations that soon-to-be pregnant, pregnant and breastfeeding women take an iodine supplement, but added that it's important to not get too much of the mineral.
"Very excessive intake in susceptible people can lead to thyroid dysfunction and goiter," said Pearce, an associate professor of medicine at Boston University.
The NIH says the upper safe limit of iodine is 1,100 mcg a day.
"People should not read this and think more iodine is better," she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/ZCksYH The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, online April 30, 2013.
Sander Daniels sends along this info on a survey of small business attitudes in the U.S. A discussion of their methods is here. As I wrote when linking to their survey last year, I don?t know what to make of all of this?who knows what to make of their sample or the responses to these questions??but I?m impressed that they seem to describe exactly what they did.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s1nT2CEaDjkJOn9Y_RfjCePXT6GSA-oyoWM0a7dkznFbf8QQ7Om3cf0YfLIQfUV1daEIZ8TToJCyRFBULS6wbu6cuEWKxFIF0VaPpWZAE=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 2-May-2013
Share ] 
