July 26, 2004
FORT WORTH, Texas - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided to test a controversial new method of asbestos removal in a less-populated area before it can be used by the city in the demolition of a boarded-up hotel.
Carmel school employees who may have been exposed to asbestos are being allowed to see the district's doctor free of charge, as officials relabel areas in school buildings that contain the fibrous carcinogen.
ARTFORD, Conn. -- Pieces of asbestos were found in a pile of garbage that was illegally dumped in Hartford's Keney Park.
Department of Environmental Protection crews were cleaning the area Friday afternoon. Piles of illegally dumped trash were found near a wooded area in the park.
DEP officials said many pieces of asbestos were mixed in with old doors and rugs.
July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Halliburton Co., the world's largest oilfield-services contractor, had a $663 million second-quarter loss on a delayed oil project in Brazil and a cut in projected insurer payments for asbestos claims.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co. is seeking to expand the use of its chemotherapy drug Alimta to treating certain lung cancers, but U.S. regulatory staff on Friday questioned the company's data.
EDWARDSVILLE - Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron, under fire recently from pro-business and pro-industry groups, asked Wednesday that Madison County's asbestos lawsuits be handled by another judge.
Byron has been administering the county's large asbestos docket -- 953 asbestos-related lawsuits were filed here in 2003 -- for about 10 years.
Carmel School officials have assured parents this week that three schools within the district undergoing asbestos abatement will be ready for children and staff to return by the end of next month.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate's minority leader said on Tuesday he would consult with fellow Democrats about a Republican proposal to set up a private $140 billion fund to compensate victims of asbestos exposure.
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler yesterday said tests show 150,000 times the acceptable level of asbestos in the vacant Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero - and said the feds should make sure its dismantling doesn't put local residents at risk.
July 19, 2004
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A federal bankruptcy judge approved a $4.2 billion settlement between two subsidiaries of energy services company Halliburton that could end the companies' long-running liability over asbestos claims, according to court documents filed on Friday.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist proposes to resolve legal claims over asbestos exposure with a $140 billion industry-financed fund to pay victims, aides close to lawmakers' talks said on Thursday.
An Environmental Protection Agency memo claims city and federal officials concealed data that showed lower Manhattan air was clouded with asbestos after the World Trade Center collapse.
July 12, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH -- The customized court system that attracts thousands of asbestos lawsuits to Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties is working just fine, lawyers told Palm Beach County Circuit Court judges Friday.
WEST PALM BEACH -- A circuit judge froze action on dozens of asbestos lawsuits Thursday until the question of whether they should be filed in Palm Beach County is settled.
"I'm not going into trial on another asbestos case until the venue issue is resolved," Judge Timothy McCarthy said after a rancorous, 2 1/2 -hour hearing on whether to dismiss or transfer 72 claims filed by a Miami law firm on behalf of people in Alabama and other parts of Florida.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced Friday that it tested material picked up on the beaches of Illinois Beach State Park near Zion last week and none of it contained asbestos.
THE future of the asbestos industry in Zimbabwe hangs in the balance after South Africa announced plans to outlaw the manufacture and use of asbestos with new legislation due before parliament later this year.
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. -- There is a heated debate going on between some North Kingstown parents and the school superintendent.
The parents and a union official fear the worst: that children and teachers could have been exposed to asbestos.
WASHINGTON - The Senate met as scheduled Tuesday after workers removed what an aide said were low levels of asbestos, but the adjacent party cloak rooms and Senate press gallery were closed so tests and possible cleanups could be conducted.