Bryson, of St. Peters, may have inhaled asbestos fibers decades earlier at the old GM plant on Goodfellow Boulevard.

The microscopic fibers were in dust that swirled at the plant when asbestos-coated pipes were repaired.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Madison County judges, who are among the most successful in the state in attracting political donations, are getting the biggest chunk of that money from just one side of the courtroom: the plaintiff attorneys.

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. A judge who recently took over asbestos lawsuits in Madison County heard arguments yesterday on whether out-of-state plaintiffs should be able to sue there.

TOKYO - Japanese government officials agreed to pay about $2.74 million to a group of former employees who suffered from lung disease after working on ships containing asbestos at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, an attorney involved in the case said.

SPRINGFIELD -- U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama said Thursday the state should consider shutting down the shoreline at Illinois Beach State Park to figure out why asbestos keeps turning up there.

Australian labor unions will take their protest over James Hardie Industries NV's funding shortfall for asbestos victims to the U.S. today, seeking to extend their boycott of the company's building products to its largest market.

After a number of inspections by the Department of Environmental Protection, A Norwell-based asbestos abatement contractor was fined $67,500 this summer when the DEP found six asbestos-removal violations at sites where the contractor had worked.

Renovation of the Detroit Institute of Arts has hit a $40-million snag.

Excessive amounts of asbestos were found throughout the walls and ceilings of the north and south wings. The DIA must gut the wings down to the their structural steel skeletons to remove the asbestos, and then rebuild them.

NEW YORK -- Hundreds of people who worked at the World Trade Center site have filed a class action lawsuit against the leaseholder of the twin towers and those who supervised the cleanup, alleging they did little to protect workers from the toxins that were unleashed when the towers collapsed.

The president of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard's largest labor union will be out of work for two months while dealing with the effects of removing asbestos from ships and buildings more than 20 years ago.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an organization dedicated to serving as the voice of asbestos victims, today launched the ADAO Coalition for Asbestos Awareness, in honor of the anniversary of the passing of Warren Zevon on September 7, 2003. The ADAO Coalition for Asbestos Awareness has established an online petition at http://www.gopetition.com/online/5020.html to easily unite concerned citizens about asbestos, a hazardous and lethal material. Coalition members are expected to include individuals and organizations representing numerous professions including high risk groups like: veterans, shipbuilders, firefighters, teachers, labors, and retirees; as well as physicians specializing in Pulmonology, Radiology, Thoracic Surgery and Oncology.

The 108-year-old building destroyed in a downtown Juneau fire last month had more asbestos sources than officials originally believed, an Environmental Protection Agency inspector said Wednesday.

A ruling last week by Ohio's Eighth District Court of Appeals temporarily allows the nation's first statewide law creating objective medical criteria for asbestos litigation (HB 292) to take effect.

Pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Inc. announced Friday, Sept. 3, a $965 million settlement to end all current and future asbestos litigation against the company and its Quigley Co. subsidiary.

The agreement, which would involve putting Quigley in Chapter 11 protection, is the latest in which a company mired in asbestos litigation decides to settle with plaintiffs' lawyers and then file for bankruptcy.

LINCOLN - A Valentine, Neb., man is facing fines of up to $10,000 per day for allegedly ignoring orders by state environmental officials to dispose of asbestos-laden debris properly.

State environmental laws require that asbestos be removed by a licensed entity.

SPRINGFIELD -- Employees at Illinois Beach State Park responsible for flagging asbestos debris at the park near Zion have filed a grievance against the state, claiming health and safety provisions in a union contract have been broken.

The Environmental Protection Agency could determine today whether asbestos in the demolition rubble at Front and Seward streets will require special handling, a spokesman for the federal agency said.

The landfill - along with many other municipal waste landfills - had permission to accept asbestos waste until it was closed and capped in 1999. Those landfills are required to post warning signs, according to Ohio Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Heather Lauer.

Scientists have reported "greatly elevated" levels of a highly toxic kind of asbestos in the lungs of a small sampling of pets from western El Dorado County, where fast-paced development has unearthed the naturally occurring minerals and liberated its hazardous fibers.

Though the sample size is small - lung tissues from four deceased dogs and cats - federal environmental officials said the results are provocative and bolster their plan to investigate whether area residents, particularly children, are exposed.

FRANKFORT - A Kentucky Commerce Cabinet attorney said she would try to prove that a former Jenny Wiley State Resort Park manager exposed employees to asbestos when he had them make unauthorized renovations to his office.

Owners of the Bend crane shed property could be facing stiff fines for razing the historic building last week without a permit and the discovery of evidence of asbestos in the building's remains.

Samples taken Monday by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality at Ardmore Industrial Airpark have tested to contain asbestos and the Ardmore Development Authority is following instructions to keep the area isolated.

WASHINGTON -- Authorities in the District want to know if someone dumped bags full of insulation that could contain asbestos on a city sidewalk.