Credit U.S. Forest Service / Oregon State University Libraries
Controlling dust from activities like this was on the minds of those in the Department of Labor in the 1930s, as silicosis, a lung disease, was taking a toll on American workers. Above, a worker jackhammers into rock in Lassen National Forest in California in 1934, preparing to shoot explosives.
Credit Bloomberg via Getty Images
A worker sprays water onto a large circular saw as the machine cuts sandstone in Sydney, Australia, in 2005. Applying water can help reduce the amount of dust that makes it into the air.
Any job that involves breaking up rock or concrete or brick can potentially expose workers to dangerous silica dust, and last year it looked like the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration was about to put stricter controls in place to limit this health hazard.
Starting at 6 p.m. ET, we'll be helping out the NPR Elections Desk with some more live blogging — this time on the news from Florida, which holds its Republican presidential primary today.
Will former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney come in first as pre-primary polls suggested? How well will former House Speaker Newt Gingrich do?
Drug errors inside hospitals remain a big problem.
By one estimate, 1 in 7 hospitalized patients suffers some form of error in care. Nearly a third of those mistakes are related to drugs. And those mix-ups can lead to longer hospital stays, unnecessary suffering, permanent damage or death.
One way to reduce mistakes is to have doctors enter the prescriptions on a computer instead of with pen and paper. After the switch, hospitals can see error rates drop by a whopping 60 percent.
Israeli soldiers take part in an exercise at the Shizafon army base, in the Negev Desert north of the southern city of Eilat, on Tuesday. There are growing signs that Israel may be planning a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Credit Jack Guez / AFP/Getty Images
Israeli army snipers pack their gear after an army exercise at the Shizafon army base, in the Negev Desert north of the southern city of Eilat, on Tuesday.
In Israel, there is daily speculation over whether Israel will attack Iran's nuclear facilities in the near future. The debate is not only over whether Israel should strike Iran, but what the costs and benefits might be from such a strike.
Israel believes that Iran is working to build a nuclear bomb, and dismisses Iran's assertion that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.
A new disclosure report documents how Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry lost his fundraising base. Donors gave up long before Perry dropped out two weeks ago.
The Texas governor Perry launched his campaign back in August with a gusher of cash from conservative allies, especially in his home state.
He gathered up nearly $7 million in the first three weeks, which turned out to be more than double what he got over the past three months.
Originally published on Tue January 31, 2012 3:48 pm
Wilbur and Theresa Faiss of Las Vegas have been married for more than 78 years — an accomplishment that's generating headlines this week about them being the nation's "longest-married couple."
Saying "we all have a choice — stand with the people of Syria and the region or become complicit in the continuing violence there," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton just urged the U.N. Security Council to support an Arab League call for "a negotiated, peaceful political solution to this crisis and a responsible, democratic transition in Syria" that would lead to the end of President Bashar Assad's regime.
A woman passes by a real estate agency in Budapest, Hungary, in January. As the Hungarian currency plunges to new lows, ordinary citizens are struggling to repay foreign-denominated loans.
Credit Peter Kollanyi / AP
Hungary now has the highest sales tax in the European Union — 27 percent. Here, a woman goes grocery shopping in the capital, Budapest, in January.
Since the U.S. housing bubble burst, many Americans have found themselves struggling to pay off mortgages that are worth more than their homes.
Now, imagine if those mortgages were in a foreign currency that has soared in value compared with the domestic currency — the one in which paychecks are issued.
As Hungary's currency plummets to record lows, this is exactly the plight of some 1 million Hungarians, who, during better financial times, took out mortgages and consumer loans in Swiss francs.
After a decisive South Carolina win, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has risen and fallen in the polls and trails former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by double digits going into Florida's primary.
