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There has been a great deal of news coverage about Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (GTMO), or “Gitmo” as it is often called, and the military prison camp located on the base.   This is, of course, Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, used to house detainees in the War on Terror. Much of the controversy in the media was because many of these prisoners were not charged with any crime, yet not afforded access to counsel for a significant amount of time.

navyshipEven though there has been a lot of pressure to close the prison camp, which has not happened for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is that the administration does not feel it has a suitable alternative for transferred released prisoners. While these problems are not in the news as much as they were in years past, that may change as part of the coverage surrounding the upcoming presidential election cycle. Continue reading

According to a recent news article from the Millbury Sutton Chronicle, local legislators have finally been successful in their long-standing effort to find funding to renovate the Grass Hill School. This historic school was constructed in 1861. The town operated the school until 1968 when it was closed. A local historical society championed a project following the school closure to have it restored and named a National Historic Landmark. The society also wants the old school added to the Register of Historic Places for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

old-schools-class-room-881694-mAs part of their bid to have this old school named an historic place on the state and federal lists, there needs to a serious amount of renovations to make the structure safe for public use. Even if it is never used as a school again, in order to use the property as museum or local office building (it is common to use historic Massachusetts buildings for local municipal offices) it must be upgraded and made compliant with building codes. However, before any work can be done, the city must deal with removing the asbestos known to be present in the old school. Continue reading

Asbestos is still found in many consumer products, and what most people do not know is that, with the asbestos ban determined to be institutional, having a product with small amounts of asbestos may be perfectly legal. However, according to a recent news article from Science Times, asbestos fibers have just be found in crayons being sold in the United States, and this is creating major concerns.

crayon-1559186A nonprofit organization called the Environmental Working Group Action Fund (EWG) has allegedly discovered that a number of crayon brands being sold in the United States tested positive for asbestos. In addition to the crayon brands, a crime scene investigation set made for kids also tested positive in a laboratory analysis the Scientific Analytical Institute of Greensboro, North Carolina performed. Continue reading

Asbestos removal is a complicated process. When a landowner knows or has reason to know there is asbestos present in an owned structure and has renovation or demolition plans, there are certain steps that must be taken to prevent asbestos exposure that could harm workers or cause environmental damage.

mwndY6oFirst, licensed asbestos inspector must be hired to determine if asbestos is actually present. There are a lot of telltale signs that a certain building material contains asbestos, such as nine inch by nine inch or 12 by 12 inch linoleum tiles manufactured during the 1970s. However, the only way to be sure is to have a sample of the material cut out and sent to a testing laboratory where a microscopic examination can be performed to see if the asbestos fibers are present. Continue reading

According to a recent article from Wicked Local Boxford, Massachusetts State Police troopers arrested a 46-year-old man on charges stemming from an alleged home improvement scam. He is currently being held on $750,000 cash bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in the Salem District Court.

hand-cuffsProsecutors specifically charged Defendant with two counts of larceny over $250, which is felony larceny (theft) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, larceny on person older than 65 (theft from an elderly victim), working as a home improvement contractor without a license, forgery, utterance of a false document, perjury, and various other financial and theft crimes related to his home improvement business. Continue reading

While the asbestos mining industry and the production industry took large steps to insure the general pubic did not learn of the dangers of asbestos and asbestos-laden products, these days the public is very much aware of how lethal asbestos exposure can be.

graph12However, for a variety of reasons, it may difficult to accurately calculate how many people have been killed as a result of asbestos exposure over the years. According to a recent news feature from Vox, finding out the true number of mesothelioma victims may be a lot more difficult than most people would think. Continue reading

There is no question that mesothelioma is a deadly form of cancer, and the only known cause is exposure to asbestos. When a person inhales the fibers, those fibers can become embedded in his or her lung tissue, lining of the chest, abdomen and other organs. Once the fibers are embedded, there is virtually no way to detect them.

macaflourWhen a patient presents with asbestos symptoms, a doctor may perform a lung or tissue biopsy, where a portion of the tumor is removed and examined at a histology lab to confirm the presence of asbestos fibers and mesothelioma. Doctors will generally not perform a biopsy on healthy tissues since this type of test is known as a destructive biopsy, which requires the cutting and removal of tissue. Continue reading

For a variety of reasons, Australia has many more cases of malignant pleural mesothelioma each year than most other nations. There are constantly government investigations into asbestos use and asbestos abatement violations, especially in relation to a home insulation material known as Mr. Fluffy.

syringe-1238929-mDue to the high frequency of asbestos related illness diagnoses in the country each year, it should come as no surprise the government has put a considerable amount of resources into finding better treatment options and eventually a cure for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Continue reading

An historic New England jail might become a tourist attraction if money can be allocated to handle the much-needed renovations, which include a large-scale asbestos abatement project.

prison-1319028-mThis particular jail, with its stone walls, has housed a variety of prisoners throughout its long history. For example, a tavern owner was sentenced to 60 days in prison for violating the Volstead Act in 1922, according to recent news feature from CT Now. For those who study history, or used to watch Boardwalk Empire on HBO, you will remember the Volstead Act as the federal law preventing the sale of alcohol and better known as Prohibition. Continue reading

According to a recent news article from The Courier Post Online, a man was just sentenced to three years in prison for his alleged conduct during a recycling project where highly dangerous asbestos waste material was left all over the site of a former hospital campus.

hand-cuffs-12754-mProsecutors say the 57-year-old defendant used untrained and unlicensed day laborers, some of whom were inmates living at a halfway house, to conduct an asbestos abatement operation and did not even provide them with the correct equipment to do the job. They are alleged to have illegally buried asbestos-laden titles and dumped large contractor-size trash bags full of asbestos in the floor of the boiler room at one of the buildings in the old hospital campus. Continue reading

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