United States

Image:  Faced with a budget shortfall of $19.4 million, FEGS Health and Human Services recently announced it would be closing its programs. Credit Bryan R. Smith for The New York Times

nytimes.com - February 8 2015 - Rachel L. Swarns

The bombshell dropped on a quiet Friday evening. Steven Banks, the commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration, was in his office when he got the call.

On the line was Kristin M. Woodlock, the new chief executive of FEGS Health and Human Services, one of New York City’s largest social service agencies, a venerable institution often praised by corporate titans and community leaders alike.

But this was no social call: FEGS, the Human Resources Administration’s biggest provider of job placement services to the impoverished and disabled, had discovered a gaping hole in its budget and was suddenly struggling to stay afloat.

New EPA standards will aim to significantly cut methane emissions from oil and gas sites in the U.S.

The Obama administration makes its latest move to take on climate change.

usnews.com - by Alan Neuhauser - January 14, 2015

In the Obama administration’s latest use of executive authority to address climate change, the White House announced plans Wednesday to impose new regulations on the oil and gas industry that would nearly halve methane emissions from wells, drill sites and pipelines in 10 years.

The new standards, to be developed by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act, would aim by 2025 to cut methane emissions by up to 45 percent from levels recorded in 2012. They would also slash the spread of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, key components of ground-level smog that have been linked to cancer, neurological conditions and other illnesses.

MEDICALNEWS TODAY                                                            Jan. 6, 2015

Infectious diseases are one of the many health issues that worry the organizers of mass gatherings, such as the Hajj and the World Cup. Geographers' tools of the trade can help event organizers to better plan, monitor and respond timely to such eventualities. The ways in which geographers gather, analyze, and visualize information provide health officials with clearer pictures of the transport routes and environmental factors that may further the spread of viruses to and from the attendees' home countries.

In Chapter 3 of the new book Health, Science and Place: A New Model, geographer and biologist Dr. Amy Blatt explains how geographic information is used for disease surveillance at mass gatherings.
Read complete article

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/287577.php?tw

Read excerpt from the book,chapter 3.

by Dr. Amy Blatt
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-12003-4_3

CLICK HERE - REPORT -
New York State Department of Health
A Public Health Review of High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas Development (184 page .PDF report)

nytimes.com - By THOMAS KAPLAN and JESSE McKINLEY
December 17, 2014

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration announced on Wednesday that it would ban hydraulic fracturing in New York State because of concerns over health risks, ending years of uncertainty over the disputed method of natural gas extraction.