Health and Public Safety

February 4, 2015 - Environmentalists are calling for solidarity with U.S. oil refinery workers as they stage the biggest industry work stoppage in 30 years over issues including unsafe staffing, onerous overtime and dangerous conditions.

January 30, 2015 - Accidents involving "high consequence area pipelines," where people or buildings are more likely to be impacted, have increased in recent years, with the latest pipeline explosion occurring this week in West Virginia.

January 14, 2015 - With Duke Energy under pressure to move toxic coal ash away from waterways, it's planning to send it to abandoned clay mines in two North Carolina counties. But could scores of mines elsewhere in the state end up being targeted for coal ash dumping, too?

January 9, 2015 - The utility giant plans to move toxic coal ash from existing high-risk disposal sites to abandoned clay mines in two North Carolina counties -- but the counties are taking a stand against those plans.

November 11, 2014 - Accusing the hospital industry of meeting the cheapest standards rather than the most protective ones, National Nurses United is holding strikes, pickets, and other protest actions across the South and nation this week to demand better Ebola safeguards for health care workers.

September 15, 2014 - A study by researchers at five universities found contamination of drinking water in Texas and Pennsylvania from gas drilling operations. The authors say it wasn't fracking per se that caused the contamination but faulty gas well construction -- though they note that fracking could potentially affect well integrity.

August 11, 2014 - To mark International Youth Day, a personal finance website looked at living and economic conditions for young people in the United States. The findings do not reflect well on the South.