People & Population

"Cancer has become the leading cause of death among U.S. Latinos, nosing past heart disease in 2009, researchers at the American Cancer Society reported Monday."

"CUSHING, Okla. -- In energy circles, the town of Cushing is well known as the hub used by New York oil traders to set the benchmark price for all U.S. crude oil. Row after row of giant oil storage tanks are lined up around a moribund downtown and a shopping strip. At the edge of town stands a sign made of white pipes declaring: 'Pipeline Crossroads of the World.'"

"Russell E. Train, a former tax court judge whose awakening on safari sparked a new career in environmental activism, as head of the nascent Environmental Protection Agency and as the first president of the World Wildlife Fund's American chapter, died Sept. 17 at his farm in Bozman, Md. He was 92."

"NEWARK, Ohio -- Becky and Andrew Snedeker spent their first year of marriage living with her parents while searching for their dream home. They found it on James Street in Newark, but now the Ohio Department of Transportation wants to buy and raze it to clean up a known carcinogen in groundwater feet below their property."

"People of color eat a lot of locally-caught fish for economic and cultural reasons. And yet they are the least likely to be warned because state efforts fail to reach minority and low-income populations."

"A state plan to rank communities by the cumulative effects of pollution on residents has raised objections among local business leaders, who say it would kill job development in areas identified as disadvantaged."

"Policymakers determined to maintain nuclear energy believed most people would still want it as part of the nation’s power generation despite the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Their calculations were way off."

"NEW YORK -- Two years before Hurricane Irene created the prospect of a flooding nightmare in New York City, 100 scientists and engineers met to sketch out a bold defense: massive, moveable barriers to shield the city from a storm-stirred sea."