Lead Story
The New York Times reported in January that officials in Beijing recently had adopted a massive program to rid the city of flies. During “attack weeks,” teams of youth and elderly people use up to 15 tons of pesticide and 200,000 flyswatters. In one successful week last August, they reduced the fly population by an estimated 20 to 30 percent. However, measurements indicated that as many as 33 flies remained per room.
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According to a recent Denver Post article, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has spent an average of $33,000 a day since November trying to contain the 160 million gallons of cyanide that spilled from a gold mine in southern Colorado. The spillage has already killed off the fish population in a large part of the Rio Grande. A private company had planned to use the cyanide for gold mining but filed for bankruptcy. EPA officials estimate the cleanup will cost $60 million.
Least Competent People
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Shawn Belschwender.
