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By next year, those working in California daycare centers will be required to have vaccinations for measles and whooping cough. The bill recently passed in the Senate 34 to 3 and the Assembly 60 to 16. The law was then approved by Gov. Jerry Brown following the measles outbreak at Disneyland. It was California's worst outbreak in 24 years, infecting 130 residents and two dozen out-of-state visitors. Getting measles isn't just a risk for children, but it is dangerous to any age group. A February report from the Los Angeles Times stated that more people than ever are not being vaccinated even as adults. Overall, measles vaccinations have dropped in this generation, seeing a steep decline over the last 12 years. The Disneyland outbreak had many childcare organizations scrambling...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that they have finalized changes to their groundwater remediation plans for the contaminated Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp. site in Newfield and Vineland, New Jersey. According to a press release from EPA.gov, the changes will update the plan that's been in place since 1996 by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, who controlled responsibility of the site at the time. While that system involved groundwater remediation equipment pumping the contaminated water out and treating it, the new plan calls for a newer approach by using non-hazardous additives to add to the groundwater that will break down the contaminants. This should allow the contaminants to decline naturally. They will also cap about 1.3 acres of ...

Gold is one of the most precious metals on the planet. It's been a valuable commodity used for trade for centuries, and after an up-and-down summer the price of gold as hit a three and a half-month high, according to The Wall Street Journal. The main reason experts give for the recent surge is due to investors discounting the chance the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, and there have been a great deal of purchases from Chinese investors trying not to get beat up by the volatile stock market. “We have seen interest from Chinese consumers and investors rising again on gold,“ said Daniel Meng, analyst at brokerage CLSA in Hong Kong. “We believe this is partly related to the turmoil of A-share market and some worries about the recent renminbi depreciation.” The price of go...

As the winter season begins to roll in, the inevitable car damage and hazards brought on by poor road conditions is a growing concern. The repair of these roads does cost the respective cities money, but in the long-term, the reduction of damage costs as well as road accident fatalities are well worth footing the bill. With one-third of all fatal and serious car accidents being, at least, in part due to bad road conditions, these repairs should top the list of any local government. The road conditions have become so poor in some areas that individual residents have begun taking action to gain the attention of officials. The New York Post reported on a graffiti artist called Wanksy in Britain who took the initiative to force the repairs of local roads through his artwork. Cock Lane...

Charter planes are typically the mode of air travel for the wealthy, the influential, and/or the powerful, as data from 2013 shows that 0.9% of respondents who came from a household where the annual income was $200,000 USD or more stated that they had used a charter service. As you might expect, it's how the Bishop of Rome, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City, Pope Francis flew during his trip to the United States. Not just any aircraft, though. Pope Francis toured the U.S. on the Shepherd One. The American Airlines Boeing 777-200 aircraft flew the Pope from Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland to New York's JFK International Airport to the Phil...

As experts and professionals across the country try to find better ways to cut costs in the healthcare industry, one of the fastest growing trends is to utilize electronic medical record (EMR) services. Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Georgia, is one of the entities that's making the move to improve and expand their electronic medical record software, according to the Albany ABC affiliate WALB.com. Earlier this month, the Phoebe Putney Health System began using an EMR system from MEDITECH, a Massachusetts-area medical software and service company, in their hospital. The move to this new system was just one part of their ongoing efforts to improve the overall functionality as part of their ProjectONE plan to streamline regional healthcare systems and provide better individuali...

Most people don't spend much time thinking about global issues, such as sanitation. But four Wisconsin plumbers will help Team USA compete in a world plumbing challenge to bring sanitation to India's poor. In the town of Nashik, India, there are 500 students sharing two bathrooms. Both of those bathrooms are dirtied with feces and dirt on walls and floors and are the only ones the students have access to. The job of Team USA is to remedy these issues. Adam Koenigs is one of the plumbers representing the United States. He told local news station ABC 2 in Green Bay, WI, that, “It’s difficult to understand what we’re going to see when we get there. It’s a whole different world.” Koenigs is joined on Team USA by a plumbing apprentice, Peter Hollmaier, and two engineers from Milwaukee....

According to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, the modern swimming pool is ready to receive a new upgrade in the form of a disappearing pool. Better known as a movable floor, this function allows pool owners to raise the floor of their pool to meet the surface, hiding the pool underneath and giving the owners a usable patio. The raised floor can hold between 20 and 60 pounds per square foot, which will be strong enough to support people, patio furniture, and even a car. Then, when the owner is ready to use the pool, the hydraulic system will lower the floor and create a pool of any depth from a shallow kiddie pool to a more advanced lap pool. The price range for the movable floors is anywhere from $300 to $550 per square foot, making it a luxury item for the time being. T...

A new report has broken down each state by car accident deaths to show the safest and most dangerous states for drivers. Researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute looked at statistics from 2013 to find answers. They took a look at statistics on traffic fatalities in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database. In addition to finding the death rate for traffic deaths, they also did the math to figure out how those deaths compared to the rest of the deaths in each state. The interesting thing about their research was that their findings were unexpected. States with higher traffic congestion seem to be the obvious choice for a higher death rate, but their findings actually proved the opposite. They f...

U.S. military rescue teams from the Coast Guard and Navy are searching for survivors of a fatal shipwreck that was caused by the devastating conditions of Hurricane Joaquin. According to CBS News, a cargo ship named El Faro was destroyed last week as its captain attempted to bypass the hurricane. Rescuers are desperately scouring the area where the ship is presumed to have sunk in an attempt to locate possible survivors. The 790-foot ship was carrying vehicles and other large industrial goods from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico when it sank in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas. Also on board were 33 crew members, one of whom was found dead in a survival suit upon the arrival of rescue teams. El Faro is presumed to have been disabled while bypassing the storm due to a mechanical fai...