Category Archives: SideBlog

Passenger jet lands safely at Newark Airport after pilot dies

A Boeing 777 operated by Continental Airlines managed to safely land at Liberty Airport

in Newark, New Jersey, today after the pilot died from natural causes en route, reports from officials say.

The flight had departed from Belgium, and safely landed at 11:49 A.M. Eastern Time.

“The captain of Continental Flight 61, which was en route from Brussels to Newark, died in flight, apparently of natural causes,” said a spokeswoman for the airline in an email.

According to the airline, there was an additional relief pilot on board who took over control of the plane after the initial pilot died.

247 people were on board. There are no reports of any injuries.

Via WikiNews.

EPA declares ‘emergency’ asbestos cleanup in Montana town – Wikinews, the free news source

EPA declares ‘emergency’ asbestos cleanup in Montana town – via Wikinews.

For the past ten years, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been overseeing the asbestos clean-up in the small town of Libby, Montana, which has been on the EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List since 2002.   Continue reading

FDA Warning on Zicam cold remedy

, according to Gardiner Harris of the Times. Federal drug regulators warned consumers to stop using Zicam, a popular homeopathic cold remedy, because it could damage or destroy their sense of smell.

The action is an early indication that the Obama administration is likely to take far more aggressive enforcement actions against drug companies than the Bush administration did.

The Food and Drug Administration received 130 reports from consumers and doctors of people losing their sense of smell after using one of the Zicam nasal products, which include Zicam Cold Remedy and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs. The reports date to 1999, when Matrixx Initiatives of Scottsdale, Ariz., first introduced the products. Continue reading