Free Republic

Brooklyn firehouse's rat patch. It's a rat race at several city firehouses - not just the one shut down by a plague of rodents in Queens. A rat rampage was so bad at a Sunset Park, Brooklyn, firehouse that the firefighters got fleas last month. "The whole firehouse had fleas. Guys were scratching all day long, and we sent the blankets out to the laundromat," said Firefighter Mike Triglianos, 37. The department had to tear up the kitchen to get the rodents out of the walls at 5011 Seventh Ave. - the former home of shuttered Engine 278, now temporarily...

NEW YORK - A blazing building? Not a problem for New York City firefighters. A firehouse infested with vermin? Well, that's a rat of a different color. Horrified members of New York's bravest have temporarily abandoned a firehouse because of massive rat infestation, and fire officials say the building must be gutted to eliminate the pervasive rodent population. "It was like that movie `Willard,'" Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said Wednesday, referring to the film about a social outcast who goes on a rampage and uses his rats to attack colleagues who had been tormenting him. "I...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Firehouse Infestations Widespread, But Cutbacks Curtail Cleanup A day after the Fire Department closed a Jamaica firehouse that was overrun with rats, union officials said the rodent problem was much more widespread. A midday union request for rodent infestation reports yielded complaints from 17 firehouses in four hours, officials said. A frazzled union worker logged the flurry of complaints.

The Urban Species Renewal Act By: Matthew B. Rogers The time has come for urban dwellers to step up to the plate and put their lives and livelihoods on the line. Over the last ½ century, country folk have been sacrificing their personal and economic security to appease the passions of city folk who haven’t a clue about rural culture, the time has come for them to do the same for their country cousins. If city people have a right to their barbaric desire to feed farmers and ranchers to the lions, country folk have right to feed city folk...

Press Releases Customs and Border Protection Enforce CDC Embargo to Prevent Spread of Monkeypox Virus For Immediate Release Bureau of Customs and Border Protection June 13, 2003 Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection has joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce the embargo on importation of all rodents from Africa, in an effort to prevent further spread of the monkeypox virus in the U.S. The embargo was imposed because at least six different species of potentially infected rodents have been implicated in the current outbreak of monkeypox...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. ANN ARBOR, MI – University of Michigan graduate student David Van Mater knew something strange was going on when he noticed stubble on the shaved skin of experimental mice in his laboratory. Instead of the tumors he had originally expected to see, the mice were growing hair. Van Mater had stumbled on the discovery that beta-catenin (“bay-tuh-kuh-TEEN-in”), a signaling protein involved in embryonic development and several types of cancer, also triggers changes in adult mouse hair follicles that lead to the growth of new hair. The discovery by Van Mater and...

Australian Broadcasting Corporation LATELINE Late night news & current affairs TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT LOCATION: abc.net.au > Lateline > Archives URL: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/s837819.htm Broadcast: 22/4/2003Aust virologist leads WHO's fight against SARSTony Jones speaks to Professor John McKenzie from Hong Kong about the outbreak of the deadly SARS virus. Professor Mckenzie is an internationally recognised virologist from the University of Queensland and was sent to China less than a month ago by the World Health Organisation to work as their team leader in the country before the extent of SARS was known. You could describe Professor McKenzie and his team as "virus detectives"....

<p>After the sun goes down and household hubbub diminishes, listen for the pitter-patter of little feet. There may be scratching noises under the stove or behind the refrigerator. There may be rustling in the pantry.</p> <p>RATS! They're everywhere.</p> <p>Perhaps the most despised mammals on the planet, rats thrive in even the nicest South communities and invade even the cleanest houses.</p>

Should Disney still be a Dow 30 stock? Commentary: Behemoth's shares have lagged the index By Jon Friedman, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 12:13 AM ET Aug. 2, 2002 NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Has the time come to boot Walt Disney out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average? Disney (DIS: news, chart, profile) joined the world's most famous stock-market index on May 6, 1991 (replacing USX Corp.). But since then, the Mickey Mouse company's reputation has declined. In fact, Disney has seemed downright goofy at times. True, Disney controls a bushel of prime global assets. These include its theme parks around the...

Transmitting wireless signals directly into the brain, a group of scientists has produced the ultimate lab rat - an animal that can be guided by remote control over fences, up trees, through pipes and across rubble at distances of up to a third of a mile. In effect, they have transformed a living animal into a robot. The researchers, from the State University of New York and Drexel University, say their work with brain implants ultimately could produce controlled rats that could be used for rescue missions, video surveillance or detecting explosives such as land mines. The researchers implanted electrical...

Rat-catching is a bonus for impoverished farmers Vietnamese peasants in the Mekong Delta have found a way to profit from the rats that are overrunning their paddy fields - exporting the rodents for the dinner table. Demand ranges from southern Vietnam to neighbouring Cambodia, the Ho Chi Minh City daily Tuoi Tre (Youth) reported on Friday. Rat meat is a favourite at weddings The province of Bac Lieu alone is reported to supply more than 100 tonnes a day to the two countries' dinner tables. In a region where farm labour pays as little as $1 a day, rat-catchers...