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<p>OVIEDO, Fla. (AP) – A Florida man spent 90 days in jail after police officers who stopped him for driving without headlights said white powder found in his car was cocaine.</p> <p>But Karlos Cashe walked out of jail last week after lab results determined the powder in the handyman’s car was actually drywall.</p>

Anyone here ever use Angie's List? looking for a sheetrocker to install a 12x16 ceiling. thus far, CraigsList is full of nuts and shysters and people who think you're crazy for asking for references from prior jobs.

Federal regulators are no longer advising people to replace the electrical wiring in homes containing tainted Chinese drywall after a study found no safety hazard if the wiring is left in place. The Consumer Product Safety Commission and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said Friday that a study found it safe to leave the electrical wiring in homes. Still, some electrical components should be replaced, such as switches and circuit breakers. A year ago, regulators advised removing the electrical wiring along with drywall, fire-alarm systems, carbon-monoxide alarms, fire sprinklers and gas pipes. Large quantities of defective Chinese-made...

NEW ORLEANS — For more than a year, the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity has insisted there were no defects in the Chinese drywall it used to build nearly 200 houses for victims of Hurricane Katrina, including many in its heavily publicized “Musicians’ Village’’ development in the Upper Ninth Ward.But a house-by-house canvas of Musicians’ Village by reporters from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and ProPublica found several homeowners who reported serious problems and one who said she had complained to Habitat for more than a year about corrosion and electronics failures believed to be related to her drywall.The reporters’ interviews...

Jury awards big amount in benchmark caseA jury has awarded a South Florida family $2.5 million in a benchmark defective Chinese drywall case. Armin and Lisa Seifart won the judgment in a Miami-Dade civil court Friday against drywall distributor Banner Supply Company. The jury, which had been deliberating since Thursday afternoon, returned the verdict around 5:15 p.m. The Seifarts had been seeking at least $4.3 million in damages after they had to completely renovate their Coconut Grove home due to the noxious drywall. "It was important to send a message to companies that they should do the right thing when...

New federal guidelines say thousands of U.S. homes tainted by Chinese drywall won't be safe unless they are completely gutted. The Consumer Product Safety Commission released the guidelines Friday. They say electrical wiring, outlets, circuit breakers, fire alarm systems, carbon monoxide alarms, fire sprinklers, gas pipes and drywall must be removed. About 3,000 homeowners, mostly in Florida, Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, have reported problems with the Chinese-made drywall. A large quantity of the drywall was imported during the housing boom and after a string of Gulf Coast hurricanes. It has been linked to corrosion of wiring, air conditioning units,...

The suspected link between Chinese drywall and toxic effects reported by thousands of U.S. homeowners was strengthened Monday by three preliminary reports issued by the federal government. The strongest link came from an analysis of air sampled inside dozens of homes containing drywall made in China. "While the study of 51 homes detected hydrogen sulfide and formaldehyde ... at concentrations below irritant levels, it is possible that the additive or synergistic effects of these and other compounds in the subject homes could cause irritant effects," the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in its executive summary of the study. Two other...

The DSi shatters and fragments, which is more effective at maiming and disabling a target. On the other hand, the N97 remains whole, for greater penetration through tough surfaces. Both, however, are fun to look at. Far from an honest ballistics test, the shoot(ing), staged by French gaming magazine Amusement, was just an opportunity to snap a few stunning photos. Which is fine! And which they did! So, where's the video? Update: Yeah, you guys are right—the black one is an N97, not a PSP. Still though!

U.S. Stops Short of Linking Chinese Drywall to Health Problems By MELANIE TROTTMAN WASHINGTON -- Federal product-safety regulators stopped short of linking Chinese-made drywall to health problems and metal corrosion, according to people familiar with results of an investigation scheduled to be released later Thursday. The regulators have determined that sulfur gases emit from Chinese drywall at a higher rate than non-Chinese product, according to the results. But the officials said they need to conduct more studies to determine any connection to health problems or damages. Federal regulators are expected to caution that the results are early stage and could...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed. Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys',...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help—and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed. Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys', in which insurers drop...

When Bill Morgan, a retired policeman, moved into his newly built dream home in Williamsburg, Va., three years ago, his hopes were quickly dashed. His wife and daughter suffered constant nosebleeds and headaches. A persistent foul odor filled the house. Every piece of metal indoors corroded or turned black. In short order, Mr. Morgan moved out. The headaches and nosebleeds stopped, but the ensuing financial problems pushed him into personal bankruptcy. “My house is not worth the land it’s built on,” said Mr. Morgan, who could not maintain the mortgage payments on his $383,000 home in a Williamsburg subdivision called...

Thousands of Homeowners Cite Drywall for Ills By LESLIE WAYNE When Bill Morgan, a retired policeman, moved into his newly built dream home in Williamsburg, Va., three years ago, his hopes were quickly dashed. His wife and daughter suffered constant nosebleeds and headaches. A persistent foul odor filled the house. Every piece of metal indoors corroded or turned black. In short order, Mr. Morgan moved out. The headaches and nosebleeds stopped, but the ensuing financial problems pushed him into personal bankruptcy. “My house is not worth the land it’s built on,” said Mr. Morgan, who could not maintain the mortgage...

Lennar Corp. has identified 400 homes in Florida that have confirmed problems with defective Chinese drywall, and it has set aside $39.8 million to repair the homes, the Miami-based home builder said in a securities filing Friday. The figures are as of May 31, Lennar said. Complaints about odors and corrosion linked to defective drywall have been increasing for months. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a letter to four U.S. Senators last week that it has received more than 600 complaints related to the drywall issue from 21 states and the District of Columbia. Most of the...

The great thing about the excess buildout of fiber optic cable back during the tech boom is that it didn't degrade, and a few years later we had it all there to use when online video and broadband got big. Conversely, the tragedy of the housing boom is that the houses we built were total crap, and in five years, when the population is bigger, and more people are looking for homes, all those extra houses that we built will be deteriorating and weed infested. And many of them will have used toxic Chinese drywall. It's a big public concern...

There's something rotten in Homestead. It's the odor in Jason and Melissa Harrell's house, which was built with defective, Chinese-made drywall redolent of strong paint or rotten eggs. The smell got so bad that the Harrells felt forced to move. They now pay rent on top of their mortgage. ''What it boiled down to is, I had to choose between my financial health and my children's physical health,'' Melissa Harrell said. When the sulfurous stink in Gary and Andrea Suhajcik's Boynton Beach home wouldn't go away, the builder offered to rip out the walls, wiring, plumbing and molding in hopes...

Chinese drywall poses potential risks AP – In this April 8, 2009 photo, Mary Ann Schultheis stands in the guest room of her Parkland, Fla. home … By BRIAN SKOLOFF and CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writers PARKLAND, Fla. – At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap. Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and...

TALLAHASSEE, FL -- Gov. Charlie Crist isn't declaring a state of emergency over the use of Chinese drywall in Florida just yet, but he is asking for federal help to study the controversial building material. The drywall, imported from China during the building boom of 2002 to 2006, has been blamed for foul odors, corroded copper pipes and wires, and respiratory problems. On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D- Boca Raton, asked Crist to make the emergency declaration for Florida, where thousands of homes may have been impacted by the material, so residents could get funds from the Federal Emergency...

A watchdog group claims that homes all over the country, including thousands in Phoenix and Tucson, may have been built with tainted drywall. "America's Watchdog" says the drywall may contain gypsum mined near Chinese toxic waste dumps. "We think the drywall is made of gypsum, which is a naturally occurring product mined in China," said Thomas Martin with the group. "But unlike U.S. manufacturers, the Chinese never cleanse the gypsum." Martin says the contamination isn't limited to only residential homes. Most of the houses were built after 2001. "Some of the mid to high-rise buildings that have been built during...

Some home builders already struggling in Florida's dismal housing market are facing another headache: The Chinese-made drywall they used is causing unpleasant odors and possibly leading to electric problems in dozens of homes constructed during the housing boom.