Free Republic

Almost no matter what you build in Western Pennsylvania, you have to consider the possibility that in previous generations the site had been mined for coal. That’s especially true for the next leg of the Southern Expressway, a 13-mile, $700 million section being built along part of the Pittsburgh coal seam between Route 22 and Interstate 79 in western Allegheny and northern Washington counties. In the area around McDonald alone, where the highway will pass over Route 980 just outside the borough, at least 10 mines operated within two square miles between the mid-1860s and mid-1930s. Particularly in Western Pennsylvania,...

A couple is suing Home Depot and the manufacturers of a grout sealing product for $111 million _ including a $1 million claim that the product destroyed their sex life. Jay Flynn of Lilburn, Ga., and his wife Laura, said that he became ill and was hospitalized for four days after using an allegedly defective batch of Tile Perfect Stand'N Seal Grout Sealer in July 2005. According to the lawsuit, doctors told Flynn his lungs were permanently damaged by fumes from the product, which left him with only half his normal breathing capacity. As a result, Flynn had to quit...