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"I want to work. I have a brain and I want to use it."

Marylyn Kish,

a 61-year-old laid-off office manager in Ohio who is seeking a job instead of accepting early Social Security retirement benefits Article, 1ASmelly algae kills dogs, sickens people

WAUSAU, Wis. - Waterways across the upper Midwest are increasingly plagued with ugly, smelly and potentially deadly blue-green algae, bloomed by drought and fertilizer runoffs from farm fields, that's killed dozens of dogs and sickened many people.

Aquatic biologists say it's a problem that falls somewhere between a human health concern and a nuisance, but will eventually lead to more human poisoning. State officials are telling people who live on algae-covered lakes to close their windows, stop taking walks along the picturesque shorelines and keep their dogs from drinking the rank water.

No people have died in the U.S. from the algae's toxins, said Wayne Carmichael, a retired aquatic biologist and toxicology professor in Oregon.

Many, however, have gotten sick: "Sooner or later, we are going to have more acute human poisoning," Carmichael said.

The scum has killed dozens of dogs over the years - including at least four in Oregon, three in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota this summer.

Lawmakers seek more security in NYC

NEW YORK - The arrest last week of former coffee vendor Najibullah Zazi on charges of plotting to attack New York City gives added urgency to the city's pleas for federal funding to deter nuclear attacks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and area lawmakers said Sunday.

City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and U.S. Rep. Peter King of Long Island joined the mayor in pressing Congress for $40 million for a program to ring the region with sensors to detect radioactive material.

"With additional funding of $40 million that we're looking for, we'll be able to put in permanent, fixed cameras and radiation detection equipment at all the entry points into Manhattan," Kelly said, "and we'll also be able to establish a regional wireless system that will enable all the partners in this program to get notified immediately if in fact radiation material is discovered."

The Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Committee is considering the act that would fund the program.

Data show humpback whale numbers up

HONOLULU - The federal government is considering taking the humpback whale off the endangered species list in response to data showing the population of the massive marine mammal has been steadily growing in recent decades.

Known for their acrobatic leaps from the sea and complex singing patterns, humpback whales were nearly hunted to extinction for their oil and meat by industrial-sized whaling ships well through the middle of the 20th century. But the species has been bouncing back since an international ban on their commercial whaling in 1966.

"Humpbacks by and large are an example of a species that in most places seems to be doing very well, despite our earlier efforts to exterminate them," said Phillip Clapham, a senior whale biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The National Marine Fisheries Service received results last year from an extensive study showing that the North Pacific humpback population has been growing 4 to 7 percent a year in recent decades.

Official: Crashed copter ran properly

GEORGETOWN, S.C. - Nothing indicates that a medical helicopter malfunctioned before it crashed in coastal South Carolina, killing all three crew members on board, a federal official said Sunday.

National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said all major portions of the aircraft were accounted for, and that none of those parts showed anything was wrong before it went down Friday night.

The engine seemed to have been working at the time of impact and the recovered tail rotor showed no signs it failed, Sumwalt said.

The helicopter had just dropped off a patient at a hospital in Charleston and was flying to Conway, about 90 miles to the northeast, when it crashed about 11:30 p.m., said Peter Knudson, an safety board spokesman.

Omniflight, a Texas-based company which operated the helicopter, identified the crew members killed as pilot Patrick Walters, 45, of Murrells Inlet; flight nurse Diana Conner, 42, of Florence; and paramedic Randolph Claxton Dove, 39, of Bladenboro, N.C.

The helicopter went down 20 to 30 feet off a logging road in a sparsely populated area.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 09/28/2009

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