Dear EarthTalk I run a sorting machine at the post office, and am worried about all the paper dust swirling around the building. I asked both management and our union if this was a health or safety problem and both said no, but I’m not sure they really know. Can you set the record straight? J.G. Eddins Phoenix, AZ One of the drawbacks... Read more →

I-405 — Freeway An exciting evening awaited Luke Dunphy as he jumped on a motorcycle and headed home to Santa Monica to prepare for a barbecue and viewing of a Red Sox game with friends. The single father of a 4-year-old son was on top of the world, holding two jobs he enjoyed — one of which was at a local motorcycle shop —... Read more →

SAMOHI — Every Wednesday morning while his peers are still rolling out of bed and rubbing the crust from their eyes, Raphael Mawrence is at the beach, not hitting the waves, but rather learning about the marine environment. The 11th grader is among more than a dozen Santa Monica High School students who for the past seven weeks have... Read more →

BROADWAY — An old nursing home that’s been put out of commission sits quietly on a corner here, mostly shielded from the public’s eye through a chain-link fence that’s covered in a green mesh canvas. Some might view the former facility as an eyesore, with boarded up windows and outdated white awnings, but the... Read more →

School-based drug education programs for adolescents can have a long-term positive impact on sexual behavior in addition to curbing substance abuse, according to a RAND Corp. study released Wednesday. Researchers found that young adults who had been exposed to a popular drug abuse prevention program as adolescents were less likely to engage... Read more →

CITY HALL — A 112-year-old cemetery where more than 60,000 Santa Monica residents have been laid to rest could soon be open to outsiders. City officials plan to change an old ordinance that limits interment at Woodlawn Cemetery to only current residents or former Santa Monicans who lived in the city for at least five years, making... Read more →

Crime Watch is a weekly series culled from reports provided by the Santa Monica Police Department. These are arrests only. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Friday, April 24, at 10 a.m., Santa Monica police officers responded to the 100 block of Broadway regarding a report of a possible burglary. When officers... Read more →

SANTA ANA — Seven individuals, including one Santa Monica resident, pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The seven allegedly raised funds for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian-dissident group that was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by... Read more →

Linda Carter, a Santa Monica mail carrier for the United States Postal Service, begins sorting and casing letters and packages for delivery at 7:30 every morning. Hastily, she grabs the mail for her route and quickly looks through it. Deliberately, Carter runs her finger tips over every piece of mail before she divides it based on its... Read more →

CITYWIDE — Whenever Daniel Salisbury comes across a bee hive while walking around Santa Monica, he doesn’t run for cover or call the authorities. Instead, the antique dealer and amateur bee keeper goes out of his way to collect them and relocate them to his property in Morro Bay. Why? It’s not to make money from their... Read more →