Northeast
US EPA assigns $1 billion to fund hazardous waste cleanups
The U.S. environment regulator said on Tuesday it is launching new cleanup projects at 25 hazardous waste sites from New Jersey to Oregon with $1 billion in funds.
The sites are in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program, originally created in 1980, which helps to repurpose land polluted by heavy industry for new economic development, including parks and warehouses.
The $1 billion is the third and final wave of $3.5 billion in funding appropriated by the bipartisan infrastructure bill U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021.
“This funding will help improve people’s lives especially those who have long been on the front lines of pollution,” Janet McCabe, the deputy EPA administrator, told reporters on a call.
] Signage is seen at the headquarters of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 10, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo)
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McCabe said 75% of the 25 sites are in historically underserved communities. The $1 billion also will help speed up ongoing work at 85 Superfund sites. More than 25% of Black and Hispanic Americans live within three miles (5 km) of a Superfund site, McCabe said.
New Jersey, which has more Superfund sites than any other state, has three sites among the 25 including Raritan Bay Slag in Old Bridge and Sayreville, where a seawall and jetty were built using slag, waste from the bottom of industrial blast furnaces used to smelt metal from the 1960s to the 1970s.
U.S. Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey said the funding will work well with an expected infusion of $23 billion over five years for Superfund after “polluters pay” taxes for the program were reinstated in the infrastructure law and Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
“Reinstating that Superfund tax is really only about basic fairness that corporate polluters, not taxpayers, should have to pay to clean up the messes that they created,” Pallone told reporters.
In Clackamas, Oregon, the funding will help clean up the Northwest Pipe & Casing/Hall Process Company site where pipes were made and coated from the 1950s to the 1980s contaminating soil and groundwater with solvents, primers, coal tar and other pollutants, the EPA said
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Boston, MA
Boston Police Blotter: City snow slowly but surely getting removed
The Boston Police Department reported a lower-than-usual number of incidents in the 24-hour period leading up to 10 a.m. Saturday, which could be attributed to temperatures in the single-digits and the massive amount of snow still on the ground.
But Boston Public Works says they’re on the second one.
“No rest for the weary! After another successful night of large-scale snow removal across #Boston, PWD district continue work today removing snow banks and clearing alleys, crosswalks & crub ramps to improve safety and accessibility,” the city department reported Friday.
They were at it again Saturday, when they reported they had cleared more than 2,667 loads of snow from city streets — totaling 41,168 cubic yards.
Incident Summary
BPD responded to 178 incidents in the 24-hour period ending at 10 a.m. Saturday, according to the department’s incident log. Those included three aggravated assaults and 18 instances of miscellaneous larceny.
Arrests
All of the below-named defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
— Juan Martinez, 120 Southampton St., Boston. Shoplifting.
— Theodore Murray, 242 Highland Ave., Somerville. External warrant arrest.
— Keith Cunningham, 450 Boston Post Road, Marlboro. Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
— Arjan Vladi, 5337 Washington St., Boston. Possession of Class E drugs.
Courtesy/Boston BPW
Boston Public Works Department workers have been hard at work clearing the massive amount of snow covering Boston. (Courtesy/Boston BPW)
Pittsburg, PA
Public safety officials warn against walking on Pittsburgh’s frozen rivers
As ice continues to build on Pittsburgh’s three rivers, people are taking the risk of walking across the ice despite warnings from public safety officials and scientists.
Around 6 p.m. on Saturday, a few individuals could be seen walking from the North Shore to Point State Park. Others took pictures with a navigation buoy. In both cases, officers and park rangers encouraged people to come to shore. The situation kept repeating like a game of icy Whac-A-Mole.
Around the same time, on the river by the Mr. Rogers statue, Jermaine and Ashton, two men in their early 20s who didn’t want to give their last names, sprinted across the ice, dropping on their stomachs to continue sliding.
“It’s an adrenaline rush,” one of them said. “We’re having fun.”
Also on the ice was a family, including two young children.
“We’re having a great time seeing the frozen river,” the father said. “If there was nobody here, I wouldn’t have dared to come this far, even.”
Despite acknowledging she was scared, the mother said they did it anyway.
While not necessarily illegal, National Weather Service Pittsburgh meteorologist Jason Frazier said walking on the ice amounts to taking a dangerous risk.
“It’s definitely something we discourage,” Frazier said. “What people don’t maybe realize is that while the ice appears like it’s nice and solid, maybe thick, the thickness can actually be very different in a lot of different places of the river.
Ice thickness ranged from six inches to one inch to spots without ice, Frazier said. Unlike a lake, he said, rivers have a moving current underneath, which leads to varying thicknesses.
“If you actually do find a crack that’s maybe because of snow cover, you could fall in and be transported away from the spot you fall in,” Frazier said.
Both groups KDKA-TV spoke with had the same line of thinking about why they were safe, saying they stayed close to the shore where the water was shallow. That was more the case for the family than it was for the two young men.
“We can still say that there are dangers even on those shoreline areas,” Frazier said.
Both are due to friction on the shorelines that disrupts ice formation and snow covering cracks in the ice, and if you fall in, even there, consider the water temperature is at or below freezing.
First responders are also at risk when people go on ice because they could get called in for a rescue, Frazier said.
Around 9:30 Saturday night, yet another person was walking in the middle of the Allegheny, roughly from the Fort Duquesne to the Clemente bridges.
Connecticut
Connecticut Science Center temporarily closed for burst pipe
HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) – The Connecticut Science Center is temporarily closed for a burst pipe in the building.
As a result, the Science Center posted on Facebook saying they will be closed on Sunday, February 1.
“Our team has been working tirelessly to clean and restore the affected areas, but unfortunately, we will not be ready to reopen on Sunday,” they wrote.
The Science Center told anyone who pre-purchased tickets to use them on a future date or contact the office on Monday for a refund.
“We look forward to welcoming you back very soon,” said the Connecticut Science Center.
Copyright 2026 WFSB. All rights reserved.
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