Hazardous Materials

Authorities investigating white powder found in envelopes at the Wall Street Journal in New York and Harvard Law School in Massachusetts said it was harmless. Police evacuated about 250 people from the Journal's Manhattan newsroom and executive offices after about a dozen envelopes were found. FBI spokesman James Margolin said five employees were decontaminated as a precaution. A newspaper spokeswoman said the postmark was Knoxville, Tenn. Each envelope contained a blank piece of paper and the powder, which was thought to be flour.

Residents living near a now-closed smelting plant in south Oxnard had a higher incidence of premature births but otherwise showed little other health effects from its operations, a state study has found. The 240-page assessment by the state Department of Public Health did not find higher incidences of asthma, cancer, birth defects or low-birth-weight babies for people living within a mile of Halaco Engineering Co. But it found that emissions from the operation, including lead, arsenic, copper and zinc, may have contributed to a rise in the number of premature babies born in homes within a mile of the coastal plant.

Los Angeles County health officials were trying to determine Friday if bottles of water from a vending machine at a junior high school were contaminated and caused several students to fall ill. "Samples have been taken to the county lab, where they will do further chemical and biological testing," said Michael Uyehara, a hazardous materials specialist with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Fire officials were notified when a dozen La Mesa Junior High School students complained of feeling sick Thursday afternoon after drinking Aquafina water from a vending machine, said county fire Inspector Steve Zermeno.

A loud boom echoed from a grassy area in front of the state Capitol just after noon Thursday as California Highway Patrol officers apparently blew up a suspicious package found nearby. Two packages were found on a statue near the north end of the Capitol and were X-rayed by a hazardous materials team, according to Jarrod Lassila, a California Highway Patrol spokesman. One of the packages, a paper bag, was found to contain clothes. The other had a piece of metal sticking out of it, so officers moved it to a grassy area and conducted what Lassila said was a "controlled disruption."

Noxious fumes at a trash disposal facility sent 119 people to hospitals, including two who were in critical condition. Firefighters responded to ABC Disposal Service Inc. in New Bedford just after 10 a.m. after a report that something brought to the facility was making people sick, New Bedford Fire Chief Paul Leger said. As many as 10 people lost consciousness after breathing the fumes, authorities said. The victims were decontaminated by a hazardous materials team on site before being taken to hospitals.

The former appellate judge who mediated the deal under which Lockheed Martin Corp. paid $60 million to more than 1,300 neighbors of its Burbank plant said Friday the aerospace giant would have won had the case gone to trial. John K. Trotter, presiding justice of the state Court of Appeal until 1987, said neighbors lacked medical evidence to prove that illnesses such as cancer were caused by toxic contamination of the water, soil and air surrounding the facility.

The former appellate judge who mediated the deal under which Lockheed Martin Corp. paid $60 million to more than 1,300 neighbors of its Burbank plant said Friday that the aerospace giant would have won had the case gone to trial. John K.

A truck driver for a Camarillo-based hazardous waste business was charged Tuesday with multiple criminal counts stemming from a 1995 incident that forced the evacuation of a Chatsworth business complex, Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn announced. Inglewood resident J. Concepcion Carrera, 40, was transporting 100 gallons of nitric acid and water plus residue from an earlier load of hazardous materials on Aug.

Residents upset over being left out of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s $60-million confidential settlement with about 1,300 Burbank neighbors told the City Council on Tuesday night that they too deserve compensation. An overflow crowd of more than 150 people--represented by about 20 public speakers--filled the council chambers. The speakers voiced a wide range of complaints surrounding ongoing concerns over Lockheed's handling of toxic waste.

Neighbors of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s old plant have sued in federal court, claiming the aerospace giant released toxic substances which have damaged the environment and the health of nearby residents. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, follows Lockheed's agreement, disclosed last week, to pay $60 million to 1,300 neighbors. Lockheed maintains that the plant, no longer in operation, posed no health risks.