Global warming real, majority say
An overwhelming majority of Americans think they can help reduce global warming and are willing to make the sacrifices that are needed, according to a new poll.
After years of controversy, now 71 percent of Americans believe global warming is real, according to a telephone survey of 1,200 people for the advocacy group Environmental Defense. Conducted between Feb. 27 and March 2, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The results include:
•53 percent believe warming is caused more by human activity than by normal Earth cycles.
•70 percent think the effects of global warming can be reduced.
•At least 90 percent are willing to take the following steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: recycle, turn thermostats down in the winter by 2 degrees, caulk around windows, and combine driving tips when running errands.
Health care suffers in New Orleans
The city of New Orleans has only 456 staffed hospital beds, compared with 2,269 before the city was struck by Hurricane Katrina, according to government auditors who say rebuilding the health care system will be vital for bringing people back.
While emergency care is available, auditors noted that patients at two hospitals waited up to two hours to be unloaded from ambulances. They also found patients being kept and treated in the emergency room because beds weren’t available elsewhere.
The Government Accountability Office said several planning efforts are under way about how to rebuild that system, but no clear consensus has emerged.
Philadelphia
Police say man killed for mooning
Two teenagers taunted a man rummaging through a trash bin and then killed him after he bared his buttocks at them, police said Tuesday.
“He didn’t want to be harassed by these kids or whatever, and he mooned them,” Upper Darby Township police Sgt. David Madonna said.
Christopher McEneaney, 16, and Andre Mark, 18, were charged in the slaying Friday night of Martin Malone, 47. He was stabbed with a multitool and bludgeoned with a shovel.
Hull, Mass.
Kennedy relative’s former home sold
The former summer home of President John F. Kennedy’s grandfather was auctioned Tuesday for $950,000 to a developer of luxury condominiums, two real estate agents said.
Ernesto Caparrotta was the winning bidder for the eight-bedroom, 7,163-square-foot mansion, once owned by John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald.
Caparrotta, who is building 16 luxury condos on Hull’s waterfront, told WBZ-TV he hopes to “restore it and then decide what to do with it.”