Another Oil Rig Explodes In The Gulf Coast
A spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard says it has dispatched three cutters to the scene of an oil rig fire off the coast of Louisiana, including the USCGC Decisive. (Coast Guard)
An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP’s undersea well spilled after a rig explosion. The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the blast, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the area Thursday morning. All 13 people aboard the rig have been accounted for, with one injury. The extent of the injury was not known. The Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP was in about 5,000 feet of water when it exploded and sank in April, killing 11 workers and triggering a leak of about 206 million gallons of oil. We’ll have the latest.
Temple Grandin: The Extraordinary Woman At The Center Of The Emmy Winning HBO Film
Temple Grandin and producer Emily Gerson Saines collect the Emmy award for outstanding made for TV movie for "Temple Grandin." (AP)
We revisit our conversation with Temple Grandin, the renowned animal scientist whose autism gives her insight into animal psychology. Grandin is a professor at Colorado State University and the author of several books, including “Animals Make Us Human.” The HBO film “Temple Grandin,” which shows Grandin’s early struggles to get the food industry to implement her ideas, won five Emmy awards earlier this week.
Hurricane Earl Threatens East Coast, Labor Day Weekend
Residents are boarding up windows and doors in Hatteras, N.C., as Hurricane Earl approaches North Carolina's Outer Banks. (AP)
As Hurricane Earl blows toward the Eastern Seaboard as a major storm with winds of around 145 miles per hour, forecasters are trying to pinpoint exactly how close the strongest gales and heaviest surge will get to North Carolina’s fragile chain of barrier islands. They are also trying to figure out whether the storm will stay offshore as it tracks up the East coast, or bring hurricane-force winds to Long Island, the Boston metropolitan area and Cape Cod. As nearly 35 million Americans plan to hit the road this Labor Day weekend, we check in with Erin James of the Virginian-Pilot who is on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Tiny Bedbugs Are A Big Problem
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The surge in bedbugs in hotels, homes, and even airplanes in the past few years has scientists scratching their heads to figure out why the appleseed-sized bug has become such a big problem. But, as bedbug expert Gary Alpert tells us, bedbugs can’t hop or fly, and they feed at night, so there are some simple ways to spot them and stop their spread.
- Harvard Gazette: Tracking Insects for Work and Play
- More bedbug information
- Gary Alpert’s Bed Bug Fact Sheet (PDF)
The Savory Collection And A Sneak Peak For Jimmy Webb
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What a great year it’s been for jazz fans! Invaluable archive recordings from the past, including live sets from America’s Newport Jazz Festival and 1950’s after-hours New York loft recordings from Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, have been made available online. Now, what many consider to be the holy grail of jazz music, the fabled Savory Collection that takes us two decades further back to the golden age of big-band swing music, is available as well. It includes hundreds of recordings of radio broadcasts featuring Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong among others. The BBC’s Andrew Purcell reports.
We also highlight a special segment we have coming up on Labor Day: A conversation with the great American songwriter, Jimmy Webb.
