The leading cause of disability and death in the United States is chronic disease. Heart disease and diabetes lead the list. ...more

December 27, 2009

The leading cause of disability and death in the United States is chronic disease. Heart disease and diabetes lead the list. About 133 million Americans live with at least one chronic disease and more than one in 10 have three or more. Your humble author is well acquainted with these numbers in so far as 18 months ago I received a new lease on life, a liver in an 8-hour transplant surgery. The costs are staggering. Chronic disease accounts for 75 percent of the more than $2 trillion spent on health care each year. Coronary heart disease alone, which afflicts 16.8 million Americans, costs some $165 billion a year. ...more

December 27, 2009

Next time you have a case of diarrhea that lasts a day or more, chances are better than 1 in 3 that it was food poisoning. As many as a quarter of Americans suffer a foodborne illness each year - though only a fraction of those cases get linked to high-profile outbreaks like the recent salmonella-peanut scare, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ...more

February 20, 2009

A woman having trouble selling her home near the Raytheon plant has filed a federal lawsuit claiming groundwater contamination from leaking hazardous waste has polluted her irrigation well and hurt the value of her property. ...more

December 13, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG A St. Petersburg woman who says she has been having trouble selling her home near the Raytheon defense plant has filed a federal lawsuit claiming groundwater contamination from leaking hazardous waste has polluted her irrigation well and hurt the value of her property. Colleen Galligan filed the lawsuit in Tampa on Monday. ...more

December 10, 2008

State laws meant to keep teens out of indoor tanning booths haven't made a dent, a new study has found, disappointing doctors hoping to reduce deadly skin cancers. ...more

December 8, 2008

The installation of new high-tech security devices, which can provide images of passengers beneath their clothing, has been delayed at Tampa International Airport, a federal official said Thursday. ...more

September 5, 2008

NO ONE NEEDS TO WORRY about health threats, people are told. But the words don't match the actions as new testing is ordered and notices are sent to families about the underground spread of dangerous chemicals from a Raytheon plant in St. Petersburg. One thing is certain: Dealing with the pollution will take years. ...more

July 27, 2008

It's the No. 1 health threat to women in America: heart disease. And it's making students at the International Academy of Design & Technology in Tampa see red - in a good way. ...more

June 6, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG Since finding out that her irrigation well is contaminated, Elizabeth West worries whether she will be able to sell her home of nine years. ...more

May 29, 2008