Families Return Home After Explosion In Texas

The week of April 14th-20th, has been a very hard and very eventful week for the United States, with the bomb during the Boston Marathon, leading up to poisoned letters delivered to President Obama. One other event that took place this week, on April 17th, was a fertilizer plant that blew up in West, Texas, killing 14 people, and leaving over 160 people injured. Many families were left stranded after the explosion, and were all eventually packed into a nearby hotel. But, after three days of anxiously waiting, authorities gave the OK for the residents of West, Texas, to enter the town. Although authorities have already ruled out of the disaster as a "criminality", they have been telling residents that the town is safe, and that residents may return to their homes. Even though residents are allowed to enter West again, there has been a curfew set up for the battered town, and residents are "—under strict warnings not to wander beyond their own yards.".

 Even though City Council member Steve Vanek has said "It is safe, safe and safe.", there are still some issues. One major issue as to why residents couldn't return to the town for a while, was because some houses had leaking gas tanks, which were causing fires that were dangerously close to the explosion site, which was the place where fertilizer plant was located inside the town. Evacuated residents, have been waiting anxiously to come back and assess the damages of their homes. The first set of residents to return, were people that lived the farthest away from the explosion site, and whose homes had the least damage to them. Others, who lived closer to the site, were asked to leave. Officials said "—it could be weeks before those who lived closest to the explosion—many whose homes were irreparably destroyed—could go back.". One resident, Dorothy Sulak, who lost her home AND her job when the explosion occurred, had fled with nothing but the clothes she had been wearing that day. With a hole in the roof of her home, everything was destroyed in the explosion, that she owned. "Yes, it's stuff. But it's my stuff.", she replied to a news reporter, saying she was one of the few people who wanted to be let back in the town, but were refused by officials.

We know that this time in our lives, is considered a hardship for West, Texas, and for Boston, Massachusetts. Prayers are going out to the families, friends, co-workers, ANYONE that was lost in the explosion of the fertilizer plant, and the bombing during the Boston Marathon. All that anyone can really do, is hope, and pray that everything will be alright in the end. One of the culprits behind the Boston bombing was caught Friday, and the other dead in a all-out shooting, by the police. Authorities are not really sure as to what caused the explosion in West, Texas, but they are certain, that there was no criminality that was taken place.

Information from "Residents of town in Texas fertilizer plant fire go home, as police find no evidence of crime", from Fox News.com

Health Issues with Red Meat

We all eat kmeat. That is, we people who are not vegetarians, eat meat. There are many different kinds of meat. One in particular, red meat, is at the top of the concern list of some doctors. Some doctors are now seeing some other "health issues" with the meat product, itself. They have assumed for a long time, that the saturated fat and high cholesterol that comes with the meat, is what is causing the huge risk for people to obtain heart disease. But recent studies have shown that there is a new issue with the meat has been discovered: carnitine. Carnitine, is a compound that is abundant in red meat, but is also sold in most energy drinks, as a "dietary supplement". Research shows that carnitine helps the body transport fatty acids into cells throughout the body, to be used as energy. But, research also shows that the carnitine can also be retracted by a certain bacteria in the digestive system, to a metabolite called TMAO. Even more research has been conducted, and they consist of TMAO being a promoter of atherosclerosis, meaning thickening of the arteries.
Stanley Hazen, who led the researches, tested patients who were already undergoing "cardiac evalutations", with the TMAO levels. Doing these tests, he found that patients with high TMAO levels, there was more likely a chance that they would have more carnitine in their blood, and an even more high chance that they will have cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, strokes, and even death. The Harvard School of Public Health reported last year, that "—among 83,000 nurses and 37,000 male health professionals followed since the 1890's, those who consumed the highest levels of red meat had the highest risk of death during the study, and that one additional serving a day of red meat raised the risk of death by 13 percent.". Researchers aren't saying that anyone should stop eating red meat all together, but just that they are now getting a better understanding of what kinds of health issues, the meat is causing. So, the next time you see red meat, you might want to think about how much of it, you should eat.

Information from "New health worry in red meat" from Fox News.com