Wednesday AM Daily | June 28, 2017

University of Iowa researchers found polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in older schools, apparently from outdated building materials such as window caulking and light ballasts.

The multiyear study by the Iowa Superfund Research Program was one of the largest studies of airborne PCBs in schools. It found exposure rates to the cancer-causing industrial chemicals were roughly the same in urban and rural schools. Researchers were surprised to find the students were exposed to about the same amount of PCB through inhalation as they were through various foods they ate.

Researchers collected indoor and outdoor air samples at six schools in Iowa and Indiana from 2012 to 2015. Generally, PCB levels were below the concentrations that require immediate action. The study was published in Environmental Science & Technology.

In 2014, a school in Lexington, Mass., was closed after high levels of PCBs were found inside the building. New York City replaced light ballasts in 800 schools. Last year, parents in Malibu, Calif., won a court battle to force the removal of PCBs in schools.

"Due to the presence of PCBs in the environment, humans are easily exposed to them," Rachel Marek, assistant research scientist at the UI College of Engineering and lead author of the study, said in a statement. "Exposure of school-aged children to PCBs is of particular concern because these are compounds we know impair memory and learning and cause cancer in humans."

Committee leaves crop insurance intact
A congressional subcommittee this week turned aside President Donald Trump's move to cut crop insurance, and also left several conservation programs unscathed, Successful Farming reported. A 108-page appropriations draft includes $1.8 billion for food aid and export promotion, including a key program Trump wanted to cut.

Mercy celebrates groundbreaking on Clive rehabilitation hospital
Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines marked the start of construction of Iowa's first free-standing rehabilitation hospital with a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday. Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital in Clive, slated to open a year from now, is being built on 5 acres of land that Mercy originally purchased in the 1980s as a potential site for a future western hospital expansion, said Mike Wegner, Mercy's interim president. The 50-bed rehabilitation hospital at Northwest 114th Street and Campus Drive will have 20 physicians and a caregiving staff of about 100. "It's going to be state-of-the-art," said Dr. Bruce Hughes, director of Mercy's Neuroscience Division. The 58,000-square-foot rehab hospital will replace a 14-bed inpatient unit that Mercy operates at its downtown campus.

LCS commits to raise $250,000 for Alzheimer's Association
Des Moines-based senior living company LCS is taking a leading role in supporting the annual Walk to End Alzheimer's fundraising event. LCS has committed to raising $250,000 nationally as a Gold National Team; locally it has already raised more than $113,000 toward its $143,000 goal for the Des Moines walk to be held Sept. 16. One in three seniors dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia. In Iowa alone, more than 64,000 people have Alzheimer's. "Our passion is caring for and serving seniors, so it is of the utmost importance to champion this fight for an end to this terrible disease," said Joel Nelson, LCS president and an Alzheimer's Association of Greater Iowa board member. To register for the walk, click here.

BPI settles defamation suit with ABC
Sioux City Journal: Bringing a landmark defamation case to a close, Beef Products Inc. has settled its $1.9 billion lawsuit against ABC News over a series of reports that repeatedly referred to BPI's signature product as "pink slime." The judge in the case announced the settlement this morning at the start of the 18th day of the trial in South Dakota. Terms were not immediately disclosed.

Ransomware attack raises concerns over future assaults
New York Times: Governments and organizations around the world grappled today to contain a cyberattack that struck parts of Europe, the United States and Asia. The ransomware attack, which began and was most prevalent in Ukraine, has raised concerns that similar attempts will become more widespread as hackers mimic the same techniques in copycat digital assaults.