skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, April 20, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Tribal advocates keep up legal pressure for fair political maps; 12-member jury sworn in for Trump's historic criminal trial; the importance of healthcare decision planning; and a debt dilemma: poll shows how many people wrestle with college costs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Civil rights activists say a court ruling could end the right to protest in three southern states, a federal judge lets January 6th lawsuits proceed against former President Trump, and police arrest dozens at a Columbia University Gaza protest.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Marylanders Encouraged to Test for Radon

play audio
Play

Thursday, January 26, 2023   

January is National Radon Action Month and officials are encouraging Marylanders to test their homes.

Radon is a radioactive gas produced by the natural breakdown of uranium in soil and rocks. After smoking, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. with the EPA estimating it claims the lives of 21,000 Americans annually.

The gas seeps into homes via gaps and cracks in foundations, joints connecting walls to floors, as well as pipes and drains. Radon has no smell, color, or taste and requires special effort to detect.

Dr. Clifford Mitchell, director of the Environmental Health Bureau for the Maryland Department of Health, said radon testing is important and easy to do.

"It's very, very simple to get one of the simple charcoal canister tests and run that yourself," Mitchell explained. "And generally speaking, those are very effective screening tests if you have no idea what's happening in your home."

Short term radon test kits are left out for two to seven days and are sent off to a lab for results.

While it is commonly believed homes with basements are more prone to radon gas accumulation, experts say homes of any age or design can have a radon problem. Basements increase the amount of the structure in contact with the soil, and therefore increase the number of potential entry points.

Mitchell added soil type can also matter.

"People who live on the shore in very sandy soils, generally speaking, there's less radon in those soils than some of the rocky soils that are found in mountainous areas or other geologies," Mitchell pointed out.

Homes relying on wells may also need to consider testing their water for radon.

"The EPA has looked closely at the issue of well water," Mitchell noted. "We know that again because water is in soils that have radon and that radon as a gas can dissolve in the water. It is possible for water to have radon in it."

Mitchell acknowledged radon in well water is not as common a problem as radon in the air.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
The Bureau of Land Management's newly issued Public Lands Rule is designed to safeguard cultural resources such as New Mexico's Chaco Culture National Park. (Photo courtesy SallyPaez)

Environment

play sound

Balancing the needs of the many with those who have traditionally reaped benefits from public lands is behind a new rule issued Thursday by the Bureau…


Health and Wellness

play sound

Alzheimer's disease is the eighth-leading cause of death in Pennsylvania. A documentary on the topic debuts Saturday in Pittsburgh. "Remember Me: …

Social Issues

play sound

April is Financial Literacy Month, when the focus is on learning smart money habits but also how to protect yourself from fraud. One problem on the …


Outdoor recreation added $11.7 million to the Arizona economy in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Arizona conservation groups and sportsmen alike say they're pleased the Bureau of Land Management will now recognize conservation as an integral part …

play sound

Across the U.S., most political boundaries tied to the 2020 Census have been in place for a while, but a national project on map fairness for …

The 2023 Annie E. Casey Foundation Data Book ranked Arkansas 37th in the nation for education, and said 56% of young children were not in preschool programs to help get them ready for school. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The need for child care and early learning is critical, especially in rural Arkansas. One nonprofit is working to fill those gaps by giving providers …

Environment

play sound

An annual march for farmworkers' rights is being held Sunday in northwest Washington. This year, marchers are focusing on the conditions for local …

Social Issues

play sound

A new Gallup and Lumina Foundation poll unveils a concerning reality: Hoosiers may lack clarity about the true cost of higher education. The survey …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021