Pittsburgh area on worst-pollution list

Pittsburgh area on worst-pollution list

LOS ANGELES

Six in 10 Americans — about 175 million people — are living in places where air pollution often reaches dangerous levels, despite progress in reducing particle pollution, the American Lung Association said in a report released Wednesday.

The Los Angeles area had the nation’s worst ozone pollution.

The Pittsburgh-New Castle area came in third for worst short-term particle pollution in the nation.

Rights observers killed in Mexico

OAXACA, Mexico

Gunmen ambushed a caravan of rights observers and leftist political activists in a remote, restive area of southern Mexico, killing a Finnish man and a Mexican woman, and dozens from the group remained missing, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The ambush took place Tuesday just outside the village of San Juan Copala, which is the scene of a long-running dispute between a group demanding greater local autonomy and militants with links to Oaxaca state’s ruling party.

Parts of Northeast get 2 feet of snow

MONTPELIER, Vt.

A rare late-season snowstorm dumped up to 2 feet of heavy, wet snow on northern New York and northern New England on Wednesday, giving schoolchildren an unexpected day off and forcing others to seek refuge from homes darkened by downed power lines.

The National Weather Service reported more than 20 inches of snow fell on the western slopes of Vermont’s Green Mountains northeast of Burlington.

South Korea honors 46 whose ship sank

PYEONGTAEK, S. Korea

South Korea honored 46 sailors today with a solemn military funeral a month after their warship sank near waters disputed with rival North Korea.

Mourners including President Lee Myung-bak packed a navy base south of Seoul for the ceremony as condolence sirens sounded across the country.

The name of each sailor was read out while Lee, clad in a black suit and tie, placed military decorations on a giant altar below individual photos of each man. They were all posthumously promoted by one rank.

The sailors went down with the 1,200-ton Cheonan near the tense western sea border with North Korea on March 26 shortly after it was ripped apart by what investigators believe was an underwater blast from outside the ship. Fifty-eight sailors survived the sinking.

The government is investigating the cause of the sinking amid increasing speculation North Korea was involved. Pyongyang has denied any role.

HP to buy Palm

SAN FRANCISCO

Palm Inc., a pioneer in the smart-phone business that couldn’t quite make the comeback it needed, has agreed to be bought out by Hewlett-Packard Co. for about $1.4 billion in cash.

The two Silicon Valley companies announced Wednesday that the deal will see HP pay $5.70 for every Palm common share and certain preferred shares.

Foundations match federal school grants

SEATTLE

A coalition of wealthy foundations is offering up to half a billion dollars to match federal grants meant to encourage education reform, taking the pressure off schools scrambling to find the matching dollars they need to get the money.

A dozen foundations plan to announce this week that they are investing $506 million, a portion of which is for a matching fund for the $650 million federal- government grant program, called Investing in Innovation.

Associated Press