Sarah Hess started taking her toddler, Josie, to New Orleans’ Mickey Markey Playground in 2010 because she thought it would be a safe place to play after Josie had been diagnosed with lead poisoning. Hess had traced the problem to the crumbling paint in her family’s century-old home. While it underwent lead remediation, the family stayed in a newer, lead-free house in the Bywater neighborhood near Markey, where Josie regularly played on the swings and slides. “Everyone was telling us the safest place to play was outside at playgrounds, so that’s where we went,” Hess said. Josie’s next blood test was a shock. “It skyrocketed,” Hess said. Josie’s lead levels had leapt to nearly five times the national health standard. When the soil at Markey was tested in late 2010, it too was found to have dangerously high levels of lead. But the city took no meaningful action to inform Markey’s users or make the park safe. Parents started posting warning signs at the park and flooded City Hall with outraged calls and emails. Holding Josie in her arms, Hess made an impassioned speech to the City Council. A child’s shoes are left in the dirt next to the playground at Mickey Markey Park in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans in November 2025. It’s common for children to play barefoot at this playground. Christiana Botic / Verite News and Catchlight Local / Report for America In short order, the city had hired a company to test Markey and other parks, and pledged to fix the lead problem wherever it was found. “I couldn’t have been more pleased,” Hess said. “They were totally into it. My impression was they were going to make them all lead-free parks.” But a Verite News investigation conducted over four months in 2025 found that lead pollution in New Orleans parks not only persists, it is more widespread than previously known. Dozens of city parks with playgrounds remain unsafe, including Markey and others that underwent city-sponsored lead remediation in 2011. The city does not appear to have conducted any major remediation or lead testing of parks since that time. The findings indicate that city officials fell short in their cleanup efforts then, and that a very large number of New Orleans children are exposed to excessive amounts of lead now, said Howard Mielke, a retired Tulane University toxicologist and one of the nation’s leading experts on lead contamination. “It’s a failed program,” he said. “They didn’t do what they needed to do to bring the lead levels down in a single park.” Verite News reporters tested hundreds of soil samples from 84 city parks with playgrounds in fall 2025. Adrienne Katner, a lead contamination researcher with Louisiana State University, verified the results. The testing found that about half the parks had lead concentrations that exceed a federal hazard level established in 2024 for soil in urban areas. “I am surprised they haven’t been tested and mitigated,” said Gabriel Filippelli, an Indiana University biochemist who studies lead exposure. “If there’s evidence of kids playing in soils that are as high as [Verite’s testing] described, that’s kind of horrifying.” Public health researchers and doctors say that children under 6 absorb lead-laden dust more easily than adults, contaminating their blood and harming the long-term development of their brains and nervous systems. There is no known safe exposure level for children, and even trace amounts can result in behavioral problems and lower cognitive abilities. Find out what the lead levels are at New Orleans playgrounds New Orleans is in financial straits with a budget deficit of about $220 million, and it’s unclear what priority or resources Mayor Helena Moreno will, or even can, allocate to restart lead remediation efforts. In response to the financial crisis, Moreno has eliminated dozens of positions and plans to furlough 700 employees one day per pay period to save money. Moreno’s administration did not respond to requests for comment. The city doesn’t routinely test for lead in parks, said Larry Barabino, chief executive officer of the New Orleans Recreation Development, or NORD, Commission, the agency that oversees most of the city’s parklands. He confirmed the last significant effort to test parks ended in 2011. He called Verite’s results “definitely concerning” and pledged to work with city departments and local experts to potentially remediate unsafe parks. “Safety is our number one priority here at NORD,” Barabino said. “If there’s anything that’s a true environmental concern or risk, that’s something that we believe in definitely making sure we take action.” Andrea Young heard similar pledges 14 years ago. Like Hess, Young had a child who frequented Markey and had high lead levels in her blood. The mothers helped form a community group called NOLA Unleaded that pushed the city to clean up Markey and other parks. Young thought they had succeeded, but said she now realizes that the city had not done enough. “It makes me question the value of the work that [the city] did, and the safety we felt in letting our kids play there again,” Young said with a trembling voice. “It just sort of shakes me up a little bit, you know?” Testing New Orleans parks Verite News conducted soil tests on the city parks that property inventories and maps list as having play structures. Samples were taken from surface soil, which is most likely to come into contact with children’s hands and toys or be inhaled when kicked up during play or blown by the wind. Lead is typically found in very small amounts in natural soil. The average lead abundance in U.S. soils is 26 parts per million, equivalent to less than an ounce of lead per ton of soil. Soil samples collected by Verite from New Orleans parks averaged about 121 ppm — nearly five times the national average. Verite reporter Tristan Baurick tests lead levels while reporter Halle Parker maps the exact GPS coordinates of the reading at Mirabeau Playground in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans in September 2025. Christiana Botic / Verite News and Catchlight Local / Report for America The federal hazard level for lead in soil was 400 ppm until early 2024, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Joe Biden lowered it to 200 ppm for most residential areas and 100 ppm in areas like New Orleans with multiple sources of lead exposure, including contaminated soil, lead paint, and large numbers of lead pipes. More of a guide than a mandate, the EPA screening levels can steer federal cleanup actions and are often adopted by state and city governments to inform local responses to lead contamination. California has long had a much lower standard of 80 ppm. Of the New Orleans parks Verite tested, 52 — or about two-thirds — had results that fail California’s standard. In October, President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back the EPA screening standards. The administration retained the 200 ppm threshold for residential areas but eliminated the 100 ppm level for areas with multiple lead sources. The administration didn’t dispute the validity of the 100 ppm threshold, but argued that a single level “reduces inconsistent implementation and provides clarity to decision-makers and the public.” The change, according to Mielke, doesn’t align with the science, which has long shown that children are harmed when exposed to soil with levels below 100 ppm. He was one of several scientists who had pushed for lower thresholds since the EPA established its first screening levels more than 30 years ago. Families spend time at Confetti Playspot in Algiers Point on the West Bank of New Orleans in November 2025. Christiana Botic / Verite News and Catchlight Local / Report for America Mielke said the 100 ppm screening level should still be applied in urban areas, especially New Orleans. The city has a long history of soil contaminated with lead from a combination of sources, including lead-based paint, leaded gasoline, and emissions from waste incinerators and other industrial facilities. Lead particles spread easily by wind, eventually settling in the topsoil. Verite found lead levels above 100 ppm at numerous places that get heavy use by children. Lead contamination more than four times that level was recorded near the slides at Markey, outside a playhouse in Brignac Park near Magazine Street and at a well-worn spot under an oak tree at Desmare Park in Bayou St. John. Elevated lead levels tended to follow the age of the neighborhood. The city’s older neighborhoods, including the Irish Channel and Algiers Point, had some of the highest lead levels, while Gentilly and New Orleans East, which were developed mostly after the 1950s, tended to be lower, according to Verite’s findings. Search all of Verite News’ test results Verite spoke to more than a dozen parents at playgrounds across the city, and most were surprised at the levels of lead in the parks. In the Irish Channel, Meg Potts watched her son run around the dusty playground at Brignac. All of Verite’s samples at the park surpassed the threshold the EPA deemed safe for urban areas, reaching nearly 600 ppm. Potts knew high lead levels existed in the city, but didn’t realize her neighborhood park could be a source of exposure for her son. “ I’m just thinking about all of this now because he’s had to go in and have his lead tested,” she said. “He’s like right on the cusp of having too high lead.” The invisibility of lead makes it challenging for parents to manage among other priorities. Meghan Stroh, whose children often play at Markey, said it’s hard for parents to protect their children from every threat, but tackling lead at parks is one way the city could help. Children play at Desmare Playground in the Bayou St. John neighborhood of New Orleans in November 2025. Christiana Botic / Verite News and Catchlight Local / Report for America “It’s a concern that I have amidst a myriad of others,” she said while holding her 10-month-old daughter on her hip. “So, it would be nice to have one thing checked off the list.” Katner, the LSU researcher, said Verite’s results can serve as a starting point for city officials to conduct more comprehensive testing in parks, noting that even a single lead hotspot in a park is concerning. “ It doesn’t matter where it is in the soil; there’s exposure there,” she said. “The kid playing in that part of the park is going to get the highest dose.” A legacy of lead Before the 1970s, lead was nearly everywhere. A 2022 study estimated that the vast majority of the U.S. population born between 1960 and 1980 was poisoned by dangerously high levels of lead in early childhood. On average, lead exposure has resulted in a loss of 2.6 IQ points for more than half the population through 2015. Lead pollution from cars spread into areas near roads, especially major thoroughfares, until leaded gasoline was phased out by 1996. Similarly, emissions from trash incinerators and industrial sites contaminated the surrounding soil. New Orleans had at least eight incinerators that blew toxic gases and lead dust over several neighborhoods, including Algiers Point and St. Roch, until they were closed in the 1970s and ‘80s. Today, the most pervasive source of lead in soil is degraded paint. Lead-based paint was used extensively for homes and buildings until it was banned in 1978. In New Orleans, most of the houses were built before 1980, according to the 2024 American Community Survey. As the paint deteriorates, Tulane University epidemiologist Felicia Rabito said it can chip or turn into toxic dust.

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Sobelman’s Pub & Grill. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson. Ask a local where you can find Milwaukee’s best burger and you are likely to get an answer that includes Sobelman’s Pub & Grill. Not only can you count on finding a great burger there, you can also have the burger in an original Schlitz tied house, one of many pubs built by the brewery in the late 1800s. In 1999, Dave and Melanie Sobelman opened Sobelman’s in this historic tavern and began to dish up some of Milwaukee’s best burgers, including my companion’s fresco, a burger for people who like it hot. The fresco started with a never-frozen Black Angus burger patty served on a freshly baked and grilled bun. This one-half-pound burger was topped with habanero cheese, raw onion and an avocado spread that oozed out of the bun with every bite. Then came the kicker: pico de gallo, an add-on that had a serious burn. Crisp lettuce and a tomato slice mitigated some of the spicy heat of this tasty flavor bomb. You will see a dozen burgers on the menu priced from $9 for the basic to $13.25 for the Wisco, a monster combination of a beef patty, a brat patty, Colby cheese, bacon, fried onions and sauerkraut. You can have fries with your burger or a heart-healthy bowl of fresh fruit. It was a photo of the breaded pork tenderloin that first took me to Sobelman’s and that I ordered on this occasion. This plate-sized piece of pork, coated with crisp breading and topped with superfluous lettuce, came partially enclosed in a grilled bun. The pork dwarfed the bun and covered most of the plate. It was also tender, delicious and more than enough meat for a second meal later. There was a lot more than burgers on the menu, which a companion and I noted when I returned. Her fish sandwich, two pieces of cod served in a grilled bun with lettuce and tomato, came with a house-made tartar sauce good enough to eat with a spoon. If you want more than two pieces of cod, order the classic fish fry, served daily with four pieces of beer-battered cod, coleslaw, fries, macaroni salad, rye bread and tartar sauce. The sausage sampler almost defied description. Each of the four regular-sized sausages, each cooked to juicy perfection, was conveniently cut into bite-sized pieces. This eliminated that complicated and messy maneuver when you attempt to slice a sausage buried underneath the fries. The sausages — a brat, a cheddar, an Italian and a jalapeno — were served with a cheddar beer dipping sauce and a plain cheddar dipping sauce. That was not all. The basket also contained regular fries and a surprise, pickle fries, strips of dill pickles that were breaded and deep-fried. A third dipping sauce, jalapeno ranch, further enhanced the flavor of the pickles. Sobelman’s also has a reputation for extravagant Bloody Marys. You can order a classic or get crazy and order one of the others, including the masterpiece topped with a cheeseburger slider, the Bourbonado with bacon-wrapped chicken and bourbon sauce, the Beast with the works, or the Chicken Beast topped with a whole fried chicken for $65. When we finished our lunch, our server brought a check and a chocolate chip cookie. Sobelman’s has earned its reputation as a go-to place for a burger, but as friends and I learned after a fish sandwich, a humongous pork sandwich, and that amazing sausage sampler, it is much more than just a burger joint. On the Menu Photo Gallery The RundownLocation: 1900 W. St Paul Ave.Phone: 414-931-1919Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mon-Thu, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fri, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sat, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. SunNeighborhood: Menomonee River ValleyWebsite: https://sobelmanspubandgrill.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/teamsobelman

Manage Every Schedule From One DashboardPrevent Overbooking with Capacity LimitsLet Members Manage Their Own BookingsAdd Buffer Time Between BookingsAdjust Pricing Based on DemandLet Your Forms Do the Reps GP Bookings turns Gravity Forms into a booking platform with some serious muscle—scheduling, pricing, and self-serve booking management, all without leaving WordPress. It keeps appointments from getting double-booked, sends reminders so nobody misses an appointment, lets customers reschedule without calling you, and adjusts prices based on when and how much people are booking. It works across just about any industry. But for gyms, GP Bookings gets to really flex. Here are a few ways it handles the heavy lifting: Manage every coach, class, and time slot from one dashboard Prevent overbooking with automatic capacity limits Let members reschedule or cancel their own bookings Add buffer time between classes so bookings never overlap Adjust pricing automatically between peak and off-peak hours Here’s how each one works. This article requires the Gravity Forms Bookings perk.Buy Gravity Perks to get this perk plus 52 other premium Gravity Forms plugins! View Plugin Buy Now Key Takeaways Pricing adjusts automatically based on the rules you set in GP Bookings. Define conditions by time of day or day of the week, and it handles the rest. GP Bookings keeps every coach, class, and time slot in one calendar dashboard inside WordPress. Switch between day, week, or month view to stay on top of your full schedule. GP Bookings automatically closes gym classes when they hit capacity. Each service has a capacity limit. When it’s reached, that slot becomes unavailable and members pick another time. Members can reschedule or cancel through GP Bookings’ self-serve Booking Management Page. They get a personal link in their confirmation email, and you control how far in advance changes are allowed. Manage Every Schedule From One Dashboard GP Bookings gives you a centralized calendar dashboard inside WordPress where every booking lives. Day view, week view, month view—whatever helps you see your schedule clearly. For gyms, that means every coach and class in one place. Need to check what’s on at 6 PM on Tuesday? It’s right there. Pro Tip Color-code each coach or class type from their settings. Your dashboard stays readable even on a packed week. Prevent Overbooking with Capacity Limits Every service in GP Bookings has a Capacity setting. When the limit is hit, that time slot closes automatically. Pro Tip Turn on “Show Spots Left” in your Booking Time field settings so members can see exactly how many spots remain before they book. Got 8 spots in your HIIT class? Once the 8th person books, the slot goes unavailable. The next member just picks another time. Wizard’s Note Occupancy sets the max number of people allowed per booking (not the number of bookings per time slot). If you’re offering multiple groups per bookings, check out our guide on how occupancy works in a group booking setup. Let Members Manage Their Own Bookings GP Bookings lets you create a Booking Management Page where members can reschedule or cancel on their own. You set the cancellation deadline—after that, the window closes. Drop the {gpb_manage_booking_url} merge tag into your confirmation emails and each member gets a unique link to their booking. Pro Tip Pair the {gpb_manage_booking_url} merge tag with a Booking Upcoming notification that goes out the day before class. Members get a reminder and a quick way to adjust if plans change. Add Buffer Time Between Bookings Every service in GP Bookings has a buffer setting. Set it once and the next booking can’t start until that window clears—before or after a session. Adjust Pricing Based on Demand GP Bookings lets you set pricing rules based on time of day, day of the week, or both. Rules stack, so you can layer as many conditions as you need. For gyms, that means a quiet weekday morning runs at base price, and a Saturday evening slot charges more automatically. Set the rules once and it runs itself. Pro Tip Blocks are the units of time your service is sold in. Set a 60-minute block size, and a two-hour booking automatically charges for two blocks. Wizard’s Note Pricing rules can also adjust prices by date range, not just time of day. This is handy for seasonal or limited-time pricing. Check out how date-based pricing works in a hotel example. Let Your Forms Do the Reps GP Bookings does a lot on its own, but a few more perks from the Spellbook make it worth even more for gyms. GP Nested Forms lets each person in a group booking fill out their own info directly in the main form. For example, name, emergency contact, waiver, etc. You can also use Nested Forms to trigger quantity-based pricing discounts for group bookings. GP QR Code drops a unique check-in code into every confirmation email. Want to see what else GP Bookings can handle? The full documentation breaks it all down. Running something other than a gym? Drop a comment. We might cover yours next.

Prices of some commodities are already rising, while stockpiles of others could dwindle as the war drags on.

TUESDAY, March 10, 2026 (HealthDay News) — The health boost from daily multivitamins might actually extend to how quickly a person ages, a new study says. Researchers found slower “wear and tear” biological aging among seniors...

Wolves are bottom of the Premier League, 12 points off safety. But two wins in a row have raised faint hopes that they could survive relegation.

Two Florida real estate executives and their brother have been convicted on sexual assault, rape and sex trafficking charges in a jury trial held in New York federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

A day after the price of oil had spiked to nearly $120 a barrel, the S&P 500 ended Tuesday 0.2 percent lower, even as the U.S. bombing campaign of Iran intensified.

Netflix investors are feeling the opposite of buyer's remorse.

MONDAY, March 9, 2026 — Ultraviolet air filters might help rid a person’s home of asthma triggers, a new study suggests. Installing one type of UV air filter in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems led to a more than...

Electoral integrity has come under increasing pressure in the United States. Evidence shows that voters rarely ‘punish’ anti-democratic behavior if doing so implies voting for opponents. However, such electoral defection sets a high bar for detecting voter alienation. Here, I complement the analysis of partisans’ willingness to forego democracy’s rules with a more pliable measure of support: partisan attachments. Three preregistered survey experiments offer a nuanced picture of partisans’ tolerance for electoral subversion. On the one hand, few partisans will defend democracy by voting against their party. On the other hand, electoral violations alienate the party base and can even reduce animosity towards the opposing party, indicating that parties cannot undermine elections with impunity. Finally, the evidence suggests that partisans mainly update partisan attachments when the information is sponsored by a co-partisan source, indicating that credible linkage institutions may play a crucial role in shaping accountability.

TUESDAY, March 10, 2026 — The U.S. president’s words are powerful enough to have an immediate impact on medicine, a new study has found. At a September 2025 White House briefing, President Donald Trump claimed that acetaminophen...

Social media companies are under pressure to crack down on so-called deepfake videos that use deceptive images of real people.

Implementing a text input field with typeahead suggestions, step by step.

It’s been a little more than a year since Devlin “Duck” Hodges proposed to the love of his life, Lainey Wilson. The couple certainly stays busy with their careers, family, and fun, but what fans really want to know is how Lainey Wilson’s wedding planning is going. During a recent interview with People, the bell-bottom queen put out an SOS. “Girl, I need some help. I need some help,” she joked. “It’s going good. Honestly, we’re taking our time, and I’ve told him, and he’s on the same page.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lainey Wilson (@laineywilson) Lainey Wilson Knows Her Wedding Will Be Perfect No Matter What Lainey Wilson wants to marry Duck Hodges, and the wedding will be perfect as long as they’re together, she said. “We just want it to be about what it’s supposed to be about and just enjoy it,” Launey said. Of course, there are some things Lainey and Duck want for their special day. “Well, first of all, I just want it to be about what it’s supposed to be about,” she told People in a separate interview. “I want my family to be there, like my closest family, like my mama and daddy, sister and her kids. I want good music, good food.” The wedding food could be a fusion of their favorites, Lainey Wilson said. “Well, I’m from Louisiana, so maybe a little bit of, like, a Cajun flair. My fiancé likes a good steak. So it might just be a mixture,” she explained. We agree with Lainey. As long as family and friends can share in your big day, the rest is icing on the wedding cake. This story’s featured image is by Brianna Bryson/WireImage via Getty.

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Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall resumed coverage of the stock with an Equal Weight rating and $105 price target.

James Van Der Beek died from colorectal cancer on February 11, 2026. He left behind his loving wife, Kimberly, and their six children. James’ 9-year-old daughter, Emilia, shared a message on her father’s birthday proving she’s wise beyond her years. “So today is my dad’s birthday, and the number one thing for somebody’s passing is to talk to them and let your emotions out,” she said. “If you miss them, you can cry. You can talk to them. I talk to my dad every day. I start with a sentence. And I say, ‘Hi, Dad. I miss you, and I love you so much, and I’ll never stop loving you.'” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kimberly Van Der Beek (@vanderkimberly) James Van Der Beek’s Daughter Sounds a Lot Like Her Dad James Van Der Beek often posted messages of love and hope on social media, and his daughter clearly listened to her dad’s words. For a 9-year-old, Emilia has a very mature way of thinking. “I know that my dad’s in a good place,” she said. “He’s not in pain anymore. He’s in heaven above the clouds with God and the Lord.” James Van Der Beek wanted his daughter to remain hopeful no matter what happened to him. “Something my dad told me was if this doesn’t work out the way he wanted it to and the way we wanted it to for him living, I still have to believe in miracles. Miracles can still happen, just later on in life, and they’ll keep coming,” Emilia said. The 9-year-old went on to thank supporters for all the love and help they’ve given her family. Her words impressed many. “This is so profound and beautiful and such a testament to the incredible way you have raised your beautiful family. Happy Birthday, James. We love you,” Rumor Willis wrote. “There are literally no words to express how highly I think of Emilia. There are no words, I think she’s the greatest role model ever. I was blown away by her when I saw her recently and I’m blown away now,” another comment reds. “I can’t wait to see what she does in her life, I’ll be there every step of the way!” We’re sure James Van Der Beek is smiling down with pride, not just his daughter Emilia, but his whole family. He did his job well. This story’s featured image can be found here.