FDA Panel: "Living Drug" Approval Recommened For Leukemia Treatment

A Food and Drug Administration panel unanimously recommended approval for a treatment that "genetically alters a patient's own cells to fight leukemia," turning them into what is being called "a living drug" to help stop the disease, according to The New York Times ("F.D.A. Panel Recommends Approval for Gene-Altering Leukemia Treatment"). The recommendation came down Wednesday and is likely to be accepted by the F.D.A.

The treatment, which will be the "the first gene therapy ever to reach the market," is expected to be followed by other gene therapies. Novartis is expected to be the first to drug company to market a "living drug" with its treatment for a type of leukemia. Drug companies and researchers "have been engaged in intense competition for decades to reach this milestone."

To read the Times article in its entirety, click here.

FP&L Nuclear Plant Leak Threatening So. FL Drinking Water

A leak in Florida Power & Light's reactors at the Turkey Point nuclear plant has allowed polluted water to enter Biscayne Bay, according to a recent article in The New York Time.

The article ("Nuclear Plant Leak Threatens Drinking Water Wells in Florida"), published March 22, states, "A recent study commissioned by the county concluded that Turkey Point’s old cooling canal system was leaking polluted water into Biscayne Bay," thereby polluting surface water, along with the bay's "fragile ecosystem." It is also allowing "a large saltwater plume" to move towards wells supplying "drinking water to millions of residents in Miami and the Florida Keys."

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Warhol Superstar Ultra Violet Dies

Isabelle Collin Dufresne, the actress, artist and author who was better know as Ultra Violet, died Saturday. The 78-year-old, who was best known as one of Andy Warhol's "superstars", died of cancer in a Manhattan hospital, according to The New York Times.

In 1973, she had a near-death experience that she blamed on her excesses of the previous decade. She later became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She lived in both Manhattan and Nice, France, and worked as an artist until her death. A New York exhibition in Chelsea this spring featured a selection of her work, and closed three weeks before she died.

In a 2010-interview with Miami Herald's Steve Rothaus, Ultra Violet said, "Today with the explosion of the media, the Internet, everybody has 15 minutes of fame. I'm trying to get 16 minutes, and it's very hard."

To read Dufresne's obituary in The New York Times', click here. To read Steve Rothaus' interview of Ultra Violet, as well as the mention of her death, click here.

DOD: Military Sexual Assaults Increase

The number of reported sexual assaults involving military service members increased during the 2012 fiscal year over the previous year. According to the 2012 Annual Report of Sexual Assault in the Military, "there were a total of 3,374 reports of sexual assault involving service members as victims or subjects" in fiscal year 2012, an increase of 182 reports from the fiscal year before, according to a Department of Defense news release. The same information from the DoD can be found here.

While that number may be enough to anger many, it is by no means the worst part. According to a New York Times article, the estimated number is closer to 26,000 assaults, up from 19,000 in 2010. A Tampa Bay Times editorial also states that the "Defense Department estimates that 26,000" service members were sexually assaulted last year, then goes on to state that many "[v]ictims don't come forward out of fear of retribution or because they think the military is unlikely to prosecute under its current system..." (This is also seen in civilian life as well.)

Representative C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla) stated in an email that he found the survey number (26,000) "very disturbing," along with a link to a recent column he had in Friday's edition of the Tampa Bay Times. In his column, Young states, "Clearly the funds we are investing in this program are not helping to solve this deplorable problem. That is why I asked the leadership of the secretary of defense's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office...to...brief the members of our subcommittee on defense to tell us what is wrong with this program and the military culture and what we can do to fix it."

Meanwhile, a Yahoo News article ("House panel seeks to curb military sexual assaults") states that a House panel plans to "approve a series of revisions to longstanding military law." Once approved, these revisions would "be folded into the Armed Services Committee's broader defense police bill for the 2014 fiscal year." The Senate Armed Services Committee is also working on measures to address sexual assault issues over the next month.

Boston Marathon Suspects - One Dead, Second Sought

One of the suspects in Monday's Boston Marathon bombings has been killed, and the second one is being sought in "an intense manhunt" this morning, according to The New York Times. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed after leading police on what the Times has described as a "wild chase...[following] the fatal shooting of a campus police officer."

A massive manhunt for the second suspect, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, has "effectively shut down" the city of Watertown, Mass., as a door-to-door search for Tsarnaev is being conducted, according to ABC News.

According to WCVB, the killed police officer was an MIT Police officer. WCVB also reports that the suspect also attacked officers using "grenades, other explosives and gunfire."

At one point, ABC News producer Megan Chuchmach was reporting the news in Watertown. She was stopped by police and forced to the ground so that they could search her camera bag and equipment.

For more details, go to The New York Times, ABC News"> or WCVB.