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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

After the "Rockets' Red Glare" Comes the Cleanup

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Monday, July 2, 2012   

NEW YORK - After the colorful Fourth of July fireworks have faded from the night sky, they're not really gone - not if you count the leftover plastic that litters beaches, lawns and fields across the state. One group wants people to think about that this year - and next.

Ellen Anderson with Environmentally Friendly Fireworks says volunteer clean-up crews pick up pounds of plastic for months after the July Fourth holiday.

"We get however many we can grab the morning after, but the tide takes out a lot of these plastics because they've been shot through the air, from the beach out into the water. So, every month, it's bringing in more of these silly little pieces of plastic that float out on the water."

Bird sanctuaries are treating more seabirds with problems from eating the plastic, Anderson says. When purchasing fireworks, she suggests, buyers should avoid the aerial or missile styles and also novelty products made to look like tanks, planes and boats, because they tend to contain the most plastic parts. Firecrackers, skyrockets, Roman candles, and even sparklers are prohibited in New York State, but the law is frequently ignored.

Anderson says there are ways to minimize the environmental impact of fireworks, but you have to be a smart shopper. Look closely at what's inside the cellophane wrapping, and read the label.

"If it says 'battery' on the labeling, you are pretty much guaranteed that, for however many shots there are in that battery - if it's 25 or 100 - you're going to have that many pieces of plastic."

Anderson also suggests people mention to fireworks vendors that they'd like to see products without plastic. She says one major manufacturer has told her it is developing some, although it may be several years before they're on the market.

More information is available at www.plasticsinfireworks.org.


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