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michigan

Obama: Filtered water in Flint is safe for kids over 6 years old

FLINT, Mich. (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged parents in Flint, Michigan, to ensure their children were tested for lead in their blood even as he sought to assure the community that filtered water in the city was safe for anyone over the age of six. Obama said it would take more than two years to replace water pipes in the city, which is struggling with the effects of lead-poisoned drinking water. The president also sipped filtered water during a meeting with regulators there. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, editing by G Crosse)

Two former Flint officials blame state and feds for water crisis

The former mayor and former emergency manager of Flint both blamed the dangerously high lead levels in the city's water on state and federal officials, according to testimony released on Monday that is to be delivered at a hearing in Washington this week. Former Mayor Dayne Walling and former emergency manager Darnell Earley, who was appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, are among witnesses who will testify at two days of hearings by the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The water crisis has drawn national attention and led to heavy criticism of Snyder, with some voters mounting a petition drive to have him recalled.

Contaminated Flint water among most expensive in the U.S.: report

(Reuters) – Residents of Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest cities in the United States, paid some of the nation's highest water bills even as the city failed to treat drinking water properly, leading to lead contamination, according to a report released on Tuesday. The annual water bill in Flint as of January 2015 was $864.32 for a household using 60,000 gallons a year, said Washington-based advocacy group Food & Water Watch. The rate remained high compared with many other cities even after a judge ordered Flint to reduce its rates by 35 percent and to stop charging a service fee.

Daily pot smoking on U.S. college campuses at 35-year high: study

The number of U.S. college students smoking marijuana every day or nearly every day is greater than it has been in 35 years, according to a study released on Tuesday. Nearly 6 percent of college students reported using pot daily or near-daily in 2014, up from 3.5 percent in 2007 but less than the 7.2 percent recorded in 1980, the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study found. “It's clear that for the past seven or eight years there has been an increase in marijuana use among the nation's college students,” said Lloyd Johnston, the study's principal author.