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Author: Leslie Eastman

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Leslie Eastman

I am an Environmental Health and Safety Professional, as well as a science/technical writer for a variety of news and professional publications. I have been a citizen activist since 2009, and am one of the co-founders of the San Diego-based group, Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition.

During a gathering of South American bishops at the Vatican, Pope Francis urged them to consider dropping celibacy requirements for some priests to address a severe priest shortage in remote areas of the region.
The three-week Synod of Bishops for the Amazon also will address crucial regional topics ranging from protection of rainforests and local cultures to climate change, migration and clean water.

As the intricate web of foreign business interest ties to American politicians becomes more clear, it turns out that the progeny of the Speaker of the House may be entangled in its threads.

I have often noted that Food Science is clearly the most unsettled science of them all. Experts have lectured us for years about the need to reduce red and processed meat from our diets. But a new report indicates that they based their advice on bad science.
If there are health benefits from eating less beef and pork, they are small, the researchers concluded. Indeed, the advantages are so faint that they can be discerned only when looking at large populations, the scientists said, and are not sufficient to tell individuals to change their meat-eating habits.

Two new cases of measles reported in the country last week turned out not to be measles. This shows that health authorities may yet get control of the worst outbreak of the highly contagious disease in the US since 1992. However, if more cases pop up, America may lose its "measles-free" status.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also determined that two previously reported cases of the disease were not in fact measles, keeping the total number of cases for the year at 1,241 as of Sept. 12.