Prepare to Be Counted
Think the U.S. Census doesn’t affect you? Think again. ; Data from the census—a count of every-
one living in the United States—is used to draw bound-
aries for seats in Congress and state legislatures, and
to make decisions about how to allocate more
than $400 billion in fed-
eral funds. ; “It is vital
that older Americans
are accurately counted to
ensure that decisions made
regarding health care and other
services are based on the most
accurate and up-to-date infor-
mation,” says Rebecca Blank,
undersecretary of commerce
for economic affairs at the Department of Com-
merce. ; The count begins April 1. Starting in March, all U.S. households will be
mailed a 10-question form, one of the shortest forms in history. Census workers
will hand-deliver forms to isolated areas and group homes. ; Bilingual English
and Spanish forms will be available, part of an effort to accurately count minor-
ity populations, Blank says. Forms are also available in Chinese, Korean,
Vietnamese and Russian. Everyone is legally required to fill out the form. ; All
information collected is kept confidential. The form will not ask about legal
status or Social Security numbers—any form doing so is a fake, the Census
Bureau warns. —Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Census
workers will
hand-deliver
forms to
isolated
areas, group
homes.
Stacking Up the Departed in London
If the thought of sharing a gravesite with a perfect stranger makes you shudder, be glad you don’t live in London. The 153-year-old City of London
Cemetery is starting to dig “double-decker” graves because the city has
limited room for the dead. ; Many of the cemetery’s more than 150,000
gravesites feature new graves situated over resting places that have been
in existence a century or more. The remains of the first occupants are undisturbed, says cemetery superintendent Gary
Burks, if they were laid to rest deep enough.
; “Other European cities, such as Berlin and
Paris, reuse graves as a matter of course and
have been doing so for many years,” Burks says.
; Still, “people instinctively don’t like the idea,”
says Jill Lawless, a London-based reporter with
the Associated Press.
; Cremations are $816,
burials are $2,672 and
up. —Blair S. Walker
London gravesites
double up to accommodate the dead.
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; What an Outrage
Homeowners Up In Arms Over Drywall
Two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, Thomas Stone, 50, was relieved to move
his family from a trailer into a rebuilt home in
Chalmette, La., in April 2008. ; But five months
later, Stone’s dream turned into a new night-
mare. Hinges started rusting, clocks and scales
stopped working, and Stone’s young daughter
began getting nosebleeds. ; Soon enough
Stone thought he knew why: His home is filled
with drywall imported from China that is sus-
pected of causing metal
to corrode and health
problems. About 60,000
to 100,000 U.S. houses
are affected. ; Stone has
lost two air-conditioning
units and one flat-screen
television. Other home-
owners say their kitchen
appliances and plumbing
failed, and many have
moved. ; “Right now
we’re just waiting for the
next thing to break,” says
Stone, who is the fire chief
for his parish. “It’s like
living in a disaster zone.”
; While no link has been
established between the
drywall and homeowners’
experiences, the Consumer Product Safety
Commission and the Environmental Protection
Agency are now investigating, and thousands of
homeowners have filed lawsuits. The first case
is to be heard in federal court in January. ; In
the meantime, homeowners are stuck. Insurers
are largely turning their backs while homeown-
ers must continue to pay mortgages on unliv-
able homes. ; So far the problem is primarily
affecting Florida, Virginia and Louisiana, where
a housing boom earlier this decade led to short-
ages of domestic drywall. But Arnold Levin, a
Philadelphia attorney representing homeown-
ers, says he expects to see cases involving
Chinese drywall crop up in other parts of the
country, too. —Michelle Diament
; Thomas Stone
thinks Chinese
drywall has dam-
aged his home.
