By ISAAC WOLF, Scripps Howard News Service

SILVER SPRING, Md. - Those who knew Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan knew he was troubled.

Adnan Haider prayed with Hasan -- an Army psychiatrist now accused of a mass shooting at a Texas Army base -- at a suburban Washington mosque. After they met last year, Hasan immediately said he was looking for a Muslim woman to date.

WASHINGTON - Samples of Chinese drywall have been found to contain significantly more sulfur-generating bacteria than comparable North American drywall, a finding scientists believe could provide a pathway to help desperate and furious homeowners.

WASHINGTON - Federal officials Thursday identified two potentially harmful chemicals in homes built with Chinese drywall, but stopped far short of blaming the imported material on widespread health problems associated with it.

Craftsmen who cut granite for kitchen countertops can be at risk of radiation exposure thousands of times above the federal safety limit, according to new research.

The danger results from inhaling the airborne granite dust, which sometimes contains significant quantities of uranium and other dangerous isotopes, scientists say.

The "Cash for Clunkers" program is infusing the junk industry with close to a billion pounds of extra scrap -- the weight of about 50,000 elephants -- but the mountain of metal heading their way will bring a bounty for some scrap companies and a bad deal for others.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to apply stronger oversight to frequently lost radioactive devices -- items a Scripps Media investigation found have been recycled into metal used to manufacture consumer and other products.

This is a response to the three "errors" claimed in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's June 12, 2009 "For the Record" statement about Scripps Howard News Service's investigative project, Recycled Radiation.

Restaurants in four cities across the country have been caught charging patrons for top-notch seafood while actually peddling inferior fillets.
A Scripps Television Station Group investigation in Kansas City, Mo., Phoenix, Baltimore and Tampa, Fla., found that in 23 out of 38 meals tested the fish species was incorrectly marketed and billed as fancier fare.

It was the fall of 2007, and the steel mesh that had just arrived from China was radioactive. No one knew it.
Pall Aeropower Corp., a Fort Myers, Fla., parts manufacturer, had ordered the 20,000 pounds of metal to use to make hydraulic filters for airplanes. Unknown to the company, the mesh had been tainted with Cobalt-60, a radioactive material dangerous in high doses.

An Indiana manufacturer unknowingly used metal blended with a dangerous radioactive isotope to make parts for 1,000 La-Z-Boy recliners more than a decade ago.