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A week after a massive chemical spill at a Freedom Industries storage facility contaminated the Elk River in West Virginia with 7,500 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol and forced 300,000 residents of the state to go without potable, usable water, life is slowly starting to return to normal.

Well, that's the casual way of describing what's happening, anyway. In truth, the story continues to develop in sad and interesting ways. Two days after local authorities gave the all-clear and started to lift the ban on water usage, we found out that was a blown call -- area hospitals very quickly "saw an uptick in patients after the 'do not use' advisory was lifted," and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning to pregnant women, "Maybe don't drink this stuff, after all." (I am paraphrasing.)

Meanwhile, about 15 miles up I-64 from Charleston, in the town of Nitro, you'll never guess what's been discovered. Unless, of course, you immediately guessed, "Oh, there was probably another Freedom Industries chemical storage facility with a similar level of substandard containment and due cause to issue citations for multiple safety violations." In which case, points for you!

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Huffington Post: 'Looking' And 'Girls' May Seem Like The Same Show, But Take A Closer Look

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 06:34 AM PST

When HBO announced it would produce a show about young, single, gay men in San Francisco, people began drawing comparisons to another successful HBO show, "Girls." "'Looking" has been labeled as the gay man's version of "Girls," HuffPost Live host Ricky Camilleri says in the clip above. But does "Looking" really warrant that comparison?

Show creators Andrew Haigh and Michael Lannan joined Ricky to discuss the comparison, and Haigh said, "I think it's tough when you're constantly compared to another show instantaneously without people actually watching the show." He noted, "I think the show is very different tonally, textually. Hopefully people will take it for what it is."

Lannan agreed with Haigh and said, "We're flattered to be compared to 'Girls' or other great shows that came out before us, but I think when people see this it will be clear it's something of its own."

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Huffington Post: Americans Split On New Regulations After West Virginia Chemical Spill

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 06:36 AM PST

In the wake of a chemical spill that left 300,000 West Virginians without safe tap water for days, half of Americans favor tightening regulations in order to protect public water supplies and on companies that use and store chemicals, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.

Fifty-one percent of Americans in the new poll said that the government should do more to regulate companies that use, manufacture and store chemicals, while 30 percent said current regulations on those companies are about right and 7 percent said the government should do less. And 50 percent said the government should do more to regulate the safety of the public water supply, compared to 34 percent who said current regulations are about right and 5 percent who wanted less regulation.

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