The Independent

Dear Friend: I am pleased to let you know that I have joined a bipartisan effort to create a nationwide network for locating missing adults and senior citizens. The Silver Alert Act ( S.557 ) would create a national alert system, modeled after the Amber Alert, providing federal coordination and assistance across state lines to locate missing seniors. The need for this legislation is clear. With an aging population, and a growing number of people who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's disease, thousands of adults go missing every year. Thus, while local law enforcement officials continue to work hard to locate missing seniors, a coordinated national effort makes sense.  The Amber Alert program has proven to be successful in many cases involving missing children. It provides a good model to provide law enforcement agencies with the added resources they need to locate loved ones.  The Silver Alert Act specifically encourages states to develop Silver Alert plans and provides funding t...

Laura Lee People tend to worry about the wrong things. We worry about safety each time we board an airplane, though we are far more likely to die in a car accident. We worry about a terrorist attack, though the household chemicals that we keep under our sinks are more likely to cause us harm. Some seemingly harmless products pose significant risks that most Americans have never considered. Here, six of the surprising dangers that most of us encounter regularly... DISHWASHERS Each year, an average of about 7,500 Americans suffer dishwasher-related injuries. Most of these are cuts or punctures caused by upturned knives or forks. In the past 10 years, at least two people were killed when they slipped and fell onto open dishwasher drawers and landed on sharp knives. Steam burns from opening the door and leaning over the dishwasher -- or reaching in immediately after the cycle is finished -- also are common dishwasher injuries. Young children...