Pittsburgh has gone Hollywood—but not in a good way, Reuters reports. For the first time, a city outside California has topped one of three most-polluted lists in an annual “State of the Air” report, Pittsburgh ranked as the US city with the worst short-term particle pollution; Los Angeles ranked worst in the other two categories.
The report from the American Lung Association, released today, said that 42% of US residents live with unhealthy levels of air pollution. "We had seen some real improvement in a lot of areas in the first part of this century, but now we're seeing a leveling-off," said an association rep, who blamed more electricity use and driving. (More air pollution stories.)