What's going on: Hungary declares state of emergency day after toxic mud floods three towns

Also, Race to the Top funds concern Central New York school districts, and restaurant openings, closing are in the news.

View full sizeGyoergy Varga / MTI, via APAn aerial view of the red mud covering streets and neighborhood of Kolontar, 167 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, on Tuesday. The Monday rupture of a red sludge reservoir at an alumina plant in nearby Ajka sent more than one million cubic meters of poisonous chemical sludge to inundate several villages. The flood of toxic mud killed killed at least four people and injured more than one hundred, with some people still missing.

From The New York Times:

The Hungarian government declared a state of emergency in several towns in the southwest of the country on Tuesday, a day after a sludge reservoir at an aluminum production plant burst its banks. At least four people were killed and more than 120 were injured, government officials said.

“People here speak of a mini tsunami,” said Gyorgy Bakos, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Directorate, who was close to the scene of the accident.

In addition to the dead, five people are missing, and a total of 7,000 residents were affected by the spill. About 60 people were being treated in hospitals, according to the National Directorate General for Disaster Management.

» Read the story: Toxic Sludge Floods Several Hungarian Towns [The New York Times]
» Hungary Toxic Spill Kills Four, State of Emergency Declared [Business Week]
» Hungary Prime Minister: sludge spill may be due to human error [Reuters]
» Toxic Red Sludge Spill From Hungarian Aluminum Plant 'An Ecological Disaster' [NPR]
» Hungary government suspends production at MAL Zrt-agency [Reuters]

In other news:

» Race to the Top allocations announced for school districts statewide [WSYR-TV Channel 9]

» Policy changes on Race to the Top funds worry Northern New York schools [Watertown Daily Times]

» Popular local restaurant, Colorado Mining Co. in Salina, in foreclosure [CNYcentral.com]

» Report finds one-third of Binghamton property is tax exempt [pressconnects.com]

» Work begins on damaged Chittenango church [centralny.ynn.com]

» Downtown Syracuse welcomes new restaurants [WSYR-TV Channel 9]

View full sizeBela Szandelszky / APA Hungarian soldier wears chemical protection gear as he walks through a street flooded by toxic mud in the town of Devecser, Hungary, on Tuesday. Seven towns near near the Ajkai Timfoldgyar alumina plant in the town of Ajka, 100 miles southwest of Budapest, were flooded when a red sludge reservoir ruptured.