EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) - The Latest on Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s visit to East Chicago (all times local):
4:03 p.m.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson says it’s clear that residents forced to move from a public-housing complex in East Chicago because of lead contamination feel uprooted.
However, he said Monday said it’s important to recognize the people needed to be removed from harm’s way, and that the relocation has been done in a “good way.”
About 300 families moved from the West Calumet Housing Complex in the past year after tests found high lead levels in blood samples of some children.
The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports Carson and other elected officials said Monday they remain committed to working together to address the lead and arsenic contamination crisis in the area. Carson was expected to meet with officials including Gov. Eric Holcomb and U.S. Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young.
___
5:38 p.m.
The federal housing secretary is expected to meet with several state leaders while visiting a northwestern Indiana city where about 1,000 were forced to move from a public-housing complex because of lead contamination.
The Indiana governor’s office says Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson will join Gov. Eric Holcomb, U.S. Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young and other state and city officials in East Chicago on Monday. They are to receive a briefing about efforts to assist local families around the USS Lead Superfund site.
That facility salvaged lead from old car batteries and scrap metal before it closed in 1985. Some 300 families moved from the West Calumet Housing Complex in the past year after tests found high lead levels in blood samples of some children.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.