Denis Leary, who stars as a firefighter in the new TV series Rescue Me (Fox Network), is more than just an actor playing a role, he takes his commitment to public safety seriously. In 2000, the actor founded The Leary Firefighter Foundation in response to the Worcester, Massachusetts fire tragedy, which took the life of his cousin, a childhood friend, and four other … [Read more...] about Rescue Me Star Donates Command Center to FDNY
Issues
9/11 Memorial Planned for Irish Catskills
After losing Michael, his firefighter son, on September 11, 2001, Jack Lynch felt a responsibility to ensure that the day's events be remembered appropriately. An executive board member on the Coalition of 9/11 Families, Lynch is helping to establish a 9/11 memorial planned for construction in East Durham, about 140 miles north of New York City. Plans call for the memorial to … [Read more...] about 9/11 Memorial Planned for Irish Catskills
Remembering Typhoid Mary
Pity poor Mary Mallon. Born in Cookstown, County Tyrone in 1870, she came to New York looking for a new life in 1883, but the life she found, from 1909 until her death in 1938, was confinement on North Brother Island, a spit of land between the Bronx and Riker's Island. What was her crime? Mary was the first recognized healthy carrier of the bacteria that causes typhoid fever. … [Read more...] about Remembering Typhoid Mary
The Unfortunate Legacy of Mary Mallon
Death and disease. Mystery and suspense. A lover's betrayal with controversial human rights issues in the mix. Nova's new documentary The Most Dangerous Woman in America has it all. The superbly directed film explores the difficult, painful journey from teenage Irish immigrant to respectable private cook to public enemy number one of Mary Mallon, a.k.a. Typhoid Mary. Through … [Read more...] about The Unfortunate Legacy of Mary Mallon
Typhoid Mary Under
the Microscope
NOVA's new film about Mary Mallon, The Most Dangerous Woman in America, is based on the book Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public's Health by Judith Walzer Leavitt, a professor of medical history and women's studies at the University of Wisconsin's Medical School. Her book has been heralded as "an indelible pleasure of early 20th-century New York, when modern knowledge and … [Read more...] about Typhoid Mary Under
the Microscope