A revival of the one room schoolhouse at a ski-resort and a potentially toxic building in Brooklyn. Editor’s warning: mentions of death. 

Happening in the World: Seven are dead and at least 18 injured after a motor sports race car swerved off course during a race in Sri Lanka on Sunday. Of those killed were race officials, spectators, and an eight-year-old girl. The Fox Hill Supercross racing event is organized annually by the Sri Lankan military and more than 100 thousand people were present at the scene. Following the tragedy, the event has been suspended and a police investigation is underway. (BBC)

Happening in the US: A mountain town in Utah is bringing back the one room schoolhouse. The ski town, Alta, opened the public school in a former storage room in a lodge at the bottom of the mountain for employee’s children. The school is run by one teacher, Ms. Tschiffely, who is responsible for teaching nine separate grade levels each day. Years prior, the town realized they were losing employees with families due to not having a school nearby for children to learn. Upon opening, the school has become a community tie. Students write and perform a play annually and publish a monthly newspaper where they visit nearby lodges and ski shops to sell ads they have designed. (NYT) 

Happening in NYC: Apartment Complex in Brooklyn is to be built on toxic soil after developers and state environmental regulators found it too deep to be removed. The complex, NuHart West, is named after the old NuHart Plastic Manufacturing site in Greenpoint. The organization polluted the grounds to such an extent that, in 2010, the Department of Environmental Conservation regarded the area a state Superfund site as the soil and groundwater contains hormone-disrupting phthalates that it absorbed via underground storage tanks. A solution has been decided by state regulators and the developer to mix the immovable contaminated soil with concrete to allow for 20 to 25 feet below the building’s foundation. However, locals are worried about the chemicals being left in place and only learned about this decision after it was completed. (Gothamist)

Happening in Our Community: On Monday, April 22, from 11 to 12 pm, the Biology and Paleo Environment Seminar Series presents Dr. Angela Zoumplis. Dr. Zoumplis is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist. The seminar is to be held in Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. For more information, look here. 

Image via Wikimedia Commons.