n the midst of cold and flu season, you're often greeted with sniffles and achooseverywhere you go. Washing your hands and stocking up on orange juice are great starting points, but there's more you can do at home to decrease your chances of falling ill. Take these steps to keep yourself and your family in good health.

Disinfect hot spots
Think about what you touch every day and spray those spots with disinfectant. This includes doorknobs and faucet handles. Carefully wipe remote controls and light switches with a disinfectant wipe.

Sanitize cleaning products
Ideally cleaning your home helps to kill germs, but this isn't the case if you're using dirty supplies. Opt for disposable mop pads, or for a greener solution, sanitize mop heads at very high temperatures before reusing them. Wash your dish towels regularly. University of Florida researchers found that microwaving a wet sponge for two minutes kills or inactivates 99 percent of living pathogens in the sponge.

More at source: Huffington Post

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What do you use to get your home clean? Would you try only water and a cloth to remover dirt and germs?

Products on the market are designed to do just that, clean surfaces, including kitchen counters and bathroom sinks, with only water.

Blogger Becky Rapinchuk is known as the "Clean Mama." She's been using natural cleaning products in her home for quite some time. "I make pretty much everything as a homemade cleaner," she said.

Not quite ready to make the jump? Shop for traditional cleaning products using our ABC2 ShopSmart circulars . 

But now, a growing number of cleaning tools are aimed at taking the idea of green clean one step further, from windows to floors, even the kitchen counter and bathrooms. There are products on the market, many made of microfiber, designed to work with plain old water and without the need for chemical cleaners.

Becky is a fan.

"For just every day wiping down the counters, cleaning surfaces, water and a microfiber cloth is sufficient," she said.

Experts say Becky isn't alone. John Owen is a senior household analysts for Mintel. Their research shows 37 percent of adults would be interested in using microfiber and water to clean dirt, grease, and bacteria. 12 percent already using microfiber on a daily basis.

Owen said, "And young adults, those who are sort of in their 20s and 30s say, are more than twice as likely and we think that's an indication that the market is growing and that there's a generational shift going on."

More at source: ABC

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (PRESS RELEASE) -

Green cleaning company, Clean Streak Inc. is expanding to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, after 15 years of building a thriving Western North Carolina business in Mills River. Owners Horace and Susan Adell plan to duplicate the process on the coast that proved so successful in the mountains.

"We knew we wanted to grow," says Vice President Susan Adell. "We were looking in Florida when the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce encouraged us to move there. 'We have nothing like your business here,' they told us."

The proximity - Myrtle Beach is just a four-hour drive away - allows the Adells to shuttle back and forth to run both locations. "We have 35 employees in Mills River, and our teams work very well together. Everyone knows what they have to do."

The company will be looking to hire 10-12 new team members, including managers, in Myrtle Beach to start. They are seeking English- or Spanish-speaking workers with experience in floor cleaning or janitorial services. To help the hiring process, they will hold a job fair at the Surfside Holiday Inn on February 27, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

The Adells bought a house in Myrtle Beach, from which they'll run the business in the beginning. They've already joined the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. "To start, we plan to service the south side of the city, centered around Surfside Beach," says Susan Adell. "Once the business gets established, we can grow from there." The Adells plan to retire in Myrtle Beach eventually.

Clean Streak is a Green Certified Business and a member of both the Green Business Bureau and the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA). The company is also Biohazard Certified, and they are bonded and fully insured. Green cleaning doesn't harm the environment, but is 100% effective.

In 2010, President Horace Adell was honored with the WNC Minority Business Person of the Year award, which is recognized in the Congressional Record of the United States House of Representatives. Known as a diligent, detail-oriented worker, he is a member of the Cleaning Management Institute and has served as an instructor in floor cleaning (his particular specialty) at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

Clean Streak Inc. <http://www.cleanstreakinc.net/ > (CleanStreakInc.net) is a Western North Carolina and Coastal South Carolina green cleaning company that specializes in medical, industrial and commercial cleaning, as well as post-construction clean-up. Clean Streak Inc. values its customers and vets its employees.

Contact us at 844-261-5364 or at info@cleanstreakinc.net <mailto:info@cleanstreakinc.net> for more information.

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In the latest sign of an increasingly active flu season in the Bay Area and statewide, Napa County reported its first flu-associated death Friday.

The victim, identified only an adult under the age of 65, died from flu-related complications earlier this month, said Napa County Public Health Divisionofficials.

The death follows four other such deaths in the Bay Area this month: one in Sonoma County, two in San Mateo County and one in San Francisco. The state’s first flu-related fatality of the season, an adult living in Southern California, was reported earlier this month.

Because such deaths are only reportable to public health agencies when they occur in people under age 65, the true number of flu-related deaths in a community may be far greater, officials said. They urged residents, especially those most vulnerable to illnesses, to get a flu vaccine and take other preventative measures.

More at source: SF Gate

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He should have had a pocket protector.

A straphanger riding a northbound D train through Midtown was hospitalized Thursday after a bottle of acidic cleaning fluid he had jammed into his pocket leaked and ate through his clothes — leaving him with severe chemical burns.

The train came to a stop at the 42nd St.—Bryant Park station after the unidentified man burned himself at about 5:30 p.m. — at the height of the evening rush hour.

“It leaked through his pocket (and he got burned),” a Metropolitan Transportation Authority source said Thursday. “They don’t know what he was doing with it. That’s what police will learn when they interview him.”

Paramedics rushed the man — described by witnesses as a contractor or construction worker — to New York Presbyterian—Weill Cornell Medical Center for treatment. His injuries are not believed to be life threatening, an FDNY spokesman said.

More at source: NY DAILY NEWS

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As a police officer, Laura Spaulding tried to clean up the streets of Kansas City, Mo. Then she was inspired to clean up crime in a very different way.

Laura Spaulding is planning to franchise her crime-scene cleanup business. PHOTO:SPAULDING DECON

Ms. Spaulding saw many methamphetamine labs and crime scenes during her seven years on the force. “I used to think, ‘I wonder what happens to these when we’re done?’ ” she says.

Then, one Christmas, she responded to a shooting at a family gathering. The mother, who wasn’t involved in the shooting, wondered how she could get her house cleaned up after the authorities left. ”She was under the false impression that law enforcement cleans up the crime scenes,” Ms. Spaulding says.

Feeling bad about the woman’s plight, and seeing an opportunity, Ms. Spaulding decided to make an unusual offer: She would clean the place herself, and get reimbursed from the woman’s homeowners insurance.

More at source:  WSJ.com 

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$$$$

Law360, New York (January 21, 2015, 6:22 PM ET) -- A Maryland-based janitorial company has agreed to pay $132,000 to the U.S. government to settle allegations that it discriminated against noncitizens during the hiring process.

U.S. Service Industries is accused of violating the Immigration and Nationality Act by requiring workers who are not U.S. citizens to produce documents issued by the Department of Homeland Security as a condition of employment, the Justice Department said Jan. 15.

The DOJ said its investigation found that similar demands were not made of American citizens.

More at source: Law360

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Washington, DC (WLTX) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling some household cleaning supplies.

Mean Green® Super Strength Cleaner & Degreaser and Mean Green® Industrial Strength Cleaner & Degreaser are being recalled because they are mislabeled.

Officials say they're labeled "Does not contain Ammonia", but that is not true for some bottles and can pose a chemical hazard if mixed with other products.

The product was sold nationwide at Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Fred's, Walmart and small retailers from August 2014 to November 2014 for between $1 and $8.

The recalled cleaning products came in white plastic spray bottles and white or green plastic containers. The words "Mean Green Super Strength Cleaner & Degreaser" or "Mean Green Industrial Strength Cleaner & Degreaser" are on a label on the front and the UPC number is on the back. The recall involves products with date codes 4225, 4226, 4227, 4228, 4229 and 4230. The date code is printed on the back of the bottle near the QR code.

More at source:WLTX

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The historic clock atop City Hall stopped shortly after 6:30 a.m. Monday so crew members could get inside the tower and clamber outside to gussy up the late-19th-century landmark downtown.

The hands on the four-sided clock should be moving again by Friday. The four faces rival London’s Big Ben in diameter at more than 23 feet.

Along with time standing still these many days, the clock’s bells that chime throughout the week are silenced, and its lights are turned off.

Engineers chose roughly 6:30 for the hands to stop because that made them less obtrusive as cleaning progressed, said Hennepin County spokeswoman Carolyn Marinan. The Municipal Building Commission, a joint agency of the city and the county, runs the building.

More at source: Star Tribune

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Lorena Arita, a member of Tufts University’s custodial staff, comes to West Hall dormitory every morning and tries to ignore the threat of layoffs as she works to keep the building clean. Coming to Tufts in 1998, after the university had outsourced its custodial staff to DTZ, a property services company, she and her coworkers have experienced long work weeks and rising efficiency standards. Now, as Tufts seeks to renew its contract with DTZ, Tufts Labor Coalition (TLC), a student group that advocates for university employees, is stepping in to protest the possible cuts.

“Rumors began spreading from DTZ managers to janitors that there would be cuts to personnel sometime this year,” said TLC president, Tufts sophomore, Lior Appel-Kraut, “The administration hasn’t denied it. . . claiming that these cuts [may] need to be made to increase efficiency.”

More at source: USA Today

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