The lawsuits draw on reporting from the Wall Street Journal asserting that lead-sheathed cables that various telecom companies inherited from Bell System are leaching lead into the environment.

Lead does not break down over time and so accumulates in soil, but not much federal testing or scientific research has focused on the potential risks coming from lead-sheathed telephone cables. READ ...

On a cloudy day in late October, Alyssa Shiel crouched on a narrow strip of grass between the curb and the sidewalk of a neighborhood in inner Southeast Portland, plunging a small syringe-like probe ...