Beachgoers, get lost.

Amid the peak summer season, two of Connecticuts popular public beaches -- maintained with taxpayer money -- were closed Monday to accommodate President Obamas fundraising excursion that ends with a $35,800-per-plate event at movie mogul Harvey Weinsteins mansion. And Republicans aren't happy about it.

The 238-acre Sherwood Island State Park was closed so the presidents helicopter could land and then take off after a day-long trip that began in Stamford.

The other beach, the roughly two-acre Burying Hill Beach, is adjacent to Weinsteins mansion and is owned by the town of Westport. Both beaches border the Long Island Sound.

"This is the height of hypocrisy," state House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr. told FoxNews.com.

Cafero, a Norwalk Republican, said he was so shocked to hear the parks would be closed to accommodate Obama's fundraisers that he immediate double-checked his information.

"Purely political," he said. "Can you imagine if George W. Bush in 2004 had requested that our Republican governor shut down the park? It would have made national news. This is wrong in so many ways."

This is not the first time the state park has been closed so a president could use it as an airport for reelection fundraisers in southwest Connecticut.

President Bill Clinton used the Sherwood park twice for trips that included fundraising events. He landed there in 1998 for a series of events that included a fundraiser that reportedly raised $350,000 for his party. A year later, the park was closed for much of the day for Clinton, who attended a fundraising luncheon for the Democratic National Committee and the Women's Leadership Forum that reportedly raised more than $400,000.

Obama began his trip to Connecticut with a fundraiser at the Stamford Marriott Hotel, then will attend Weinstein's evening fundraiser that is reported to include such celebrities as Anne Hathaway, Aaron Sorkin, Joanne Woodward and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

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Connecticut beaches closed so Obama can fund-raise with Hollywood mogul

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August 6, 2012: The 8th and 9th street beaches in Ocean City, NJ were closed to swimmers due to a sewage leak.

The 8th and 9th street beaches are closed to swimmers in Ocean City, Cape May County, New Jersey, because of a sewage leak.

The yuck got into the storm drain system because of a grease blockage in the sewer line, according to WMGM-TV.

The county health department has to collect water samples and deem the quality okay before they can open the beaches back up for bathing.

That's expected to happen on Tuesday.

The rest of Ocean City's beaches are open.

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Sewer Leak Closes 2 Ocean City Beaches

By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune Published: August 06, 2012 Updated: August 06, 2012 - 11:06 AM

The amount of sand that Tropical Storm Debby washed away from three Pinellas County beaches 630,000 cubic yards would fill more than 100,000 dump trucks or 3,316 backyard pools, beach-watchers say.

But, of course, it didn't really disappear. It just was repositioned in nearby offshore sand bars.

While some officials say it would cost $25 million to replenish the shoreline in St. Pete Beach, Sand Key and Treasure Island, others maintain Mother Nature will do the job for a lot cheaper. It just might take a little longer.

Visitors to the area appear unconcerned. There's still plenty of beach to go around, locals say, plenty of space to spread blankets and coolers. The sunset remains unobstructed.

Geologists at the University of South Florida made measurements before and after the tropical storm, which swept the Pinellas Coast for three days at the end of June, and determined that some parts of the shore lost more sand than others.

Pinellas County officials are applying for emergency funds to restore the beaches. When the storm hit, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already was working on widening the beach on Sand Key, which involved pumping 1.25 million cubic yards of sand from the bottom 12 miles out.

The cost of that project: $31.5 million.

Bill Smith of Indian Shores is a director with the Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association, based in Tallahassee. He said the erosion from Tropical Storm Debby was second only to the 1985 erosion caused by Hurricane Elena.

Elena sat out in the Gulf and voraciously swept the sand away from Pinellas beaches. "It ate away so much sand one timeshare building on Belleair Beach had its pool destroyed; the foundation just fell away," Smith said.

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Nature could replenish beaches

The cleanup from Hong Kong's worst typhoon in 13 years could take months, the government said Monday, after hundreds of millions of plastic pellets washed onto beaches from containers that fell off a ship.

Environmental groups are concerned the pellets will absorb toxins and pollutants and then be eaten by fish that may in turn be eaten by humans. They're also worried rare marine species such as the Chinese white dolphin could be threatened by the pollutants.

Also known as nurdles, the pellets are used by factories to make plastic products. Authorities say six containers filled with the pellets were lost from a ship in waters south of Hong Kong when it was caught in Typhoon Vicente last month.

Several hundred volunteers at one beach Sunday used trowels, paintbrushes, dustpans and sieves to painstakingly pick up the translucent pellets, which coated the shore.

AP

"It's a bit overwhelming. It seems like we can't get rid of them even though there are hundreds of people here," said Mathis Antony, one of the volunteers on Lamma Island off the western coast of Hong Kong Island. "It looks like it's going to take a lot more to clean it up."

The volunteers filled dozens of garbage bags but there were still many pellets left at the end of the day, piled like snow between rocks.

The government said Monday it would deploy additional manpower and contract out work to speed the cleanup, which could still take several months.

The typhoon prompted authorities to raise the storm warning system to its highest level, indicating hurricane-force winds of 118 kilometers (73 miles) an hour or more, for the first time since 1999.

The government said large amounts of pellets have been found at 10 beaches. At some beaches, numerous sacks filled with pellets and bearing the markings of the manufacturer, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, have also washed ashore.

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HK Struggles to Clean Plastic Pellets From Beaches

Roads along beaches in the added areas of the city will soon get better illumination. The Chennai Corporation has started work on installing reconditioned streetlight fittings on roads along beaches in such areas.

The work is part of the civic bodys initiative to make optimum use of the streetlight fittings that were removed from roads where metro rail work is under way.

We have reconditioned streetlights that were removed because of metro rail and other works. Such fittings have been installed along beaches that were not properly illuminated earlier. We will install more such lights soon, said an official of the Chennai Corporation.

In stretches such as East Coast Road, the Chennai Corporation will soon complete work on installation of new double-bracket streetlight fittings. Beaches in Perungudi and Sholinganallur zones are likely to benefit more from the ongoing initiative of the civic body to improve illumination on roads in the added areas. Work in many stretches of Kottivakkam and Palavakkam will be completed shortly, an official said.

This is expected to address safety concerns at beaches to a certain extent. The civic body is also studying existing conditions in areas that are in need of high-mast lamps. The Chennai Corporation maintains over 2.13 lakh streetlights in the city.

As part of measures to improve maintenance of streetlights, the civic body will soon procure 30 electrical ladders at a cost of Rs. 2.8 crore. As many as 1,600 timers will be connected to groups of streetlights for automatic switching on and off.

Energy-saving fittings in the newly-added areas will soon be commissioned on a trial basis. Next week, an innovative approach for commissioning additional induction lamps will be finalised by the civic body.

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Uprooted streetlights to shine along beaches

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of millions of potentially toxic plastic pellets from containers knocked off a vessel during Hong Kong's worst typhoon in 13 years have washed up on its beaches where they lay for more than a week, activists said on Saturday. The Hong Kong government estimated that 150 tonnes of the pellets may have been spilled on its beaches, of which a third have been cleaned up ...

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Hong Kong govt criticised over plastic spill on beaches

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of millions of potentially toxic plastic pellets from containers knocked off a vessel during Hong Kong's worst typhoon in 13 years have washed up on its beaches where they lay for more than a week, activists said on Saturday. The Hong Kong government estimated that 150 metric tons (165 tons) of the pellets may have been spilled on its beaches, of which a third have ...

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Hong Kong government criticized over plastic spill on beaches

Four beaches in Quincy and one in Hingham have been closed to swimming due to high levels of bacteria.

Belair Beach in Hingham was closed after the water tested at almost 11 times the maximum limit considered safe. The water was retested Thursday morning and results should be in Friday afternoon, The Patriot Ledger reported.

The Channing Street, Milton Street, Rice Road and Sachem Street beaches were all closed as a precaution, although the water tested within safe limits.

Hingham health officials said they can't be sure exactly what caused the elevated levels, but said retesting usually shows adequate results.

All other beaches on the South Shore are open.

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High bacteria levels close 5 beaches

3 August 2012 Last updated at 02:30 ET By Ed Davey BBC News, London

Two civil servants. On a beach. In Camden.

Could it get more surreal?

Yes, clearly. Because in the world of Olympic London these are but the undulating foothills of the bizarre.

And beyond them lie the far-off, snow-capped, mad-as-a-box-of-frogs peaks of the downright peculiar.

For what had this pair of valued governmental workers descended on north London's Roundhouse to witness?

A collection of lycra-clad superheroes with heads shaped like blobs of ice cream in a wind-tunnel zooming around a track made of imported Siberian Pine.

"I'd like to think we'll win," said Steve Aherne, 30, one of the civil servants. "But you never know..."

The lads were not to know the day would end in triumph for Chris Hoy and the rest of the men's sprint team.

But even before Team GB added its second cycling gold, Chris Bell, 32, was in awe.

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Civil servants, beaches and lycra

LYNN, Mass. (WHDH) -- Beaches across the Bay State have reopened after they were closeddue to increased bacteria in the water.

According to the Globe, beaches in Quincy, New Bedford, Eastham, Wellfleet and Nantucket were closedThursday due to the elevated levels of bacteria.

Nantucket had 10 beach closures.

Some of the beaches were allowed to reopen Thursday evening.

The exact cause of the increase in bacteria is not known but officials believe heavy rain may have been a factor.

Affected beaches will reopen to swimmers once the levels in the water are back to appropriate levels. State officials test all of the beaches that are open to public swimming once a week for bacteria levels.

(Copyright (c) 2012 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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Bay State beaches close due to increased bacteria

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LYNN A pair of area beaches were closed Friday due to high bacteria levels, according to Anne Roach, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

King's Beach in Lynn and Grace Oliver Beach in Marblehead were both closed as of 3:30 p.m. Friday, said Roach.

Roach said there are a number of factors that contribute to high bacteria counts.

"Typically, it can be attributed to a heavy rainfall and the resulting surface water runoff that washes contaminants such as animal waste into beach water," said Roach. "Nearby sewer lines that overflow or leak have also been known to contribute to a high level."

She said beaches with high bacteria levels have warning signs informing beachgoers that swimming could cause illness.

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Area beaches closed due to high bacteria

Italians are calling it the "Summer Umbrella Strike" as thousands of private beaches along the coasts of Italy closed their umbrellas today to protest a European Union directive that would alter a longstanding tradition of awarding concessions to manage the beaches. At the peak of the European summer vacation this [...]

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Umbrellas Unite! Italian Beaches Hit by Strike

ROME (Reuters) - Italian beaches were devoid of their usual August crowds on Friday as beach clubs staged a short strike, the latest chapter in an emotive conflict over right of access to the Mediterranean country's sun-soaked coast. The strike - organized by the beach workers' union during peak season - was called to protest against a government plan that would see the right to operate patches ...

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Crowds shun Italian beaches as umbrella men strike

Thousands of Italy's private beaches kept their parasols closed in peak summer season on Friday in a symbolic protest against a new European Union directive that could force many to shut down.

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Parasols on strike as Italy's private beaches protest

A top official in Normandy is calling for the D-Day beaches where American and Allied troops launched the invasion of German-occupied Europe to be listed among UNESCO's world heritage sites.

Laurent Beauvais (Bo-VAY), president of Lower Normandy, says the designation will allow for the protection and preservation of the five beaches that symbolize a turning point for World War II.

Beauvais was on his way Thursday to the American cemetery in Normandy with Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear.

The Frenchman says he is pushing France's federal government to send an application to the U.N. cultural organization about Normandy, which he called "a land of memories."

It can take years for a proposed heritage site to be listed, and a UNESCO official cautioned that sites linked to wars are discouraged.

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Official Seeks UNESCO Status for D-Day Beaches

Volusia beaches make 'dangerous' list

The pristine beaches in Volusia County made a list that may scare some beachgoers.

The county was ranked No. 6 on the Dangerous Beaches list because of its prevalence for shark attacks.

The county's beaches have the highest rate of unprovoked shark attacks per square mile than anywhere else in the world.

"People are fascinated by sharks. They grab headlines. They grab attention," said Tanya Boyd, with the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Travel writer Pauline Frommer put the list together, which also includes beaches notorious for crime and pollution.

Volusia County has had four shark bites this year, which is a slow year.

"We just like to say our sharks are small. There have been no fatal attacks," said Boyd. "Our beaches are safe."

The bulk of the bites occur near the Inlet at New Smyrna Beach.

Surfers like Joey Coppola are the usual victims. Coppola received a foot injury. It was what the experts call "bump and bites."

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Volusia beaches make 'dangerous' list for shark attacks

By Anna M. Phillips, Times Staff Writer Anna M. PhillipsTampa Bay Times In Print: Thursday, August 2, 2012

Tropical Storm Debby swept more sand off of Pinellas County's beaches than any other storm in the past decade, according a report released Wednesday by University of South Florida researchers.

Over the course of three days in June, Debby scrubbed the county's coastline of 630,900 cubic yards of sand, enough to fill about 193 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Already, county officials have estimated that restoring the beaches to their previous state could cost $25 million.

That estimate rose even higher Wednesday as officials added $866,000 to the total, the cost of restoring Fort De Soto beach and Honeymoon Island.

The study by Ping Wang, a University of South Florida geology professor, and doctoral student Tiffany Roberts, found that beaches in the southern barrier islands fared the worst against Debby's southerly winds. The storm pushed sand north, depositing most of it a few feet from shore and creating wide and shallow sand bars.

The hurricane season stretches from June 1 to Nov. 30 and, with more storms on the way, the county's beaches are more vulnerable.

At Pass-a-Grille beach, the dune line retreated by an average of almost 12 feet and the area lost just over 25 feet of beach as its shoreline moved inland. Indian Shores and North Redington, whose beaches that were given sand infusions in 2006, were among the most severely eroded. Both lost about 34 feet of beach. Sunset Beach, rebuilt in 2010, lost about 21 feet.

"For the 11 years that we have been studying the beach along these three barrier islands, Debby is probably the worst," Wang said. "It caused the most widespread beach erosion."

Before Debby, the most destructive storm to hit county beaches was Hurricane Frances, Wang said. In 2004, Frances brought stronger winds to the bay area, but passed more quickly, causing less overall erosion.

As well as tearing up beaches that are critical to the area's economy, Debby also damaged the ongoing beach restoration work on Sand Key. The $31.5million project was in its early stages, said Andy Squires, the county's coastal manager, but by the time it is done, he expects to have about 25 percent less sand there than anticipated.

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Tropical Storm Debby delivered massive losses to Pinellas beaches, USF study says

By Sarah N. Mattero, Globe Correspondent

Multiple Massachusetts beaches have been closed because of high bacteria counts in the water.

In New Bedford, the East Beach located along East Rodney French Boulevard, West Beach along West Rodney French Boulevard, and the beach inside Fort Taber Park are closed to swimming today, according to the New Bedford Health Department. They were closed yesterday as a preventative measure after heavy rain fall.

All four sections of the Wollaston beaches in Quincy remain closed to swimming due to bacteria counts higher than the threshold set by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Along Cape Cod, Nauset Light Beach in Eastham and Marconi Beach in Wellfleet have been closed for high bacteria counts.

In Nantucket, a total of 10 beaches have been closed: 40th Pole, Childrens Beach, Dionis Beach, Jetties Beach, Miacomet Beach, Sewerbeds Beach, Washing Pond, Washington Street, Cliffside Beach Club, and Wauwinet Bayside Beach, according to the towns website.

This widespread closure is extremely unusual but may be attributable to either the heavy rains of the night before or windblown dead seaweed on our north shore which may be fermenting and releasing bacteria during high tide cycles, said Nantucket Health Department director Richard Ray.

The Health Department tests for the bacteria enterococci, which is type of bacteria that indicates that forms of coliform bacteria are present in the water sampled. Ray believes results from yesterdays Nantucket samples will be available today around 3 or 4 p.m.

The beaches will be reopened to swimming once water returns to acceptable quality levels.

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Several Nantucket and New Bedford beaches closed because of bacteria

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) - The New Bedford Health Department closed three beaches Wednesday as a precaution to protect swimmers from possible bacteria.

The city received 1.75 inches of rain Tuesday, raising the possibility for high bacteria levels.

As a result, the following beaches were closed Wednesday:

The water at all three beaches will be tested daily. The beaches will re-open when the water quality returns to acceptable levels.

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New Bedford beaches closed Wednesday

Published: Wednesday, August 1, 2012, 12:01 a.m.

The state has closed some beaches in Snohomish and Island counties and in many other areas in the state to shellfish harvesting because of the presence of a toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning.

The toxin can cause illness and even death in anyone who eats contaminated shellfish. The toxin, often caused by summertime algae blooms, is currently present in shellfish throughout Western Washington waters, according to the state Department of Health. Scattered beaches are closed to harvesting in Snohomish County, including from Picnic Point south to the county line. Beaches on Whidbey Island are closed to harvesting between Admiralty Head and Possession Point. Some or all beaches in Jefferson, Kitsap, King and Pierce counties also are closed. Commercially harvested shellfish have been thoroughly tested and should be safe to eat.

Warning signs are posted at beaches used by recreational shellfish harvesters to warn people not to collect shellfish from the closed areas. The closures include clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, geoduck and other species of molluscan shellfish, but not crab. Crab "butter," the soft membrane material, should not be eaten.

Before harvesting shellfish anywhere in Washington, people should check for updated closure information at http://tinyurl.com/ShellfishSafety or call the state's Biotoxin Hotline at 800-562-5632.

Calling photographers: The Snohomish County Arts Commission is seeking original photos for this year's Snohomish County photography contest.

The contest is open to people of all ages living in the state.

The photo entries that best respond to the theme of "play" will be selected for a group exhibit. A prize will be awarded to one photographer.

The deadline for submissions is Sept. 10. A group exhibit is scheduled for Oct. 1 to Nov. 1 at the Snohomish County Campus, with an artist reception to be held on Oct. 5. There is a $25 entry fee, which allows each artist to submit up to three images.

For more information, or to receive the entire submission criteria, contact Wendy Becker at 425-388-3186 or wendy.becker@snoco.org.

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Front Porch: Some beaches closed to shellfish harvest