Word: rat
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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That prospect deeply alarms Bostonians, who think the city already has a big enough rat problem. The rodents roam around Chinatown, and were recently spotted in city hall for the first time in memory. Says Mark Iapicca, who runs a parking lot beneath the elevated Central Artery: "There are already more rats than people around here, and they're bigger than my dog. They're underground now, but what happens when they go aboveground...
...Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), which pervades Boston and most American urban areas, is a formidable creature. It has gnawing teeth and jaw muscles that bite with the force of 12 tons per inch -- on a par with a shark. It will eat almost anything, and has been known to attack human babies. Some of the Boston rats have lived their entire lives underground, and no one knows how they will behave when exposed to the cultural opportunities of aboveground Boston...
...Bostonians need not despair. As the city and the state argue over just how the rat peril should be met, the state has hired William B. Jackson, the ultimate rat terminator, to deal with the problem. A former biology professor, Jackson, 62, now runs his own consulting business in Osseo, Mich., and is one of the nation's foremost experts on rodent control. Working for the United Nations, he has battled rats around the world, from Indonesia to Brazil. Billed by the Boston media as the "rat czar" and the "Pied Piper," Jackson is devising a strategy to save Boston...
Tired of the rat race? Now comes a chance to revitalize yourself and a rural community at the same time. Residents of Minnesota's Koochiching County, whose biggest town is International Falls (pop. 10,000), are trying to boost their sagging population by giving away up to 40 acres to each brave soul who takes up residence there. To qualify, applicants must be financially self-sufficient and bring a business or a useful skill with them. The county has received 27 applications, four of which have been accepted...
DEEP in the musty catacombs of the Skull and Bones mausoleum, beneath the deteriorated remains and cufflinks of William Buckley, a rat raced over a stack of crumbling copies of the Yale Daily News. The top copy, the 1989 Year in Review/Swimsuit issue, was knocked off and opened to the comics page. Scrawled into the margins with the blood of nubile young oarsmen was a list of the secret cabal's top news events of the year. The Crimson's crack squad of investigative reporters/archaeologists, fresh from a screening of "Rambo XXIII: Rambo Meets Indiana Jones" starring Mike Tyson...