Earthfiles investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe presented a two-part report about possible Fukushima radiation poisoning in Japanese children and sailors in the U.S. Navy, and also detailed sightings of triangular craft and fiery discs in multiple U.S. locations. Fukushima's TEPCO announced that radiation levels in wastewater from the three nuclear power reactors that melted down after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami catastrophe have been "significantly undercounted," and now medical authorities are reporting a spike in the number of thyroid cancers being detected in Japanese children. Further, a California legal firm has now taken on a class action suit on behalf of American sailors, who were on the USS Reagan and came within two miles of Japan's eastern shore soon after the nuclear incident.

She spoke with Charles Bonner, the lead attorney in the class action case, who noted that many sailors from the USS Reagan have developed a wide range of serious, debilitating symptoms which the lawsuit claims are from radiation poisoning in March 2011. Regarding illnesses of Japanese citizens, "the thyroid cancers in Japan now are 40 times higher than normal...That is just common sense logic that this spike is caused by exposure to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdowns," Bonner remarked. TEPCO continues to release radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from its reactors, he added. For more, see Linda's full report, Part 1, Part 2.

Wyoming resident John Bobick told Linda about hearing a loud trumpet sound coming from a black triangular craft high in the sky above the Bighorn Mountains in 2010, while Richard Gray described his encounter with a translucent triangular craft in Reston, Virginia in 1994 (see related illustration). Linda also spoke with Pam Conley, about a 1976 incident in which she saw three large orange discs at the treetops near her home in North Carolina in the middle of the night. The next morning she checked out the forested area and found snapped trees and a brownish circle imprinted on the ground. Bizarrely, above the circle, she saw a dead cow laying on top of a tall pine tree, some 30 or 40 feet off the ground. Further details here and here.

Search for ET Life

First hour guest, SETI astronomer Seth Shostak shared updates on the search for extraterrestrial life. Based on new exoplanet discoveries derived from Kepler space telescope data, it's possible that as many as one in five stars have planets in the habitable zone, giving SETI a large swath of possibilities to focus on. A new optical telescope called The Colossus will have a gigantic mirror, with the goal of detecting extrasolar life, he reported. In our double C2C Insta-poll (see below), we asked people to weigh in with their views on life in the universe.

News segment guests: Mish Shedlock, Peter Davenport