Talking points: New York under water, summer camp lawsuit, advice for driving and texting

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Welcome to Talking Points, a daily roundup of digital miscellany

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

1,700

Number of U.S. towns and cities – including Miami and New York – that could be below sea level by the end of the century due to global warming, according to a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Even if global emissions of carbon miraculously stopped tomorrow, nearly 80 cities, including Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Hoboken, N.J., will be under sea level within the next decade, the study's author, a researcher at Climate Central, told the Guardian newspaper.

KISS CAMP GOODBYE

A lawsuit seeking more than $600,000 (U.S.) in damages from a Connecticut summer camp that kicked a teenage girl out for kissing a boy has been withdrawn, the Associated Press reports. According to the lawsuit, filed on Monday, the owner of the camp called the 15-year-old girl a "slut," falsely accused her of "sexually provocative behaviour" and sent her home. She was allegedly escorted out by a uniformed police officer. The lawsuit claimed the girl suffers from emotional and psychological disorders. It was the girl's fifth summer at the camp, which costs $6,600 for a four-week stay. The lawsuit alleges negligent infliction of emotional distress, defamation and other claims. AP reported on Tuesday that court records show the lawsuit has been withdrawn, although the lawyer for the girl's family would not confirm they have been, saying only that the matter can get resolved.

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THY CELLPHONE USE

Doctors should talk to their patients about the health risks associated with talking and texting on their smartphones when they're driving, says a commentary published this week in the journal Canadian Family Physician. Talking on the phone while you're behind the wheel raises the risk of getting into an accident by as much as six times, roughly the same as drinking and driving. Texting while driving makes you 23 times more likely to get in to a collision. Doctors already discuss the health risks of certain behaviours with their patients, whether it's those that might cause heart disease or stroke, notes the team of medical experts from the University of Alberta who penned the commentary. They should also discuss what habits to adopt to change the behaviour, such as turning the phone off when you're in the car.

TWEETED

"Heart rate dropping. Heart rate dropping."

@nprscottsimon

NPR reporter Scott Simon live-tweeted his mother's final moments from the Chicago hospital where she died of cancer Monday night at age 84. This was his penultimate tweet before writing that "the heavens over Chicago have opened and Patricia Lyons Simon Newman has stepped onstage."