Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Court OKs Selling Love Canal Homes

A Niagara Falls, N.Y., judge ruled that the sale of homes in the Love Canal chemical dump area may proceed, rejecting a bid by environmental and community groups to block the sales. State Justice Joseph Mintz lifted an injunction he imposed four years ago that forbade selling the homes until the state Health Department had studied whether the area was habitable. That study, finished last year, said contamination in a part of the area was no worse than in other parts of Niagara Falls. Love Canal became a symbol of toxic waste problems in the 1970s when chemicals dumped there earlier leaked into yards and basements.