"Mapping Mortality: A Special Report on the Air We Breathe"

"Numerous studies show that southwestern Pennsylvania has poor air quality and a yearlong Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigation has found that those pollution problems remain far from solved in communities such as Shippingport and Monaca, Bellevue and Sewickley, Masontown and Clearfield, Cranberry and Bridgeville, Pittsburgh and hundreds of others.

At the same time, the Post-Gazette's review and analysis of state Department of Health mortality statistics shows that 14,636 more people died from heart disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer in the region from 2000 through 2008 than national mortality rates for those diseases would predict.

Those diseases have been linked to air pollution exposure."

Don Hopey and David Templeton report for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a multimedia feature series that began December 12 and will continue daily through December 19, 2010. The series makes special use of maps and statistics as journalistic tools.