Students may be taking in unsafe levels of mercury with their tuna fish sandwiches at the school lunch table, new research shows.

The report, called “Tuna Surprise” advises school officials and parents not to serve any albacore tuna to children and to limit consumption of light tuna to twice a month for most kids and only once a month for children under 55 pounds. Researchers, commissioned by the Vermont-based Mercury Policy Project which works to lower mercury levels in the environment, found triple the amount of mercury in albacore compared to light tuna. The study is believed to be the first of its kind to examine mercury in school lunches....

“It’s unfortunate that this otherwise healthy food is contaminated with toxic mercury and that parents and schools need to keep it from appearing too frequently on the menu,” said Elizabeth Saunders, Massachusetts Legislative Director for Clean Water Action, which co-released the report. She said there was good news in the study because it can be easy to reduce exposure....

SOMERSET — Even if the Brayton Point Power Station is sold by the first half of 2013, as its current owner is planning to do, the impact of how much Somerset's largest taxpayer pays to the town would not be felt by the town until Fiscal Year 2015, according to Donald Setters, Jr., a selectman and assessor for the town.

Mr. Setters said that if the power plant is sold for less than what it is valved at by the town, it does not necessarily mean a new owner would be paying less taxes to the town.

"It's too early to say what kind of an impact the probable sale of the plant could make," Mr. Setters said. "It's not necessarily a bad thing."

NEW BEDFORD — District Attorney Sam Sutter, who is competing in the Democratic primary for the 9th congressional district, sought to draw attention to water pollution on Cape Cod Tuesday, focusing on a problem outside his SouthCoast base of support.

Sutter pledged to aggressively seek federal funding to support solutions to groundwater contamination. In a campaign release, he proposed more extensive use of a wastewater treatment facility at the Massachusetts Military Reservation.