Are the Lanterns placed like regular objects or do they start off in the players starting area since they are part of the team build total? Can anyone pick them up or just characters possessing super strength?

All objects, whether special or not, are part of your force. Special objects are placed just like regular objects with the additional stipulation that they must be placed at least 5 squares away from any player’s starting area.

From p. 17 of the 2010 Core Rulebook:
Only characters with Super Strength can pick up objects. This includes the lantern special objects.

Thanks! Was thinking about placing the yellow lantern in my Sinestro Corp theme team, but no one would benifit, so Ill skip it!!!

nobody has to be holding the lantern object to gain the activated abilities of it. for example, sinestro can stand within 4 squares of the yellow lantern to get the increase in attack value even if he is not using psychic blast, it just has to be showing on his dial.