Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV)

"The hulking wall of rubber was first discovered by a borough maintenance crew. About 6,000 rolled pieces were neatly stacked about 10 feet high, covering more than an acre of private land, according to the mayor of Cleona, Pennsylvania."

"Rodney Bartgis crouched down, slowly turning over rocks in search of the elusive Cheat Mountain salamander on Central West Virginia's Gaudineer Knob."

"Pigeon Creek flows through a narrow mountain hollow along a string of coal mining communities, its water trickling under the reds and yellows of the changing fall foliage. The tranquil scene belies the devastation the creek delivered one night a decade ago as heavy rain fell on soggy soil and thousands of acres of nearby strip mines."

"Craig Bettenhausen is terrified every time it rains. After a storm, the junior warden knows what might await him at North Baltimore’s Church of the Guardian Angel: a putrid stench and gray-brown bubbling waste coating the basement floors."

"It was a display of kindness that should have been heartwarming. Instead, Frederick Douglass Elementary School teacher Alison Marcus just felt queasy."

"The FBI has begun a corruption investigation into how Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration came to issue permits for construction on a multibillion-dollar pipeline project to carry highly volatile natural gas liquids across Pennsylvania, The Associated Press has learned."

A little-known disease caused by mycobacteria seems to be causing a decline of striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay.

"Conowingo Dam owner Exelon Corp. and the state of Maryland have reached a settlement under which the Chicago-based energy company will invest $200 million to clean up the Susquehanna River, and, by extension, the Chesapeake Bay."