SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)

"At the end of January, two things will change about the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. One is that Secretary Jon Steverson will leave his post after two stormy years in charge, to take a new job with the law firm of Foley & Lardner. The other is that Steverson's new employers at Foley & Lardner will take over representing Florida in handling the billions of dollars awarded to the state as a result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster."

"A dangerous weekend weather system killed at least 18 people in the U.S. South, with Georgia officials reporting more than a dozen deaths on Sunday after severe thunderstorms and tornadoes buffeted several states."

"South Florida water managers can keep moving dirty water from farms and suburbs into the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee without obtaining federal pollution permits, a divided U.S. appeals court ruled this week in New York."

"Biologists were on Monday investigating the death of dozens of false killer whales that became stranded in Florida's Everglades National Park over the weekend, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said."

"After years of wait, veterans who had been exposed to contaminated drinking water while assigned to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina may now be able to receive a portion of government disability benefits totaling more than $2 billion."

"Louisiana is losing its coast at a rapid rate because of rising sea levels, development and sinking marshland. Officials are trying to rebuild those marshes and the wetlands, but much of the coast can't be saved."

"The head of the Department of Environmental Quality will stay at the agency, despite an incoming Democratic administration."

"A top state environmental regulator who has urged Trump to rein in the EPA and has been criticized for his lenient treatment of polluters, stepped down over the holidays - giving himself a staff position that will be protected under the new North Carolina administration.

"Five people died Monday when violent storms barreled through the South, causing power outages, flooding and downed power lines."