National (U.S.)

"New research casts doubt on the climate strategy pushed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other GOP leaders".

"When the chemical giant 3M agreed in early June to pay up to $12.5bn to settle a lawsuit over PFAS contamination in water systems across the nation, it was hailed by attorneys as “the largest drinking water settlement in American history”, and viewed as a significant win for the public in the battle against toxic “forever chemicals”.

"Homeless in America’s hottest big metro, Stefon James Dewitt Livengood was laid out for days inside his makeshift dwelling, struggling to breath, nauseous and vomiting."

"Far-right conservative groups are promoting a sprawling “battle plan” to obstruct and undo the federal government’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis, with hopes of quickly enacting a series of sweeping changes if Donald Trump, or any other Republican, gets elected as president next year."

"The Bureau of Land Management proposed Thursday removing more than a million acres of public lands in Colorado from future oil and gas leasing, while also designating tens of thousands of acres of new protected areas in the western part of the state as part of an effort to resolve a series of legal challenges from environmental groups."

"The EPA’s decisions about whether new chemicals can be produced remain inconsistent despite improvements the agency has made, the agency’s inspector general said in a report urging further efforts."

"Tiny houses started as a minimalist revolution. They ended up as an Instagram aesthetic."

"Wetlands and waterways in national parks, monuments, forests and other federal public lands are newly vulnerable to pollution and development in the wake of the Supreme Court’s May ruling in Sackett v. EPA, natural resources attorneys say."

"Jeanne M. Marrazzo, a University of Alabama at Birmingham infectious-disease expert, will succeed Anthony S. Fauci this fall as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, federal officials announced Wednesday."

"Congress responded to the fiery train derailment in eastern Ohio earlier this year with bipartisan alarm, holding a flurry of hearings about the potential for railroad crashes to trigger even larger disasters. Both parties agreed that a legislative response was needed. Yet six months after life was upended in East Palestine, little has changed."