"What do you get when you combine record-breaking heat, wildfire smoke and sunlight? Ground-level ozone in amounts high enough to cause health problems in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans on Friday and Saturday, according to the federal/state Air Quality Index."
"The number of suicide watch incidents in Louisiana prisons increased by 30 percent on extreme heat days, a recently published study in the JAMA Journal found."
"EPA is restarting review of a high-stakes decision on ground-level ozone standards in a step that short-circuits the prospects for any imminent action to tighten limits on the lung-damaging pollutant."
Long-growing concern over dangerous “forever” chemicals has drawn the attention of federal and state policymakers, local communities and the utilities that provide their drinking water. But little about regulating PFAS will be quick or easy, making it a major environmental and public health story for years to come. Issue Backgrounder unfolds the regulatory moves, the politics and the larger implications of PFAS policy.
As algal blooms (think “red tides” or “dead zones”) grow larger and more frequent, they are emerging not just on the coasts and major estuaries, but in inland lakes and streams. And they cause all kinds of harm, to humans and to the environment. The latest TipSheet has details on how to cover the problem locally, including story ideas and reporting resources.
"Under President Biden, the Environmental Protection Agency has closed fewer civil cases against polluters than any administration in the last two decades and has overseen a drop in criminal investigations of environmental crimes. David M. Uhlmann hopes to change that."
"Drinking water consumed by millions of Americans from hundreds of communities spread across the United States is contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, according to testing data released on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."
"Lahaina is plagued by hazardous debris, chemicals and undrinkable water. A big storm could worsen and spread the wildfire contamination."
"Agnolo di Tura was a sometime shoemaker and tax collector with a yen for keeping a journal. He was also his family’s sole survivor when the Black Death tore through Siena, Italy, in 1348. He buried his wife and five children with his own hands, he wrote in his journal. He was somehow spared."
"The Albright family left town after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed near their Ohio home. Now, they are back, facing personal, medical and financial crises in a newly divided community."
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