"The Ironbound neighborhood in Newark, N.J., has two distinct sections: an immigrant-rich area of rowhouses, ethnic restaurants and shops, and a clogged industrial zone with three power plants, the state’s largest incinerator and biggest sewage facility, a slew of factories and a near-constant parade of diesel trucks."
A powerful politician and his family’s groundwater-polluting agricultural business were the focus of an award-winning series that delved into the intersection of politics, power, privilege and regulatory capture. In the latest Inside Story Q&A, journalist Yanqi Xu discusses how the reporting uncovered deep and unexpected impacts on small town economies, water quality and the living conditions of the hog farms’ neighbors.
"A Tulane University researcher resigned Wednesday, citing censorship from university leaders who had warned that her advocacy and research exposing the Louisiana petrochemical industry’s health impacts and racial disparities in hiring had triggered blowback from donors and elected officials."
"Red Feather, which works to improve housing on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, is just one of hundreds of groups that have had grants meant to help disadvantaged communities terminated by the Trump administration."
"An Alabama town is at risk of losing water access after it disputed rate rises and recent charges by a neighboring water board. The mayor says customers are being “bamboozled.”"
"More than 2 million acres of federal lands would be sold to states or other entities under a budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, reviving a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to local control after a similar proposal failed in the House."
"At the U.N. Ocean Conference, Tonga’s princess called for recognition of whales’ legal rights. The move is one of several rights of nature initiatives happening at the conference."
"An opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel says the Antiquities Act of 1906 allows presidents to shrink or eliminate designations by previous presidents."
"President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration plans to “wean” states off Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance after this year’s hurricane season, offering in the most explicit terms yet his plans for states to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies on their own."
"The agency plans to weaken limits on toxic emissions from power plants while also scrapping restrictions on planet-warming greenhouse gases."
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