Government

"Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it was closing its largest research campus and radically reorganizing research at the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The moves were controversial because they involved long-distance job transfers that threatened to uproot many scientists and derail research programs. This week, a federal judge declared the plans were likely illegal and ordered a halt until at least 11 December, when the current federal budget runs out."

"As efforts to protect people from extreme heat stall, organizers are embracing an approach that targets major brands’ reputations"

"US corporate lobbyists launched a two-year “blitz” to postpone and weaken the world’s most progressive legislation to protect forests, according to a new investigation by the environmental watchdog Mighty Earth."

"Brazilians filling out presidential ballots earlier this month saw three-term incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pitted against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Environmental observers saw something else: a referendum on the future of the Amazon rainforest."

"New agreement cuts vaquita's protected area by 86%. Gov't says smaller area will help fishermen. 
Only 7 to 10 vaquitas left in Gulf of California."

"The EPA administrator is visiting battleground districts and states in the runup to the midterm elections. Are the trips for policy or politics?"

"The USDA has received more applications for forest aid than it can pay out, leaving Michigan landowners in limbo after a historic ice storm."

"Hundreds of imperiled species, including North Atlantic right whales and rusty patched bumble bees, could face greater threats from industry and development."

"After 20 months of chaos, many U.S. scientists are hoping the results of the 3 November midterm elections will lead to changes in some of the White House policies they find most objectionable. But policy experts say there’s no guarantee that Democrats, even if they regain control of one or both chambers of Congress, will achieve meaningful boosts in federal support for research or an end to political interference by President Donald Trump’s administration."