Summertime and the livin' is smoggy. American air may be clearer now than when the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, but pollutants still abound. Heat and sunlight stoke chemical reactions that exacerbate health hazards. And worsening wildfires mix in harmful smoke. The latest TipSheet has more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources.
The U.S. freight system delivers significant environmental impacts nationwide, especially in states that host major rail-and-road hubs and seaports. Meanwhile, new federal laws and policies are making it harder to curtail pollution generated by freight trucks, trains and warehouses. Journalist John Lippert looks at how the public, private and nonprofit sectors are rising to this challenge.
Emailed documents and an anonymous memo set two Tampa Bay Times reporters to investigate government development plans for sensitive state lands. Max Chesnes and Emily L. Mahoney followed the fast-moving story for more than a year, approaching it as a drumbeat of scoops. Ultimately, the government reversed course. Read about this award-winning series in the latest Inside Story Q&A.
"The renewable energy industry is turning its attention to state-level races in the run-up to November’s midterm elections."
"The Trump administration is looking to reopen closed oil refineries, including an embattled one in the Virgin Islands, amid high gasoline prices caused by the Iran war."
"President Donald Trump overruled his own agencies when he denied disaster aid for four Democratic-led states this month."
"Investigators believe a cyberattack this week on dozens of municipal water systems in Minnesota was probably the work of Iranian hackers, according to U.S. and state officials and others familiar with the matter, a potential act of aggression that comes at a precarious moment in the U.S. war against Iran." "There were no indications that any water supply had been rendered unsafe to drink."
"For decades, presidents of both parties and the Supreme Court have agreed that federal law prevents developers from destroying habitat critical to vulnerable wildlife. The Trump administration is now making the case that a landmark Supreme Court ruling ending judicial deference to federal agencies gives it room to reverse that longstanding interpretation."
"More than a month has passed since Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes, and the constant sound of heavy machinery still echoes through the hardest-hit neighborhoods of La Guaira on the northern coast. Dust from collapsed buildings hangs in the humid air. Garbage has piled up. Families camp outside homes deemed too dangerous to enter. Water trucks weave through damaged streets."
"As recently as 2024, the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy had 15 employees. In 2026, it has two."
