Government

"Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services is the first state attorney general to create an environmental justice bureau."

"President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has selected Xavier Becerra, the Democratic attorney general of California, as his nominee for secretary of health and human services, tapping a former congressman who would be the first Latino to run the department as it battles the surging coronavirus pandemic."

"President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s environment and energy team — facing a narrowly divided Congress and a hostile Republican leadership — will need creativity and perseverance if Mr. Biden is to follow through on his ambitious promises to address climate change."

"EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement Wednesday that he has been exposed to Covid-19 and will quarantine until he's 'gone through the proper testing protocols.'"

"President-elect Joe Biden's short list of candidates to serve as his domestic climate adviser is beginning to narrow, with three names coming up the most, according to multiple sources."

"United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday that humanity is waging a suicidal war on nature and that there is no way to address the climate emergency without global leadership from the United States."

"Two nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) were confirmed to the panel by voice votes on Monday."

As the nation's hospitals are being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, the federal data system for tracking them, poleaxed this summer by the Trump administration, is giving inaccurate and unreliable data to officials trying to manage the crisis.