"A Trump administration plan to remove thousands of agriculture employees from Washington, D.C., is raising concerns among economists, who fear that such a move could erode expertise in a workforce reluctant to relocate."
Many local government decisions come down to a key factor: walkability. And that’s not just a question of transportation infrastructure. As the latest Reporter’s Toolbox notes, walkability is also an environmental consideration. To turn that simple truth into stories about the built environment, here’s a high-quality, mappable walkability index. How to use the database smartly, plus questions to ask that will get your reporting started.
"Fat Bear Week, an online vote conducted via a single-elimination bracket, will take place from Sept. 23 to 30, the National Park Service announced Thursday."
"Leaving their farmhouse hideout at night, a band of wannabe saviors brimming with revolt made their way to a West Virginia hamlet one early October morning. But their plans soon went awry. Instead of seizing a federal weapons cache and inciting a massive resistance, the band wound up captured or killed by the U.S. government."
"The smoke from the wildfires that burned through Los Angeles in January smelled like plastic and was so thick that it hid the ocean. Firefighters who responded developed instant migraines, coughed up black goo and dropped to their knees, vomiting and dizzy."
"More than a quarter of U.S. homes — worth a combined $12.7 trillion — are exposed to “severe or extreme climate risk,” according to a new Realtor.com analysis. The report examined threats from wildfires, floods and wind damage — hazards that have been top of mind after a string of recent disasters."
"Working from a dock on St. Helena Island, S.C., on a sweltering day this summer, Ed Atkins pulled in a five-foot cast net from the water and dumped out a few glossy white shrimp from the salt marsh."
"As climate change exacerbates the risks of extreme heat across California, the state’s prison officials plan to embark on a $38 million pilot project to figure out how to keep their prison cells cool."
"As oily rain fell on Roseland, where 90% of kids live in poverty, the Trump administration is considering gutting chemical-disaster safeguards."
"Hakim Dermish moved to the small South Texas town of Catarina in 2002 in search of a rural lifestyle on a budget. The property where he lived with his wife didn’t have electricity or sewer lines at first, but that didn’t bother him."
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