"The former congressman who drew scrutiny for anti-vaccine views did not appear to have the votes for confirmation amid a measles outbreak, according to people familiar."
"The practice Kennedy is targeting, known as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS), can occur when companies self-certify the safety of a food additive."
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday began plans to lay off 10% of its current workforce, people inside and outside the agency said, with some of them requesting anonymity due to fear of retribution."
"The Trump administration is considering canceling the lease of the support office for a renowned Hawaii climate research station, sources said, raising fears for the future of key work tracking the impact of carbon emissions on global warming."
Anti-science policies are being instituted by the Trump administration at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal offices, reports the latest Backgrounder. That makes it especially challenging to keep politics out of decision-making around everything from natural disasters to public health. An examination of scientific integrity under Trump 2.0 and what environmental journalists should watch for.
"On Feb. 8, Colette Delawalla, a graduate student in psychology at Emory University, nervously announced to the online world that she was planning a national protest in defense of science. “I’ve never done this before, but we gotta be the change we want to see in the world,” she wrote in a post on Bluesky, a social media platform."
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the nation’s premier agency for weather and climate science, has been told by the Trump administration to prepare to lose another 1,000 workers, raising concerns that NOAA’s lifesaving forecasts might be hindered as hurricane and disaster season approaches."
While extreme cold has made much news this winter, environmental journalists have another way into climate-related stories as spring approaches — through gardening. That’s because this time of year, gardeners are already buying and nursing seeds in readiness for planting. Ideas for reporting the topic, including a government plant hardiness zone map that offers a window into the climate change story, from the latest TipSheet.
"Officials in the Western U.S. who warn the public about avalanches are sounding a different type of alarm. They say they’re worried that the Trump administration firing hundreds of meteorologists and other environmental scientists could hinder life-saving forecasts that skiers and mountain drivers rely on."
"The new head of the Food and Drug Administration division that regulates infant formula was in recent months a corporate lawyer defending a top formula maker from claims that its product gave rise to debilitating harm to premature babies."
