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"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin delivered the keynote speech at a Wednesday meeting of the Heartland Institute, a group that challenges the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change’s harmful impacts and the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions that cause it."
"As night falls over a nature park on the edge of Kyiv, children crowd around volunteers who carefully open cloth bags and release bats into the twilight."
"Newsom promised to help a Native tribe restore sacred salmon to their ancestral river. Now California is ending the funding. The fish made it back to their ancestral waters for the first time in 80 years — so why is California walking away now?"
"Since last summer, developers are no longer allowed to use a government website that helps with a basic preliminary task for projects: identifying what endangered species are found in a particular area."
"Yang Haiming didn’t stop working when he retired from the coal mines at age 60. Instead, he jumped into a new industry."
"Top government security agencies issued a warning of Iran-affiliated cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure across the US on Tuesday. In a joint statement, the agencies said municipalities, especially in the water and energy sectors, should be on the lookout for unusual activity."
"Triplet tropical cyclones astride the equator could help it develop."
"Prosecutors say Amit Forlit ran a global hacking operation on behalf of a Washington lobbying group that aimed to thwart environmental lawsuits against oil companies."
"Across the country, Republican-led state legislatures are passing a slate of laws that effectively shield oil and gas companies from legal claims that they are responsible for the destruction and mounting toll caused by climate change. Fifteen laws have either been passed or are currently being debated in 11 states. Together, they threaten to remove long-standing tools for the public to hold corporations accountable."
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has voted to no longer lead security drills at power plants, instead allowing companies to lead their own drills in the coming years."
"The Interior Department is offering its staff another round of buyouts and early retirements in an effort to slim down the federal department that’s in charge of the nation’s natural resources."
"President Trump is once again proposing to eliminate a program that helps low-income people heat and cool their homes."
"American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad streetcorner last week, has been released, two Iraqi officials with direct knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday."
"María Pérez lost power for about three months after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017. Her home in Salinas, on the island’s southern coast, sits near a river. As the hurricane knocked out the island’s grid and sent rainwaters surging down from the mountains, Perez’s house flooded with a swirling mix of muddy water and animal feces, rising 3 feet high and warping the hallways. For the next three months, she went without power as she cleaned out the home and began the long process of rebuilding."
"A federal auction undid a hard-won agreement to protect Alaska's North Slope. The Iñupiat community that fought for it is still waiting to be heard."
