"The energy and natural resource sector has spent hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the federal government so far this year, according to data compiled by the nonprofit OpenSecrets."

"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."

"Brewery owner Dan Kleban is entering the race for Maine’s U.S. Senate seat Wednesday with a campaign focused heavily on environmental matters."

"Bobbi Stevenson Bauer loves her flowers. The Arlington, Virginia, resident often travels to downtown Washington, D.C., to visit the Enid A. Haupt Garden at the Smithsonian and the U.S. Botanic Garden, two of the many tourist destinations that are situated along the National Mall. ... “I haven’t seen it this empty since Covid,” she reported during a recent visit." 

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s past recovery efforts have been impeded by staffing shortages, and officials are facing an ongoing hurricane season with even fewer employees, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Tuesday."

"The EPA on Friday terminated at least five of the roughly 140 employees who signed a public letter in June critical of the agency’s political leadership, according to the staffers’ union. At least 10 other tenured employees have gotten a notice of proposed removal, said Nicole Cantello, an EPA lawyer and president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704."

"Unions representing employees of the National Weather Service and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sued President Trump on Tuesday over an executive order that sought to end employee rights to collectively bargain with the government."

"About two dozen investigators patrol neighborhoods throughout Las Vegas every day searching for signs of wasted water. They're known as water waste investigators who are part of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. For more than 20 years, they have been helping conserve water in the growing desert city."

"Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill is expected to serve as acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to an administration official and another person familiar with the matter."