"U.S. wildlife officials announced a decision Tuesday to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies after years of warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change."

"President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he planned to expedite federal regulatory approvals, including all environmental permits, for any company or individual proposing to invest $1 billion or more in a construction project."

"Federal prosecutors sidestepped some Justice Department rules when they seized the phone records or emails of reporters as part of media leak investigations during the Trump administration, according to a new watchdog report being released as the aggressive practice of hunting for journalists’ sources could again be resurrected."

"Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats to pass a bipartisan bill that would give journalists greater protections under federal law – a move that comes in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump opposing the measure."

"A legal fight over an 88-mile proposed railway in Utah has set the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide how federal agencies evaluate the environmental impacts of projects requiring their approval, a decision with the potential to drastically shift how projects are permitted across the nation."

"In the waning days of the Biden administration, a long-fought battle over a cancer-causing food additive is again in the spotlight as consumer advocacy groups and lawmakers demand federal regulators ban Red Dye No. 3, a chemical used to give popular candies, foods and drinks their cherry-red colors."

"A common pesticide coating on corn and soybean seeds has leached into Minnesota waterways, threatening pollinators and aquatic ecosystems, according to a report released this week by the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council."

"All consumer, industrial, and commercial uses of trichloroethylene would be phased out under a rule the EPA issued Monday for a solvent the agency has long recognized could be harmful when released into the air and water or onto the land."

"President Biden on Monday formally designated the former site of a notorious boarding school for Native American children as a national monument, issuing a formal apology for the practice of forcibly removing children to such schools."

"The Bureau of Land Management is required to auction off opportunities to drill in the Alaska wildlife refuge by the end of this year under 2017’s Tax Cuts and Job Act."