"A federal judge has knocked down the core of President Trump's executive order barring federal funding for NPR and PBS, saying it violated the broadcasters' First Amendment rights on its face."
"The Justice Department and the state of Vermont faced off in a federal courtroom on Monday over the state’s landmark 2024 “climate superfund” law, which will require fossil fuel companies to pay for the mounting costs of climate change." "The law would make fuel companies help pay for damages caused by climate change. The administration argues it’s unconstitutional."
"Several high-ranking Trump officials that make up the so-called “God Squad” voted on Tuesday to quash longstanding Endangered Species Act regulations in the Gulf of Mexico, exempting all oil and gas drilling. It’s an outcome environmentalists fear could spell doom for the critically endangered Rice’s whale, a species that only exists in the Gulf and has just 50 whales left in existence."
"Plans for a wall in Big Bend National Park prompted public protests and behind-the-scenes lobbying to sway the Trump administration to stop."
"If you've opened your natural gas or electric bill lately and bit back a scream, or watched the numbers tick up and up at the gas pump, you're not alone. For many Americans, energy prices feel uncomfortably high right now."
"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is failing to put warnings on pesticides linked to cancer — even when the agency itself determined a product’s ingredients are carcinogenic, according to two new analyses of federal data."
"The president was non-committal when asked Sunday night about Casey Means’s nomination, which has stalled in the Senate."
"A federal judge on Monday partially ruled that the first Trump administration erred when it weakened aspects of the Endangered Species Act.
The ruling (attached below) was heralded by environmental groups, saying it underscored that “federal agencies must use the best available science when assessing harm to species, they cannot ignore incremental harm to critical habitat, and the agencies must firmly commit to any measures relied upon to reduce harm to imperiled plants and animals.” (Emphasis added—ed.)
"The United States has spent nearly a year pursuing deep sea mining without cooperation from the rest of the world. Now, Japan has said it will help out." "The arrangement could signal a fracture in the decades-long effort among nations to reach consensus on how to mine the ocean floor while protecting ecosystems."
"As the war in Iran pushes U.S. gas prices toward $4 a gallon nationally, some lawmakers are pushing to suspend the federal gasoline tax in the latest attempt to try to control surging energy costs."
