After an appeals court ruling against them, and running out of funds, conservationists dropped their suit against the Forest Service for escorting them from a press conference on a Bitterroot National Forest timber sale.
Watchdog groups and the Associated Press report on federal agency foot-dragging in making a reality of Obama administration declarations that it would foster government transparency.
Canadian scientists are taking a closer look at dioxin-like contaminants in the Great Lakes called polychlorinated naphthalenes. They accumulate in fish and are toxic to humans.
EPA has found suspect materials in a small sample of Chinese-made drywall that some believe may be causing corrosion in homes and possibly sickening people.
"Federal officials, who have spent much of the last decade 'avoiding their obligations under the Endangered Species Act,' need a contingency plan to save the endangered fish, the judge says."