"Women who live in areas with polluted air are up to twice as likely to have an autistic child than those living in communities with cleaner air, according to a new study."

Part 1: "Whose Interests Is Maine’s DEP Commissioner Serving?"

"For two years, public servant Patricia Aho has overseen Maine's environmental protection. But whom does she really serve? A seven-month investigation by the Telegram points to her former corporate clients. ... Overseen by a former chemical industry lobbyist, Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection resists regulations on substances that may be harmful to children and fetuses."

"To protect profits threatened by a lawsuit over its controversial herbicide atrazine, Syngenta Crop Protection launched an aggressive multi-million dollar campaign that included hiring a detective agency to investigate scientists on a federal advisory panel, looking into the personal life of a judge and commissioning a psychological profile of a leading scientist critical of atrazine."

"Could your driveway be making you sick? Mounting research suggests it could. It's prompting more cities, states and businesses to ban a common pavement sealant linked to higher cancer risks and contaminated soil."

"There's fresh evidence that the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, may play a part in childhood obesity."

"Syria has crossed a 'red line' with its use of chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin gas, against rebels, a move that is prompting the United States to increase the 'scale and scope' of its support for the opposition, the White House said Thursday."

"The federal government must spend at least $384 billion to improve the nation's drinking water infrastructure in order to ensure the safe delivery of water to Americans for the next 20 years."

"The first comprehensive study of rivers and streams in California has found that sport fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed have higher concentrations of mercury and PCBs than anywhere else in the state."

"On the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina, families in certain rural communities daily must deal with the piercing, acrid odor of hog manure—reminiscent of rotten eggs and ammonia—wafting from nearby industrial hog farms. On bad days, the odor invades homes, and people are often forced to cover their mouths and noses when stepping outside. Sometimes, residents say, a fine mist of manure sprinkles nearby homes, cars, and even laundry left on the line to dry."

"MELROSE PARK, Ill. — From the roof of the Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in the Chicago suburbs, an 83-year-old retired doctor finds troubling evidence of why so many people are sneezing and itching their eyes."

"As it inches closer to emergence from bankruptcy, Eastman Kodak is still wrestling with the financial repercussions of past environmental problems."

"Exposure to pesticides and other chemicals is linked to an increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a fresh look at some past research."

"More than two years ago the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas industry trade group, began building an electronic database to house information about the water quality in thousands of private wells across Pennsylvania."

"Bisphenol A is used to line drinks cans and in tests affected the way genes work in the brains of laboratory rats."

"Snap on the lights at Janet Brown's North Philadelphia house and see the roaches scatter."