Public

"Maryland’s ravaged Chesapeake Bay oyster population shows signs of revival inside the state-created sanctuaries that have been off-limits to harvesting for the past decade, according to a report from the Department of Natural Resources."

"Wildfires are burning in seven Western U.S. states, from California's famed Big Sur region to tribal towns and hamlets near Reno, Nevada. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in Montana, and evacuations were ordered in Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming. Firefighters were trying to stop a Washington blaze from reaching a thickly forested security zone at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation." The Associated Press had an overview of some of the fires August 2, 2016.

"When Tom Barber, a scientist at the University of Arkansas who studies weeds, drives the country roads of eastern Arkansas this summer, his trained eye can spot the damage: soybean leaves contorted into cup-like shapes."

"Federal health authorities on Monday urged pregnant women not to visit a South Florida neighborhood where new cases of the Zika virus have emerged, the first time officials have warned against travel to part of the continental United States due to the outbreak of an infectious disease."

"Beneath the streets of Boston, two robots named Mario and Luigi inspect the flow of human waste, collecting data on city residents."

"In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey demand new answers about an alleged conflict of interest in the environmental review of a proposed Spectra Energy natural gas pipeline project."

"The agricultural unit of German chemicals company Bayer AG will halt future U.S. sales of an insecticide that can be used on more than 200 crops after losing a fight with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company said on Friday."

"The Chinook salmon that Randy Settler and other Yakama tribal fishermen are pulling from the Columbia River are large and plentiful this summer, part of one of the biggest spawning runs since the 1960s. It is a sign, they say, of the river’s revitalization, through pollution regulations and ambitious fish hatchery programs. But barely four miles upstream from the fishermen’s nets, state workers are still cleaning up after a major oil train derailment in June."

"During the 2012 race for president, the issue of climate change was nearly invisible.  ... But this year, as Hillary Clinton thrusts climate change to the heart of her campaign, the issue is taking on a prominence it has never before had in a presidential general election."