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"Billions of dollars in contracts have been awarded to politically connected Americans, even as Puerto Ricans suffer electricity outages."

"After a concerted reintroduction effort two decades ago, the state is now home to the largest population of elk east of the Mississippi. The animals’ home: reclaimed coal mines."

"Beneath a searing Louisiana sun, a crowd gathers on a former sugar cane plantation to commemorate Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States. Rows of unmarked graves stand nearby—believed to be the resting place of those who’d been enslaved on the plantation. A few people, clad in face masks, hold up a banner: Honoring Our Ancestors. Another sign, staked into the grass, is aimed not at the past, but at the future: FORMOSA: YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE."

"NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Rebekah Jones, a scientist who was fired from Florida's health department, who is now publishing a coronavirus dashboard of her own to track the state's COVID-19 cases."

"African American activists have been targeting another killer, toxic pollutants, in the city’s Rubbertown district for decades."

"A bill intended to have a chilling effect threatens seven years in prison for protesters and up to $100,000 in fines for groups supporting them."

"A controversial flood control and drainage project in Mississippi that EPA vetoed more than a decade ago is aggravating old tensions among environmental groups, lawmakers and agricultural groups in the Magnolia State as the Trump administration plans its next move."

"Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards on Friday vetoed a bill that would have stiffened penalties for trespassing on pipelines, levees and a long list of other facilities in the state. The veto handed a victory to civil liberties advocates and local organizers, who said the bill would have trampled on their right to protest industrial development."

"The Trump administration is preparing to open the door to oil and gas drilling off Florida’s coast — but will wait until after the November election to avoid blowback in a swing state whose waters both parties have long considered sacrosanct, according to four people familiar with the plan."