National (U.S.)

"A foam to fight burning jet fuel made by 3M and the U.S. Navy smothers fires, but massive use has contaminated drinking water around the U.S. Huge amounts of the foam have been found in soil and water."

"In a victory for the Obama administration, the spending package released by congressional leaders on Wednesday won’t block American financial contributions to an international climate fund for poorer nations."

"It's the big donors who are driving the party's do-nothing policies."

"Pigweed, with its ability to quickly adapt genetically, has developed Roundup herbicide resistance nearly as quickly as the crops altered by scientists to do so."

"A U.S. appeals court said on Tuesday Obama administration regulations limiting emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants can remain in effect while the government revises the rules in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling."

"Lawmakers have agreed to lift the four-decade-old ban on crude oil exports as part of a spending and tax package announced by congressional leadership on Tuesday night, according to a GOP lawmaker. In exchange, Republicans agreed to extend a series of expired or expiring renewable energy tax breaks."

"Kathryn Sullivan has helped U.S. Navy sailors navigate — literally — through rough seas as an oceanographer in the Navy Reserves. As a NASA astronaut, she’s walked in space, the first American woman to step outside a spacecraft, 140 miles above Earth. These challenges are a world apart from what she’s now confronting in Washington as she leads an agency of federal scientists in the crosshairs of a powerful member of Congress."

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) finalized a new rule Monday that will require all producers of raw ground beef to keep records of where the meat has come from."