National (U.S.)

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finalized a set of groundbreaking food safety rules for produce farms and importable goods to strengthen its food safety system."

"SAN MATEO ALMOMOLOA, Mexico -- After a staggering decline over the past two decades, the population of the iconic monarch butterfly is expected to recover following coordinated efforts across North American governments, Mexico's environment minister said on Thursday."

"Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton outlined a $30 billion plan Thursday to help parts of the country recover from the decline of the coal industry."

"Waterkeeper Alliance surveyed 250 bridges used by trains carrying volatile crude oil; there are more than 100K in the US".

Reporters trying to get information from federal agencies find press offices stonewalling and running out the clock on their interview requests. "The public information model," one agency flak said, "is dead." The result: the public is uninformed, the government is unaccountable, and people's health is endangered.

"Fire chiefs from California, Idaho, Washington and other vulnerable states reinforced on Monday the Obama administration’s campaign against climate change."

"Smoking would be prohibited in public housing homes nationwide under a proposed federal rule to be announced on Thursday, a move that would affect nearly one million households and open the latest front in the long-running campaign to curb unwanted exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke."

"Large chemical companies and their major trade association and lobbying arm, the American Chemistry Council, say they can maintain high safety standards through self-regulation and voluntary actions. Our report finds this isn't the case. Voluntary standards don’t work, and existing regulations are not effectively enforced."