"Billionaire former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Thursday that his foundation would fund the UN climate change agency after President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement. Bloomberg’s pledge will cover the 22 percent of its $96.5 million budget previously provided by the US for 2024-2025."
"President Trump’s picks to lead the nation’s energy and environment-focused agencies all sailed through committee votes on Thursday morning."
"The partisan divide over natural resource protections took a hard shift to the right with the inauguration of President Trump, who reversed moves the Biden administration took to protect natural resources in Alaska from mining and energy development and hunting bears with baits."
"Automakers and even some Republicans may fight to preserve funds, and environmental activists will likely sue, but some experts said that some changes may not survive legal challenges."
"President Donald Trump on his first day in office declared an “energy emergency” and set in motion the demolition of scores of environmental protections that his administration will have to defend in court. Legal observers say some of Trump’s ambitions will be harder than others to justify — even before a high court dominated by conservatives, including three of the president’s own picks."
"The man tapped by President Donald Trump to be second-in-command of the federal agency that protects the public from environmental dangers is a lawyer who has represented companies accused of harming people and the environment through pollution." "David Fotouhi, a lawyer who recently challenged a ban on asbestos, worked to roll back climate regulations and water protections while serving in the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s first administration."
"To the extent that X ever was the “public square” of the internet, it is clearly no longer such a place. The platform — known as Twitter until it was rechristened in 2023 by Elon Musk — has become an echo chamber for extremist conspiracy theories and hate speech — or, depending on what you’re looking for, a porn site."
"More than 50,000 people were under evacuation orders or warnings Wednesday as a huge and fast-moving wildfire swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles, but fire officials said a rapid ground and air assault was giving them the upper hand."
"Will Rogers State Historic Park is a vast stretch of natural space in the Santa Monica Mountains. It's a treasure to Angelenos. People get married there, picnic there, and have kids' birthday parties on the great lawn. ... Last week, as firestorm engulfed large parts of Los Angeles, this piece of American history was reduced to rubble."
