"Calif. Walloped By Winter Storm With High Winds And Heavy Rain And Snow" [1]
"California was walloped Monday by a powerful winter storm carrying treacherous thunderstorms, high winds and heavy snow in mountain areas."
Source: AP [2], 02/17/2026
"California was walloped Monday by a powerful winter storm carrying treacherous thunderstorms, high winds and heavy snow in mountain areas."
"The United States will essentially have no laws on the books that enforce how efficient America’s passenger cars and trucks should be."
"When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rescinded its bedrock endangerment finding Thursday, it explicitly excluded a controversial report issued last year by the U.S. Department of Energy that argued the dangers of human-induced climate change were being overstated."
"More than three dozen Democratic senators have begun an independent inquiry into the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following a huge change in how the agency measures the health benefits of reducing air pollution that is widely seen as a major setback to US efforts to combat the climate crisis."
Reporting on extreme-weather disasters is complicated, challenging work. Besides covering immediate impacts, there’s the broader context to consider, from climate change to social and political dynamics — all while looking out for your personal safety and well-being. Environmental journalist Colleen Hagerty draws on her own and others’ front-line experiences as she shares insights and advice for telling these high-stakes stories.
A critical logjam is emerging for post-disaster aid to U.S. states, $11 billion or more, according to some calculations. At the same time, FEMA, which dispenses much of it, is in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. TipSheet explores how this looks on the ground and how politics play into the backlog, plus offers 10 story ideas and resources for local reporting.
"Billions of American chestnut trees once covered the eastern United States. ... But by the 1950s, this venerable tree went functionally extinct, culled by a deadly airborne fungal blight and lethal root rot. A new study out Thursday in the journal Science provides hope for its revitalization, finding that the genetic testing of individual trees can reveal which are most likely to resist disease and grow tall, thus shortening how long it takes to plant the next, more robust, generation."
"Russia continues to bomb Ukraine’s fossil-fueled power plants, leaving much of the nation shivering during a brutal winter. But Ukraine’s new emphasis on developing decentralized power — from solar panels to wind turbines — is advancing an unexpected green energy transition."
"The US Supreme Court has set an April hearing in a closely watched case brought by Bayer that seeks to make the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the ultimate arbiter of warning labels on pesticides such as the company’s popular Roundup weed killer."
"A wastewater spill into the Potomac River that began last month now appears to be one of the largest in American history."
Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/headlines/calif-walloped-winter-storm-high-winds-and-heavy-rain-and-snow
[2] https://apnews.com/article/california-storm-forecast-snow-wind-rain-3624c992a6fac8d3735b61beffa509e8
[3] https://www.sej.org/headlines/latest-rollback-us-essentially-has-no-clean-car-rules
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/climate/endangerment-finding-auto-emissions-regulations.html?unlocked_article_code=1.M1A.gIah.5K9Mkt9rYwJb&smid=url-share
[5] https://www.sej.org/headlines/trump-epa-dropped-controversial-doe-report-endangerment-finding-repeal
[6] https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13022026/controversial-climate-report-dropped-from-endangerment-finding-decision/
[7] https://www.sej.org/headlines/dem-senators-launch-inquiry-epa-s-repeal-endangerment-finding
[8] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/14/democratic-senators-inquiry-epa-air-pollution-enforcement
[9] https://www.sej.org/publications/features/beyond-fires-and-floods-comprehensively-covering-disasters
[10] https://www.sej.org/publications/tipsheet/disaster-aid-backlog-becoming-blue-state-disaster
[11] https://www.sej.org/headlines/scientists-say-genetic-analysis-could-speed-restoration-american-chestnut
[12] https://apnews.com/article/chestnut-genome-extinction-tree-6643cd14b0bc130c27133fce60932270
[13] https://www.sej.org/headlines/how-ukraine-turning-renewables-keep-heat-and-lights
[14] https://e360.yale.edu/features/ukraine-war-renewable-energy
[15] https://www.sej.org/headlines/supreme-court-sets-april-hearing-roundup-preemption-case
[16] https://www.thenewlede.org/2026/02/supreme-court-sets-april-hearing-for-roundup-preemption-case/
[17] https://www.sej.org/headlines/potomac-wastewater-spill-appears-be-largest-us-history
[18] https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5736277-dc-water-sewage-overflow/
[19] https://www.sej.org/search_results
[20] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=6
[21] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3
[22] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4
[23] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=5
[24] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=8
[25] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=9
[26] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=10
[27] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=11
[28] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4928