"The NOAA pilots and scientists flying aboard hurricane hunter aircraft into Hurricane Melissa’s 185-mile per hour winds are not being paid during the government shutdown, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed Tuesday."

"As the world's thirst for coffee shows no signs of slowing down, widely used practices to ramp up the crop's production have become self-defeating, according to a nonprofit watchdog group."

"The White House on Tuesday fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency that was expected to review some of President Donald Trump’s construction projects, including his planned triumphal arch in Washington."

"A diplomatic row has erupted over the “illegal” detention of one of Ukraine’s scientists, who has been accused by the Kremlin of undermining Russia’s industrial trawling for krill in Antarctica."

"The Trump administration has repeatedly blamed offshore wind farms for whale deaths, contrary to scientific evidence. Now the administration is quietly abandoning key research programs meant to protect marine mammals living in an increasingly busy ocean."

"The Trump administration stopped updating a database tracking the costs of the country’s worst disasters. A group of scientists has revived it."

"Despite a federal hiring freeze, the Trump administration just appointed a scientist who calls Vance one of his “closest friends” to head the nation’s key environmental health research arm."

"New rule would prohibit states from banning dangerous chemicals, and could invalidate hundreds of protections"

"A new rule proposed by the Trump administration would dramatically weaken safety reviews for some of the nation’s most toxic chemicals that are already on the market, public health advocates and an EPA employee warn.

"It’s the seventh state to pass a law requiring climate education in public schools. The requirement will kick in next fall."

"Nations are not spending enough to ensure that the forests that cover nearly a third of the planet remain healthy, according to a new United Nations report. To meet various international climate, biodiversity and land restoration goals, annual global spending needs to triple to $300 billion by 2030, the report found."