"Thousands of public housing residents live near the most polluted places in the nation — and the government has done little to protect them."

"Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, top aide Rich Baird and former health director Nick Lyon have been told they will face criminal charges resulting from Flint's water crisis, according to a source with knowledge of the situation."

"When the full story of the 6 January storming of the US Capitol building is told, historians will have to make sense of what might seem an odd footnote. The two most prominent rightwing militia groups that participated in the mob onslaught on Congress – the Three Percenters, based in Idaho, and the Oath Keepers, based in Nevada – cut their teeth in obscure corners of the American west, where for close to a decade they have threatened violence against federal employees and institutions that steward the nation’s public lands."

"Federal and state wildlife officials are investigating who wrote the name “Trump” on the back of a manatee that was spotted in a popular wintering spot for the threatened creatures.

The agencies don’t think the manatee was hurt — the letters appear to have been formed by scraping away algae that often coats the backs of the slow-moving mammals — but the prank appears to be a clear violation of laws against harassing them.

"Washington, Oregon and British Columbia pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions. In a decade full of big talk and some epic battles, they all failed."

"A string of explosions involving little-regulated petroleum and chemical storage tanks have lawmakers and regulators talking about new rules as the Legislature prepares to convene this month."

"Joe Biden could mark his first day as president with one or more executive orders announcing plans to rejoin the Paris Agreement, submit a global deal on refrigerants for ratification and deliver on the sweeping climate pledges he made on the campaign trail."

"The Democratic takeover in the Senate increases the likelihood that lawmakers will seek to curb climate-related financial risks, according to observers. That has a lot to do with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a longtime Wall Street critic who is set to become chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee."

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt quietly signed a directive last month that could have significant impacts on how the Bureau of Land Management's law enforcement rangers protect federal lands."

"In October 2017, President Donald Trump’s critics were celebrating. They’d won their latest fight against the new administration’s industry-friendly environmental agenda, and were confident in racking up more victories. ...Fast forward to 2021, and the story of the Trump team’s legal scorecard is more complicated, showing a mixed record of success, failure, and unresolved cases."