"Public health advocates urged the Trump administration to protect residents and workers by sticking to a Biden-era timeline for reducing benzene and chromium emissions at the perimeter of steel and coke plants in Pennsylvania and other states rather than continuing to delay compliance rules."

"U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams late Thursday issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting more detainees from coming to the site, barring new construction and giving the state 60 days to remove many of its major elements."

"When the Food and Drug Administration needs outside guidance, it normally turns to a trusted source: a large roster of expert advisers who are carefully vetted for their independence, credentials and judgment. ... Instead, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has launched a series of ad hoc 'expert panels' to discuss antidepressants, menopause drugs and other topics with physicians and researchers who often have contrarian views and financial interests in the subjects."

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will now require disaster survivors to register for federal aid using an email address—a departure from previous policy where email addresses were optional. The move, FEMA employees tell WIRED, puts people across the US with little to no access to internet services at risk of losing out on crucial federal financial assistance after disasters."

"If a major hurricane approaches Central Florida this season, Maria knows it’s dangerous to stay inside her wooden, trailer-like home. In past storms, she evacuated to her sister’s sturdier house. If she couldn’t get there, a shelter set up at the local high school served as a refuge if needed. But with accelerating detentions and deportations of immigrants across her community of Apopka, 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Orlando, Maria, an agricultural worker from Mexico without permanent U.S. legal status, doesn’t know if those options are safe."

"A train derails and spills at least 1,000 gallons of hazardous materials in the U.S. about once every two months. Nearly half of those derailments resulted in evacuations; more than a quarter resulted in a fire or explosion since 2015, an analysis of federal derailment data showed. And many communities along the rail lines aren’t prepared to keep people safe when it happens."

"While touting a $50 million initiative to identify the causes of autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is helping lead an administration that is rolling back protections against pollution and toxic chemicals, including some linked to the condition."

"Public comments show that a crackdown on signs ‘disparaging’ Americans is not popular"

"The smoke from the wildfires that burned through Los Angeles in January smelled like plastic and was so thick that it hid the ocean. Firefighters who responded developed instant migraines, coughed up black goo and dropped to their knees, vomiting and dizzy."

"A gold rush brought settlers to South Dakota’s Black Hills roughly 150 years ago, chasing the dream of wealth and displacing Native Americans in the process. Now, a new crop of miners driven by gold prices at more than $3,000 an ounce are seeking to return to the treasured landscape, promising an economic boost while raising fears of how modern gold extraction could forever change the region."