"The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to confirm Dr. Robert Califf as head of the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that regulates everything from food and drugs to tobacco, cosmetics and dietary supplements."

"Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Thursday lifted a hold he placed on bipartisan legislation to address the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where lead-contaminated pipes have resulted in an ongoing public health emergency."

"Congress is to consider two bills that would allow states to hand over vast tracts of federal land for mining, logging or other commercial activities – just weeks after the arrest of an armed militia that took over a wildlife refuge in Oregon in protest at federal oversight of public land."

"The League of Conservation Voters slammed the Republican-led Congress’s climate work on Wednesday, citing a “trend of relentless attacks on environmental protections” during the 2015 session of Congress."

"The latest resolution the oil giant opposes calls for an accounting of how its business will be affected by global climate action."

"Senators reached a deal Wednesday to make money available to cities like Flint, Michigan, which desperately needs to replace lead pipes that have potentially poisoned thousands."

An analysis of dozens of studies suggests that political affiliations, worldviews and values were the most significant predictors of a person’s beliefs about climate change.

"Dozens of surveys and studies have attempted to figure out which factors most heavily influence individuals’ beliefs about climate change and their support for climate-friendly policies. But because there have been so many published recently, scientists argue that it’s been difficult to keep up with the overall trends these studies have been revealing.

"Leading researchers have called on the world’s largest association of Earth and space scientists to reject sponsorship from ExxonMobil, because of the oil company’s record of funding climate denial."

Michigan officials still say they cannot conclusively link an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease to Flint’s contaminated water supply, partly because sputum cultures were not collected from patients. But the possibility of a link was raised in internal government emails as early as October 2014, and state officials did not inform the public of the outbreak until last month.

"More than 10 million people in India's capital are without water despite the army regaining control of its key water source after protests, officials say."