"The National Park Service on Monday reinstated mask requirements, ordering visitors at national parks around the country to don face coverings when they are inside buildings or in crowded outdoor spaces."

"Researchers attribute up to 900,000 premature deaths every year to a dangerous component of air particle pollution found in paints, pesticides, and cleaning supplies."

"Local water systems are asking the EPA—for the first time in the Safe Drinking Water Act’s history—for help obtaining chlorine-based water treatment chemicals amid a nationwide shortage."

"As the temperature in Grand Island, Neb., soared to 91 degrees that July day in 2018, two dozen farmworkers tunneled for nine hours into a thicket of cornstalks, snapping off tassels while they crossed a sunbaked field that spanned 206 acres — the equivalent of 156 football fields."

"The Federal Communications Commission must take a second look and explain how its regulations protect against the harmful effects of radiation from cell phone towers and wireless devices, the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday."

"Two American manufacturers unveiled a new recipe on Thursday for PFAS and plastics-free packaging for everything from burgers to salads, in a bid to make takeout food more sustainable and safer for consumers. While the companies—Zume and Solenis—are not the first to design a grease-resistant, PFAS-free food container, this is the first time that manufacturers have open-sourced such packaging technology."

"The groundwater of at least nine military installations near the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia is contaminated with high levels of toxic fluorinated “forever chemicals,” according to a report Wednesday by an environmental group that cites Defense Department records."

"A weather station in Syracuse on the island of Sicily, Italy recorded a blistering temperature of 119.8 degrees Wednesday, which would establish a new European heat record if verified by the World Meteorological Organization."

"Punishing heat waves are roasting the Pacific Northwest and the central and eastern United States simultaneously, placing more than half of the Lower 48 states under alerts from the National Weather Service. Excessive-heat warnings or heat advisories are in place for nearly 175 million Americans, and some of these alerts will remain in effect until the weekend."

"A federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must update nearly three-decade-old regulations about the chemicals that can be used to disperse offshore oil spills, which some environmental groups contend cause serious health problems."