"Toxic lead coursed through Christopher Holland Jr.’s body at two critical points in his life: as a toddler poisoned by lead paint and as a 20-year-old struck down by bullets."

"In recent years, thousands of children started kindergarten in Cleveland public schools already poisoned by lead, which threatens their chances to achieve and poses steep challenges for the district charged with educating them."

"The US EPA has denied an NGO petition to require increased reporting of asbestos under the TSCA chemical data reporting (CDR) rule."

"PARCHMENT, Mich. — The day this small town told its residents to stop drinking the water, life on Glendale Boulevard turned from quiet to alarming."

"The children fell ill, one by one, with cancers that few families in this suburban Indianapolis community had ever heard of. An avid swimmer struck down by glioblastoma, which grew a tumor in her brain. Four children with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. Fifteen children with acute lymphocytic leukemia, including three cases diagnosed in the past year."

"House Democrats are sweeping into power this week on a campaign promise of improving government for ordinary Americans. But first, they’ll have to get government reopened from the partial shutdown."

"Kay Behrensmeyer was supposed to be preparing for a three-week expedition to look for evidence of ancient humans in Kenya. Instead, she spent Thursday packing her research permits, her fossil-collecting supplies, and maps she’d spent weeks compiling and annotating by hand into a FedEx box, which she shipped to a junior colleague on the project. Behrensmeyer, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History, wasn’t going anywhere. The federal government was shut down."

"Some lawmakers and environmental activists say the state of Vermont needs to act faster to test water in schools for the presence of lead."

"California's Joshua Tree National Park on Wednesday will become the latest casualty of the federal government's partial shutdown, closing campgrounds amid health and safety concerns over near-capacity pit toilets."