"As the rates of learning disabilities, autism and related conditions rise, the Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to release a roster of the pollutants likely to contribute to these or other disorders, American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop has learned."

"The House adopted legislation Tuesday aimed at protecting sharks off U.S. coasts, though an exemption in the bill has raised concerns among federal fishery officials."

"New data shows that EPA enforcement of existing regulations under the Obama administration has fallen by several key measures. In Texas, the amount of pollution that companies agreed to reduce – as a result of enforcement cases – fell 74 percent in 2009-10 from 2007-08. Nationwide, it fell 57 percent."

"As 2010 comes to a close, U.S. environmentalists are engaged in their most profound bout of soul-searching in more than a decade."

"An appeals court rejected a challenge today by petroleum industry groups to U.S. EPA's biodiesel blending requirements, in a move affirming the agency's implementation of the renewable fuel standard."

"The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity [Tuesday] filed notice of intent to sue the Department of the Interior for failing to write a recovery plan for wolves in the lower 48 states."

"BP Monday pleaded not guilty to probation violations relating to its criminal conviction for a major North Slope oil spill in 2006."

"Asthma rates are on the rise in California, but the condition disproportionately affects low-income children and adults, according to a study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research."

"The House of Representatives gave final approval on Tuesday to a long-awaited modernization of the nation’s food safety laws, voting 215 to 144 to grant the Food and Drug Administration greater authority over food production."

As Christmas approaches former tobacco country in rural Prince George's County, Maryland, a food bank helps poor people living in trailers, discarded campers, and even tents. It's not just food, blankets, and clothing that they need. They need kerosene, propane, heating oil, and firewood. They do not qualify for federal low-income fuel assistance. They do not have plumbing or electricity. It is 23 degress outside and they are 23 miles from the White House.