"SEATTLE -- Makers of children’s products report that they are using toxic chemicals in children’s toys, clothing, safety products and bedding. The reports were filed with the State of Washington in 2013 under the state’s new disclosure law, the Children’s Safe Products Act, the country’s only such law."

"In dozens of water-scarce counties where fracking is booming, water use is at or approaching more than a billion gallons a year."

"Remember those ballot initiatives in California and Washington that aimed to get food companies to label products containing genetically modified ingredients?"

"Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, is set to become chairwoman next week of the Senate Energy Committee, a powerful position that gives her jurisdiction over the oil and gas industry that fuels her state’s economy — and which will be a major source of contributions to Ms. Landrieu’s tough re-election campaign this fall."

"The Agriculture Department inspector showed up at Rick Schiller’s home in November to collect potential evidence from his freezer: three pounds of chicken thighs, wrapped in plastic and stamped with a Foster Farms label."

"Keystone XL pipeline records are being sought by the Sierra Club in a lawsuit claiming the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has to make public documents related to its review of TransCanada Corp.’s project."

"There's one main rule at the conservative donor conclaves held twice a year by Charles and David Koch at luxury resorts: What happens there stays there."

"WASHINGTON — A bitterly divided House approved a sweeping California water bill Wednesday that puts the Senate on the spot and splits the drought-ridden state into several competing camps."

"Attorneys general in 21 states are backing an attempt to derail the Obama administration’s Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan, fearing that the government will use that authority to regulate wastewater in other watersheds, including the Mississippi River Basin."

"ON THE DAN RIVER, N.C. — Canoe guide Brian Williams dipped his paddle downstream from where thousands of tons of coal ash has been spewing for days into the Dan River, turning the wooden blade flat to bring up a lump of gray sludge."