"An intense last-minute push by establishment Democrats and environmentalists to shore up their preferred Senate Democratic nominee paid off in Pennsylvania [Tuesday] night, as former White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Katie McGinty won the right to take on Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in November."

"The massive wildfire tearing through the southern portion of Shenandoah National Park grew substantially Thursday and crossed over to the eastern side of Skyline Drive in several spots, a development that firefighters had been hoping to prevent. And smoke from the fire has drifted as far north as Washington’s southwestern suburbs, prompting concern from residents there."

"Shenandoah National Park is on fire and the blaze is growing. The National Park Service said that 3,000 acres have been charred since the fire started on Saturday. Officials don’t know what sparked the fire, but they think it was likely human-caused."

"The [Chesapeake] Bay’s blue crab population increased to its highest level in four years, and the number of spawning-age females — a key ingredient for future abundance — nearly doubled from last year, according to survey results released Tuesday."

"Waste leaching from frack disposal wells are the likely source of a spike in endocrine-disrupting compounds in downstream waterway—a troubling sign given the roughly 36,000 disposal sites across the U.S."

"Former Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship, who rose from humble beginnings in Mingo County to become the wealthy and powerful chief executive of one of the region’s largest coal producers, will serve one year in prison and pay a $250,000 fine for a mine safety criminal conspiracy, a judge decided Wednesday."

"Maryland must sharply reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and restore funding to preserve open space as a result of two bills that Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed into law Monday."

"In the end, Maryland lawmakers couldn’t ignore the same haunting story from beekeepers. “I go into winter with a really strong population, managed them to be fat and healthy, treated for mites, with plenty of food,” said Bonnie Raindrop, a keeper in Baltimore County. “But at the end of winter, you open your hives and they’re all dead.”

"Five bald eagles have died in Delaware, state officials said on Tuesday, weeks after 13 of the U.S. national birds were determined to have been killed by humans in neighboring Maryland."

"When a doctor found that Kenicer Carty's 1-year-old daughter had a dangerously high level of lead last year, it triggered an alarm of sorts. Officials sent an inspector to Carty's 1930 row house in northeast Baltimore. It turned out that every single window had hazardous chipping lead paint."