"Drinking water supplies serving more than six million Americans contain unsafe levels of a widely used class of industrial chemicals linked to potentially serious health problems, according to a new study from Harvard University researchers."

"A wildfire burning out of control in mountains and foothills east of Los Angeles mushroomed more than 50 percent overnight, forcing authorities to order three school districts to cancel classes due to heavy smoke and dangerous conditions."

"A Texas baby born with Zika-related birth defects has died, officials said Tuesday, the first death related to the virus in the state."

"Nearly six years after a defective natural gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes, a federal court jury convicted Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Tuesday of obstructing the federal probe of the blast and of violating pipeline safety laws both before and after the disaster."

"The newspaper industry is suffering. That’s bad news for journalists — both real and fictional."

John Oliver's segment on journalism on Last Week Tonight August 7, 2016. [24]

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"The world’s longest-studied wolf pack may have been wiped out, wildlife officials fear amid an escalating battle between federal and state authorities in Alaska over the aggressive hunting of predators such as wolves and bears."

"In an effort to halt the advance of the oil industry in Colorado, environmental activists said they submitted enough signatures on Monday to place on November’s ballot two initiatives aimed at severely limiting hydraulic fracturing."

"When a pipeline break in North Dakota spilled salty, toxic drilling wastewater into a tributary of the Missouri River last year, it was national news. But it was only one of more than 640 oil and gas spills that affected groundwater or surface water in some way in 2015, according to a review of state and federal records by EnergyWire. Such spills can contaminate water with oil, salt, metals and even radiation."

"The Ogallala aquifer turned the region into America's breadbasket. Now it, and a way of life, are being drained away."

"Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a new energy law on Monday that could give a huge boost to the country’s offshore wind industry. The legislation, which was overwhelmingly passed last week by the state legislature, includes the nation’s biggest commitment to offshore wind energy, requiring utilities to procure a combined 1,600 megawatts of electricity from offshore wind farms in a little over 10 years."