"AMES, Iowa — Tim Recker has been growing corn in this state his whole life, and using his crops to make ethanol almost as long, at first by the jar for his trucks, now by the barrel for the nation. That is in large part because Congress in 2005 mandated that oil refiners blend ethanol into gasoline."

"Across Michigan, in cities large and small, lead poisoning continues to plague children, limiting them in school and on the playground."

"The Senate will pick up debate on its energy overhaul bill in the coming week."

"From the air, the Midwest looks like a patchwork of cropland and pastures. But before the land was turned over to plows and center pivots, most of it was a sea of grass."

"The City of Milwaukee and 70,000 residential property owners are facing total costs of $511 million or more to remove all lead pipes delivering drinking water to those homes, and eliminate the risk of contaminating tap water with the toxic metal."

"State regulators defend the decision because it allows for increasing use of renewable energy, but it also extends coal's life in the state."

"The United States is monitoring Iraq's largest dam for signs of further deterioration that could point to an impending catastrophic collapse, US army officers said on Thursday."

"Following the lead of several other states, Maryland is preparing to sue the oil industry for the costs of cleaning up a one-time gasoline additive that’s contaminated   water across the state."

"Regulators in California, home to more residential solar customers than any other state, agreed on Thursday to retain a system that compensates users of rooftop solar panels for their excess electricity."

"The World Health Organization rang a global alarm over the Zika virus on Thursday, saying that the disease was “spreading explosively” in the Americas and that as many as four million people could be infected by the end of the year."