"More than 3.5 billion gallons of raw and partially treated sewage and industrial waste were dumped into metro Detroit lakes, rivers and streams because of heavy rains during the past month, leading to beach closures and high levels of contamination at the start of the swimming season."

New EPA rules tightening pollution standards for Florida's streams, canals, lakes, and rivers are getting applause from environmentalists and opposition from the agriculture industry.

"A U.S. senator called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Sunday to reveal findings about a possible link between a chemical found in most sunscreens and skin cancer."

"Organic food from China, like tea and frozen broccoli, has increasingly found its way onto American store shelves, typically emblazoned with the green 'U.S.D.A. organic' seal also found on food grown in this country. ... Now serious questions about certification in China have been raised by the United States Agriculture Department."

"The first poll following Carly Fiorina's victory in the race for California's GOP Senate nomination shows three-term Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in the lead by 48 percent to 43 percent with 5 percent preferring some other candidate and 5 percent undecided."

"Iraqis are calling on their incoming government to devote more energy to resolving the country's chronic water problems, with some experts stating that water will be more important than oil in the long-term development of the country."

"The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials," the New York Times reports. Those officials include the general running the Afghan war. Other news reports say the discoveries are not new and imply they may be hyped to justify the floundering U.S. war in Afghanistan.

"President Obama will use his first Oval Office speech Tuesday night to outline a plan to legally compel BP to create an escrow account to compensate businesses and individuals for their losses from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, administration officials said on Sunday."

"After focusing for weeks on the causes of the Gulf oil spill and its economic and environmental impact, Congress shifted its attention Thursday to the dangers it poses to human health. The Senate Health Committee tackled proposals to protect oil industry workers, while the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Energy panel heard from experts on potential problems associated with exposure to oil, a carcinogen."

"Could another deep water -- or even shallow water -- oil drilling disaster be looming ahead? Experts warn it certainly could happen again."