"The plastics contaminating every corner of the Earth contain thousands of unregulated toxic chemicals. As global plastic talks end without a treaty, health experts say negotiators must consider their toxic cargo."
"A Hong Kong court is hearing closing arguments in the landmark trial of Jimmy Lai, one of the fiercest critics of the Chinese state". "The 77-year-old is the founder of pro-democracy publications including the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper".
"In El Paso, heat deaths hit record highs in 2023 and 2024. Advocates say not enough is being done to protect the region’s most vulnerable people."
"The agency plans to fast-track these projects through the development process. Nuclear energy experts worry about the feasibility and safety of the plan."
"One of the largest deer-smuggling networks in the state’s history aimed to skirt chronic wasting disease-containment rules, officials say."
As expanded development on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula encroaches on prime wildlife habitat, big cats find it harder to avoid people, and many wind up dead. In this Inside Story Q&A, Liza Gross of Inside Climate News describes how she and photographer/editor Michael Kodas worked with a local cougar protection team to track a family of big cats to their den and through the area.
Public databases — a boon to good environmental reporting — have long been a priority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as evidenced in its just-published “open data plan.” But as an analysis in the latest Reporter’s Toolbox notes, that pioneering approach may succumb to Trump 2.0 policies. What’s at stake and what’s already being lost.
"EPA expressed alarm at contamination in a creek near a predominantly Black neighborhood. Then the agency eliminated its civil-rights office and has taken no further action."
"The recently passed spending bill sets logging targets that federal officials don’t have the capacity to meet" "The new law sets aggressive timber harvesting goals and slashes spending for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Environmental advocates and industry insiders say those goals are contradictory and unworkable."
"Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said Thursday that climate and earth science at the agency will “move aside” as it refocuses solely on space exploration."
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