"Emergency financing to fight the mosquito-borne Zika virus appeared likely to be delayed until after Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess, as Democrats on Wednesday sharply criticized a new Republican proposal to provide $1.1 billion, but with $750 million redirected from other federal programs."
"President Obama signed into law [Wednesday] the first overhaul to the nation's chemical laws in nearly 40 years, a milestone in the history of environmental legislation and a feather in the caps of Democrats and Republicans alike."
"Cities in six continents joined up to form the world's largest alliance to combat climate change on Wednesday, a move intended to help making ground-level changes to slow global warming."
"Firefighters across Arizona and New Mexico battled 31 wildfires on Wednesday, their efforts complicated by a relentless heat wave and bone-dry conditions. And in the Angeles National Forest, on the northern edge of Los Angeles, two fires kept more than 300 families from their homes as the fires threatened to merge into one."
Here are some recent Congressional Research Service reports relevant to the environment and energy beat, thanks to the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project.
Overall goals of the new draft plan are to make all government data and information open by default and to eliminate all fees except for an initial $5 filing fee. The Canadian government invites comments on the plan before June 30, 2016.
Don't get us wrong: the U.S. federal government's openness to public scrutiny leaves much to be desired. Still, it's worth noting that some improvements have taken place. Here are a few prominent ones. Image: Clipart.com.
Journalism may finally be ready to stride into the brave new techno-world of drone reporting now that the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a regulation removing the previous cloud of illegality and uncertainty. It's just the beginning.
FOIA reform: it's all over but the shouting — and the implementation. The package of amendments to FOIA features codification of the "presumption of openness," would establish a single online federal portal for FOIA requests and strengthen the role of the Office of Government Information Services. Image: Clipart.com.
"Surging wildfires on Tuesday forced new evacuations of hundreds of homes across the West, while firefighters began beating back a pair of big adjacent blazes looming over suburban Los Angeles."
