"Brazil's health minister said Friday that authorities were "absolutely sure" that the Zika virus is connected to devastating birth defects and rejected criticism that the government was slow to investigate the surge of cases that set off international alarms."
"More than 5.5 million people die from air pollution each year, with more than 3 million of these deaths occurring in China and India, announced researchers Friday at the 2016 annual meeting for the American Association for the Advancement of Science."
"Residents of Flint, Michigan, began getting gravely ill and in some cases dying in summer 2014 in one of the worst outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in U.S. history, and a county health director says attempts to find the source were hampered when the state wouldn't request federal assistance."
"White House officials began sifting through their pool of potential nominees for the newly vacant seat on the nation’s highest court Sunday, girding for battle with Republicans who are insisting that President Obama leave the choice of a new justice to his successor."
"It's a bit of a David vs. Goliath story, but seeing an 'existential threat,' a small vulnerable archipelago is taking a stand against big maritime interests."
"President Obama designated three new national monuments in the California desert Thursday, expanding federal protection to 1.8 million acres of landscapes that have retained their natural beauty despite decades of heavy mining, cattle ranching and off-roading."
"A former Freedom Industries executive was sentenced Thursday to one month in federal prison for a chemical spill that fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West Virginians."
"Lawmakers grilled the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over officials' reportedly illegal use of "covert propaganda" to promote a controversial water rule."
Gasoline refiners would blend ethanol into fuel even if the Congressionally-passed law and EPA rules didn't require it. The reason: it's needed to boost the octane rating that makes cars perform properly.
"It took Sen. Ted Cruz to finally persuade me to answer a riddle that's bothered me for years. Suppose somebody yanked away the law that currently props up the nation's ethanol industry, as Cruz has proposed. What would actually happen?
"An environmental group is formally questioning Peabody Energy's ability to fully bond its coal mines in Wyoming and elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain region, saying the St. Louis-based company has insufficient funding to qualify for self-bonding."
