The availability of government data has soared over the last decade — offering a huge opportunity for watchdog journalists to find stories that advance the public interest. The environmental beat is the Saudi Arabia of data (yes, that means vast, rich, accessible, and untapped reserves).
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is promising to toughen libel laws to get back at news media who "write purposely negative and horrible and false articles." Especially those that criticize him. Photo: By Marc Nozell (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0].
The Senate Energy Committee last November approved a different version of the bill which seems to include an exemption from fees and permits for "news gathering." But whether it will pass on the floor or get reconciled with the House bill in an election year is unknown.
Scientist Jonathan Lundgren (left), who has been researching the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on Monarch butterflies, filed a whistleblower complaint and lost. And, Lundgren claimed his supervisors at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service told him not to talk to news media and punished him when he did.
"How weird has Anchorage's weather been this winter? Weird enough that an Alaska Railroad spokesman said Monday that a train will deliver seven rail cars loaded with snow to the state's largest city this week in time for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonial start on Saturday."
"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a challenging day of climate change talks on Thursday with leaders of the country's 10 provinces, one of whom opposes a key part of Ottawa's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions."
"New climate research just plain stinks. As temperatures rises so, too, do cases of diarrhea in many countries.
"Government scientists say there’s a simple explanation for the surge in starving sea lion pups along the Southern California coast: Their mothers can’t find enough nutritious food."
"The Department of Energy's relationship with uranium enrichment company USEC Inc. will be under the microscope this week, when Secretary Ernest Moniz visits Capitol Hill to defend the agency's budget request."
"A 187,000 square-mile swath of land and sea in Alaska was restored by a federal appeals court as a “critical habitat” for polar bears, a boon for the endangered species and yet another blow to Alaska’s tumbling petroleum industry."
