"EPA has moved forward on a new policy that would restrict telework even as agency leadership has encouraged staff to work from home during the coronavirus outbreak."
"Ten miles north of Pensacola, Florida, on the west bank of the Escambia River, an aging chemical plant, its tanks, smokestacks and stainless steel pipes sprawling across hundreds of acres, is a climate killer hiding in plain sight."
"Scientists have found a new point of major vulnerability in the Antarctic ice sheet, in a region that already appears to be changing as the climate warms and has the potential to raise sea levels by nearly five feet over the long term."
"A series of missteps at the nation’s top public health agency caused a critical shortage of reliable laboratory tests for the coronavirus, hobbling the federal response as the pandemic spread across the country like wildfire, an Associated Press review found."
"Against a backdrop of a worsening public health crisis, cranky senators continued negotiations over a third phase of COVID-19 stimulus, as House Democrats injected climate change into the pandemic debate with their own relief package."
In the second of a two-part return from hiatus recast as an opinion column from SEJournal Online’s Joseph A. Davis, WatchDog looks at freedom of information developments at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior. Plus, check out part one for more on the column relaunch and for background on open-information activities by the Society of Environmental Journalists, as well as a look at the lack of government openness around coronavirus.
“Scared to cautiously optimistic” is how journalism educators are responding to the rapid ramp-up to remote learning in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, per the latest EJ Academy. Choosing between teaching live or “on tape,” whether to stick with existing curricula halfway through the term or tear it up to cover the contagion, and staying connected to students.
The momentous COVID-19 outbreak has many, many reporting angles — environment and energy stories certainly among them. Our latest Issue Backgrounder has an extensive rundown on possible ways in for environment and energy reporters, including everything from respiratory disease and air pollution to science denial and climate change, and more. Plus, pending passage of a massive congressional aid package. And an earlier TipSheet on how journalists can prepare for public health emergencies.
"CHALLIS, Idaho — Dawn broke over the peaks of the Lost River Range, revealing a chase in the wide open valley below. Seven wild horses crashed through the sage, dark manes billowing in the golden light, pursued by a government contractor in a glossy helicopter that dodged left and right like a mechanical Border collie, driving the band forward into a hidden corral."
"Former Interior Department employees and advocacy groups say the Trump administration isn’t doing enough to protect federal employees as it allows national parks to remain open—and with free entrance to the public—during the coronavirus pandemic."
