Consumers learned in late July of a "voluntary" recall of some processed food products due to possible metal fragments in sugar used to make them. The source of the contaminated sugar remains unknown, because federal law protects "trade secrets" — putting protection of companies above protection of the public. Image: © Clipart.com.
Journalists are sometimes competitive — and even secretive about the exclusive "scoops" they may be working on, lest their competitors beat them to publication. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is conducting a survey to get journalists' opinions on the Obama admin's proposed release-to-one-release-to-all policy.
The news media often defend the freedom-of-information principles that allow them to hold government accountable for their audiences. But will they ask presidential candidates during the 2016 presidential debates how they stand on government transparency? Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton (pictured) doesn't do press conferences.
Transparency is at the core of an escalating confrontation between House Republicans and some state Attorney Generals over Exxon's support for climate change denial. The AGs in July defied a subpoena from the House Science Committee, chaired by Lamar Smith (R-TX, pictured).
"There's a voracious little bug destroying forests across the eastern U.S. Scientists say emerald ash borers, exotic beetles imported accidentally from Asia, have killed as many as 50 million trees. They're now threatening groves in New York's Adirondack Mountains that are used to make an iconic kind of baseball bat."
"Being underwater will soon mean exactly what it says. Especially in Florida."
"TVA is closing and capping 10 coal ash ponds at power plants in Tennessee and Alabama, against the urging of environmentalists who want the ash dug up and removed."
"As government works to save big cats from extinction, indigenous forest dwellers pursue peaceful coexistence for man and beast".
"Although most people associate [the National Park System] with preserving natural wonders like Grand Canyon or Yellowstone national parks, roughly two-thirds are, like Stonewall, designated specifically to protect historical or cultural resources."
"In Texas, there were more than 2,700 spills at oil and gas sites last year. But the state tracked only about half of those."
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