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"Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, which runs the Grok chatbot, is facing a legal challenge led by the NAACP over air pollution from its supercomputer facility in Memphis."

"It was a milestone moment in Florida’s 25-year war on invasive Burmese pythons: an eye-popping announcement that biologists had removed 20 tons of the slithering invaders from waters in and around the Everglades in little more than a decade, as well as shattering their previous record for a single-season haul."

"A Tulane University researcher resigned Wednesday, citing censorship from university leaders who had warned that her advocacy and research exposing the Louisiana petrochemical industry’s health impacts and racial disparities in hiring had triggered blowback from donors and elected officials."

"An Alabama town is at risk of losing water access after it disputed rate rises and recent charges by a neighboring water board. The mayor says customers are being “bamboozled.”"

"A former worker who leaked information about plans by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to build golf courses and hotels in Florida state parks has filed a whistleblower lawsuit."

"Residents in majority-Black north Birmingham, Alabama, have long been subjected to industrial pollution. The new administration has cut funding for a program aimed at measuring the impact." 

"In Cedartown, Ga., a solar recycling company’s plan to hire 1,200 people could be upended by Republicans in Congress." 

"Before the remnants of Hurricane Helene swamped this town, the Super 8 Motel, wedged between a highway and the Swannanoa River, provided affordable short and long-term housing for dozens of people who couldn't find affordable housing elsewhere."