"An executive order signed by President Donald Trump late Thursday aims to give political appointees power over the billions of dollars in grants awarded by federal agencies. Scientists say it threatens to undermine the process that has helped make the U.S. the world leader in research and development."
"More than 40 years after the Passaic River was declared a Superfund site, cancer-causing toxins still line its bottom. While residents drink from its waters, cleanup stalls under corporate resistance and potential federal budget cuts."
"Though 60 miles (100km) apart, the Brazilian municipalities of Presidente Kennedy in Espírito Santo state and Campos dos Goytacazes in Rio de Janeiro state have one big thing in common: oil. Since late in the last century, their public funds have been bolstered by billions in royalties from oil finds in the offshore Campos Basin. Yet despite having significantly more resources than other towns and cities in Brazil, both still face problems such as poor sanitation and healthcare, inadequate social housing and state education as well as corruption scandals.
"In the week after floods tore through Texas Hill Country, most survivors were unable to get through to a federal aid hotline because the Department of Homeland Security let funding lapse, according to publicly available contract records and internal FEMA call center logs obtained by NPR."
"The Trump administration has filed far fewer civil cases accusing companies of violating environmental rules than its predecessors, an analysis of federal data shows."
"A judge has stopped government contractors in five states from sending hazardous waste to a Michigan landfill after a year of legal challenges by Detroit-area communities concerned about possible environmental impacts."
"South32’s Hermosa mine would be the first approved under a new, fast-tracked process. The company recently notified local homeowners that it could impact their wells."
"A federal judge ordered the Chemours Chemical Company on Thursday to immediately stop discharging unlawful levels of cancer-causing chemicals into the Ohio River from the company’s Washington Works plant."
"Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday a crackdown on mRNA vaccine technology and research to develop it, following months of pressure from anti-vaccine activists."
"The nation’s premier group of scientific advisers announced Thursday that it will conduct an independent, fast-track review of the latest climate science. It will do so with an eye to weighing in on the Trump administration’s planned repeal of the government’s 2009 determination that greenhouse gas emissions harm human health and the environment."
