Wildfires in the Texas Panhandle are a good reminder that wildfire season now stretches across much of the year, so environmental journalists would do well to look for ways to localize their reporting on wildfire preparedness. The latest TipSheet offers 10 story ideas and half a dozen reporting resources to tell the story of your community’s wildfire risk.
Meet SEJ member David Hammer! David is an investigative reporter at WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate in New Orleans. He has been a professional journalist for more than 25 years in print, wire service and broadcast. His mission is to help improve his community by holding area leaders accountable and exposing fraud and abuse.
"It's a big, inspiring vision of wildlife connectivity. But could it work?"
"Sarah Stogner plucked a piece of cement off a rusted steel pipe jutting from the ground on a West Texas ranch. The chunk, part of the plug for a long-dormant oil well, crumbled in her hand."
"At least 3,000 more chemicals are in plastics — from food packaging to toys to medical devices — than previously estimated by environmental agencies, a report published on Thursday found, raising questions over pollution and consumer safety."
"How growing battles over real estate development and flood risk are playing out in one community on the U.S. East Coast".
"High-profile lawsuits have accused pesticides of causing cancer and Parkinson’s. But three states are now considering bills that would prevent these lawsuits."
"The three 6-year-old girls stood on the sidelines as their coach swabbed their hands. Then they ran onto a lush green turf field and played soccer for 90 minutes straight — no stepping off the pitch. This wasn’t just a practice. It was part of a small experiment conducted in the suburban foothills of San Diego last summer."
"A booming petrochemical buildout on the Gulf Coast has drawn billions of dollars in public subsidies from state tax abatement programs despite regular violations of pollution permits, according to a new report released Thursday."
"Public data from a network of state air monitors around the Houston Ship Channel is hard to interpret and is often inadequate, leaving Latino-majority neighborhoods like Cloverleaf unaware of whether the air they breathe is safe."
