People & Population

"EPA appealed Wednesday a federal judge’s order that prevents the agency from blocking $20 billion in climate grants, escalating a legal squabble over the frozen Biden-era money."

"The National Weather Service is preparing for the probability that fewer forecast updates will be fine-tuned by specialists, among other cutbacks, because of “severe shortages” of meteorologists and other employees, according to an internal agency document."

"The removal of websites designed to help disadvantaged communities will hurt those communities the most, lawyers argue."

"The Trump administration has granted nearly 70 coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene."

"The Trump administration announced Friday that it was terminating a historic settlement aimed at improving wastewater treatment services for Alabamians in majority-Black communities harmed by raw sewage, calling the agreement an “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

"The U.S. counties with the most egregious water quality violations are concentrated in four states: West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Oklahoma, a new study has found."

"The change may speed up flood recovery, but it will leave communities — and taxpayers — facing the same problems over and over again."

"On a recent Wednesday night, three flares were raging from the industrial smoke stacks at Norco Shell, so bright they could be seen miles away from the interstate at the Bonnet Carré Spillway. They were my guide to Woodland Plantation in La Place, Louisiana, whose new owners were commemorating the site of the largest enslaved revolt in U.S. history."

"Funding delays for lead pipe replacement and the elimination of a CDC lead program could put children at risk."