SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)

"As locally acquired cases of Zika continue to gradually grow in Miami, officials are still hamstrung in deploying a promising technology to fight the mosquitoes that transmit the virus, Aedes aegypti. There are 22 locally acquired cases in Florida, 19 primarily in the Wynwood area of Miami, two in Broward County, and a new case in Palm Beach County."

"The federal government declared a major disaster in Louisiana Sunday after torrential rain inundated the state killing at least four people, flooding thousands of homes and prompting thousands of water rescues."

"Duke Energy is asking for the first $1.5 million installment on what to date is a $500 million coal-ash cleanup bill as part of Duke Energy Progress’ proposed 14.5 percent rate increase in South Carolina."

"North Carolina’s state epidemiologist resigned Wednesday to protest her employer’s depiction that “deliberately misleads” how screening standards were created to test private wells near Duke Energy’s power plants."

"North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's administration on Tuesday again lashed out against a state toxicologist who said in sworn testimony he worried that state officials cleared well water near Duke Energy coal ash pits as safe to drink despite a chemical known to cause cancer."

"US Food and Drug Administration finds ‘no significant’ environmental impact of experimental release of insects after 15 Zika infections were reported in Miami".

"The soup of bright-green algae that is currently blanketing Florida's Treasure Coast is a reminder for many residents of the re-plumbing of the lower half of the state over the past century, when hundreds of canals, reservoirs and other public works were built to control the flow of water as cities blossomed there."

"NAVASSA, N.C. – Officials involved in cleaning up the contamination left here decades ago by a wood-treatment operation say the process will take years, but now that an initial investigation of the Superfund site is complete, a new phase in the effort is about to begin."

"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."

"Maryland’s ravaged Chesapeake Bay oyster population shows signs of revival inside the state-created sanctuaries that have been off-limits to harvesting for the past decade, according to a report from the Department of Natural Resources."