National (U.S.)

"The 2016 presidential race largely ignored climate change. The Vermont senator is banking on that no longer being possible."

"In one corner was Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a swaggering cowboy type who once rode to work on a horse named Tonto and has faced at least a dozen ethics investigations. In the other was Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who has been accused of having ethical issues of his own — and who is itching to take on Mr. Zinke next year from his perch as the chairman of a committee on Capitol Hill."

"The Trump administration has listed fewer species as threatened or endangered in its first 22 months than any other president since Ronald Reagan over the same period, according to data reviewed by Bloomberg Environment."

"The tentative deal on the 2018 farm bill is likely to boost the Conservation Reserve Program at the price of other conservation initiatives, reflecting fiscal limitations and policy fights that shaped talks over that part of the five-year legislation."

"Near Antarctica, whales are singing in deeper tones to cut through the noise of melting icebergs. In California, a big college football rivalry game was postponed until Saturday because of smoky air from wildfires. And Alaskan shellfish were struck by an outbreak of warm water bacteria."

"While the U.S. put off funding new icebreakers year after year, Russia built a fleet of more than 40 now at the ready as a melting Arctic opens new frontiers."

Not long after the president weighed in on the National Climate Assessment, a troop of highly paid climate deniers took to the big TV talk shows to discredit the scientists who put together the report. Lisa Hymas of Media Matters tracked the egregious contradictions, distortions, and outright lies that were permitted on CNN, Fox News, and NBC. She discusses why the television networks have such a hard time booking actual scientists to discuss global warming, and the pernicious myths and omissions that continue to dog our climate discourse.

"The Department of the Interior is seeking to streamline its schedule for document archiving (and destruction). Some scientists worry about what will be lost."

"Nearly two-thirds of Republicans and a majority of all Americans now acknowledge climate change, according to a Monmouth University Poll released Thursday."

"A new invasive tick species capable of transmitting several severe diseases is spreading in the United States, posing an emerging threat to human and animal health, according to a pair of reports issued Thursday."