National (U.S.)

"Food companies are mounting an aggressive year-end push to head off mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods."

"With their work in the crosshairs of a political ideology, climate scientists find themselves under attack via the Internet."

"Byron Vaigneur watched as a brownish sludge containing plutonium broke through the wall of his office on Oct. 3, 1975, and began puddling four feet from his desk at the Savannah River nuclear weapons plant in South Carolina."

"Both chambers of Congress are expected to pass a continuing resolution [Friday] to ward off a government shutdown as negotiations over an omnibus spending measure and tax extenders package continue."

"U.S. sales of medically important antibiotics approved for use in livestock rose by 23 percent between 2009 and 2014, federal regulators said on Thursday, fueling concerns about risks to humans from antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

"Under a lawsuit settlement, all Washington children covered by Medicaid will be eligible for lead-poisoning testing if their parents request it — or if they live in old buildings, are recent immigrants or face other exposure risks."

"Labels on Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice and four of its brand siblings will begin carrying early next year an increasingly familiar certification — the butterfly seal conferred by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit group that verifies products as being free of genetically engineered ingredients."

"Dow Chemical and DuPont agreed to combine their operations into one company that will subsequently split into three, marking one of the largest mergers in the history of business."

"About 5,000 oil and gas wells sit on national wildlife refuges — some of the prettiest land that American taxpayers own — and more than a thousand of them are spewing oil and brine because regulations written a half-century ago don’t force owners to plug leaks that are harmful to animals."

"Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co., two historic giants of American industry, are considering a merger that would ultimately dismantle both along lines proposed by activist investors over the past two years."