National (U.S.)

"New-car shoppers appear to have already snapped up all the $1 billion that Congress appropriated for the 'cash for clunkers' program, leading the Transportation Department to tell auto dealers Thursday night to stop offering the rebates."

"The House approved the first major changes to food-safety laws in 70 years Thursday, giving sweeping new authority to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the way food is grown, harvested and processed."

"The biggest opportunity to improve the nation’s energy situation is a major investment program to make homes and businesses more efficient, according to a study released Wednesday."

"The Obama administration is in talks with the Senate to craft a plan to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, a top State Department official said yesterday."

White roofs, a measure recently urged by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, are catching on both as a way of fighting global warming and a way to cool houses cheaply.

"A measure approved by the House would require the EPA to develop a system that would allow the public to be made aware of contamination within hours of sampling."

"The Senate on Wednesday passed a $34.3 billion energy spending bill that backs up President Barack Obama's promise to close the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility in Nevada."

"Raw sewage and other pollution continued to foul American beaches in 2008. For the fourth year in a row, more than 20,000 beach closing days were reported in the USA, according to a report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, D.C."

"The White House says President Barack Obama plans to nominate an epidemiologist to head the government's workplace safety agency."