"Staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference 'weather extremes' instead."
"The average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to a sweeping federal climate change report awaiting approval by the Trump administration."
The Society of Environmental Journalists joined 20+ press freedom groups to launch the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a new website dedicated to documenting press freedom abuses across the United States. The site will serve as a repository for data at a time when journalists in the U.S. are facing hostility, legal charges, assault and other forms of harassment.
"For decades, some of the dirtiest, darkest secrets of the chemical industry have been kept in Carol Van Strum’s barn."
Mosquitoes are not just annoyances. They also bring disease. But is the current patchwork of mosquito-control efforts effective? Or are the remedies, particularly pesticide spraying, worse than the problem? This week's Tipsheet has resources to help you report on balancing the risks of disease against those of spraying.
"Scott Pruitt has repeated a particular line again and again since becoming the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. 'The future ain’t what it used to be at the EPA,' he’s fond of saying."
"A close-up of ice melting in brilliant sunshine is the first thing you see in An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. It's gorgeous — snow crystals glistening, moisture dripping from them into a pool of water so pure and clear it makes you thirsty."
"A new national database released Wednesday by the Environmental Working Group shines a light on water quality across the U.S."
A federal court has ruled unconstitutional a Utah law that made undercover filming of livestock operations illegal. What's it mean for similar laws elsewhere? The latest WatchDog has the story, plus news on protecting whistleblowers, a digital journalist's legal guide, shielding of climate info and leaked government reports.
"A federal appeals court on Monday ruled in favor of a wildlife activist who said his free speech rights were violated when a sheriff's deputy barred him from watching livestock agents herd wild bison into Yellowstone National Park."
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