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Florida's famous freshwater springs are in trouble. "The culprits, environmental experts say, are a recent drought in north-central Florida and decades of pumping groundwater out of the aquifer to meet the demands of Florida’s population boom, its sprinklers and its agricultural industry. To what degree the overconsumption of groundwater is to blame for the changes is being batted back and forth between environmentalists and the state’s water keepers.

"MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Debby whipped Florida with bands of drenching rain Monday while its center was nearly stationary in the Gulf of Mexico. Its slow progress meant the most pressing threat from the storm was flooding, not wind.

"Christine Bennett remembers her childhood days in Mossville, La., walking to and from school through an alley of industrial plants. 'We had to cup our noses just to breathe,' said Bennett, who for 53 years lived in the southwestern Louisiana town, a longstanding African-American community."

"The Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Civil Rights has agreed to investigate a complaint filed by residents of a largely African-American community in Alabama where millions of tons of coal ash were dumped between 2009 and 2010."

Spraying for mosquitoes has begun in Florida, as in many other places. Some of the sprays can be harmful to the environment. Is the cure worse than the problem?

"NEW ORLEANS — Finally, there is a wall around this city. Nearly seven years after flood waters from Hurricane Katrina gushed over New Orleans, $14.5 billion worth of civil works designed to block such surges is now in place — a 133-mile chain of levees, flood walls, gates and pumps too vast to take in at once, except perhaps from space."

"MIAMI — Federal environmental regulators on Wednesday approved an $880 million state plan intended to dramatically reduce the flow of farm and suburban pollution into the Everglades."

"MOSS POINT, Mississippi -- Too many Moss Point residents are dying from cancer, leaders from a Memphis-based civil rights organization said Tuesday."

"The Rev. Thomas Long doesn't have neighbors on Montrose Avenue anymore. Everyone is gone."