The Farm Bill — omnibus legislation that affects the food supply of millions of Americans, as well as their air, water and soil — is bogged down in hyperpartisan division. But as Backgrounder outlines, environmental journalists would be wise to track how Congress ultimately uses it to address matters like land and water conservation, rural water supply and pollution, pesticides and more.
"An official in Pennsylvania has confirmed the measles-related death of a 40-year-old woman. Jefferson County Coroner Greg Furlong told NPR that the woman, who died on Saturday, was unvaccinated."
"Laws in Louisiana and other states now curb the use of community-collected data. In Louisiana, public air monitors are often located miles from major industrial polluters and fail to test for some of the most dangerous chemicals."
"A review of court records in Winston County shows criminal prosecutions over trash debt have spanned decades. The Southern Poverty Law Center says the practice is illegal and immoral."
"It could launch a bioweapon attack, or a global drone war. It could set off a nuclear bomb. Or it could destroy human society more gradually, by hoarding all the world’s economic resources and depriving us of food, housing or medicine."
"The intensifying super El Niño, combined with global warming, is favored to make 2026 the hottest year on record, with 2027 expected to be even hotter."
"The towering maple trees and native hazelnut bushes on Salvatierra Farms break up the surrounding corn and soybean fields that sprawl across southern Minnesota."
"An ambitious bill to keep toxic “forever chemicals” off California produce lost its teeth after the chemical and agricultural industry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying against it."
"Rabies cases in the United States from July to August increased 17 percent compared to the same period last year, following several “high-profile rabies outbreaks” and exposure events, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday."
"The company will pay the sum over the next 15 years for contamination caused by its plant on the border of Cumberland and Bladen counties."
