Public

The Food and Drug Administration is intensifying scrutiny of -- and enforcement against -- cheeses made out of raw milk.

"The amount of fish caught in the Arctic has been dramatically under-reported for decades, making the northern ocean environment appear far more pristine than it really is, according to a new study."

"U.S. agricultural regulators on Friday said despite a court ban, they would allow commercial planting of genetically modified sugar beets under closely controlled conditions while they complete a full environmental impact statement."

"Record high global food prices showed no sign of relenting following a rash of catastrophic weather, highlighted by a major U.S. snowstorm and a cyclone in Australia, which could put yet more pressure on prices and spark further unrest around the world."

"Environment Canada enforcement officers launched hundreds of investigations, typed up thousands of warnings and carried out tens of thousands of inspections over a recent seven-year stretch. But over that period they nailed down only 32 convictions – putting the annual average at less than five."

"The Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces rules that affect the U.S. economy from factories to farms, is the No. 1 target of complaints from business groups collected by House Republican leaders." The rules also protect public health.

Since early fall 2010 there have been thousands of minor earthquakes around Guy, Arkansas. Some residents think the earthquake swarm is connected to the onset of gas drilling in the local shale formation.

"The billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch no longer sit outside Washington's political establishment, isolated by their uncompromising conservatism. Instead, they are now at the center of Republican power, a change most evident in the new makeup of the House Energy and Commerce Committee."

"Federal regulators have declined to release emergency response details and worst-case spill estimates for a pipeline system that carries Canadian oil-sands crude to the United States, drawing charges of excessive secrecy from the advocacy group that sought the data."