Health and Public Safety
July 5, 2013 -
The NRDC's annual report on bacterial contamination at U.S. beaches finds serious problems at popular swimming spots across the South. The group is calling on the federal government to take action to better protect beachgoers from serious health risks.
July 3, 2013 -
Following recent efforts by Texas and Ohio, North Carolina becomes the latest state to embrace Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers or TRAP laws, which aim to make it difficult for women to obtain legal abortions -- and for clinics to provide them.
July 2, 2013 -
The N.C. commission charged with regulating fracking is protesting state lawmakers' effort to preempt its authority to require strong public disclosure rules for chemicals used in fracking for natural gas. Will North Carolina join other Southern states in adopting weak disclosure requirements?
June 26, 2013 -
Bypassing a Congress that's failed to take action to address a worsening problem, President Obama unveiled a plan to curb climate-disrupting pollution from coal-fired power plants -- with big implications for the coal-dependent South.
June 6, 2013 -
The U.S. senator from New Jersey, who died this week at age 89, worked to protect communities from toxic industrial pollution. Lawmakers who represent environmentally challenged districts along the Gulf Coast could learn a lot from his legacy -- and so could their constituents.
June 3, 2013 -
In a decades-long campaign to deny cities the power to regulate guns, even the smallest local rules are now coming under attack.
May 30, 2013 -
A chemical spill from a natural gas facility has been sickening residents of an African-American community near Mobile, Ala. for five years now -- and it could take years to clean up the mess.