National (U.S.)

"More than 50 years after nearly being wiped out in eastern U.S. forests by a deadly imported fungus, the American chestnut may be on the comeback trail."

"Waterways across the upper Midwest are increasingly plagued with ugly, smelly and potentially deadly blue-green algae, bloomed by drought and fertilizer runoffs from farm fields, that's killed dozens of dogs and sickened many people."

"The US Environmental Protection Agency is recommending that owners of older buildings – including schools – test brittle, aging masonry and window caulking for high levels of likely cancer-causing chemicals."

"New research raises questions about the safety of eating wild game, and triggers a renewed debate about banning lead ammunition."

"Exelon, one of the country’s largest utilities, said Monday that it would quit the United States Chamber of Commerce because of that group’s stance on climate change."

"A Madison County [Ill.] class-action lawsuit filed in 2004 over the use of the popular herbicide atrazine is gaining steam, and one lawyer says it could reshape farming practices nationwide."

Saturday Marked Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Day. Will Some of the More Than 30,000 Animals Held by the Federal Government Go To Slaughter?

"Environmentalists and others are concerned over whether the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce can be an unbiased party on a big climate change debate because of his affiliation with Union Pacific."

Many religious groups are going to be pushing congress for legislation to slow climate change this fall -- for reasons ranging from the moral to the practical.

"Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) yesterday backed off efforts to block EPA from weighing contested ethanol emissions after Administrator Lisa Jackson pledged that biofuels rules will reflect uncertainty around international indirect land-use change emissions."