Consumer

"After a year of record-breaking air pollution from wildfire smoke, real estate brokerage Redfin has begun publishing air quality data in its home listings. Now, buyers can see how many days a year on average a particular area will experience poor air quality, and whether that number is projected to increase over time."

"As states across the country roll back how much they pay rooftop-solar owners for the surplus electricity they send back to the grid, Puerto Rico is bucking the trend, protecting its generous solar credits until at least the end of the decade."

"Attorneys general from 13 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen a proposal that seeks to limit Americans’ exposure to lead service lines."

"New testing finds evidence of “forever chemicals” in two types of condoms and one lubricant. The good news? The vast majority appear PFAS-free."

"In April, a dozen years after a federal agency classified formaldehyde a human carcinogen, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is tentatively scheduled to unveil a proposal to consider banning the chemical in hair-straightening products."

"They vowed to fix water woes and save cities millions. But a Times investigation found the deals racked up debt and left many worse off than before."

"From hail the size of golf balls to deadly heat, concert-goers in 2023 were forced to deal with extreme weather events that put them in harm's way during the world's warmest year on record, with temperatures predicted to climb even higher in 2024."

"Suriname’s Saamaka Maroons still grow rice from seeds an ancestor escaping from a plantation carried in her hair. Now a gene bank seeks to widen use of the rare species to help fight the climate crisis".

"Ad campaigns from controversial quasi-government programs for pork, dairy, and beef are raising new questions around the checkoff program’s foray into social media."