"Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III issued a defense of the National Museum of American History to staffers on Tuesday, in response to a caustic White House report accusing the museum of pushing “extreme political activism.”
"A federal judge on Thursday ruled in favor of The Washington Post, throwing out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed in 2023 by President Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group." "The social media company failed to identify convincing evidence that The Post acted with actual malice, a federal judge in Tampa ruled."
"For the first time in history, Deep Tunnel, Chicago’s massive system of underground tunnels and reservoirs designed to hold floodwater, is almost completely full after a weekend of heavy rain."
"Washington DC residents breathed in “unhealthy” air for hours after a 40-minute Independence Day fireworks show over the National Mall on Saturday night, with the country’s capital briefly recording the worst air quality of any major city in the world."
"At Ashawaug Farm in southwest Rhode Island, Dawn and Cassius Spears preserve their Indigenous knowledge of agriculture through the cultivation and keeping of three Narragansett heritage crops: white corn, succotash beans and crookneck squash."
"Aaron Szabo, the head of EPA’s air office who has overseen a dramatic scaling back of climate regulations, is leaving the agency."
"On a warm summer morning, two fire officials navigate an SUV along a narrow road that switchbacks high into the hills above the town of Fairfax, California, where thickets of trees conceal hundreds of homes. When the road dead-ends, they head back down through the same hairpin turns, pointing out where a wildfire would roar into the path of fleeing vehicles."
"U.S. power consumption, which hit its second straight annual record high in 2025, will rise further in 2026 and 2027, driven by AI-hungry data centers and electrification, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday."
"Workers proud of their efforts to grow renewable energy say US president pursuing ‘personal vendetta’ at their expense"
"The nation is already nearing last year’s record case total, and experts say the virus is forcing doctors to relearn a disease many thought had been consigned to history."
