"Drinking water costs spiked faster than inflation, grocery prices and median household income, researchers at nonprofit Food & Water Watch outlined in a first-of-its-kind report released Tuesday"

UC Agriculture & Natural Resources@ucanr.edu · 5d ago

Kristin Dobbin, with UC Cooperative Extension at UC Berkeley, who was not involved in the report, called the analysis “extremely important.” The finances behind drinking water are “not something we’ve had a big picture view on across the country before." insideclimatenews.org/news/0610202...

we spent months reporting in Altadena for @insideclimatenews.org and found outside parties have advanced development faster than owners of homes that burned in Eaton Fire Upwards of 300 new structures, from what families call “predatory” developers, have been approved; wt @ninardietz.bsky.social

New California Law Aims to Stop 'Predatory' Developers from Moving In on Wildfire-Ravaged Community - Inside Climate News

As many as 200 to 300 new structures have been permitted in Altadena, but homeowners who survived the Eaton Fire are struggling to rebuild.

insideclimatenews.org

We spent months interviewing locals, pouring over sale records, permit applications, and changing regulations, for @insideclimatenews.org on the way developers and financial constraints are impacting the Altadena rebuild. Another great collaboration with the unflappable @stevenrodas.bsky.social!

New California Law Aims to Stop 'Predatory' Developers from Moving In on Wildfire-Ravaged Community - Inside Climate News

As many as 200 to 300 new structures have been permitted in Altadena, but homeowners who survived the Eaton Fire are struggling to rebuild.

insideclimatenews.org

we spent months reporting in Altadena for @insideclimatenews.org and found outside parties have advanced development faster than owners of homes that burned in Eaton Fire Upwards of 300 new structures, from what families call “predatory” developers, have been approved; wt @ninardietz.bsky.social

New California Law Aims to Stop 'Predatory' Developers from Moving In on Wildfire-Ravaged Community - Inside Climate News

As many as 200 to 300 new structures have been permitted in Altadena, but homeowners who survived the Eaton Fire are struggling to rebuild.

insideclimatenews.org

As a record breaking El Niño continues to grow in the Pacific, @weatherwest.bsky.social explains what may be in store for the next year as we brace for an El Niño “so far above anything we've previously seen, it doesn't even fit on the same axis.” (@ninardietz.bsky.social for @insideclimatenews.org)

Incoming El Niño Is so Extreme It Doesn’t Have a Scientific Name - Inside Climate News

As a record breaking El Niño continues to grow in the Eastern Pacific, climate scientist Daniel Swain explains what may be in store for the next year as we brace for an El Niño “so far above anything ...

insideclimatenews.org

breaking for @insideclimatenews.org, 700+ dairies in California are within 1 mile of an area at high risk for nitrate groundwater contamination. The valley with the most dairy farms in the state has adopted an order that gets stricter on regulating harmful manure waste.

California Adopts New Limits to Rein in Dairy Manure Pollution and Its ‘Outsized’ Groundwater Impacts - Inside Climate News

Central Valley dairies are long overdue to face stricter regulations over their nitrate pollution, families and clean water advocates argue. Industry stakeholders and business owners worry about added...

insideclimatenews.org

breaking for @insideclimatenews.org, 700+ dairies in California are within 1 mile of an area at high risk for nitrate groundwater contamination. The valley with the most dairy farms in the state has adopted an order that gets stricter on regulating harmful manure waste.

California Adopts New Limits to Rein in Dairy Manure Pollution and Its ‘Outsized’ Groundwater Impacts - Inside Climate News

Central Valley dairies are long overdue to face stricter regulations over their nitrate pollution, families and clean water advocates argue. Industry stakeholders and business owners worry about added...

insideclimatenews.org

@columjournreview.bsky.social wrote about the Keyport investigation I launched (wt @karinpricemueller.bsky.social) Environmental testing, commissioned by NJ.com, revealed that the neighborhood around the landfill, which was first shut down in 1979, “is a ‘hot spot’ of toxins.”

Columbia Journalism Review@columjournreview.bsky.social · 4w ago

Absent public records, NJ.com poured resources into research on a cancer cluster—and turned up devastating findings. Plus: Lost BET archives, and an extraordinary escape from Afghanistan, years after 9/11. Read Laurels and Darts by @banikarim.bsky.social . www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

@columjournreview.bsky.social wrote about the Keyport investigation I launched (wt @karinpricemueller.bsky.social) Environmental testing, commissioned by NJ.com, revealed that the neighborhood around the landfill, which was first shut down in 1979, “is a ‘hot spot’ of toxins.”

Columbia Journalism Review@columjournreview.bsky.social · 4w ago

Absent public records, NJ.com poured resources into research on a cancer cluster—and turned up devastating findings. Plus: Lost BET archives, and an extraordinary escape from Afghanistan, years after 9/11. Read Laurels and Darts by @banikarim.bsky.social . www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

"The key story here is batteries," said Ed Smeloff, explaining how California drastically cut its gas use. These charts tell the story, comparing the 2026 peak demand day on the California grid to the all-time peak in 2022. insideclimatenews.org/news/1009202... #energysky

Hmm, you mean communities of color don't have to be surrounded by open cesspools of hog waste? NC blew its chance. Here's a story about the failures of the Smithfield Agreement, after 25 yrs insideclimatenews.org/news/3008202...

How North Carolina Wasted the Chance To Fix Hog Pollution - Inside Climate News

A pact between the state and Smithfield Foods “failed miserably.” Those who worked on the agreement explain why.

insideclimatenews.org

SCOOP: Trump officials are pressuring the National Park Service to find a way to give a small piece of Yosemite to a private developer. The land would be used for a road, to give the developer rare private access to the heart of the park.

Trump’s Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer

The National Park Service is under pressure to make an unprecedented deal that cedes a quarter-mile strip of the park.

notus.org

Emissions from 122 fossil fuel and cement companies have taken trillions of gallons of water out of the Western U.S. water cycle, according to a study out today in @natcomms.nature.com. I covered the first-of-its-kind paper for @insideclimatenews.org. insideclimatenews.org/news/2508202...

The Biggest Carbon Polluters Are to Blame for Half of U.S. Western Water Lost to Climate Change, ‘Groundbreaking’ Paper Says - Inside Climate News

Some of the most impactful changes have come in the stressed Colorado River basin.

insideclimatenews.org

new for @insideclimatenews.org, Arizona, California and Colorado are still reviewing Nevada’s new lawsuit against the Trump administration’s 10-year Colorado River plan. Nevada commented on the suit. As did Wyoming on the federal plan. h/t @jakebolster.bsky.social and @wyattmyskow.bsky.social

Fearing ‘Catastrophic Impacts’ From Water Cuts, Nevada Sues Feds Over Colorado River Plan - Inside Climate News

Nevada is the first state to sue over the Trump administration’s ten-year strategy for how to stabilize use of the Colorado River.

insideclimatenews.org

Nevada is first on the draw over Colorado River litigation. It says the federal government’s cuts are “draconian.” Arizona says the lawsuit only adds more “uncertainty.“ And Wyoming says it will oppose any attempt to “unnecessarily drain” its water. Latest from @stevenrodas.bsky.social

Steven Rodas@stevenrodas.bsky.social · 2mo ago

new for @insideclimatenews.org, Arizona, California and Colorado are still reviewing Nevada’s new lawsuit against the Trump administration’s 10-year Colorado River plan. Nevada commented on the suit. As did Wyoming on the federal plan. h/t @jakebolster.bsky.social and @wyattmyskow.bsky.social

new for @insideclimatenews.org, Arizona, California and Colorado are still reviewing Nevada’s new lawsuit against the Trump administration’s 10-year Colorado River plan. Nevada commented on the suit. As did Wyoming on the federal plan. h/t @jakebolster.bsky.social and @wyattmyskow.bsky.social

Fearing ‘Catastrophic Impacts’ From Water Cuts, Nevada Sues Feds Over Colorado River Plan - Inside Climate News

Nevada is the first state to sue over the Trump administration’s ten-year strategy for how to stabilize use of the Colorado River.

insideclimatenews.org

Because of hotter and larger fires:“Recent studies estimate that as much as 40 percent of Western conifer forests will turn into shrubland by 2100 as a result.” 2100 feels awfully close www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/c...

Wildfires Are Turning Forests in the American West Into Shrubland (Gift Article)

Towering woodlands in the West are being permanently replaced by tracts of spiky shrubs. Conditions “just aren’t normal anymore,” one researcher said.

nytimes.com

reporting for @insideclimatenews.org, as a wildfire approached the site of one of the worst nuclear meltdowns in U.S. history, California officials scrambled to respond and establish proper real-time radiation and air monitoring, internal emails show (wt Nina Dietz)

California Officials Scrambled as Spring Wildfire Neared Former Nuclear Reactor Site, Emails Show - Inside Climate News

As the Sandy Fire approached the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in May, state and local officials had to move quickly to assess how safe the air was amid radiation concerns as the fire burned a quarter...

insideclimatenews.org

Do yourself a favor and read this deeply reported story from my colleague @georginagustin.bsky.social, who goes to Nebraska to show how a giant cattle feeding operation is likely to affect people and the environment: insideclimatenews.org/news/0908202...

A Very American Invention, Pushed to an Extreme - Inside Climate News

In Nebraska, Blackshirt Feeders LP is building the country’s largest feedlot for 200,000 beef cattle on a square-mile slab of concrete.

insideclimatenews.org

One of my final projects at @starledger.bsky.social published today. Wildfires are erupting more frequently in #NewJersey, encroaching ever closer to crowded neighborhoods with limited escape routes. The state faces a myriad deficiencies in its preparation, I found. www.nj.com/news/2026/07...

A catastrophic California-level wildfire will scorch N.J. someday. We’re not ready for it.

Wildfires are erupting more often — and with more intensity. ‘We’ve had big fires, but not the big one.’

nj.com

The pilot of our new Inside Climate podcast is out! Fav moments: The laugh-out-loud thing Stephen Colbert said to @insideclimatenews.org's David Sassoon after a Pulitzer win, & seeing what great hosts @kileyprice.bsky.social & @jakebolster.bsky.social are. insideclimatenews.org/news/0507202...

Climate Reporting Is Changing - Inside Climate News

Welcome to Inside Climate, a new podcast from the staff of Inside Climate News.

insideclimatenews.org

new for @insideclimatenews.org, I spent several days in Planada, #California, where people are known to shut themselves indoors during the summer and use bottled water or Brita filters out of their concern over dairy operations’ contamination of air and water insideclimatenews.org/news/0507202...

Dairy Farms’ Expansion Plan Worries California Families Who Once Had a ‘Little Piece of Heaven’ - Inside Climate News

The battle in the Central Valley is just one of many happening against dairy farms and new manure digester projects in the state. Farmers say they are trying to be better neighbors.

insideclimatenews.org

new for @insideclimatenews.org, I spent several days in Planada, #California, where people are known to shut themselves indoors during the summer and use bottled water or Brita filters out of their concern over dairy operations’ contamination of air and water insideclimatenews.org/news/0507202...

Dairy Farms’ Expansion Plan Worries California Families Who Once Had a ‘Little Piece of Heaven’ - Inside Climate News

The battle in the Central Valley is just one of many happening against dairy farms and new manure digester projects in the state. Farmers say they are trying to be better neighbors.

insideclimatenews.org

The latest chapter in the Keyport investigation I launched, from @karinpricemueller.bsky.social. People who live in neighborhoods near an old dump are 15% more likely to have cancer than other residents of their county, according to a preliminary disease incidence study nj.com commissioned.

NJ.com@nj.com · 4mo ago

A new study commissioned by NJ.com bolsters what residents have already been fearing.

Already 2 months since I left Jersey! It has been a very rewarding start at @insideclimatenews.org and I just wanted to share a few stories as I get settled into California. I spent a day on a mountain ridge near Ojai where families fear an oil spill was never fully cleaned up 1/

Six Months After Oil Spilled Into California Tributary, Families Worry the Cleanup Was Never Finished - Inside Climate News

People in Ventura County are also concerned that an early estimate—which noted that about 420 gallons of crude oil was accidentally released into a waterway last fall—is inaccurate. Local and federal ...

insideclimatenews.org

**Some personal news** After 5 years at @nj.com/ @starledger.bsky.social — including 4 years covering the environment — I will be leaving the newsroom. I’ve loved my time here, which began as part of a fellowship wt Syracuse University. I’m beyond proud of the work I’ve produced in my home state!

new investigation for @starledger.bsky.social, I spoke with several families at the Jersey bayshore over fears contamination is linked to cancer diagnoses. So far: 41 cancer cases. Most are near a town’s old, improperly-capped and heavily-cited dump. h/t @karinpricemueller.bsky.social

New cancer cluster feared in N.J. neighborhood. Locals worry they've been poisoned for decades.

Residents are demanding an investigation of an old landfill near their homes.

nj.com

I have a feature story in the March 2026 issue of Texas Highways magazine on the night-blooming cereus, or “queen of the night,” a highly threatened cactus that blooms only one night a year. Click the link and check out the timelapse I did, too.too. texashighways.com/outdoors/the...

The Mysterious Cereus Blooms in West Texas

These desert cereus plants flower only one day out of the year—at night, in the middle of nowhere—if at all

texashighways.com

new from Gov. @mikiesherrill.bsky.social’s budget for @starledger.bsky.social, the $60.7 billion plan includes over $1B in subsidies for NJ Transit. About $140M was re-directed from fund meant to build clean energy. @alexfromnj.bsky.social: #NewJersey is “hampering” its ability to lower costs 1/3

This is the most bizarre interaction I've ever had with an HHS spokesperson. From my story on CDC's pivot to "shared-decision making" for vaccines, with insight from @jennifernuzzo.bsky.social and @jakescottmd.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/why-rf...