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 · last mo.

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...

scoop for @starledger.bsky.social, 2 major groups that rep businesses and builders in #NewJersey — NJ Business & Industry Association and NJ Builders Association — are legally challenging new rule over how people can build at Jersey Shore amid sea level rise projections www.nj.com/ocean/2026/0...

Now you see it, now you don't. Near the end of this extremely warm winter, California's snow is rapidly melting. My colleague @castleman.bsky.social shares some striking satellite images. He spoke with @weatherwest.bsky.social about the remarkably rapid loss of snow: www.latimes.com/california/s...

Satellite photos show California's sudden snowpack meltdown: Now you see it, now you don't

Satellite images show the Sierra Nevada before and after a major heat wave melted significant portions of California's snow.

latimes.com

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I wrote 2,000 words about #NewJersey’s new rule which will require homes built in flood-risk areas to be 4 feet above the standard set by FEMA. #JerseyShore builders and realtors are worried, environmentalists are happy but cautious. www.nj.com/ocean/2026/0...

“I might have written 18 books over the past four decades, but it’s really all just one book on fairness, justice and equity,” @drrobertbullard.bsky.social, the father of environmental justice. His nature.com interview ends the Changemakers Q&A series, started by @kendallsciwrite.bsky.social.

I will continue the fight for environmental justice in Black communities

Nicknamed the father of environmental justice, Robert Bullard argues that researchers in the field have more reason than ever to back up their work with action.

nature.com

new enterprise for @starledger.bsky.social, I embedded for 48 hrs with a #NewJersey rescue unit 17 days after losing a firefighter to the icy waters of Delaware River. We hunkered down as a blizzard the state had not seen in 30 years beared down. Photos: Dave Hernandez www.nj.com/camden/2026/...

Some context on the recent D.C. Water pipe break, which led to an estimated 243 million gallons of sewage going into the Potomac River. I'm told 600 million gallons of sewage and runoff flow into the Potomac every year, largely when heavy storms overwhelm D.C.'s aging sewers.

mini-exclusive for @starledger.bsky.social, families in 13 towns will not get home elevations like initially thought bc #NewJersey says FEMA would consider too costly. “They’re having another program pulled out from under them,” said Amanda Devecka-Rinear of the New Jersey Organizing Project.

69 N.J. homes need a lifeline to save them from Mother Nature. It’s not coming.

Families eager to elevate in 13 towns were told by the state this FEMA program will not help them after all.

nj.com

As a historian of science, I was raised to think rejecting science was a pathology of anti-democratic governments. Well, this might be the proof of that. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c...

Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change

nytimes.com

breaking for @starledger.bsky.social, the death toll from the extreme cold weather that has hammered #NewJersey for weeks has risen to 17, state officials told me.

At least 17 deaths linked to N.J.’s extreme cold and snow, state says

The death toll was recorded before temps dipped to dangerous levels again over the weekend.

nj.com

The spreadsheet covers roughly 5 years (ending 3/2023) and includes disciplinary outcomes tied to alleged unauthorized database access, improper use or disclosure of information, and stalking or harassment. The records don’t include much context about the underlying misconduct

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I spoke with various meteorologists including @cupajoe.live, as well as well experts from ASU, Georgia Southern and TCNJ about the glut of amateur forecasters these days and the real dangers of #weather misinformation (especially during extreme weather periods!)

Everyone is suddenly a weather expert. It’s making this brutal winter so much worse.

Amateur weather forecasters "are destroying the profession," one meteorologist said.

nj.com

Climate reporters are some of the kindest, most selfless, and most hardworking people around. We need MORE of their work, not less. I'm grateful to everyone who has read and subscribed to support any kind of climate coverage over the years, ours or another newsroom's. Thanks for not turning away.

exclusive for @starledger.bsky.social that makes for a good snow day read. A small army of residents say their fervor for protecting the environment and after a probe by @nj.com, they saved a massive park reservation from becoming the home of a new 500-ft communication tower

Paving paradise for a payday? How a small N.J. group fought to keep their wilderness green.

Amid a probe by NJ Advance Media, Bergen County abruptly changed its tune over the fate of a 4,000-acre reservation.

nj.com

Minnesota Public Radio is doing a great job. I donated yesterday! support.mpr.org/mpr-web

Ryan Teague Beckwith@ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 6mo ago

A nice day to subscribe to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, even if you don't live there, or donate to one of the public radio stations in the area.

I was very glad to join @wnyc.org’s @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social! spoke with David Furst about @mikiesherrill.bsky.social freezing #NewJersey’s soaring utility rates and what it all actually means) Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/0dvc...

Gov. Sherrill's Utility Rate Freeze

open.spotify.com

“Go back to Florida, you motherf—er!’” It’s gotten, uh, testy at a series of Jersey Shore fishing holes. mini-enterprise for @starledger.bsky.social that speaks to the larger conversation about open space and who gets a right to it in an ever-developing #NewJersey. h/t Andy Mills

‘Pissed off’ fishermen lose Jersey Shore beach access to bennies. Now they’re devastated and raising hell.

A small sticker has ignited a big uproar at this Jersey Shore destination.

nj.com

"On the wall next to it, a sign read: 'When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher wall.'" @shannonheffernan.bsky.social and Julieta Martinelli for @themarshallproject.org/Latino USA/Futuro Investigates: www.themarshallproject.org/2025/12/05/i...

The Small House Offering Aid in the Shadow of an ICE Detention Center

Amid rising ICE arrests, volunteers provide aid — a meal, a bed, gas money — to anyone visiting someone detained in remote rural Georgia.

themarshallproject.org

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I spoke with @newjerseypolitics.bsky.social , several nonprofits and gov’t officials about a heated proposal to build a gas pipeline under part of #NewJersey and New York. It comes after an election in which affordability and utility rates were dominant themes.

Can N.J. curb costs without selling its soul? A $1B pipeline shows the dilemma.

New Jersey's energy future is stuck between a pipeline and a hard place.

nj.com

#COP30 >5000 "lobbyists mingling with world leaders & climate negotiators [..] worked for at least 859 fossil fuel organizations including trade groups, foundations & 180 oil, gas & coal companies involved in every part of the supply chain from exploration & production to distribution & equipment"

Nina Lakhani@ninalakhani.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Exclusive by me: How thousands fossil fuel lobbyists got access to UN climate talks – and then oil and gas companies kept drilling www.theguardian.com/environment/...