Author: John Flesher
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Supreme Court ruling weakens Biden’s clean water protections
WASHINGTON • The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s jurisdiction over them. The rule would require that wetlands be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers, a policy shift that departs from a…
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Michigan officer charged with murder in Lyoya shooting
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. • The Michigan police officer who killed Patrick Lyoya, a Black man who was on the ground when he was shot in the back of the head, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder. Prosecutor Chris Becker announced charges Thursday against Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr, weeks after Lyoya was killed following a…
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Bats, birds among wildlife pummeled during Southern freeze
DALLAS • As many people in the southern U.S. hosted neighbors who had no heat or water during the vicious February storm and deep freeze, Kate Rugroden provided a refuge for shell-shocked bats. Starving and disoriented, the winged mammals tumbled to the snow-coated ground as temperatures plunged to levels rarely seen in the region. “They…
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Trump administration drops Obama-era water protection rule
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked an Obama-era regulation that shielded many U.S. wetlands and streams from pollution but was opposed by developers and farmers who said it hurt economic development and infringed on property rights. Environmental groups criticized the administration’s action, the latest in a series of moves to roll back environmental protections put…
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Scientists find flaws in plan to lift US wolf protections
Scientists tasked with reviewing government plans to lift protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S. said in a report released Friday that the proposal has numerous factual errors and other problems. The five-member scientific panel’s conclusions were detailed in a 245-page report delivered to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. One reviewer said…
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Trump administration orders EPA contract freeze and media blackout
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants, part of a broader communications clampdown within the executive branch. The prohibitions came to light Tuesday as the agency moved to delay implementation of at least 30 environmental rules finalized…
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Rusty patched bumblebee now an endangered species
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The rusty patched bumblebee has become the first bee species in the continental U.S. to be declared endangered after suffering a dramatic population decline over the past 20 years, federal officials said Tuesday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service first told The Associated Press it was adding the bee to the…
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Some gray wolves to be returned to endangered list
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday threw out an Obama administration decision to remove gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the endangered species list — a decision that will ban further wolf hunting and trapping in three states. The order affects wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where…