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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Pesticide Rules and Bee Health; Final Chance for Comments

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Monday, July 24, 2017   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Today is the final day for the public to comment on an updated assessment of four pesticides that environmental and food-safety groups worry are killing off bees.

Hundreds of thousands of public comments are being delivered to the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., today by Friends of the Earth, the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice and others. They're urging the agency to ban pesticides known as neonicotinoids.

Attorney Janette Brimmer with Earthjustice said there isn't enough scrutiny from the EPA of these types of pesticides.

"Our pesticide registration system is, generally, a broken system,” Brimmer said. "I mean, it is so manufacturer-driven, and this is just kind of the latest example of it. And while it can work, it needs an EPA that is engaged, that cares about working."

The EPA's risk assessment of the four pesticides in question said they do not pose a significant risk to bee colonies. But bee populations have been in steady decline for years.

According to an annual nationwide study from the Bee Informed Partnership, U.S. beekeepers lost one-third of their colonies from spring 2016 to spring 2017. A study published in Science magazine on bees in Europe concluded that bees have a hard time establishing colonies the year after exposure to neonicotinoids.

Brimmer said with fewer pollinators to help the crops, farms have to rely on commercial beekeepers. But there's a problem there too.

"Basically, since neonicotinoids came on the market, even contract pollinators - in other words, commercial beekeepers - are having a hard time supplying contracts, getting crops pollinated,” she said. "The price is going up for those crops. So, there's a ripple effect."

Big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart and nearly 100 other retailers are phasing out plants treated with neonicotinoids because of their effect on bees.


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Health and Wellness

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Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

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Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

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Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

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Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

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New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

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Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

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Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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