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Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Biden EPA limits toxic forever chemicals in drinking water for the first time

Following through on a campaign promise, President Joe Biden’s administration is limiting toxic forever chemicals in drinking water for the first time, a sweeping policy change intended to protect Americans from widespread threats to human health and the environment.

New regulations to be announced Wednesday will require every U.S. water ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

EPA sets first-ever limits on 'forever chemicals' in drinking water

The U.S. government unveiled the first-ever legal limits on toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water Wednesday, a long-awaited step to crack down on the manmade compounds, which have been linked to cancers and have been found in the water supplies of hundreds of cities, including some in Georgia.

As the new standards phase in, water ...Read more

PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are getting into ocean ecosystems, where dolphins, fish and manatees dine – we traced their origins

PFAS, the “forever chemicals” that have been raising health concerns across the country, are not just a problem in drinking water. As these chemicals leach out of failing septic systems and landfills and wash off airport runways and farm fields, they can end up in streams that ultimately discharge into ocean ecosystems where fish, ...Read more

Superfund plan for Columbia River sparks debate in Northwest

It would create one of the largest Superfund sites in America and the first in which most of the toxic pollution comes from another country. But those are not the only unique aspects of an EPA proposal to add the upper reaches of the Columbia River in Washington state to the list of the nation’s most contaminated lands and waters.

A final ...Read more

OK, the eclipse was cool, but those glasses aren't. Now what?

OK, you hopped on the eclipse bandwagon, did your research and viewed the celestial miracle responsibly. But now what are you going to do with those odd-looking glasses?

Fact is, you won't need them again in most of the U.S. for a couple of decades, and some glasses are good only for about three years. (The next total solar eclipse that will be...Read more

New York City greenlights congestion pricing – here’s how this toll plan is expected to improve traffic, air quality and public transit

New York City is poised to launch the first congestion pricing plan to reduce traffic in a major U.S. metropolitan area. Like many journeys in the Big Apple, this one has been punctuated by delays. Once the system starts up, however, it’s expected to significantly reduce gridlock in Manhattan and generate billions of dollars to improve ...Read more

Parmy Olson: AI's advances will echo the internet, not the steam engine

Technologists have been doing it. Jamie Dimon just did it in his latest letter to shareholders. I’m referring to the way people are comparing the transformational impact of artificial intelligence to that of the steam engine. The metaphor has not only become a cliché; it paints an oversimplified and too-rosy picture of how this technology ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

The real battle for data privacy begins when you die

In 2012 a 15-year-old girl died in Berlin after being hit by a subway train. Her bereaved parents asked Facebook to turn over her private messages in hopes of understanding whether her death was a suicide or an accident.

Facebook refused. Her death had already been reported to the social media site, which then converted her profile to a “...Read more

NYSE executive says 'handful' of AI startups are exploring IPOs

Several artificial intelligence startups are looking into the process of going public, according to an executive at the New York Stock Exchange, as the market for tech listings gains steam.

“I’d say that the majority of the companies that are truly pure-play, AI-focused are still mostly financing themselves in the private markets,” ...Read more

Microsoft/Microsoft/TNS

How the push to make ‘Grounded’ a multiplatform game made it better

Microsoft made a splash when the company announced it would be taking more of its games to other platforms. That means players will see once-exclusive titles such as “Sea of Thieves” on the PlayStation 5.

One of those titles heading to other systems is “Grounded,” Obsidian Entertainment’s “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”-inspired ...Read more

Jim Rossman/Jim Rossman/TNS

Jim Rossman: Apple releases new iOS app for sports scores

Apple introduced a sports app for iPhone recently and since we are at a time during the year when we have a lot of major sports overlapping, I thought it was time to take a look.

Apple Sports is free to download from the iOS app store.

Apple says the sports app is built for speed and simplicity. The app delivers real-time scores, stats and ...Read more

Big Blue Sky Games/Big Blue Sky Games/TNS

Preview: ‘Merchants of Rosewall’ hopes to sell players on new take on shopkeeper simulation

Playing the stalk market in “Animal Crossing” is an adventure in itself. Players buy turnips and keep an eye on the price each day hoping the price jumps up so they can make a profit. It’s one of several ways that the classic Nintendo franchise exposes players to simple economic concepts.

But what if a game goes deeper than that? What ...Read more

TNS

Gadgets: Handy device for air travelers

The Twelve South AirFly has been around for a few years, and if you're not familiar with it, you should be -- especially if you're taking to the skies anytime soon.

It comes in various models, but the gist is that it's a wireless adapter that you plug into the 3.5mm audio port on an airplane, put your headset in pairing mode, and then pair ...Read more

JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

After a long slog, climate change lawsuits will finally put Big Oil on trial

After years of legal appeals and delays, some oil companies are set to stand trial in lawsuits brought by state and local governments over the damages caused by climate change.

Meanwhile, dozens more governments large and small have brought new claims against the fossil fuel industry as those initial cases, filed up to a half-dozen years ago, ...Read more

Can a quarry and NC state park make good neighbors? Two views from across Crabtree Creek

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. -- After it passes under Interstate 40, Crabtree Creek forms a boundary between William B. Umstead State Park and Wake Stone Corp.’s Triangle Quarry.

On one side, people hike under a canopy of trees on the Company Mill and Inspiration trails, getting exercise and seeking refuge from the traffic and noise that surround the ...Read more

After delay, Delta IV Heavy lifts off for the last time

ORLANDO, Fla. — The storied career of the Delta family of rockets had to wait a little longer than planned to turn the page on its final chapter, but the last of its kind lifted off on the Space Coast on Tuesday.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy, the largest and most powerful version of Delta rockets, launched from Cape Canaveral Space...Read more

As fish deaths increase at pumps, critics urge California agencies to improve protections

LOS ANGELES — Powerful pumps that supply much of California’s population with water have killed several thousand threatened and endangered fish this year, prompting a coalition of environmental groups to demand that state and federal agencies take immediate steps to limit “alarming levels” of deaths.

In a letter to state and federal ...Read more

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Commentary: One way to save the Colorado River? Give up one hamburger a week

In 2019, I joined a water agency in southern California as an engineer. My role is to help manage the water we import from the Colorado River, which makes up about a quarter of the region’s total water supply. A few months into the job, I traveled to Denver with a supervisor for meetings at the Colorado State Capitol. For lunch, he led us to a...Read more

Courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife/TNS/TNS

Wildlife officials confirm a second Colorado livestock wolf kill, this time in Jackson County

DENVER — A wolf killed a calf over the weekend in Jackson County, the second time in less than a week that the death of livestock in Colorado has been attributed to a wolf, wildlife officials confirmed Monday.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials on Sunday morning responded to a report of possible depredation of a calf after the animal was ...Read more

Eric Feferberg/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Joe Biden, Ice-T and NYC Mayor Adams: What celebrities and politicians saw during Monday's solar eclipse

Millions of Americans stopped what they were doing Monday to carefully view a total solar eclipse that darkened the skies over more than a dozen states including New York.

A pair of presidents, a master horror novelist and a rapper who may suddenly need a guide dog counted themselves among the spectators.

President Biden took in the cosmic ...Read more