Latest Air quality News

Converting cow manure to fuel is growing climate solution, but critics say communities put at risk

Jun. 14, 2024 09:52 AM EDT

PIXLEY, Calif. (AP) — The stench of cow feces, urine and ammonia forces residents to keep windows and doors closed in parts of California's farming country. Some people constantly run air purifiers at home to counter the smell and, they say, fight off air-related ailments. "We...

Silicon Valley-backed voter plan for new California city qualifies for November ballot

Jun. 11, 2024 21:19 PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Silicon Valley-backed initiative to build a green city for up to 400,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area has qualified for the Nov. 5 ballot, elections officials said Tuesday. Solano County's registrar of voters said in a statement that the office...

Federal judge hears challenges to NYC’s fee for drivers into Manhattan

May. 17, 2024 18:25 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s first-in-the-nation plan to levy a hefty toll on drivers entering much of traffic-choked Manhattan was the focus of a legal battle that played out in federal court Friday. A Manhattan judge heard arguments in lawsuits brought by unionized public school...

Editorial Roundup: Minnesota

May. 15, 2024 13:37 PM EDT

Minneapolis Star Tribune. May 10, 2024. Editorial: ‘Longer we wait, the more people will die’ Legislature should seize the opportunity to pass legislation to help those whose lives have been upended by the opioid epidemic. Serving as the jail...

California moves closer to requiring new pollutant-warning labels for gas stoves

May. 13, 2024 20:59 PM EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California could require all new gas stoves sold in the state to carry a label warning users about pollutants they can release that have been linked to respiratory illnesses. The state Assembly approved a proposal Monday that would require the label on gas...

Editorial Roundup: Ohio

May. 13, 2024 17:38 PM EDT

Akron Beacon Journal. May 10, 2024. Editorial: HB 6 scandal proves it’s time to shed light on dark money groups in Ohio The ripple effects from one of the nation’s largest corruption scandals are still being felt across Ohio. But how much has really changed since...

Canadian wildfire smoke chokes Upper Midwest for second straight year

May. 13, 2024 16:29 PM EDT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires has prompted health warnings across the Upper Midwest and Montana for the second year in a row. Fires raging in British Columbia and Alberta have filled the skies with haze over parts of Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota and...

Wildfire in Canada's British Columbia forces thousands to evacuate. Winds push smoke into Alberta

May. 12, 2024 06:44 AM EDT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian authorities are urging all remaining residents in a town in British Columbia to leave immediately, despite improving weather conditions, after many were already evacuated due to a fast-growing wildfire. The blaze, which started Friday,...

High school students, frustrated by lack of climate education, press for change

May. 08, 2024 09:32 AM EDT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Several dozen young people wearing light blue T-shirts imprinted with #teachclimate filled a hearing room in the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul in late February. It was a cold and windy day, in contrast to the state's nearly snowless, warm winter. The high...

They study next to one of Africa's largest trash dumps. They're planting bamboo to try to cope

May. 05, 2024 00:24 AM EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Armed with gardening hoes while others cradled bamboo seedlings, students gathered outside their school in Kenya's capital. They hoped the fully grown bamboo would help to filter filthy air from one of Africa's largest trash dumps next door. More than 100...