National (U.S.)

In the old days, the newsroom at most local dailies had a police scanner squawking like a nervous parrot in the background, to get the jump in case something big happened. To get environmental news today, you need other tools.

Inspection reports on badly maintained dams - or information on what homes would be swept away if they failed?

Cancer registries, which are part of the public health system help physicians collect statistics on cancer incidence and help pinpoint "cancer clusters" that may be caused by environmental factors. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) runs a surveillance system, which has a registry of cancer cases in almost every state. But the hospitals in the federal Veterans Affairs (VA) system are now saying they will not share cancer data with state registries unless the states sign restrictive agreements.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Oct. 16, 2007, to create a federal shield law which would offer limited protection for reporters from being compelled to disclose confidential sources.

The Interior Department has proposed codifying its rules on photography, filming, and sound-recording on public lands it administers. Some newsgatherers are worried that the rules would hurt their ability to do their jobs.

It was news when the White House censored testimony prepared in October 2007 by Centers for Disease Control Director Julie Gerberding - testimony detailing the health hazards likely to result from climate change.

EPA on March 26, 2008, delivered a report Congress had demanded on its plan to reopen the agency's shuttered libraries.

A rule issued April 16, 2008, ostensibly to keep the public safe from shipments of highly hazardous materials by rail, has been little-understood by the public.

President Barack Obama signalled that open access to information will be a top priority for his administration, issuing two memos to all executive agencies and one executive order at a January 21, 2009, session open to reporters and cabinet members.

EPA has begun a "National Dialogue" about what information the public needs from the agency and how the agency can better provide that information.