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"MONTAGUE, Mich. — For more than 30 years, the beautiful resort community along White Lake near the shore of Lake Michigan has struggled to get out from under the weight of its past. It’s a past that includes growth sparked by the arrival of the chemical industry, and the physical and psychological scars left behind."

"Levels of a now-banned toxic pollutant continue to decline in the tissue of coho and chinook salmon in Lake Michigan waters."

"With the number of salmonella illnesses linked to Foster Farms chicken climbing to more than 600 cases this month, two members of Congress introduced legislation Wednesday that would require food recalls in such circumstances."

"Does this seem fair? A plant breeder at a public university manages to grow a long-necked broccoli that, for easy cutting, stands tall above its leaves. Then a company that has used his creation to breed a slightly different broccoli submits it for a patent, claiming ownership over the very idea of long-necked broccoli."

"Fresh fruits and vegetable prices will go up an estimated 6% in the coming months, the federal government said Wednesday, as California’s ongoing drought continues to hit price tags in grocery stores across the country."

"El Niño, a tropical-climate phenomenon with a global reach and following, is stirring in the Pacific, although forecasters aren't ready to pronouncing it awake just yet."

"The North Carolina Senate gave tentative approval Tuesday to a bill that makes Duke Energy close its 33 coal ash ponds in the state within 15 years, but it blocked a vote on shifting costs away from consumers."

"The size of the annual summer "dead zone" of low-oxygen water in the Gulf of Mexico along Louisiana's coast will cover between 4,633 and 5,708 miles, about the size of the state of Connecticut, according to a Tuesday forecast announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

"According to the 24th annual report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council, one in 10 U.S. beaches are dangerously polluted -- so polluted, in fact, that they have been deemed unsafe for swimmers."

"It would be so much easier if the whales had faced just one problem."