exclusive for @starledger.bsky.social that makes for a good snow day read. A small army of residents say their fervor for protecting the environment and after a probe by @nj.com, they saved a massive park reservation from becoming the home of a new 500-ft communication tower

Minnesota Public Radio is doing a great job. I donated yesterday! support.mpr.org/mpr-web

I was very glad to join @wnyc.org’s @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social! spoke with David Furst about @mikiesherrill.bsky.social freezing #NewJersey’s soaring utility rates and what it all actually means) Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/0dvc...

“Go back to Florida, you motherf—er!’” It’s gotten, uh, testy at a series of Jersey Shore fishing holes. mini-enterprise for @starledger.bsky.social that speaks to the larger conversation about open space and who gets a right to it in an ever-developing #NewJersey. h/t Andy Mills

"On the wall next to it, a sign read: 'When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher wall.'" @shannonheffernan.bsky.social and Julieta Martinelli for @themarshallproject.org/Latino USA/Futuro Investigates: www.themarshallproject.org/2025/12/05/i...

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I spoke with @newjerseypolitics.bsky.social , several nonprofits and gov’t officials about a heated proposal to build a gas pipeline under part of #NewJersey and New York. It comes after an election in which affordability and utility rates were dominant themes.

#COP30 >5000 "lobbyists mingling with world leaders & climate negotiators [..] worked for at least 859 fossil fuel organizations including trade groups, foundations & 180 oil, gas & coal companies involved in every part of the supply chain from exploration & production to distribution & equipment"

Good one from @stevenrodas.bsky.social here

mini-exclusive for @starledger.bsky.social, New Jersey is kicking a group of families from the historic Island Beach State Park fishing shacks. Leave or possibly face eviction after Friday, despite an initial lease agreement. With great photos from Andrew Mills www.nj.com/ocean/2025/1...

This is a really ambitious and cool forestry project and uh...not sure where they are going to find the funding for it now?

Here are the major ways federal/@realDonaldTrump environmental and energy policies and decisions have trickled down to #NewJersey since January (in no particular order)🧵1/

Here are the major ways federal/@realDonaldTrump environmental and energy policies and decisions have trickled down to #NewJersey since January (in no particular order)🧵1/

I hope you understand that if you show up at a hospital with an infection no one has ever seen before that the US had somewhere you could call. That place would answer, offer testing you can’t get anywhere else and come visit you to solve if necessary.

Special report for @starledger.bsky.social: Landfills! Ten of #NewJersey’s 12 major landfills want to expand or have already begun to enlarge. Together, they are set to grow by 89 million cubic yards, which equals more than 27,000 Olympic-size swimming pools worth of new garbage.

As housing costs soar, running water has become a luxury in Portland, Phoenix and other wealthy US cities. Latest for @bloomberg.com with Klara Auerbach, gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I spent several weeks with one Newark family, speaking about the intersection of violence and heavy emissions. In #NewJersey, people like Koabie Mincey have reckoned with crime for years. It can make asthma worse, new research shows.

Houston’s NWS office has lost its head meteorologist and has 11 vacancies. The shortages stem from federal cuts that slashed roughly 10% of NOAA’s staff. Here's what these vaccines mean for Texans as they brace for a busy hurricane season. @texastribune.org www.texastribune.org/2025/06/09/t...

mini-exclusive for @starledger.bsky.social, I spent a day at one of the largest sewage plants in #NewJersey and learned about how it’s preparing for something you wouldn’t necessarily think about each time you take a bathroom break: rising sea levels. Why a massive flood wall may be the answer.

Gardening is about love, and Ryan Krugman wrote a beautiful story about rooftop gardens in NY. Read and share! insideclimatenews.org/news/2406202...

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I obtained a @osha.gov citation showing a 49-year-old #NewJersey construction worker died in the blistering heat last summer. The latest extreme heat death has reinvigorated calls by @maketheroadnj.bsky.social and others for more worker protections.

When you went to the Iowa Writers Workshop but ended up in journalism

1/ We got government data showing that the Trump administration knew the majority of Venezuelan men it sent to a prison in El Salvador had no criminal record in the U.S. - and that only a handful had been convicted of violent crimes - before calling them all terrorists and deporting them.

new for @starledger.bsky.social, #NewJersey may soon not be able to require all new vehicle sales be fully electric cars starting in 2035. The EV rule was set up to start next year. #DonaldTrump can now squash N.J.’s plan to ban sales of new gas-powered cars

Great story from @sam-karlin.bsky.social about just how many rural communities in Louisiana are facing water systems on the verge of a breakdown. Water is brown, murky and lots of federal $$$ still has not been enough to fix it. www.nola.com/news/louisia...

breaking for @starledger.bsky.social, @newjerseyoag.bsky.social announced an up to $450M settlement with @3M — the “largest PFAS settlement in #NewJersey history” over contamination in Salem County. The Chemours Company owns site and before that, DuPont. Polluters have used NJ as “dumping ground.”

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I spoke with families and nonprofit advocates who are worried the development of a massive data center in South Brunswick Twp will come with a big environmental price tag for #NewJersey

Cumulatively, the turbines at xAI in S. Memphis can power 280,000 homes--and emit more smog-causing NOX than the actual gas power plant down the road or a nearby Valero refinery, according to calculations from @selc.bsky.social . That's "essentially running a power plant without a permit."

new for @starledger.bsky.social, health reporter Jackie Roman and I spent a couple of months speaking with former and current inmates about what they called unsafe and “dirty” water quality at #NewJersey prisons. Activists, including @cleanwaternj.bsky.social, are calling for an investigation

“The truth is that it’s toxic,” Pedro Ramos, who is from Guatemala, said in Spanish about his job clearing wildfire debris I followed workers who are cleaning up after the Los Angeles wildfires. 40 percent of this workforce are immigrants, many undocumented www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I spoke with Kevin Stewart and @seilback.bsky.social of the @lungusa.bsky.social about the 6 #NewJersey counties that do not monitor for air pollutants. Somerset, Sussex, Burlington, Cape May, Salem and — most surprising for me — Essex counties

This is AWFUL what the heck www.latimes.com/california/s...

breaking for @starledger.bsky.social, I’m told staff are on “round-the-clock watch” at the former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant amid the growing 3,000+ acre wildfire in #NewJersey

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I obtained a 25-page investigation from the Camden fire marshal which says the cause of a recent major fire in #SouthJersey was not simply a lithium-ion battery as the company has repeated www.nj.com/camden/2025/...

I cannot think about any other new-ish technological innovation in the fight against climate change than the humble electric bike. Such an amazing game changer.

mini-exclusive for @starledger.bsky.social, I’m told metal recycler EMR will be made to pay nearly $7 million to the #Camden community after a major scrapyard fire forced over 100 families to evacuate in February. The company has a history of pollution in @stateofnewjersey.bsky.social #NewJersey

NEW from me @insideclimatenews.org with @mckennapr.bsky.social: The Hidden Climate Costs of Exporting US Liquefied Natural Gas insideclimatenews.org/news/1604202...

meet 62-year-old Tuan, a Lawrence father, who like other people in #NewJersey seems to keep getting lost in this larger conversation about statewide electricity bill hikes. Learn how Mr. Linsinbigler, originally of Vietnam, has to balance his health and budget, for @starledger.bsky.social

meet 62-year-old Tuan, a Lawrence father, who like other people in #NewJersey seems to keep getting lost in this larger conversation about statewide electricity bill hikes. Learn how Mr. Linsinbigler, originally of Vietnam, has to balance his health and budget, for @starledger.bsky.social

the @niemanlab.org newsletter going out a little late today but it's worth it

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I was told that after advancing through both the @dep.nj.gov and @EPA Newark, #NewJersey is one vote away from a new power plant

Florida’s natural history is etched by hurricanes pushing wildlife from one place to the next I wrote about the most recent example: these land tortoises survived miles of open water in Hurricane Helene’s storm surge They’re now thriving on a new island: www.tampabay.com/news/environ...

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I spoke with a 70-year-old West Orange woman about #NewJersey’s surging electric costs, getting $375 monthly bills last year and what families will face this summer. @stateofnewjersey.bsky.social residents are slated to see their bills soon increase by about 20%

PRESS FREEDOM CASE TODAY: Our @ashleymurray.bsky.social just went in the courtroom here in DC federal court --all electronics off--for what's expected to be a lengthy hearing today on Associated Press access to White House events. Stay tuned for our @statesnewsroom.com report from Ashley.

exclusive for @starledger.bsky.social, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer tells Brent Johnson and I that were he elected governor of #NewJersey he would bring back paper bags to all grocery stores. Single-use plastic and paper bags have been banned from grocers and big box stores since May 2022

Callers have flooded congressional offices to complain about Social Security. AARP said that more than 2,000 people per week have called since early February, double the usual number. wapo.st/4hM5MAn

new for @starledger.bsky.social, my colleague Larry Higgs and I spent Friday speaking with national and #NewJersey experts about the future of I-80 after the string of 3 sinkholes. We heard from locals too. Pop’s Bagel Shop has lost 30-40% of its business since Feb. There’s “no sinkhole stimulus.”

new for @starledger.bsky.social, my colleague Larry Higgs and I spent Friday speaking with national and #NewJersey experts about the future of I-80 after the string of 3 sinkholes. We heard from locals too. Pop’s Bagel Shop has lost 30-40% of its business since Feb. There’s “no sinkhole stimulus.”

More than 425 popular campsites across Pa. are closed indefinitely due to DOGE cuts inquirer.com/news/pennsylva… via @inquirer.com

new for @starledger.bsky.social, I obtained public records that showed the EMR scrapyard owner that just had a big fire in Camden, #NewJersey, has had over 20 incidents since 2014. Residents are calling out the constant pollution, wt powerful video from Lauren Raposa www.nj.com/camden/2025/...

As an oceanographer, this is legit advice.