A Quarter-Billion Dollars for Defamation: Inside Greenpeace’s Huge Loss

When the environmental group Greenpeace lost a nearly $670 million verdict this month over its role in oil pipeline protests, a quarter-billion dollars of the damages were awarded not for the actual demonstrations, but for defaming the pipeline’s owner. The costly verdict has raised alarm among activist organizations as well as some First Amendment experts, … Read more

Trump’s Science Policies Pose Long-Term Risk, Economists Warn

President Trump’s tariffs could drive up prices. His efforts to reduce the federal work force could increase unemployment. But ask economists which of the administration’s policies they are most concerned about and many point to cuts to federal support for scientific research. The Trump administration in recent weeks has canceled or frozen billions of dollars … Read more

Top FDA Vaccine Official Resigns, Citing Kennedy’s ‘Misinformation and Lies’

The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official, Dr. Peter Marks, abruptly resigned Friday, saying in a searing letter that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s aggressive stance on vaccines was irresponsible and posed a danger to the public. “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather … Read more

Sludge-Fertilizer Giant Leaves Texas Town Amid ‘Forever Chemicals’ Crisis

The City of Fort Worth, Texas, is ending its contract with Synagro, the Goldman Sachs-backed provider of fertilizer made from sewage sludge, over concerns that “forever chemicals” in the fertilizer are contaminating local farmland and groundwater. Fort Worth this month also sued several manufacturers of the chemicals, also called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, … Read more