More than 700 New Yorkers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on April 18 to demand Gov. Andrew Cuomo to block the controversial Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement Pipeline. Erik McGregor / Pacific Press / LightRocket / Getty Images
A man holds a plastic shopping bag in New York's Central Park. Kena Betancur / VIEWpress / Corbis via Getty Images
New York State lawmakers agreed to a ban on single-use plastic bags Sunday, making the Empire State the second in the nation to do so.
The decision was part of a $175.5 billion budget agreement that included other progressive measures including the elimination of cash bail for most misdemeanors and non-violent crimes, three-hours-off on election day for voting and the nation's first-ever congestion pricing program in the busiest part of Manhattan. The budget was expected to be passed in a series of bills during a session Sunday that could carry into Monday, the Associated Press reported.
"I am proud to announce that together, we got it done," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said of the budget, according to the Associated Press.
A measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. BSIP / UIG / Getty Images
A suburban county in New York has banned unvaccinated children from entering enclosed public spaces at it seeks to curb the longest running measles outbreak in the state since the disease was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, CNBC reported.
Before and after renderings of Tillary Street near the Brooklyn Bridge. New York City DOT
By Sonja Dümpelmann
Many cities, in recent years, have initiated tree planting campaigns to offset carbon dioxide emissions and improve urban microclimates.
In 2007, New York City launched MillionTrees NYC, a program designed to plant 1 million new trees along streets, in parks and on private and public properties by 2017. They hit their goal two years ahead of time.
Wind turbine and the Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, France. Sylvain Sonnet / Corbis Documentary / Getty Images
By Grant Smith
Last year the Trump administration's Energy Department announced the launch of a media campaign to counter what an official called "misinformation" about nuclear power. We haven't noticed an upsurge in pro-nuclear news—because there is none to report.
Aerial view of Florence, Nichols, Conway and Waccamaw, South Carolina, impacted by floodwaters on Sept. 21. South Carolina Air National Guard
By Sharon Kelly
2018 is set to rank as the fourth warmest year on record—and the fourth year in a row reflecting a full degree Celsius (1.8° Fahrenheit) temperature rise from the late 1800s, climate scientists say.
This was the year that introduced us to fire tornadoes, bomb cyclones and in Death Valley, a five-day streak of 125°F temperatures, part of the hottest month ever documented at a U.S. weather station.
Blue light illuminates the night sky after a transformer explosion at the Astoria Generating Station on Dec. 27. Simin Liu / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
Though it immediately evoked images of "an alien invasion" or the eerie opening scene of a "monster movie," the explosion that briefly turned New York City's skyline bright blue late Thursday night was actually something rather more conventional, but still cause for serious alarm and action: an electrical blast at one of New York's dirtiest power plants.
Seismic airgun blasting has been proposed within the same main range of imperiled North Atlantic right whales. NOAA
A coalition of attorneys general from nine states added their clout to a South Carolina-based lawsuit against the Trump administration to block seismic airgun blasting off the Atlantic coast.
Democratic attorneys general from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York filed a motion on Thursday to intervene in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by several conservation groups and South Carolina coastal communities.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he will push to fully legalize recreational
marijuana in the state as part of his agenda for the next year.
"The fact is we have had two criminal justice systems: one for the wealthy and the well off, and one for everyone else," Cuomo said in a speech about his agenda for the first 100 days of his third term, as quoted by
The New York Times.
The Asian longhorned tick has been found in nine states. CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned of a "multistate infestation" with the Asian longhorned tick—the
first new tick species to enter the U.S. in 50 years.
New Jersey was the first state to report the
Haemaphysalis longicornis on a sheep in August 2017. Since then, it has been found in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, according to Friday's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
On Oct. 24, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed lawsuit against ExxonMobil for defrauding investors regarding the financial risks the company faces from climate change regulations. New York Attorney General's Office
By Elliott Negin
New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood recently filed what could be an enormously consequential securities fraud lawsuit against ExxonMobil, exposing in great detail the company's long history of lying about issues related to climate change.
