Between 1980-2015, 99 percent of rural counties saw a rise in their minority population, bringing new economic vitality and slowing population decline in those areas, according to a report by Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research group focused on Western land use. The U.S. is predicted to have a majority minority-population by 2044.

A nationwide survey of beekeepers found a smaller loss of honey bee colonies this year than last, said USDA in its annual Honey Bee Colonies report. The USDA report, which gauged the bee inventory are recently as mid-year, was in line with university researchers who reported in May that losses are moderating after steep drops in the population of the important pollinating insects.

With two million acres already on fire this year, wildfires in the West are starting sooner in the season and consuming more land under climate change. “A 2016 Climate Central analysis showed that the annual number of large fires has tripled since the 1970s and that the amount of land they burn is six times higher than it was four decades ago,” says Climate Central, adding that the average fire season is 105 days longer than it was in the 1970s.

There is only a 5 percent chance that efforts to prevent global temperatures from rising less than 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century — the goal of the Paris climate deal — will succeed, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Scott Pruitt sued the EPA a dozen times as Oklahoma attorney general, so "no one is surprised" that he "is steadfastly rolling back many of the regulations he fought in court," says the Oklahoman. Critics and supporters share the view that Pruitt "is operating with an efficiency and zeal beyond that of his predecessors."

A study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters estimates that 139,000 square miles of cropland in or near urban areas rely heavily on untreated wastewater for irrigation, says Modern Farmer. That's far larger than a 2004 assessment that pegged the total at 77,200 square miles.

Diners can get a day's worth of calories, roughly 2,000 for an adult, from the Pasta Napoletana entree at The Cheesecake Factory or the Cheeseburger Omelette sold by IHOP, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest in its annual Xtreme Eating Awards. The consumer watchdog group declared the 2,310-calorie Pasta Napoletana to be "worst adapted pasta" and the 1,990-calorie Cheeseburger Omelette as the "least original breakfast."

Cook County, the most populous county in Illinois, will begin collecting a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages beginning on Wednesday, making it the largest jurisdiction with a soda tax, following a state court decision that the tax is constitutional, said the Chicago Tribune. Som

A new bill introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat, aims to lower food waste nationally by targeting schools and federal food vendors.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross sided with New Jersey and broke longstanding protocol on a regional approach to preservation of the summer flounder, one of the most-fished species in the Northeast, says the Boston Globe. By rejecting the recommendations of a commission that oversees fishing issues on the East Coast — an unprecedented step — Ross raised "deep concerns about political meddling" and effectively will allow New Jersey to harvest more flounder, it says.

Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer "wants to include a ban on pesticides linked to declining bee health in next year's farm bill," says Bloomberg BNA. The Democrat, who is not a member of the committee that will write the farm bill, would suspend EPA approval of neonicotinoid pesticides until the agency determines they don't harm pollinators, such as honeybees.

The harmful effects of fertilizer runoff are likely to be exacerbated by climate change, as more extreme precipitation washes excess nutrients into U.S. waterways, causing dead zones, says a study published in Science. “The authors found that future climate change-driven increases in rainfall in the United States could boost nitrogen runoff by as much as 20 percent by the end of the century,” says The New York Times.

Farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota produce around 60-80 million pounds of plastic every year, from bags to hold silage to tunnels that protect crops. But in the past two years, thousands of farmers in the two states have joined a program run by Arkansas-based Revolution Plastics to recycle their plastic waste.

Thinly populated Saguache County in southwestern Colorado finished at the bottom of a FiveThirtyEight analysis of national broadband usage. According to the report, in Saguache County, “only 5.6 percent of adults were estimated to have broadband.”

The EPA erred when it set the target for biofuels use in 2016 below the levels specified by Congress, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a decision that vacated the regulation and ordered EPA to try again. The three-judge panel said EPA improperly interpreted the "inadequate supply provision" that allows it to waive the statutory targets for renewable fuel use.

Responding to pressure from the environmental group Greenpeace, the world’s largest tuna supplier, Thai Union, has announced a series of initiatives designed to improve its fishing practices and protect workers from abuses. Thai Union owns the popular brands Chicken of the Sea and Sealect.

A three-day lightning tour of the spring wheat crop in the northern Plains points to the lowest average yield in nine years, “a sign of the intense drought conditions plaguing much of the western Dakotas this year,” said DTN. Crop scouts checked 496 fields and saw a “high number of abandoned fields in the western counties, many of which had been cut and baled for hay” because the wheat was not worth harvesting.