Senate Democrats and Republicans are squaring off about vehicle safety requirements that are intended to save lives, but which also push up the price of new cars.
The big picture: It's an awkward debate for lawmakers to confront when 40,000 people die each year in motor vehicle crashes — and yet the country faces an affordability crisis with broad economic consequences.
The list of failed electric vehicle startups is lengthy, and the founders of Harbinger Motors have the scars to prove it, which helps explain the company's laser focus on one particular slice of the commercial truck market.
Why it matters: Business fleet owners are getting crushed by higher costs on everything from tariffs to fuel and labor. Reducing operating costs is essential in order to protect margins.
To understand whether AI is in a bubble, and what could happen next, you have to think of it like railroads. Or maybe fiber-optic cable. Or perhaps oil drilling?
Why it matters: Everyone in the business world is anxiously trying to figure out which historical boom-and-bust comparison is the right one so they can be ready for what they fear comes next.
You probably won't ponder your carbon footprint when you sit down to devour that Thanksgiving turkey — but some food and climate activists say you should.
Why it matters: With climate change fading in importance on some U.S. lawmakers' priority lists, activists say even small steps from the public are needed.
The Trump administration is increasing its icebreaking fleet in the Arctic, per a new report that warns other nations are expanding their "capabilities" in the resource-rich region — singling out China as a particular threat.
Why it matters: As the Arctic climate rapidly warms, China and Russia have been moving into the region — seeing the northern reaches as a resource-rich crossroads, and melting ice grants new travel and trade routes as well as opportunities for military basing, per Axios' Colin Demarest.
The ozone hole over the Antarctic in 2025 was the fifth smallest since 1992 — "the year a landmark international agreement to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals began to take effect," per a new NOAA-NASA report.
Why it matters: While the ozone hole varies in size from year to year, the report says this year's monitoring shows "controls on ozone-depleting chemical compounds established by the landmark Montreal Protocol and subsequent amendments are driving the gradual recovery of the ozone layer."
Lukoil is Russia's second largest oil company, with global operations stretching from extraction fields in Iraq to gas stations in Pennsylvania.
It's also got a financial gun to its head, due to U.S. sanctions that are set to take effect in less than two weeks, prompting it to put its international operations up for sale.
When activists protest oil pipelines with the slogan "keep it in the ground," they don't end up keeping most oil in the ground — and their efforts may even have side effects, like increasing air pollution when the oil is transported in other ways.
Why it matters: These unintended consequences show just how hard it is to curb oil and gas by targeting supply alone.
