A few of the recent pieces I've liked:
The Latest in the NPR-WAMU series Poisoned Places: Elizabeth Shogren and Robert Bennicasa on "Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: ExxonMobil"and Richard Harris on "Breathing Easier: How Houston is Working to Clean up its Air."
Maryn McKenna at Superbug: To Prevent MRSA In Hospitals, Don’t Prevent Only MRSA
Matthew Yglesias at Slate: The Best and Simplest Way to Fight Global Poverty
Eric Jankiewicz and Sara Sugar of Brooklyn Bureau: Bushwick's Struggles With Asthma: What's Poverty's Role?
Tracy Weber, Charles Ornstein, and Jennifer LaFleur of ProPublica: Medicare Drug Program Fails to Monitor Prescribers, Putting Seniors and Disabled at Risk
More like this
I think I was a little too optimistic about MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in pigs staying in pigs and not spreading to humans.
The Charge of the Light MRSA Brigade
I'm sure everyone else thinks the big news today is the announcement by the Washington State Health department requiring hospitals to report MRSA cases to the state. I think the cool news is their on-line database. We'll get to that a bit later.
If you want the short version, Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA is a must read. While I have a couple minor quibbles (more about those in a bit), they don't detract from either the importance or the style of this book.