North Carolina would cut its greenhouse  gas emissions by 40 percent by 2025 under an ambitious statewide goal set by Gov. Roy Cooper.With Cooper’s signing of the executive order, North Carolina joins states like Colorado, California and others that have set statewide targets for reducing emissions of gases that are associated with global warming and climate change. In 2006, California set a 40 percent reduction goal by 2030 from 1990 levels, while Colorado has set a goal of cutting emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025 from 2005 levels. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Supreme Court is dismissing another challenge by top Republican lawmakers from Pennsylvania to the legality of new congressional district boundaries imposed by the state’s highest court in a gerrymandering case. The high court on Monday denied the case by House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati. It’s the third time the nation’s highest court has rejected such a GOP effort.November’s election is being conducted on new court-drawn districts viewed as more competitive than the now-invalidated map drawn in 2011 by Republicans to help Republicans win. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that it will hold four one-day public meetings to discuss the recently published draft guidance created to help farmers meet the requirements of the Produce Safety Rule. The draft guidance, entitled “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption: Draft Guidance for Industry,” is a compliance and implementation guide that gives information and examples to demonstrate how farmers can meet the rule’s requirements in various ways. [node:read-more:link]

California voters will soon decide whether to ban the sale of meat and eggs from farm animals raised in cages. A November ballot measure, Proposition 12, would require more spacious digs for pigs, veal calves and egg-laying hens. It applies to animals in California and to those raised elsewhere for products sold in the Golden State. If you're experiencing a bit of déjà vu right now, it makes sense.Back in 2008, voters overwhelmingly passed a strikingly similar animal welfare law. [node:read-more:link]

Rampant drug abuse has long been perceived as an urban plight. But when it comes to opioid painkillers—including oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl, and heroin—rural communities are on the frontlines. Five of the states with the highest rates of drug overdose deaths—Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania—are predominantly rural. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has reported that rates of overdose death in rural areas have been rising higher than they have in urban areas since 2006. [node:read-more:link]

Species of reptiles, amphibians and other vertebrates are becoming extinct in Haiti as deforestation has claimed more than 99 percent of the country's original wooded areas. [node:read-more:link]

The Food and Drug Administration announced plans Tuesday to clarify and speed up the regulatory path for new gene-edited traits in both plants and animals. [node:read-more:link]

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The Chinese government announced on Oct. 29 that it would modify its total ban on the trade of rhinoceros and tiger parts, allowing rhino horns and tiger bones from animals raised on farms in China to be used on a limited basis by accredited doctors in Chinese hospitals. An outright ban on trading has been in effect since 1993. The use of these animal parts, often ground into a powder, have a long history in traditional Chinese medicine, along with genitalia from bulls, deer, and snakes and elephant tusks. [node:read-more:link]

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the Plant and Animal Biotechnology Innovation Action Plan to outline the key priorities the agency will pursue to support innovation in plant and animal biotechnology while advancing the agency’s public health mission. [node:read-more:link]