The Allegheny Front

This week on The Allegheny Front, how toxic trash is finally being cleaned up. Plus a host of bills in the Pennsylvania House look to boost the state's economy by encouraging natural gas development. And why birds like the Great Horned Owl could become less common in Pennsylvania's forests.

Residents keep an eye on a polluting coke plant that a judge has allowed to stay open. New rules for pig slaughterhouses may put pork and worker safety at risk. Families of cancer patients want the state to look at fracking. Actors get into character as creatures of the night. Plus, bad news for pumpkin lovers.

Pittsburgh restaurants are recycling oyster shells to help restore the Chesapeake Bay. We report from Scotland about how ethane from Pa.'s fracking boom is fueling the world's thirst for plastic.  Researchers are trying to figure out what's killing apple trees. Pennsylvania will join a regional cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions. Using artificial intelligence to predict landslides.

How a loophole in the law allowed fracking pollutants to go to a landfill, through a sewage plant and into the Mon River. Democratic candidates laid out their climate plans at a town hall. We asked an environmental politics professor to evaluate them. A federal appeals court deals a blow to the PennEast Pipeline. Plus, when chimney swifts roost, it's quite a sight.

A clover thought to be extinct was discovered in the region and has rebounded. One Pennsylvania town passed a single-use plastic ban, despite a state law prohibiting local bans for a year. The Amazon is burning, and that's bad for birds. Pa lawmakers propose a cap-and-trade bill that could take years to pass.

This week on The Allegheny Front, coal fields are fertile ground for fast growing grasses that can be used for biofuel. And a fungus is changing the behavior of infected cicadas. Plus, renewable energy is making up a larger share of energy production as aging nuclear plants are decommissioned.