Senate Republicans are set for a marathon session to pass President Donald Trump's tax and spending package, which aims to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and eliminate taxes on some tipped and overtime income. With Sens. Rand Paul and Thom Tillis already opposed due to issues with Medicaid cuts and the debt ceiling increase, GOP leadership can afford only one more defection. Intense negotiations and concessions, especially to moderates like Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins, underscore the bill's precarious path, as last-minute amendments and concerns over Medicaid and rural hospital funding continue to shape final support.

Malaysia is implementing strict regulations on plastic waste imports starting Tuesday, effectively banning imports from countries that have not ratified the Basel Convention, including the US. The amended Customs Act requires approval from SIRIM, and imported plastic waste must meet stringent purity standards. The US exported about 35,000 metric tons of plastic waste to Malaysia in 2024, ranking fifth among exporters.

Kyle Kunkler, a lobbyist for the American Soybean Association, is set to become the deputy assistant administrator for pesticides at the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

ExxonMobil has launched a second advanced recycling unit at its Baytown, Texas, site, doubling its capacity and pushing total processed plastic at the facility to over 100 million pounds. The company plans to expand further with additional units in Baytown and Beaumont by 2026, aiming for a global recycling capacity of 1 billion pounds annually by 2027.

A recent study by the Waterkeeper Alliance found the nation's highest levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the Pocotaligo River in South Carolina, posing a potential risk to public health, particularly for people who eat fish from the river. The main source is suspected to be a wastewater treatment plant in Sumter that receives wastewater from industries that might handle PFAS.

A study has found that cytotoxicity analyses of green chemicals often produce inconsistent and potentially misleading results. The study, led by Valentine Ananikov of the Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, highlights that identical samples of ionic liquids have been reported as both highly toxic and benign, which Ananikov attributes to a lack of expertise in cellular biology among chemists conducting these tests. The team has suggested broader measurement approaches to improve reproducibility and reliability of cytotoxicity data.

A power outage in Spain and Portugal inspired scientists attending the Portuguese Young Chemists Meeting to write a paper on resilience in chemistry. The paper, published in Green Chemistry, outlines 10 principles for resilience, emphasizing the need for collaboration between chemists and engineers, the use of modular systems and reliance on renewable feedstocks.

Leaders may be tempted to judge others harshly in stressful situations, but true leadership requires assuming positive intent and practicing empathy even when it's difficult, management consultant Marc Cugnon writes. Leaders who view colleagues as adversaries can undermine morale and collaboration, while those who support rather than blame can help colleagues feel valued and trusted, leading to better personal and productivity outcomes, Cugnon notes.

Consumer spending eased by 0.1% in May (the first decline this year), led by a sharp pullback in spending on durable goods (especially autos). Spending on nondurable goods was also lower, and spending on services was essentially flat. Personal income fell for the first time in since September 2021, down by 0.4% with led by declines in benefits payments (related to the expiration of benefits for certain state & local government workers) and lower proprietor's income. Read more.