President Joe Biden is appointing actor Taraji P.

Philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs will invest $3.5 billion within the next 10 years to address the climate crisis.

(Caroline Brehman/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – A Senate committee has endorsed President Joe Biden's nomination of Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, setting up a vote in the full Senate. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee advanced Regan's nomination Tuesday on a 14-6 vote. Regan, who has served as North Carolina's top environmental regulator since 2017, would be the first Black man to run the EPA. A third Biden nominee, Deb Haaland, has not yet had a hearing on her selection to lead the Interior Department. AdHe also was concerned by Haaland's responses on issues such as wildlife management and access by hunters and sportsmen to public lands, Daines said.

FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2017, file photo, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Building is shown in Washington. Six former Environmental Protection Agency chiefs are calling for an agency reset after President Donald Trumps regulation-chopping, industry-minded first term. The group is presenting a detailed action plan drafted by former EPA staffers for whoever wins the Nov. 3 presidential election. Most living former EPA heads joined in Wednesday's appeal, with Trumps first EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, being the notable exception. The group said the road map was meant to guide whatever administration the Nov. 3 presidential election puts in place, although many of the proposals are implicitly or explicitly critical of Trump EPA actions.

The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up peoples immune systems just the way scientists had hoped, researchers reported Tuesday -- as the shots are poised to begin key final testing. The first-step testing later was expanded to include dozens of older adults, the age group most at risk from COVID-19. Nearly two dozen possible COVID-19 vaccines are in various stages of testing around the world. Candidates from China and Britains Oxford University also are entering final testing stages. The 30,000-person study will mark the worlds largest study of a potential COVID-19 vaccine so far.