"MECCA, Calif. — The area around this town of date palms attracts two kinds of migrants — hundreds of humans who work the land, and millions of birds that stop to rest and gorge at the nearby Salton Sea. The sea is a 110-year-old, increasingly briny, shallow lake that covers 350 square miles but is dwindling fast."
"Paul Helliker had a job for Dow AgroSciences."
"Every fall and winter at sunset, the sky above Staten Island fills with majestic sandhill cranes alighting in the fields. The sight is more spectacular than usual this year, as the number of cranes wintering on the island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has doubled over the same time in 2013."
"Richmond [CA] voters handed Chevron a resounding rejection in Tuesday’s election, defeating all four candidates supported by the oil giant despite Chevron outspending its opponents by a 20-to-1 margin."
"California voters enduring a record drought approved a $7.5 billion bond measure to upgrade water systems after Governor Jerry Brown said it was needed to shore up supplies."
"Local activists try to halt the shipment of explosive Bakken crude oil through their neighborhoods."
"More than 5 million Californians — most of them in Los Angeles and Kern counties — live near an oil or gas well, and expanding drilling in the state could increase their exposure to health risks, according to a report released Wednesday by a national environmental group."
"The signs appear about 200 miles north of Los Angeles, tacked onto old farm wagons parked along quiet two-lane roads and bustling Interstate 5."
"Chevron Corp. is spending millions of dollars on a Richmond, Calif., city council election in an attempt to 'buy' the council, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said."
"This summer, California’s water authority declared that wasting water — hosing a sidewalk, for example — was a crime. Next door, in Nevada, Las Vegas has paid out $200 million over the last decade for homes and businesses to pull out their lawns."
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