National (U.S.)

"There could be half a billion reasons for the concessions President Barack Obama’s clean-power plan made to a defiant energy industry."

"A decade after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans seems to have found its rhythm again: the French Quarter is choked with tourists, construction cranes tower over the skyline, and hipsters bike to cafes in gentrifying neighborhoods."

"The lesser prairie chicken population appears to be on the rebound a year after the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife placed the bird in threatened status."

The megabillionaire Koch brothers, whose agenda opposes environmental regulation, have a major impact on Republican politics -- including the 2016 presidential race. Their influence is magnified by the big donors they attract to their causes via semiannual retreats like the one that just ended at a luxury resort near Dana Point, Calif. This year, journalists got limited access to the traditionally secret conclave by agreeing not to disclose donors' identities. Now critics are asking whether such rules compromise the integrity of journalism.

As August warms waters seasonally in many parts of the U.S., harmful algal blooms are causing health hazards. A prime example is Toledo, where high levels of an algal toxin made city drinking water unusable last year. Algal blooms in the warm, shallow Lake Erie are worsened by agricultural runoff. With climate warming, new algal blooms are showing up in new places, like the Pacific Ocean.

EPA is trying to phase out the soil fumigant methyl bromide, on which the commercial strawberry crop has been dependent. Methyl bromide damages the ozone layer of the atmosphere. But the effort to find an adequate substitute has scientists scrambling.

"The campaign to stop President Barack Obama's sweeping emissions limits on power plants began taking shape Wednesday, as 16 states asked the government to put the rules on hold while a Senate panel moved to block them."

"A Senate committee voted Wednesday to block implementation of the administration’s climate rule for power plants."

"Fire officials say they have made progress against a massive wildfire raging in Northern California, and the blaze is now 30 percent contained."

"A new study highlights a huge data gap: The U.S. has no ongoing monitoring of glyphosate in food or people."