"As a third-grader in Winsted, Connecticut, last year, Matthew Asselin was sick -- a lot. He was lethargic and plagued with a persistent wet cough, respiratory infections and painful headaches."
"New York's emerging plan to regulate natural gas drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale needs to go further to safeguard drinking water, environmentally sensitive areas and gas industry workers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has informed state officials. The EPA's comments, in a series of letters [1] this week to the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, are significant because they suggest the agency will be watching closely as states in the Northeast and Midwest embrace new drilling technologies to tap vast reserves of shale gas."
"The United States is poised to formally and finally ban that slithering scourge of the Everglades, the Burmese python. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has championed the ban, is expected to make the announcement Tuesday morning during a press conference at a flood control pumping station off Tamiami Trail in the Everglades — a spot that is pretty much ground zero for a giant exotic constrictor that has become one of the nation’s most notorious invasive species."
"The Commerce Department agency that oversees everything from daily weather forecasts to storm warnings, climate monitoring and fisheries management would be transferred to the Interior Department under an ambitious plan of government consolidation announced by the president [Friday].
In an address, President Obama proposed merging six government agencies that primarily oversee business and trade into one, a move designed to 'help businesses grow, save businesses time and save taxpayer dollars.'
"An undercover law enforcement operation has resulted in charges being filed against 12 people in the Southland and Las Vegas who were allegedly trafficking endangered or illegal wildlife or products made from them."
"Christmas Eve anglers on the Mississippi River were stunned as Bill Doms paddled past them with a bald eagle perched on his kayak. But the bird's odd placement wasn't a stunt. It was sign that something was very wrong."
"U.S. Enrichment Corp., which produces fuel for nuclear power plants, is having its own sort of meltdown. Disillusioned investors have wiped out 95 percent of the company’s market value since 2007. Standard & Poor’s has saddled it with a dismal CCC-plus credit rating.
"As one of Congress' top experts on spending issues, Washington state Rep. Norm Dicks keeps an eye on the public purse, and he says that Burmese pythons just cost taxpayers way too much money."
"DETROIT -- The Obama administration intends to open a new advanced battery research center this year, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told an audience at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday."
"Across the Midwest and northeast this weekend, ski resort towns are celebrating the arrival of winter for the first time this season. Terry Hill has been renting out cabins near Baxter State Park in Maine in 30 years, where she says they only received about four to five inches of snow on Saturday. She usually rents her cabins to those who like to snowmobile, but those cabins are empty right now. She says Maine needs a couple more big storms to make up lost ground for what's been a brown winter."
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