Most observers agree that this spring's spate of killer tornadoes is highly unusual by statistical and historical standards. After that, the disagreement starts. Is it a fluke? -- or a sign of La Nina or climate change? Why haven't better warnings helped?
"The threat of a catastrophic release of radioactive materials from a spent fuel pool at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant is dwarfed by the risk posed by such pools in the United States, which are typically filled with far more radioactive material, according to a study released on Tuesday by a nonprofit institute."
"A series of storms struck Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas late Tuesday and early Wednesday, wiping out homes and businesses and killing at least nine people, emergency officials said."
Herman Cain, who recently threw his hat into the ring of GOP presidential contenders, likes to say that what he lacks in political experience he makes up for with his background in business. That may not be a plus. Cain's business "experience" includes a stint on the board of Aquila, which pushed its employees to invest their retirement savings in company stocks and then speculated wildly in energy markets, wiping out most of the company's value.
Climate scientists have never had stronger evidence that human emissions are causing global warming. Yet House Republicans are busy passing legislation to repeal the scientific findings and end the research programs that collect evidence on climate.
"Since the first plea for help came over a Keys radio station, hundreds of volunteers have worked around the clock to save pilot whales that mysteriously stranded themselves in shallow waters."
"Mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants is declining nationally after years of increases, prompted by laws in Illinois and more than a dozen other states that for the first time limited emissions of the toxic metal."
"Rescue crews dug through piles of splintered houses and crushed cars Monday in a search for victims of a half-mile-wide tornado that blasted much of this Missouri town off the map and slammed straight into its hospital."
As environmentalists flag the hydrofracking gas-drilling method as a new threat to the Susquehanna River, some basin residents say authorities have still not fixed an old threat: acid mine drainage.
"Saying innovation is being stifled and research costs are being unnecessarily increased, S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. wants the Environmental Protection Agency to ease its rules on protecting human subjects in pesticide research."
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