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A California environmental law makes it 'too damn hard' to build. But do Democrats have the will to reform it?
OAKLAND, Calif. — For years, this lot just south of the West Oakland BART station has sat vacant, surrounded by RVs and broken-down vehicles.
This was supposed to be housing — a 222-unit tower with 16 apartments set aside for low-income renters. But soon after Oakland’s planning commission signed off on the project, the decision was ...Read more

Fragile baby spider monkeys 'ripped' from mothers, brought to SoCal. Trafficker sentenced
A Texas man was busted for trafficking vulnerable Mexican baby spider monkeys, who were too young to be separated from their mothers, into San Diego and selling them on Facebook.
Sarmad Ghaled Dafar, 33, was recently sentenced to four months in custody and 180 days of home confinement for trafficking six of the young primates, according to the ...Read more

More black bears seen in Lower Michigan. Here's how to avoid them, DNR says
Black bears are expanding their territory in Michigan's Lower Peninsula and as they roam about, state officials say the best way for residents and bears to both stay safe is to ensure they can't find a reliable snack in their human neighbor's backyard.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said while bears have long been a fact of life ...Read more

Mountain lion seen for first time in Texas county, officials say. 'Use caution'
A city worker recently spotted a mountain lion in a part of Texas where there’s never been a confirmed sighting, according to officials.
The employee, a member of the city’s trail crew, was at Purgatory Creek Natural Area on the morning of Thursday, April 17, when they saw a mountain lion climb down from a tree and sprint away, the City of ...Read more

Why did four whales wash up in San Francisco Bay in a week and a half?
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The juvenile minke whale had been spotted swimming around San Francisco Bay for nearly a week by the time she beached herself off the coast of Emeryville April 8. Scientists had thought she seemed healthy, but after an examination, they determined she was acting abnormally and had to be euthanized due to illness.
It was the...Read more

Want your own personal satellite? Here's how and what it'll cost
The Las Vegas-based company that would operate the future Las Vegas Spaceport west of the city is offering wealthy customers a chance to own their own military-grade personal satellite.
United Spaceports Corp., the corporate entity that owns the Las Vegas Spaceport, has begun sales of the Black Star 1000 advanced military private satellite for ...Read more

The Lyrid meteor shower creates a light show for Earth Day. Here's how to get the best view
LOS ANGELES — Shooting stars will usher in Earth Day starting late Monday night as the Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak — and Californians will have some of the best views in the country.
The annual meteor shower event will be most visible in April and is named after the constellation Lyra, the harp, located near the point in the sky ...Read more

Lawsuits seeking to address climate change have promise but face uncertain future
The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2025 ended a decade-old lawsuit filed by a group of children who sought to hold the federal government responsible for some of the consequences of climate change. But just two months earlier, the justices allowed a similar suit from the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii, to continue against oil and gas ...Read more

Trump has canceled environmental justice grants. Here's what communities are losing
Jabaar Edmond has long advocated for better air quality in his Childs Park neighborhood in St. Petersburg, Florida.
For decades, residents of the predominantly Black neighborhood complained of a persistent gasolinelike odor.
“We had an initiative called ‘Smell something, say something,’” said Edmond, former president of the ...Read more

Scientist find strong evidence of alien life on faraway planet
Scientists using The James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered potentially earth-shattering evidence indicating a faraway world could be home to alien life.
A team at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy made the discovery while studying the atmosphere of K2-18 b, a planet orbiting a dwarf star in the constellation Leo, about...Read more

French university's 'Safe Place for Science' draws US applicants
Aix Marseille University’s “Safe Place for Science” program, which aims to attract top U.S. graduates, claims it’s received nearly 300 applications from scholars “wishing to pursue their research in complete freedom.”
University President Eric Berton said Thursday the school proposed a bill this week requesting “scientific refugee...Read more

Live colossal squid, super-heavyweight of the deep sea, caught on video for the first time
The colossal squid, the world's largest squid species, was caught on video for the first time swimming in its natural habitat, according to a California ocean research organization.
This squid, as its name suggests, can grow to as much as 23 feet in length and 1,100 pounds — the heaviest invertebrate in the world — according to the Schmidt ...Read more

Appliance efficiency standards save consumers billions, reduce pollution and fight climate change
President Donald Trump has said he wants to reverse decades of regulations about energy efficiency in American household appliances, claiming doing so will provide Americans with “freedom to choose” products that meet their needs.
In an April 9, 2025, statement, Trump claimed he could alter government regulations on his own, ...Read more

How Orange County plans to sterilize mosquitos to limit pest's spread of disease
Mosquito season has arrived in Southern California. That means more mosquitoes will be flying around looking for someone to bite.
“There’s not a lot of things that we can all agree on, especially in this day and age, right? But if there’s one thing that can bring us together, it’s that mosquitoes suck,” said Brian Brannon, a ...Read more

Trump administration seeks to narrow Endangered Species Act by redefining 'harm'
The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed a rule to redefine what it means to “harm” a protected species under the Endangered Species Act, a move conservationists say will strip vulnerable plants and animals of habitat they need to survive.
The proposal advanced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries ...Read more

Jane Goodall talks of protecting sea otters, joins boat tour in California wetland
MOSS LANDING — Aboard a quiet, full catamaran, legendary conservationist Jane Goodall spoke to her latest mission: supporting the survival of Monterey Bay’s charming, yet still vulnerable, icon – the sea otter.
During a visit to Carmel last month, a conversation between Goodall and former Monterey Bay Aquarium Executive Director Julie ...Read more

Plagued with pollution for decades, Tijuana River ranked nation's second most endangered
The Tijuana River has been plagued with raw sewage and industrial waste from Tijuana for decades, fouling beaches along the U.S.-Mexico border with polluted water and sending foul odors drifting through communities in San Diego County.
On Wednesday, the environmental group American Rivers ranked the Tijuana River No. 2 on its annual list of the...Read more

Will global warming impact your life? Results from poll break 28-year record
A record-high share of Americans now consider global warming to be a major concern, according to a new poll.
In the latest Gallup survey, 48% of respondents said global warming will pose a “serious threat” to them or their way of life during their lifetime — the highest share recorded since 1997, when the question was first asked.
It ...Read more

How single-stream recycling works − your choices can make it better
Every week, millions of Americans toss their recyclables into a single bin, trusting that their plastic bottles, aluminum cans and cardboard boxes will be given a new life.
But what really happens after the truck picks them up?
Single-stream recycling makes participating in recycling easy, but behind the scenes, complex ...Read more

Tech review: These tech gifts will please anyone
It is getting to be time for gift-giving for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and graduations. Today I have a few gift ideas that I’ve been trying out for a few weeks and I think they’d make anyone happy.
Cuktech 15 Ultra Power Bank
Batteries have advanced in recent years and it is great to able to carry your own power when there might not ...Read more
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