"Prions -- the infectious, deformed proteins that cause chronic wasting disease in deer -- can be taken up by plants such as alfalfa, corn and tomatoes, according to new research from the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison."

"A U.S. Geological Survey study of Butler and surrounding counties found thousands of acres of land and forest disturbance because of Marcellus shale and traditional gas well drilling."

"Legislators say Congress must fully understand the potential grave consequences resulting from floods."

"On an overcast day in early August, a flotilla of five canoes pushed away from a jetty in Astoria, Ore., near where the Pacific breaks on Desolation Point, at the mouth of the Columbia River."

"Critics of hydraulic fracturing, known widely as 'fracking,' have been pushing hard for natural gas companies to disclose all of the chemicals in the fluids that are used in the process. But what if the companies themselves don't even know what those chemicals are?"

"A federal judge in California has sided with environmental groups in their lawsuit against the U.S. government over Navy training exercises off the West Coast involving sonar that they say harms endangered whales, dolphins and other protected marine mammals."

"Federal wildlife officials will test a new trap designed to capture Burmese pythons. The Burmese pythons have overrun the Florida Everglades because they have no natural predators."

"OAK BROOK, Illinois -- McDonald’s Corporation, the world’s largest fast food franchise, will replace polystyrene foam hot beverage cups with paper-based cups at all its 14,000 U.S. restaurants."

"Shenandoah Riverkeeper Jeff Kelble filed an appeal in Richmond Circuit Court on Wednesday to overturn Virginia's sewage sludge regulations."

"The federal government is about to release its final, $500 million cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal, one of New York City’s two Superfund sites, a long-awaited moment in the effort to cleanse more than a century of environmental abuse."

"The short-term spending plan moving through the Senate would eliminate legislative language that allows farmers to continue growing genetically modified crops even if a court has blocked their use."

"A new federal flood-insurance reform law requires maps to take account of projected sea level rise in designating flood zones, as federal subsidies for properties in flood zones fade to zero."

Residents of a largely Latino San Diego neighborhood have three times the chance of having asthma.

"Federal judges [Wednesday] posed stiff questions to Department of Energy officials on why the agency continues to collect fees for disposing of nuclear waste even though it has no operating national repository."

"Senator Tim Scott will vote against President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, virtually erasing the possibility of a Senate panel approving the nomination."