"LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- At Los Alamos National Laboratory, a seven-year, $213 million upgrade to the security system that protects the lab's most sensitive nuclear bomb-making facilities doesn't work. Those same facilities, which sit atop a fault line, remain susceptible to collapse and dangerous radiation releases, despite millions more spent on improvement plans."

"Top executives with [Canada's] insurance sector — which suffered losses of more than $2 billion in southern Alberta’s recent floods — unanimously agree Canada will see more such disasters due to intense rains caused by climate change, making comprehensive flood insurance unavailable to homeowners."

"Pediatricians and public health advocates are working to revive programs to protect children from lead poisoning, after what they describe as a series of devastating blows to their efforts."

"It was supposed to be a few days of relative bipartisan bonhomie in the Senate: A modest but popular energy bill was on the floor. Though senators may have faced a tough vote or two on U.S. EPA rules or the Keystone XL pipeline, the bill was expected to make it across the finish line, demonstrating that at least one chamber of Congress could function."

"House Republicans have snagged high-profile witnesses for a Sept. 18 hearing on the White House's new climate plan: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz."

"Record-shattering rainstorms across Colorado's Front Range led to flooding that blew out at least six dams Thursday, stranding a Larimer County family on the second floor of their home and breaching a federal stormwater holding pond northeast of Denver."

"Tropical Storm Ingrid doused eastern Mexico with heavy rain on Friday, helping to close two key ports and prompt state oil monopoly Pemex to take steps to protect its operations in the Gulf of Mexico."

"Rules bar government [Canadian] researchers from talking about their own work with journalists and even fellow researchers."

"Japan is on the verge of being without nuclear power again with the scheduled shutdown of Kansai Electric Power Co.'s No. 4 reactor at the Oi power plant for a regular safety inspection."

"Jeremy Coleman was on the trail of a ruthless serial killer, recently studying its behavior, patterns and moves at a Massachusetts lab. The more he saw, the more it confirmed a hunch. He had seen it all before. He was looking at a copycat."

"Truckers want tougher enforcement and point to competitors who violate state rules to install filters or upgrade to cleaner engines."

"Some parts of nature and human society are more vulnerable than expected to climate change, according to a draft of a U.N. report that adds a new purple color to a key diagram to show worsening risks beyond the red used so far."

"WASHINGTON — The coal industry, feeling threatened by federal efforts to promote wind and solar power, has opened a counterattack by opposing President Obama’s nomination of a renewable electricity advocate to head the federal agency with jurisdiction over power lines."

"Scientists watching Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier from space have noticed with some alarm that it has been surging toward the sea."

"SAN FRANCISCO — In the coastal redwood forests of central California, scientists trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the reproductive problems of dozens of endangered condors think they have uncovered the culprit: the long-banned pesticide DDT."