"Even as she sat under the brilliant Florida sun, her toes covered in sugar-white sand, Alex McShane wasn’t exactly enjoying her summer vacation. Florida’s worst red tide in more than a decade had turned the aqua-blue surf to a rusty dull brown."

"Downey Magallanes led an effort to cut the size of two vast protected areas in southern Utah, opening public lands to possible development and energy exploration. She participated in deliberations over how to scale back safety monitoring rules for offshore oil and gas operations. And she helped develop a leasing plan that would permit drilling in most U.S. continental shelf waters. As of next week, Magallanes will have a new job: working for the energy giant BP, on its government affairs team."

"Hurricane Lane dumped so much water on Hawaii this past week that it has earned a spot among the most extreme weather events on record in the U.S., according to preliminary rainfall totals the National Weather Service issued Sunday."

"The Forest Service plans to step up its use of prescribed fire — and it's counting on the South to help promote the idea."