"California moved Wednesday to become the first state to lower insurance costs for property owners who make improvements to reduce their fire risk, the state’s insurance commissioner said as wildfires again flared across the heat-stricken state."

"The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that he wants Mississippi’s capital city to receive “its fair share” of federal money to repair a troubled water system that left homes and businesses without running water for several days."

"Antarctica's so-called "doomsday glacier" -- nicknamed because of its high risk of collapse and threat to global sea level -- has the potential to rapidly retreat in the coming years, scientists say, amplifying concerns over the extreme sea level rise that would accompany its potential demise."

"Shelling at a nuclear plant in Ukraine has “gravely concerned” international monitors who believe a security protection zone should be established immediately, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency said in a report on Tuesday after inspectors visited the embattled Zaporizhzhia facility."

"A historically severe September heat wave is baking the West, breaking hundreds of records, posing a danger to public health and pushing California’s power grid to the limit. Some records have been shattered by wide margins as the scorching air mass exacerbates the fire danger in the drought-stricken region."

"The devastating floods in Pakistan are a "wake-up call" to the world on the threats of climate change, experts have said."

"Jane Coolidge and her husband, Bruce, were driving past the town of Weed, Calif., on Friday when they saw a huge plume of black smoke."