"U.S. farmers will plant crops this spring under the shadow of a persistent drought that grips prime farmland from the mississippi river to the rocky mountains, with grain supplies already tight from drought losses in 2012."

"A newly discovered asteroid about half the size of a football field will pass nearer to Earth than any other known object of its size on Friday, giving scientists a rare opportunity for close-up observations without launching a probe."

"Transocean Deepwater Inc. was found guilty by a federal judge Thursday of violating the federal Clean Water Act, based on the company's role in causing the uncontrolled release of 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's Macondo well after Transocean's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in April 2010."

"The U.S. government is at high risk of financial exposure from climate change, the Government Accountability Office said on Thursday, two days after President Barack Obama vowed to tackle the issue with or without Congress' help."

"A lab analysis released by federal investigators Wednesday confirmed suspicions that a Chevron firefighter's sharp, pole-mounted device punctured an already leaking oil pipe at the company's Richmond refinery before the line caught fire in August."

"Amid all the progress on this planet -- declining losses from terrible diseases and war, rising literacy and the rest -- there remain plenty of planet-scale risks requiring serious focus, from pandemic flu to centuries of locked-in climate change to, yes, collisions with space rocks."

"A nuclear accident similar to the one at Japan's Fukushima reactor would cost France about 430 billion euros ($580 billion), or 20 percent of its economic output, French nuclear safety institute IRSN said in a study on the possible financial impact of a nuclear crisis."

"New England braced on Thursday for a possibly record-setting winter storm, with forecasts of up to two feet of snow prompting local officials to urge residents to prepare."

"TransCanada, the company currently constructing the southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline, claims to use 'top quality steel and welding techniques' throughout its pipeline network. Last week, however, activists fighting the construction of the pipeline released images of what they claim are improperly welded pipeline seams. The photos were released by Keystone XL blockader Ramsey Sprague at the Pipe Tech Americas 2013 conference in Texas and were taken by blockader Isabel Brooks."