"Federal investigators seeking the cause of a North Side train derailment are taking a close look at the tracks, after early scrutiny of the crew's actions and the train itself revealed no glaring problems."

"More than 1,000 counties in 26 states are being named natural-disaster areas, the biggest such declaration ever by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as drought grips the Midwest."

"WASHINGTON -- The worst Midwest drought in a quarter century is doing more damage to U.S. crops than previously expected with the government on Wednesday slashing its estimate for what was supposed to be a record harvest."

"WASHINGTON, DC -- The same 'man-made' problems underlying last year's nuclear disaster in Japan exist today in the United States, warn five U.S. groups responding to the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission's report to Japan's Diet, or parliament."

"LOS ANGELES -- US nuclear regulators published an update on California's troubled San Onofre power plant Thursday, sparking an expert warning that the problem is more serious than first thought."

"A record drought in northern Mexico has prompted warnings that the region's climate may have changed for good."

"COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A freight train derailment and explosion in Columbus, Ohio, has authorities evacuating a mile-wide area of the city as they try to contain the blaze and determine what's burning."

"Two years ago this month, an oil pipeline burst in Michigan, contaminating 38 miles of the Kalamazoo River. It didn't get much national notice because everyone was focused on the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."

"Some of the weather extremes bedeviling people around the world have become far more likely because of human-induced global warming, researchers reported on Tuesday. Yet they ruled it out as a cause of last year’s devastating floods in Thailand, one of the most striking weather events of recent years."