"VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was about to take a major step backing the science behind ­human-driven global warming, and Philippe de Larminat was determined to change his mind."

"Don Blankenship always knew exactly what he wanted during the years he ran Massey Energy, once the sixth-largest coal company in the United States. He had specific and emphatic ideas about how to operate mines, how to treat employees and how to deal with regulators. When he issued instructions, he wanted them followed to the letter, and this wasn’t just true about his business."

"The Senate Appropriations Committee [Thursday] morning approved the $30 billion fiscal 2016 spending bill for the Interior Department and U.S. EPA on a 16-14 party-line vote, as Democratic frustration with spending cuts and multiple policy riders boiled over."

Democrat presidential candidates (most recently Martin O'Malley) have been lining up with Pope Francis and calling for action on climate. GOP candidates (most recently Jeb Bush) have mostly opposed climate action, often saying religion should have no rule in public policy.

"Florida is moving toward expanding cattle grazing, hunting and other commercial activities in state parks to help make them self-sufficient, an idea raising alarms among conservationists."

"The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday reversed course, approving "fast-track" legislation central to President Barack Obama's trade deal with Pacific Rim nations and sending it back to the Senate."

"A Senate spending panel advanced a bill Tuesday to block or weaken key Obama administration environmental rules on climate change, water and other subjects."

"As the steamy hurricane season descends on Miami, the city’s Roman Catholic archbishop, Thomas G. Wenski, is planning a summer of sermons, homilies and press events designed to highlight the threat that a warming planet, rising sea levels and more extreme storms pose to his community’s poorest and most vulnerable."

"The state has been moving away from coal-fired electricity for the past decade, and the effects of climate change already has its attention."

"President Obama has made environmental safeguards one of the selling points of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But environmental groups aren’t buying."