"Life's no circus for the Ringling Brothers these days. The USDA announced Monday that an agreement was reached where Feld Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Feld), will pay a $270,000 fine for allegedly violating the Animal Welfare Act (AWA)."

"In remote places like California's Death Valley, over-reliance on GPS navigation systems can be a matter of life and death."

"An unusual solar flare observed by a NASA space observatory on Tuesday could cause some disruptions to satellite communications and power on Earth over the next day or so, officials said."

"An especially large moon will appear to rise on Saturday in the most extreme example of a so-called super-moon phenomenon in nearly 20 years, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory."

"The International Dark-Sky Association has named the English Channel island of Sark its first 'dark-sky' island."

"Spurred by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Goldman and his wife, Rhoda, started the prize in 1989 to recognize grass-roots environmental activists and organizers with an annual award that has grown to $150,000." He died Monday in San Francisco.

"Federal forecasters on Thursday called for another winter of extremes, with the Pacific Northwest expecting a wetter and colder season than average and the South and Southeast yearning for rain."