"The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday sought to calm a furor over its apparent proposal to reduce ethanol use in gasoline next year, saying that no final decisions had been made about the contentious mandate."

"The Senate approved legislation Saturday to implement a U.S.-Mexico pact that would enable offshore drilling cooperation along a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico."

"What happens when a Southern flying squirrel meets a Northern flying squirrel, and the mood is just right?"

"The Food and Drug Administration has been forced to suspend all routine food safety inspections for the duration of the government shutdown, FDA spokesman Steven Immergut confirmed to The Huffington Post on Friday afternoon. Until funding is restored, the FDA will be inspecting only those facilities that it has cause to believe 'present an immediate threat to public health.'"

"The National Park Service (NPS) entered into agreements late Friday to reopen certain national parks in Colorado, Arizona, and South Dakota."

"The number of homes at risk from wildfires in western U.S. states jumped 62 percent in the past year as more properties were developed in fire-prone areas, according to a report released on Thursday."

"Last Wednesday, the weather was sunny and warm at Bob Fortune's cattle ranch in Belvidere, S.D. On Thursday, it started raining. By Friday night, the rain had turned to snow. By the weekend, the snow turned to a blizzard with 60 mile an hour winds. By the weekend, Fortune says, 'the cattle just couldn't stand the cold anymore, and they just started dying.'"

"The Department of Agriculture will not close the California chicken-processing plants linked to a nationwide outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella, officials said."

"A progressive activist group's online petition seeks to stop oil and gas drilling in national parks while the areas are closed to the public during the government shutdown."