"The calls to the city of Houston's 311 help line came in the early morning and the middle of the night - complaints of red smoke, yellow smoke, explosions, fire, a child having trouble breathing."

"As I note in Friday’s paper, construction of new wind farms is going to grind to a halt with the end, at least temporarily, of the wind production tax credit. What’s next?"

"WASHINGTON -- Top leaders on both the Senate and House Agriculture committees announced a deal on Sunday to extend the 2008 farm bill by a year, a deal that could avoid a surge in market prices for milk and other commodities."

"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is leaving her post after four years of battling Republicans and industry while also giving the White House some heartburn along the way over her push for new clean air rules."

"Wireless companies find church steeples and crosses to be good cell cites, but some neighbors aren't happy."

"FREDERICKSBURG, Pa. — The smell of oregano wafting from Scott Sechler’s office is so strong that anyone visiting Bell & Evans these days could be forgiven for wondering whether Mr. Sechler has forsaken the production of chicken and gone into pizza."

"Global warming driven by rising greenhouse-gas concentrations is expected to cause wet regions of the tropics and mid to high latitudes to get wetter and subtropical dry regions to get drier and expand polewards1. Over southwest North America, models project a steady drop in precipitation minus evapotranspiration, P−E, the net flux of water at the land surface, leading to, for example, a decline in Colorado River flow8. This would cause widespread and important social and ecological consequences."

"MOBILE, Ala. -- Twisters hopscotched across the Deep South, and, along with brutal, straight-line winds, knocked down countless trees, blew the roofs off homes and left many Christmas celebrations in the dark. Holiday travelers in the nation's much colder midsection battled treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions from the same fast-moving storms. "

"A U.S. judge on Friday gave final approval to BP Plc's settlement with individuals and businesses who lost money and property in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill."

"Early next year, a sophisticated air quality monitor is expected to go into operation near O.D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth, the 11th such device deployed to measure pollutants in the Barnett Shale."