"After several years of relatively benign fire seasons, the West is headed into a hot, dry summer of potentially ferocious blazes like the ones that have scorched Colorado in recent weeks."

"MARSHALL, Mich. -- An acrid stench had already enveloped John LaForge's five-bedroom house when he opened the door just after 6 a.m. on July 26, 2010. By the time the building contractor hurried the few feet to the refuge of his Dodge Ram pickup, his throat was stinging and his head was throbbing."

"Now that he survived his recall election, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is lending his support to an upcoming fundraiser for the Heartland Institute, a climate-denying think-tank."

"When meteorologists predict temperatures will be in the low 90s in downtown Los Angeles, it's a given the mercury will reach the high 90s or triple digits in many parts of the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire."

"The Obama administration's Bureau of Land Management auctioned a major tract of Wyoming coal to Peabody Energy at a bargain-basement price of $1.10 per ton yesterday."

"Congress passed a transportation bill Friday worth over $100 billion, sending the bill to the president’s desk after months of brinksmanship."

"The massive majorities by which the package passed — 373-52 in the House and 74-19 in the Senate – do not capture the weeks of wrangling ahead of the votes.

The bill was in doubt until the last minute, with current transportation policy set to expire. The bill also capped federal student loan interest rates, which were expected to jump on Sunday. And it extended federal flood insurance programs."

"Residents began returning to charred areas of Colorado Springs on Sunday after the most destructive wildfire in Colorado's history forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and left the landscape a blackened wasteland."

"Bears and burglars posed further danger to home owners who headed back to towns and cities after the fire, which killed two people.

The so-called Waldo Canyon Fire has scorched 17,659 acres, burned 346 homes and devastated communities around Colorado Springs, the state's second-largest city, since it began eight days ago.

"An intense heat wave broke records in more than a dozen states on Friday, and spawned one of the most damaging severe thunderstorm events seen in years. At least 3 million Americans, mainly in areas from Indiana Southeast to Virginia, were facing the prospect of another day of triple-digit heat heat without the benefit of air conditioning on Saturday, after the storms knocked out power. The severe weather also killed at least 13 people, including two young boys who were killed by a falling tree as they camped with their family in southern New Jersey."

"Sockeye salmon -- great table fare, but not good biters on sport gear -- are streaming up the Columbia River in massive numbers and appear likely to be a record return this year."

"Abound Solar, a solar panel maker that received a $400 million loan guarantee from the federal government, announced on Thursday that it would file for bankruptcy amid plummeting prices and intense competition from Chinese manufacturers in the solar equipment market."