"The death toll from wildfires blazing in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee rose to seven on Wednesday even as drenching rains helped firefighters suppress flames that have left whole neighborhoods in ruins."

"A Louisiana environmental group said on Tuesday that ExxonMobil Corp's Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery, where four workers were burned in a November 22 fire, has been poorly maintained for years."

"Local officials said on Tuesday that 'the worst is over' for two small Tennessee resort towns in the Great Smoky Mountains where wildfires killed three people, destroyed or damaged more than 100 homes, forced thousands to flee and threatened country music star Dolly Parton's theme park, Dollywood."

"Authorities say 2,500 firefighters and other personnel are making progress on containing some of the biggest wildfires in western North Carolina, and rain could help in the coming days."

"Did the EPA Prosecute and Jail a Mississippi Lab Owner Because of Her Activism?"

"The canary in the coal mine once served as a natural warning system in a bygone industrial era. Now, for Florida at least, maybe it ought to be the octopus in the parking garage."

"NATURAL BRIDGE, Va.— In the Natural Bridge Hotel lobby before a pipeline summit in opposition to two planned fracked-gas pipelines, two words could be heard in almost every conversation: 'Trump' and 'election.'"

"More than 200 people have been hospitalized with breathing difficulties in Tennessee as wildfires scorched the Southeast. Over 30 large fires have burned more than 80,000 acres in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, according to the US Forest Service."

"Evacuations are now taking place in five North Carolina mountain counties as nearly 20 wildfires totaling more than 10,000 acres continue to spread."