"It's a volatile time in the state budget process, and North Carolina's main environmental agency can do little but watch as legislators, led by a recently installed GOP majority, work to close an estimated $2.4-billion shortfall through sharp cuts to its budget."

"Gov. Rick Scott authorized state officials Friday to ask the federal Environmental Protection Agency to back off on water pollution rules that Florida business and agriculture interests as well as many local government officials say will be too costly to implement."

"GATLINBURG, Tenn. -- Crews on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two workers from the rubble of a wastewater-treatment plant wall that collapsed earlier in the day, while officials continued to investigate what caused the breach that released sewage into a rain-swollen river at Great Smoky Mountains National Park."

Bill Poovey reports for the Associated Press April 5, 2011. [20]

Rock keyboardist and tree farmer Chuck Leavell is planting chestnut trees bred to withstand the blight that killed billions of American chestnuts since 1904.