A wind-driven wildfire in tinder-dry Southern California that prompted calls for the evacuation of more than 20,000 homes may be close to being controlled.

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a long-running Los Angeles County case, handing a victory to environmentalists in a battle over polluted urban runoff that fouls Southern California's coastal waters."

"A wind-driven brush fire burning out of control in a drought-parched Southern California wildland on Wednesday threatened a wealthy community in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents, officials said."

"The California Environmental Protection Agency has released a statewide list of census tracts most burdened by pollution, providing a first-of-its-kind ranking certain to pressure regulators to clean up neighborhoods with long-standing health risks."

"From all over California, farmers, environmental lawyers, wildlife groups, cities and even the Fresno County sheriff have posted thoughts in a siege of protests to state officials about the use of this year's puny snowpack and half-empty reservoirs."

"The California Fish and Game Commission on Wednesday postponed a decision on whether to afford gray wolves protection under the state's Endangered Species Act."

"The California Fish and Game Commission on Wednesday postponed a decision on whether to afford gray wolves protection under the state's Endangered Species Act."

"The state Department of Public Health is adopting the nation's first-ever drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen found in water supplies across the state."

''Cementing protection for one of the largest privately owned pieces of land on California's 1,100-mile coastline, a San Francisco environmental group on Monday donated to the public the Coast Dairies property - a pastoral expanse of rolling meadows, redwood forests and panoramic ocean views north of Santa Cruz."