"The Carson City (Calif.) Council declared a local emergency Monday night over contamination in the city’s Carousel tract, upping the pressure on Shell Oil to expedite cleanup of benzene, methane gas, and other hazardous chemicals on the site."

"FRESNO, Calif. -- Mountain residents and the Fresno County sheriff are squaring off against a federal wildlife agency over frogs and toads -- an Endangered Species Act fight that spreads like wildfire along the Sierra Nevada."

"A 'toxic tour' past rail yards, smokestacks and refineries aims to show officials the consequences of their decisions in low-income, predominantly Latino communities in southeast L.A."

"Authorities have evacuated and shut down a section of a national forest outside Los Angeles for at least a week after a ground squirrel was found there infected with the plague, county public health officials said on Thursday."

"HAYWARD -- Every summer day, volunteers and park workers stand guard on a small island in San Francisco Bay. At the first sign of a threat, they race into action -- blowing whistles, clapping hands and blasting horns."

"At the doorstep to the largest hazardous waste landfill in the West, Kettleman City has some of California's biggest pollution burdens, the state Environmental Protection Agency says."

"SAN BRUNO -- Taking a tougher stand against PG&E, a revamped state regulatory body on Tuesday recommended that the utility be fined at least $300 million -- the largest ever imposed by the Public Utilities Commission -- as part of a $2.25 billion penalty for the company's role in the deadly San Bruno natural gas explosion."

"California corrections officials announced Tuesday they will comply with a federal judge's order to move inmates at risk of contracting valley fever out of two San Joaquin Valley prisons."

"In Vernon, a judge allows Exide to resume operations that had been suspended for alleged pollution violations. In the Central Valley, a state agency OKs expansion of a hazardous waste dump."

"SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. -- In parts of California's Sierra Nevada, marshy meadows are going dry, wildflowers are blooming earlier and glaciers are melting into ice fields."