"Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, were the two major cities with the worst air quality in the world Thursday due to wildfires burning in the Pacific Northwest."

"When Janet Schaaf-Gunter peered through the window at San Pedro Bay last year, she saw so many cargo ships it looked as if Southern California was on the brink of an invasion."

"A Louisiana power company’s plan to capture climate emissions is raising concerns about the state’s water supplies".

"Less than six months after rejecting a proposal for a major desalination plant in Huntington Beach, the California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved plans for a different, smaller project in Orange County that could serve as a model for future projects."

"The industry’s ballot push to roll back newly enacted safety zones would delay implementation for nearly two years, until voters decide the law’s fate in 2024."

"Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday he would call a special session of the Legislature to consider a windfall profit tax on oil companies in response to the “outrageous and unconscionable” price of gas in California."

"America’s first experiment with high-speed rail has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare. Political compromises created a project so expensive that almost no one knows how it can be built as originally envisioned."

"An apex predator has been quietly hunting interlopers in Death Valley, and for the first time, the deadly encounter has been captured on camera."

"Before the Dixie fire came barreling through the Sierra Nevada last year, leveling everything here but a few houses, businesses and a school, this was a charming — if dying — Gold Rush-era town that about 800 people called home. Now, much of the charm is gone along with most of the residents, replaced by the skeletal remains of conifer trees and the deathly silence of block after empty block."