"A leading congressional Democrat said President Obama needs to 'lay the prestige of the presidency on the line' in his State of the Union address Wednesday and in the months to come on climate change."

Measured temperatures offer evidence of manmade global warming that belie the increasing success of deniers funded by fossil fuel industries in damaging public confidence in science.

"U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a leading Republican on energy policy, on Thursday moved to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming."

"The decade ending in 2009 was the warmest on record, new surface temperature figures released Thursday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration show."

"As receding glaciers expose crumbly slopes, vast amounts of gravel and sediment are being sluiced into the rivers that flow from the Northwest's tallest peak. ... Climate experts blame global warming, triggered by emissions from industries and cars, for much of the ongoing retreat of glaciers worldwide."

"Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) plans to announce Thursday she will move to reverse the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare, according to sources familiar with the matter."

The GOP gain of the formerly Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts is seen by some as diminishing the chances for a cap-and-trade climate bill in the Senate.

"A much-publicized estimate from a United Nations panel about the rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers from climate change is coming under fire as a gross exaggeration."

"Responding to renewed interest in geoengineering schemes to combat global warming, scientists and policymakers are beginning several efforts that could set new ground rules for research, including large-scale field experiments."

As early as Wednesday, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) may offer her controversial amendment freezing EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Her motives for doing so may rise from a quest for power in a hamstrung Senate.