"Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project will take about 19 months longer to complete than originally expected and cost about $740 million more than originally thought, the company said Thursday."

"The federal budget sequester took effect on March 1 with a number of likely environmental impacts. With $1.2 trillion in cuts over the next decade and $85 billion through the end of the fiscal year in September, layoffs and difficulties in enforcing the nation's environmental regulations are expected."

"A US court has declared the conservation group Sea Shepherd to be 'pirates' and ordered it to stop its aggressive actions against Japanese whalers."

"The number of Detroit children with lead levels exceeding a newly revised federal guideline has dropped more than 70 percent, from about 10,000 kids to 2,900 since 2004. Nevertheless, the number of children with elevated lead levels in Detroit and other Rust Belt cities remains much higher than the national average, and low-income people of color are most at risk."

"People in the area worst affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident two years ago have a higher risk of developing certain cancers, the World Health Organization said on Thursday."

"SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California is poised to shatter an all-time weather record by notching the driest January-February period in recorded history across the northern Sierra Nevada."

"Marika Holmgren will never be sure why she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 37. She was a devoted athlete and vegetarian. Cancer ran in her family, but not breast cancer."

"The giant Pacific leatherback turtle, known for its arduous 6,000-mile ocean trek from the U.S. West Coast to breeding grounds in Indonesia, could go extinct within 20 years as its population continues to plummet, scientists say."

"Since the drubbing that Superstorm Sandy gave the Northeast in November, there's a new sense of urgency in U.S. coastal cities. Even though scientists can't predict the next big hurricane, they're confident that a warmer climate is likely to make Atlantic storms bigger and cause more flooding."