"Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must pay a record $1.4 billion in fines and other penalties for more than 3,700 violations of pipeline safety laws leading up to the deadly San Bruno natural-gas explosion, two administrative law judges said Tuesday."

The Marlin gold mine in Guatemala, about 50 miles from the border with Mexico, promised economic opportunities that never materialized for the Mayan population there. Now Mayan community leaders are protesting toxic pollution they say has caused health problems.

"Bald eagles continue to expand in Kentucky, extending a steady increase in breeding pairs especially during the last decade."

"Should you worry about the chemicals in your makeup, lotion, shaving cream, soap and shampoo? The answer is a clear maybe."

"When San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer speaks, Sacramento listens."

"Australia will abandon plans to dump 3 million cubic meters of dredged sand into the Great Barrier Reef area in its effort to create the world's biggest coal port, the Australian Financial Review reported on Tuesday.

The fragile reef, which stretches 2,300 km (1,430 miles) along Australia's east coast, and sprawls over an area half the size of Texas, was the centerpiece of a campaign by green groups and tour operators opposing the plan.

Drought-stricken California has not built any new big dams for decades, for a number of reasons. Now some in the state are trying to launch a new dam-building surge.

"LONDON -- German researchers have established the height of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps with greater precision than ever before. And the new maps they have produced show that the ice is melting at an unprecedented rate."

"The average price of gasoline is the lowest heading into Labor Day that it has been in three years, the Energy Information Administration said."

"The corn rows are high and tassled, pumpkins are gaining girth and, amid these signs the fall harvest is near, evidence is growing that farmers and others who live or work around pesticides are at greater risk for neurogenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease."