"At least 26 people were killed and as many injured when a Pemex gas facility burst into flames in northern Mexico on Tuesday, one of the worst accidents to hit the state oil monopoly in recent years."

"The 2012 wildfire season isn't over yet, but already this year is shaping up to be the one of the worst on record in the American West. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, with nearly two months still to go in the fire season, the total area already burned this year is 30 percent more than in an average year, and fires have consumed more than 8.6 million acres, an area larger than the state of Maryland."

"An apple a day might keep the doctor away, but what do you do when there are no apples? It's a question western Michigan's apple growers are dealing with this season after strange weather earlier in the year decimated the state's apple cultivation."

"Anthropologists believe early humans evolved in Africa and then moved out from there in successive waves. However, what drove their migrations has been a matter of conjecture. One new explanation is climate change."

"Cancer has become the leading cause of death among U.S. Latinos, nosing past heart disease in 2009, researchers at the American Cancer Society reported Monday."

"CUSHING, Okla. -- In energy circles, the town of Cushing is well known as the hub used by New York oil traders to set the benchmark price for all U.S. crude oil. Row after row of giant oil storage tanks are lined up around a moribund downtown and a shopping strip. At the edge of town stands a sign made of white pipes declaring: 'Pipeline Crossroads of the World.'"

"For gardeners sad to see the summer drawing to a close, there's some comfort to be drawn from the fall planting season for perennials, trees and shrubs, which is just around the corner. What's more, there's the novelty of this year's updated Plant Hardiness Zone Map, released early this year."

"LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Officials have canceled a proposal for commercial logging in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rockcastle County that had caused concern about the potential impact on a pristine spring and trees hundreds of years old."

"WASHINGTON, DC -- More than 300 public interest groups representing millions of people from all 50 states sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Friday opposing S.3512, the Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2012. This bill would remove responsibility for coal ash management from the federal government and hand it to the states."

"Russell E. Train, a former tax court judge whose awakening on safari sparked a new career in environmental activism, as head of the nascent Environmental Protection Agency and as the first president of the World Wildlife Fund's American chapter, died Sept. 17 at his farm in Bozman, Md. He was 92."