Public

"LOS ANGELES -- A record number of 21 endangered California condors were treated at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens for lead poisoning in October -- more than half of what the center sees in a typical year, officials reported."

"President Barack Obama will use his executive powers to protect more mountains, rivers and forests from development if Congress does not act to preserve such wild spaces, the U.S. Interior Secretary said on Thursday."

"The mayor of Kauai County, Hawaii, has vetoed a hotly contested bill that would have restricted the use of pesticides by companies developing genetically modified crops on the island."

"BELCHATOW, Poland -- They call it Poland’s biggest hole in the ground."

"Total greenhouse gas emissions by China and other emerging nations since 1850 will surpass those of rich nations this decade, complicating U.N. talks about who is most to blame for global warming, a study showed on Thursday."

"The White House is expected to take new steps on Friday to help society adapt to global warming, an acknowledgment that worldwide efforts to control emissions will be inadequate to head off big climatic shifts."

"Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should pay a $6.75 million fine for delaying the disclosure of record-keeping flaws on a San Carlos gas pipeline that were 'distressingly similar' to problems that contributed to the San Bruno gas line disaster of 2010, a regulatory judge ruled Wednesday."

"Toxic heavy metals found on the construction site of a planned $55 million replacement for the former Booker T. Washington High School in New Orleans will require the removal of 3 feet of soil in areas that won't be covered by the new building's concrete foundation or parking lots, according to a report submitted on behalf of the Recovery School District to the state Department of Environmental Quality."

"MODESTO, Calif. – The students filing into Bret Harte Elementary School every morning barely notice the flags fluttering by the school's main entrance. There is the American flag, the California state flag and the color-coded asthma flag – green when the air is clear, red when it is a respiratory nightmare, as it so often is here."