California

"Why were two prisons built in a lakebed in the first place?"

"Each day, millions of gallons of sewage cascade through a canyon and into the Pacific Ocean just south of the U.S.-Mexican border. As any surfer in San Diego knows, summer swells that come from the south will push the toxic brew north."

"Climate change is escalating a national crisis, leaving farmworkers with empty plates and mounting costs."

"When a wildfire started in the mountains of Fresno County late last month, much of California was on the cusp of a heat wave that would go on to smash records both for its intensity and duration. Over the next week and a half, as the Basin fire swelled to more than 14,000 acres and temperatures in the area reached 112 degrees, at least nine firefighters were treated for heat-related illness. Four were taken to local hospitals, three of them airlifted from the fire line."

"At the start of summer, the White House swore in more than 9,000 members of the inaugural class of the American Climate Corps. The corps members are now serving across the country stifling wildfires, helping farms adapt to climate change, installing solar panels, conserving the country’s wildlands and, of course, helping climate organizations create some “hip” Instagram content."

"When Bill Keener started working at the Marine Mammal Center as a field biologist in the 1970s, there were no whales or dolphins in San Francisco Bay. ... Starting in the late 2000s, things began to change."

"Another county in Southern California has confirmed finding mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus."

"After thousands of sequoias were destroyed by extreme wildfires, tribes are conducting cultural burns."

"The oil industry withdrew its $40 million campaign to kill a historic law to protect neighborhoods from oil drilling’s toxic effects, but is threatening to challenge the measure in court."