Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

"West Nile. Dengue. Chikungunya. In recent years, this trio of potentially deadly mosquito-borne viruses carved out a definite niche in the growing catalogue of American anxieties."

"Seven Native American tribes in Oklahoma will provide habitat and food on their lands for monarch butterflies, whose numbers have plummeted in recent years due to troubles along their lengthy migration route."

"A large and violent tornado hit an area south of Oklahoma City on Monday, causing at least two deaths and reducing at least three homes to splinters, authorities said."

"A grandmother and four of her grandchildren were killed and another person also died in floods in Texas caused by storms that unleashed tornadoes, damaging hail and torrential rains on several central U.S. states, officials said on Saturday."

"Hundreds of industrial facilities across Texas are illegally spewing millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into the air each year when they break down or perform maintenance, and state environmental regulators are not adequately policing the rogue emissions, according to a new report."

"Texas is one of the states leading the fight against the Clean Power Plan. If you ask almost any statewide office holder they'll tell you the plan is bad for the economy. ... It may come as a surprise then, that energy companies here are not as unanimous in their opposition. That's because Texas' energy sector is transforming rapidly."

"Once again the assault came under the cover of night, loud and impressive, and by the time daybreak arrived, Houston and its neighboring communities were literally awash in familiar scenes of misery."

"Among firs and cedars high in the Sierra Nevada, scientists are using an array of instruments to monitor the health of the forest, measure the snowpack and track the water that melts and seeps into the soil. As they collect data, they’re taking snapshots of a landscape in the midst of major changes."