Disasters

"A federal judge on Saturday approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan to exit bankruptcy, a crucial step in efforts to overhaul a utility whose equipment was involved in some of the worst wildfires to ravage California in recent years."

"President Trump’s Saturday night remark that he asked officials to “slow the [coronavirus] testing down" sparked harsh rebukes from experts and frustration from his own staffers, who say it undercuts their efforts to reassure Americans as the disease surges around the country."

"Senior officials within the Commerce Department have ducked two of three investigations into a controversial National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) statement issued during 2019’s Hurricane Dorian in which they played a leading role."

"It wasn’t long after Oceano Dunes locked its gates due to the coronavirus that rare shorebirds started nesting in areas usually reserved for off-roaders and their beach-riding vehicles."

"As the number of new coronavirus cases continues to increase worldwide, and more than a dozen states and Puerto Rico are recording their highest averages of new cases since the pandemic began, hospitalizations in at least nine states have been on the rise since Memorial Day."

"Rescued from Australia's fires, a small fleet of wild platypuses is launched back into their wetland home and into an uncertain future."

"Democrats on both sides of the Capitol are stepping up pressure to see clean energy assistance included in future COVID-19 relief efforts."

"The new coronavirus could be spreading undetected through camps across Somalia hosting some 2.6 million displaced people, the Red Cross warned on Tuesday, as floods and conflict swelled the numbers fleeing into overcrowded settlements."

"Pacific Gas & Electric confessed Tuesday to killing 84 people in one of the most devastating wildfires in recent U.S. history during a dramatic court hearing punctuated by a promise from the company’s outgoing CEO that the nation’s largest utility will never again put profits ahead of safety."

"Already threatened with extinction, Wild Pacific salmon about to spawn in British Columbia are facing an uphill battle in the aftermath of a landslide".