Government

"The Interior Department broke federal spending law when it dipped into national park fees to keep its most popular sites operating during this winter’s partial federal shutdown, the Government Accountability Office concluded Thursday."

"The Trump administration is sitting on tens of billions of dollars in unspent recovery money meant to help Americans recover from disasters, leaving people less able to rebound from the effects of Hurricane Dorian and other storms."

"A top Senate appropriator is seeking federal ethics information for former Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash, who recently left the department for a job with a foreign oil and gas company."

"The Cherokee Nation has named its first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Former Obama appointee Kimberly Teehee's nomination was approved by the tribe's council on Thursday. Although the treaty that created this nonvoting position is almost 200 years old, it had never been filled."

"Nearly a century ago, America embarked on a great social experiment in the Pacific Northwest, charging up the Columbia River and erecting dams. ... Now the system is buckling."

"Three days before President Trump declared that wind power doesn't work 'all that well,' his Energy Department released a report stating that wind power installations are 'robust' and prices are 'falling.'"

"EPA's internal watchdog did not review allegations against Scott Pruitt for failing to keep track of records or properly respond to Freedom of Information Act requests."

"Interior Department officials and congressional Democrats remain on a collision course over the Trump administration's plans to relocate Bureau of Land Management headquarters."

"Engineers in southern California are hard at work designing the biggest wildlife corridor in the world, to extend over US Highway 101 to the north-west of Los Angeles."