BALTIMORE — All around the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant, Mike Hallmen points to evidence that change is afoot.

Water-filled chambers that were once clogged with mucky brown sediment or choked by vegetation now run clear. Construction crews repair the concrete wall of a massive circular tank. Below the golden egg-shaped domes of the ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that the commercial Dungeness crab fishery south of the Mendocino-Sonoma county line will officially open early next month.

Fishing Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6, which stretch to the U.S.-Mexico border, will open Jan. 5 at 12:01 a.m., with pre-soak beginning Jan. 2 at 8:01 a...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It is now illegal to possess or transport golden mussels in California.

California Fish and Game Commission has designated the golden mussel a restricted species, the latest salvo in the battle to keep the invasive species out of the state’s waterways. The mussels are considered an immediate threat to the ecological ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Driving over the cattle guards that mark the boundaries of the Las Vegas Valley, Southern Nevadans are likely to come across an equine friend or two. Or a herd of them.

Wild horses and burros, considered to be an emblem of the unconquerable American West, have been a permanent fixture of the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert for ...Read more

We named him Squirt – not because he was the smallest of the 16 cuttlefish in the pool, but because anyone with the audacity to scoop him into a separate tank to study him was likely to get soaked. Squirt had notoriously accurate aim.

As a comparative psychologist, I’m used to assaults from my experimental subjects. I’ve been ...Read more

More than one-third of all animals on Earth, from beetles to cows to elephants, depend on plant-based diets. Plants are a low-calorie food source, so it can be challenging for animals to consume enough energy to meet their needs. Now climate change is reducing the nutritional value of some foods that plant eaters rely on.

Human ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A UC Davis study showed a nutty novel behavior in California squirrels: They're hunting like carnivores, taking down and then consuming other, smaller rodents.

As part of an ongoing 12-year study of California ground squirrels at Briones Regional Park in Contra Costa County, researchers last summer watched as squirrels began to ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Environmental groups challenged California’s leading climate regulator Wednesday, alleging in new lawsuits that a recent update to a leading climate program will create additional pollution in the state’s San Joaquin Valley.

Two separate complaints allege the California Air Resources Board did not assess or alleviate ...Read more

As many parents can attest, babies often make telltale noises when they’re hungry. It turns out, newborn whales do the same thing.

Humpback whale calves signal their desire to eat by making barking, burping, begging and snorting sounds, according to a study published on Dec. 18 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological ...Read more

In a novel attempt to enforce a longstanding Minnesota rule protecting wild rice, the EPA is investigating U.S. Steel’s taconite mine, Keetac, for repeatedly releasing a rice-killing pollutant into surface waters.

The mine and tailings site in Keewatin broke sulfate limits set in two wastewater permits 299 times between 2019 and 2022, the EPA...Read more

Years after a wildfire threatened to wipe out a rare, genetically unique species in a tiny Colorado creek, it was found “thriving” in new streams, officials said.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently found evidence of the unique cutthroat trout surviving multiple years and even naturally reproducing in the wild — “a huge milestone in ...Read more

Regardless of how you celebrate end-of-year holidays, food is probably central to your winter festivities. And a trio of spices – cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger – feature in many dishes and drinks and are an unmistakable part of the scent profile we associate with the holiday season.

As a plant scientist, I was curious to know how ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A coalition of environmental groups challenged California’s leading climate regulator Wednesday, alleging that a recent update to a leading climate program will create additional pollution in the state’s San Joaquin Valley.

Their lawsuit filed in Fresno county superior court calls on the California Air Resources Board...Read more

Monarch butterflies are among the most beloved insects in North America. They are brightly colored and unique, both as caterpillars and later as mature insects. Monarchs are found in every U.S. state except Alaska, so nearly everyone has seen a monarch flutter by on a warm day.

During their incredible yearly migration, monarchs travel...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Three men sought help at clinics or emergency rooms in Los Angeles County over a three-month period this year, each reporting severe diarrhea and a recent history of sexual contact with other men.

Stool cultures revealed that all three were infected with Shigella sonnei, a strain of Shigella bacteria that is resistant to five of...Read more

MIAMI — Monroe County has seven projects underway to elevate roads in the Florida Keys, keeping them dry even as rising sea levels threaten to leave them permanently underwater.

In a presentation this week, Chief Resilience Officer Rhonda Haag reported that five years ago, the county had no plans in motion to raise roads, even as residents ...Read more

One of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales is expected to die after becoming entangled in fishing gear near Nantucket along with a second whale, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

“North Atlantic right whales continue to be entangled at levels that could push this critically endangered species to ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland officials have filed suit against W.L. Gore & Associates, the manufacturer of Gore-Tex, alleging that at least 13 of the company’s 14 facilities in Cecil County have contaminated the environment, including soil, air and groundwater, with “forever chemicals” for some 50 years.

Maryland’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. Forest Service will buy more than 6,200 acres of land in St. Louis County, in a deal aimed at expanding the Superior National Forest and improving the management of wildlife habitat, officials announced Wednesday.

It’s likely the first of several moves after long discussions over ownership of significant parcels ...Read more