ATLANTA — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday it has finalized a plan that could lead to the expansion the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The plan approved by the FWS — which manages the 407,000-acre refuge — adds 22,000 acres to the Okefenokee’s “acquisition boundary.” That includes the creation of a 1-mile �...Read more

After a record year of launches, SpaceX is set to kick things off again with the first mission of 2025 on Friday night.

A Falcon 9 on the Space42 Thuraya 4 mission carrying a communications satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 during a four-hour ...Read more

Above the equator, winter officially begins in December. But in many areas, January is when it really takes hold. Atmospheric scientist Deanna Hence explains the weather and climate factors that combine to produce wintry conditions at the turn of the year.

As the Earth orbits the sun, it spins around an axis – picture a stick going ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is preparing to issue a decree permanently banning new offshore oil and gas development in some U.S. coastal waters, locking in difficult-to-revoke protections during his final weeks in the White House.

Biden is set within days to issue the executive order barring the sale of new drilling rights in portions of...Read more

DENVER — Colorado’s eight collared wolves in the wild spread out in the northern and northwestern parts of the state in December, according to a monthly tracking map released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

At least one wolf crossed back into a watershed that includes Larimer County for the first time since October, according to the map, ...Read more

Two rare female whales have been documented off the coast of Florida, each with a calf, marine surveyors said.

The 20-year-old whale mothers, named Blackheart and Caterpillar, were seen Dec. 30 near Ponte Vedra Beach, a suburb of Jacksonville, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Research Institute.

It’s ...Read more

DENVER — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a reward for information after determining that a male wolf that died last summer after it was captured for killing livestock had been shot before it was removed from the wild.

That gunshot wound caused the wolf’s health to decline and was fatal after its capture, federal officials ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is preparing to issue a decree permanently banning new offshore oil and gas development in some U.S. coastal waters, locking in difficult-to-revoke protections for sensitive marine areas during his final weeks in the White House.

Biden is set within days to issue the executive order barring the sale of new ...Read more

Apple agreed to pay $95 million in cash to settle a lawsuit that alleges the tech giant recorded private conversations from people who used its voice assistant Siri without their consent.

The iPhone maker was sued in 2019 for allegedly violating users' privacy after The Guardian reported that contractors hired by the company to review Siri's ...Read more

A recent detection of a flesh-eating parasite in southern Mexico has U.S. officials concerned that the previously eradicated New World Screwworm (NWS) could make its way back into the country for the first time since the 1960s.

The pest was found in a cow in southern Mexico, near the border of Guatemala, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife in...Read more

This week a reader writes, “I recently found the attached article online (the article referenced is about Microsoft ending support for Office 2016 and 2019) and was rather alarmed as I use Outlook 2019 to download and manage email. Can you explain what is happening? My email address is an old Verizon.net address. Will my email and Outlook ...Read more

Charge it.

Now that the gifts are open and many of us received new smartphones, true wireless earbuds or Apple Watches that must be charged, why not do it with the latest and greatest?

The latest and greatest chargers include the newer charging standard Qi2. It charges faster than the original Qi standard and seems to have a better magnetic ...Read more

CHICAGO — Marvin Fournier launched two canoes off a city park boat dock on a recent December afternoon, as he has done countless times for over a decade. The vessels were decked out in twinkling Christmas lights, the remnants of a prior paddling outing on the river — a holiday tradition with fellow river canoe guides.

“We put up Christmas...Read more

Past years in the gaming world have been consumed by just one or two standout titles: 2013’s Grand Theft Auto V (the second bestselling game of all time), 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, 2022’s Elden Ring. This year, though, that wasn’t the case — and what a refreshing thing that was.

From brilliant new franchises to...Read more

Preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports 34 whales were found entangled in fishing gear off the West Coast in 2024, the highest number reported since 2018.

The California Dungeness crab fishery has been associated with the most confirmed entanglements, though a California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear ...Read more

I love being prepared and have vowed to try my best to never let my phone run out of power if I can help it.

My backpack usually has two or three external batteries that are charged up and ready to go. Most portable external batteries are made small enough that you’d want to carry them around. Portable battery packs usually have a capacity of...Read more