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Flood Risk Heightened for California’s Mojave River Dam

LOS ANGELES — A California dam could fail during an extreme storm and send water flooding into Mojave Desert communities that are home to about 300,000 people, authorities said Friday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it has …

Crews Make Progress on Large Southern California Wildfire

LOS ANGELES — Authorities lifted evacuation orders for a farm community Saturday as firefighters make progress on a large wildfire in Southern California that continues to threaten about 2,500 homes and buildings. Ventura County officials allowed an unknown number of …

Airbnb Bans ‘Party Houses’ After Halloween Shooting in California

Airbnb Inc banned “party houses” on Saturday after five people were killed in a shooting at a large Halloween gathering inside a rental home in Northern California that was advertised on the online listing service. Police were still searching for …

Microsoft Wants to Teach Drones, Robots and Drills How to Think

Microsoft Corp. and technology rivals spend a lot of time talking about machine learning. Now Microsoft is talking about something called machine teaching. No the software maker doesn’t plan to send robots into classrooms. In a world where factories and …

There’s No Easy Way to End California’s Bedeviling Blackouts

California residents who were incredulous after the head of PG&E Corp. signaled a decade more of blackouts face an unnerving prospect: he may just be right. Four mass power shutoffs in a month have disrupted life in California, forcing schools …

Insurers With Market Conduct Troubles Can Usually Blame Their Claims Shop

Mistakes by claims professionals were the most common reason for enforcement actions taken against U.S. property and casualty insurers in 2018, taking the No. 1 and No. 2 spot on a top ten list issued by the Wolters Kluwer consulting …

California Governor Threatens To Step in and ‘Restructure’ PG&E

California Governor Gavin Newsom threatened a state takeover of PG&E Corp. unless the beleaguered utility giant makes a swift exit from bankruptcy and improves its operations to reduce the risk of wildfires. “We are gaming out a backup plan if …

Houston-Area Flood Control Projects Proceed After Harvey

HOUSTON — On a Friday night in August, Diane and Ted Simpson got home from work to find a certified letter from the Harris County Flood Control District notifying them that a portion of their backyard was in a public …

Third Strong Quake This Month Kills 5 in Southern Philippines

KIDAPAWAN, Philippines — The third strong earthquake this month killed five people Thursday, injured several others and destroyed buildings that were already damaged by the earlier shaking in a devastated region in the southern Philippines, officials said. Several cities and …

Rain, Early Snows Delay U.S. Harvest in Latest Blow to Farmers

Excessive rains and an October snowstorm have stalled the harvest in the U.S. grain belt’s northern tier, one more blow to farmers already struggling with the effects of planting delays and a trade war that has pressured commodity prices. The …

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