April 9, 2018
Emergency officials in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas are bracing for two types of disasters as spring gets into full swing: The start of what’s historically the most active time of year for tornadoes plus wildfire threats brought on by severe …
January 9, 2018
Minnesota could see a repeat of smoky skies next summer as huge fires continue in the western United States. Daniel Dix, an air quality meteorologist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, told Minnesota Public Radio that wildfires, such as the …
January 9, 2018
Extreme weather took an extreme toll on the U.S. last year. Losses from weather and climate disasters including hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and wildfires in northern California reached a record $306 billion in 2017, the federal government’s National Centers …
December 20, 2017
House Republicans on Monday unveiled an $81 billion disaster aid package to help hurricane-ravaged communities and states hit by wildfires, almost double the amount requested by President Donald Trump. GOP leaders promised a vote this week on the measure, which …
November 3, 2017
House Republicans are targeting environmental rules to allow faster approval for logging and other actions in national forests in response to deadly wildfires in the West. Lawmakers are set to approve a bill to loosen environmental regulations for forest-thinning projects …
October 27, 2017
The White House says the next request for disaster aid will cost tens of billions of dollars and Congress should consider making cuts in other government programs to finance it. In a letter to top lawmakers in Congress, Office of …
October 18, 2017
Lightning started a forest fire one August afternoon near this Oregon tourist town, and it was spreading fast. Residents in outlying areas evacuated as flames marched toward their homes. Just a few months earlier, the U.S. Forest Service and a …
September 29, 2017
Stronger hurricanes, hotter heat waves, more frequent wildfires and more severe public-health issues are all adding to the costs of climate change, which will reach almost $1 billion a day in the U.S. within a decade, according to a report …
August 4, 2017
Montana’s worst fire season in years is expected to scorch the drought-stricken landscape well into fall, long after the state’s firefighting reserves run out thanks to politicians diverting millions of dollars to fill a budget shortfall. There is only $12 …
July 18, 2017
Forest fires are picking up once again in California. The cause this time: rain and snow. Really, rain and snow? OK, perhaps not exclusively, but yes, as counterintuitive as it would seem, the weeks of precipitation that ended the state’s …