Author: Ellen Knickmeyer
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Pompeo rallying foreign leaders in alleged oil attacks
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WASHINGTON • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is reaching out to wary foreign leaders to frame alleged Iranian attacks in a Middle East oil shipping route as a problem for the world at large, especially for Asian countries vitally dependent on that oil. Pompeo, in a series of Sunday television interviews, emphasized the U.S. international…
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Interior Secretary Bernhardt under investigation by inspector general
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Interior Department’s internal investigators have begun probing allegations of conflicts of interest involving Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, just a few days after the Senate confirmed the former corporate lobbyist and Colorado native to lead the agency. Deputy Interior Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon on Monday…
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Garbage, feces take toll on national parks amid shutdown
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WASHINGTON • Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West’s iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty. “It’s a free-for-all,” Dakota Snider, 24, who lives and works in Yosemite…
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Experts say Trump’s EPA moving to loosen radiation limits
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WASHINGTON • The EPA is pursuing rule changes that experts say would weaken the way radiation exposure is regulated, turning to scientific outliers who argue that a bit of radiation damage is actually good for you — like a little bit of sunlight. The government’s current, decades-old guidance says that any exposure to harmful radiation…
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‘We care’: Protesters of family separations flood US cities
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Washington — They wore white. They shook their fists in the air. They carried signs reading: “No more children in cages,” and “What’s next? Concentration Camps?” In major cities and tiny towns, thousands of marchers gathered across America, moved by accounts of children separated from…
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Grim search for victims as wildfires grow to size of NYC
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SONOMA, Calif. — Teams with cadaver dogs began a grim search Thursday for more dead in parts of California wine country devastated by wildfires, resorting in some cases to serial numbers stamped on medical implants to identify remains that turned up in the charred ruins. New deaths confirmed Thursday took the toll to 31, making…
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Winds whip new terror into deadly California wildfires
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SONOMA, Calif. — Fueled by the return of strong winds, the wildfires tearing through California wine country exploded in size and number Wednesday as authorities ordered new evacuations and the death toll climbed to 23 — a figure expected to rise. Three days after the fires began, firefighters were still unable to gain control of…
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At least 10 dead as fires rage in California wine country
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SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday, killing at least 10 people, destroying 1,500 homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing as flames raged unchecked through high-end resorts, grocery stores and tree-lined neighborhoods. The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as…
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Wind-whipped wildfires sweep into California wine country
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SONOMA, Calif. — More than a dozen wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday, destroying at least 1,500 homes and businesses and sending an estimated 20,000 people on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames. One person was killed in a fire further north, in Mendocino County. The state’s…
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APNewsBreak: US taxpayer money misused for water project
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SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. government improperly spent $84 million to help plan for a massive project to ship Northern California water to Southern California, a new federal audit said. Federal officials gave the taxpayer money to help finance Gov. Jerry Brown’s plans to build two giant water tunnels, according to the audit by the…