"Tropical Storm Lala formed Thursday in the Pacific Ocean and a hurricane watch has been issued for the Big Island of Hawaii, where it could bring heavy rain and flooding this weekend, forecasters said."
"A proposal to expand hunting and fishing access within wildlife refuges advanced this week to the White House review stage." "The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed opening 14 refuges to new hunting or sport fishing access."
"Prolonged heatwaves are turning summers into deadly heat traps, with the very young and the elderly hit the hardest." "Prolonged heatwaves pushed death tolls to new levels this year in Maryland, which recorded its highest number of heat-related deaths with more than a month left of summer."
"While we think of predators as being dangerous, an otherwise harmless deer meandering into the road is far more likely to take you out than a bear or a wolf or a mountain lion is to stalk and eat you. Occasional news stories about pumas (Puma concolor) might suggest that they are a significant threat to humans. They are not—only around 30 deaths have been recorded since official record-keeping began in 1868."
"Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Tuesday directing a new task force to work on tighter regulations aimed at restricting data centers’ air and noise pollution, tempering water and energy usage and preventing utility bill spikes."
"A vast oil spill from a leaking tanker has started to hit Oman's coastline, its environment agency confirmed on Wednesday, in what threatens to become one of the world’s worst in years after spreading largely unchecked for weeks."
"After nearly two weeks on the road with her five children, Luul Mohamed finally arrived in the southwestern Somali city of Baidoa with no food and little sense of what would happen next."
"As a pink-and-gold sunset faded over the waterside Ben Hotel, Republican state utility officials streamed out of a reception where they had been imbibing with executives from the industries they regulate."
"The moon’s shadow will descend upon Earth on Wednesday, and some will bear witness to a total solar eclipse. But the universe won’t stop there: At night, nature’s fireworks will accent the sky as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak."
"The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is making it harder for manufacturers to deem their own chemical ingredients as safe."
