America’s public lands, from its majestic national parks to its vast national forests, are at the heart of the country’s identity.

They cover more than a quarter of the nation and large parts of the West. Some are crisscrossed by hiking trails and used by hunters and fishermen. Ranchers graze cattle on others. In many areas, the ...Read more

SpaceX is set to send up a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office from the Space Coast that could bring sonic booms across Central Florida on Monday.

A Falcon 9 rocket on the NROL-69 mission is targeting a 1:48 p.m. liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, with a backup possible Tuesday at ...Read more

With the drama around the first human spaceflight of the year behind it, SpaceX is back to the business of sending private customers to space.

The Fram2 mission headed by a Chinese-born cryptocurrency entrepreneur and three of his friends is targeting Monday, March 31, for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A.

It would be the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Styrofoam coffee cups, plates, clamshell takeout containers and other food service items made with expanded polystyrene plastic can still be found in restaurants and on store shelves, despite a ban that went into effect on Jan. 1.

A Smart and Final in Redwood City was brimming with foam plates, bowls and cups for sale on ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Motorists love it for its rugged cliffs and stunning coastal vistas, but this Southern California highway is also a critical evacuation route for thousands of Palos Verdes Peninsula residents — not to mention a key artery for commuters and emergency vehicles.

Yet maintaining scenic Palos Verdes Drive South has become an ...Read more

Fast food customers might find themselves talking to an artificial intelligence voice the next time they order tacos or pizza at a drive-through.

Yum Brands Inc., the parent company of Irvine-based Taco Bell and other popular fast food chains such as Pizza Hut, KFC and Habit Burger & Grill, has teamed up with tech juggernaut Nvidia to advance ...Read more

NASA websites have dropped references to landing the first woman on the moon as part of the goals for its Artemis program.

As of Friday, updated pages for the program no longer feature the statement: “NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the moon using innovative technologies to ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The border wall system running through San Diego County has been one of the most fortified stretches in the southwest for decades, beginning with a border security push in the 1990s and continuing with miles of replacement fencing constructed during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

But some spots remain where there...Read more

An endangered gray wolf was found illegally killed in Oregon, wildlife officials said.

Now, a combined reward of $30,500 is being offered to anyone who has “information that leads to an arrest, criminal conviction or civil penalty assessment,” the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said in a March 19 news release and the Center for Biological ...Read more

DENVER — A federal agency killed one of Colorado’s newest collared wolves after the apex predator wandered into Wyoming and was suspected of killing sheep, government officials confirmed Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services shot and killed the wolf on Saturday after connecting it to a report of livestock ...Read more

As device charging becomes more important to our daily lives, I’m drawn to better and smarter chargers.

When I leave town, I’m usually carrying a laptop, my phone, an iPad and my watch. Now add my wife’s laptop and phone and her Fitbit and we have a serious nightly charging requirement.

I’m the kind of person who puts together a ...Read more

BOSTON — Pete Bouchard, the chief meteorologist at Boston's NBC10, has created quite a splash for another comment that’s landed flat on social media.

Bouchard, after the NASA astronauts who were stuck in space for 9 months finally returned to Earth, said the SpaceX splashdown had “strong hints of AI enhancement.”

The meteorologist ...Read more

After the safe return Tuesday of two astronauts left behind for months on the International Space Station, the White House characterized the pair as “stranded” and trumpeted their return as a “rescue.” Those are words that NASA has been resisting for months.

It made for an awkward situation in a post-splashdown press conference, when ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal judge late Tuesday blocked the EPA from canceling Biden administration climate grants issued from a $20 billion program, finding that the Trump administration did not provide evidence of waste and fraud.

The case concerns the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, established by the 2022 Democratic climate reconciliation law. ...Read more

Alphabet Inc.’s Google launched a redesigned version of its budget Pixel phone, upgrading the chip and battery life weeks after Apple Inc.’s lower-end iPhone 16e went on sale.

The new Pixel 9a, announced Wednesday, costs $499, in line with the price of last year’s Pixel 8a. That compares with the $599 starting price of the iPhone 16e, ...Read more

Most of the United States’ major climate regulations are underpinned by one important document: It’s called the endangerment finding, and it concludes that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to human health and welfare.

The Trump administration is vowing to eliminate it.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will not reconsider its denial to investigate whether the Tijuana River Estuary qualifies as a Superfund site, a designation given to the most contaminated places in the country needing long-term cleanup.

In a Friday letter to Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Cheree Peterson, acting ...Read more

In mountain ranges around the world, glaciers are melting as global temperatures rise. Europe’s Alps and Pyrenees lost 40% of their glacier volume from 2000 to 2023. These and other icy regions have provided freshwater for people living downstream for centuries – almost 2 billion people rely on glaciers today. But as glaciers melt faster,...Read more

Nvidia Corp., looking to cement its place at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom, laid out plans for more powerful chips, a model for robotics, and “personal AI supercomputers” that will let developers work on desktop machines.

Speaking at the company’s annual GTC event in San Jose, California, Chief Executive Officer Jensen ...Read more