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Microsoft raises Surface prices sharply in face of memory crunch

Microsoft Corp. raised prices sharply across its Surface-branded device lineup, becoming the latest personal computer maker to pass along costs fueled by a historic memory chip shortage.

The 12-inch Surface Pro, touted as an affordable, lightweight computer-tablet hybrid when it debuted last year for $800, now starts at $1,050. Older products ...Read more

Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS

Army Corps, DeSantis announce accelerated plan for Everglades restoration

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Monday that they will accelerate the plan for completing the reservoir known as the “crown jewel” of Everglades restoration.

The new plan moves the projected completion of the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir up by five years, from 2034 to 2029.

“We’ve taken on one of the most ambitious ...Read more

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Joint Base Andrews fuel leak pollutes Potomac River tributary, triggers state probe

BALTIMORE — Jet fuel leaks at Joint Base Andrews have spilled an estimated 32,000 gallons since the start of the year — enough to fuel a Boeing 787 — contaminating a tributary of the Potomac River and prompting a state investigation, state officials said Monday.

Potomac Riverkeepers called for the state to investigate potential criminal ...Read more

Amy Lutz/Dreamstime.com/TNS

Pittsburgh's tech community to pitch city as an AI hub during the NFL Draft

With millions of eyes around the world focused on Pittsburgh next week, the local tech community is determined to promote a new identity for the Steel City — as an artificial intelligence innovation hub.

“You have all kinds of organizations doing great things, cleaning up the city, rolling out the red carpet, and this event is going to push...Read more

Photo by Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS

Florida wildfires shattering records amid long drought

In his 22 years as a Hillsborough County firefighter, Rob Herrin says he’s never been this busy.

One Sunday earlier this year offers a glimpse: Herrin and his team responded to a 300-acre brush fire, then another fire, and another. All told, they extinguished 22 brush fires in 24 hours.

And it was only February, months from peak fire season....Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bacteria, chemicals and trash runoff could make Southern California beaches a hazard after rain, officials warn

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Public Health Department is warning beachgoers to avoid all contact with the water due to the potential of bacteria from street runoff from recent rains.

The advisory is in place until 8 a.m. Tuesday and may be extended if it rains more, the health department said in a news release.

Such warnings are ...Read more

John Kraus/NASA/TNS

Artemis II astronauts revel in return celebration

After hurtling to the moon and back, the four astronauts of the Artemis II mission were welcomed home to cheers back in Houston and spoke to the public Saturday for the first time since coming back to Earth.

“We are we are bonded forever, and no one down here is ever gonna know what the four of us just went through, and it was the most ...Read more

TNS

Blue Origin's next New Glenn launch could come Friday morning

Blue Origin is pushing forward with plans to launch its third-ever New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with a liftoff that could come as early as Friday morning.

The Federal Aviation Administration added a primary launch window to its operation plan advisory on Monday, listing Blue Origin’s NG-3 Bluebird 7 mission on its...Read more

Gray whales have unique markings, making it possible to track each one in the bay. Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images

Gray whales are dying in San Francisco Bay at an alarming rate – this isn’t normal

At least six gray whales have died in San Francisco Bay from mid-March to early April 2026. These deaths follow a pattern over the past few years, and they are raising concerns among marine biologists like us that 2026 is becoming another dangerous year for a struggling population.

The majority of eastern North Pacific gray whales ...Read more

As Florida's human population grows, wildlife increasingly has nowhere to go. Benjamin Klinger/iStock via Getty Images Plus

How a new mapping tool helps Florida planners protect wildlife corridors as the state grows

Florida added nearly 3 million residents from 2010-2020, making it the fastest-growing state in the United States during that time.

On any given day, a Florida county commission or municipality may approve a new subdivision, a transportation agency may select the route of a highway expansion, or a rancher may decide whether to sell ...Read more

Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images North America/TNS

After Artemis II, here's what's next for NASA's return to the moon

NASA's 10-day Artemis II mission to fly around the moon safely splashed down off the San Diego coast Friday, marking the end of humanity's first flight to the moon in over 50 years.

The new NASA administrator, born over a decade after the last Apollo mission, immediately made it clear he intends the gap between Artemis II and the agency's next ...Read more

Swarm of small earthquakes strikes off WA coast

Roughly 18 small earthquakes were recorded off the coast of Washington early Sunday, geologists reported.

The first and largest quake hit around 4:48 a.m. in the Pacific Ocean about 240 miles west of Westport, per the U.S. Geological Survey, which clocked the magnitude at 4.2 with a 10-kilometer depth.

This magnitude of earthquake is fairly ...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

Illinois governor calls transfer of Asian carp project to Michigan a stunt

WASHINGTON ― Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is pushing back against the Trump administration's reasoning for reassigning management of a key federal-state project to block invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes after a top Army Corps official called Illinois an "unreliable partner."

Pritzker called the move to shift project oversight to...Read more

Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Lead still haunts yards in Exide battery recycler cleanup zone

LOS ANGELES — Homes near a former battery recycler in Southeast Los Angeles County still have excessive lead in their soil, even after the state spent hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade to remove it, according to a new study.

The former Exide Technologies plant in Vernon melted down pallets of lead-acid car batteries in blast ...Read more

Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Microsoft staff tell carbon removal projects that deals paused

Staff at Microsoft Corp. have told some developers of carbon removal credits that the company is pausing what is currently the world’s biggest program for financing the extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere.

Employees at the software giant have called a number of carbon project developers in recent days to say Microsoft is putting purchases ...Read more

SpaceX/SpaceX/TNS

Sonic boom Saturday served up by SpaceX launch on NASA cargo mission

ORLANDO, Fla. — People in Central Florida who slept in Saturday morning may have received a sonic boom wake-up call.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on a resupply run to the International Space Station hitting liftoff at 7:41 a.m.

The first-stage booster for the flight ...Read more

Boeing's moon rocket faces uncertain future under Trump's NASA

NASA’s Boeing Co. rocket just propelled astronauts farther into space than ever before. The Trump administration is already looking to competitors for a replacement.

About a week before the $24 billion Space Launch System pushed the four crew members of the Artemis II mission around the moon, NASA asked rivals what options they could offer ...Read more

NASA/TNS/TNS

Artemis II astronauts back on Earth after splashdown to end historic moon mission

Records were set. History was made. All that was left was to get the four Artemis II astronauts home safe. That happened Friday night as they splashed down safe in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen made the final run of a nearly 700,000-mile trip ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Wall Street banks try out Anthropic's Mythos as US urges testing

Wall Street banks are starting to test Anthropic PBC’s Mythos model internally as Trump administration officials encourage them to use it to detect vulnerabilities.

While JPMorgan Chase & Co. was the only bank named as part of an initiative to test the Mythos model, other major financial institutions have also gained access or expect to in ...Read more

NASA/TNS/TNS

Artemis II astronauts back on Earth after splashdown to end historic moon mission

Records were set. History was made. All that was left was to get the four Artemis II astronauts home safe.

NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen made the final run of a nearly 700,000-mile trip that began April 1 when they launched from Kennedy Space Center on the first ...Read more