From the air, the stretches of U.S. National Forest that hug the higher reaches of the American and Rubicon rivers in the Sierra do not look entirely pristine.

They are cut through with old roads and have been thinned in places by wildfires and logging. Timber slash piles dot at least one ridge, waiting for removal or burning.

But these areas ...Read more

When Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, he wanted it to become the world’s largest bookstore.

Now the company is reportedly buying books, slicing off their spines and scanning the pages for artificial intelligence training data before destroying the originals.

Amazon, which operates 19 facilities in Southern Nevada, scans and shreds ...Read more

California regulators have released a plan to change how the state governs the pumping of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a proposal that would give water agencies more leeway in how they comply with the rules.

The Delta is the central hub of California’s water system, providing water for nearly 30 million people and 4 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After nearly six years of debate and backlash, California’s Board of Forestry and Fire Protection voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt new landscaping requirements within five feet of homes — an area dubbed “Zone Zero” — for millions of Californians living in fire-prone areas.

The rules ban all plants within a foot of ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz spent much of his nearly eight years in office arguing that Minnesota’s most contentious environmental disputes should not be settled by decree.

On Tuesday, with his tenure nearing its end, Walz issued one.

“As far as my administration is concerned, the fight for the future of the Boundary Waters is over,” ...Read more

For the 230,000 people living in rural Doña Ana County, Oracle Corp.’s Project Jupiter data center has quickly become an inescapable part of life. Mailers hailing “A NEW DAY FOR NEW MEXICO” have been sent to homes, touting its economic benefits. Oracle and its partners have donated money to sponsor organizations like the Boys & Girls Club...Read more

One light bulb. That was what electrification brought to my grandmother Mag’s two-story farmhouse in Boydton, Virginia. No one wrote down the year the rural electric cooperative workers brought the wire to her house in the late 1940s.

Newspapers celebrated rural electrification for making people’s lives better: People could run ...Read more

CHICAGO – Oscar Ortega likes to sit out on his porch in South Deering and watch cars go by. He did, at least, before the smell.

“When we moved here, my wife actually liked the scenery,” Ortega said. “It looks like a small-town scenery, you know, just a few houses, lots of trees. But then something just slapped us right in the face: the ...Read more

CHICAGO – Oscar Ortega likes to sit out on his porch in South Deering and watch cars go by. He did, at least, before the smell.

“When we moved here, my wife actually liked the scenery,” Ortega said. “It looks like a small-town scenery, you know, just a few houses, lots of trees. But then something just slapped us right in the face: the ...Read more

Whether you're navigating a long flight, recording your child’s soccer game or need a charge on the go, keeping your USB-powered devices charged is a constant. Fortunately, there are a lot of new, cool accessories to help you charge at home, work or play. Choosing the right one comes down to understanding capacity, charging speed and the ...Read more

A lot of my columns start with an email from a reader asking about something that’s happening to them, but today I’m reaching into my personal email.

I’ve been noticing an uptick in spam messages getting through to my inbox, which is unusual, because Google usually does a good job in filtering out the garbage before it gets to me.

The ...Read more

It sounds like an illusion from a Las Vegas magic show.

Watch as we pull water out of thin air.

But it’s not a trick. Las Vegas-based WAVR Technologies can actually turn air into water.

The deep tech startup that spun out of UNLV is commercializing atmospheric water harvesting systems that extract water directly from the air — even in ...Read more

Smart door locks are some of the most convenient gadgets I’ve ever installed at my house.

It doesn’t take long to get used to getting into your house without a key. Entering a passcode on a keypad or using an app on your phone to open the door is pretty slick.

Newer smart locks have incorporated biometrics, so you can use a fingerprint or ...Read more

When she went to sleep on July 27, 2022, McKayla wasn’t worried about the storm that was raging outside her trailer in southeastern Kentucky. Intense storms came frequently in summer. While the creek in front of her home would often rise, water never came close enough to be a concern.

But at 6:30 the next morning, one of her ...Read more

Demand for batteries has skyrocketed as electricity use across the U.S. swells, driven by data centers’ booming energy needs and increasing electrification. It’s also getting harder to get them connected to power grids.

Falling prices have made batteries more attractive. But after decades of stagnant investment, grids are racing to make the...Read more

AFTON, Minn. — Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday attempted to end the debate over whether to mine copper and nickel on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. A new executive order bars new leasing of state minerals there and throws up roadblocks for existing leaseholders.

“As far as my administration is concerned, the fight for ...Read more

AFTON, Minn. — For a decade, presidential administrations have traded the prospect of a copper-nickel mine on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness like a hot potato: One administration blocks it, the next finds a way to resurrect it.

On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz made clear that for now, the future of the Twin Metals mine ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Forty years ago, North Carolina’s coastal fisheries were nearly overflowing with local species like the Atlantic croaker, spot and weakfish.

But today, experts say the once-abundant coastal waters are nearly empty, after decades of overfishing led to a staggering decline in local fish populations.

That decline is due in ...Read more

Scammers are using the death of a beloved California bald eagle for a get-rich-quick scheme involving sales of bogus merchandise benefiting the raptor center where she died.

Jackie, who gained worldwide fame from a bald eagle cam on her nest at Big Bear Lake, died Aug. 10 at the Ojai Raptor Center, where she had been taken to recover after ...Read more

The Trump administration on Tuesday advanced a formal proposal to rescind a decades-old rule that protects more than 44 million acres of national forestland from road construction and timber harvesting, including about 4.4 million acres in California.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule is a 2001 bipartisan measure that established lasting ...Read more