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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland lawmakers gathered on Wednesday for the start of their 90-day legislative session with an unprecedented budget surplus, as they also prepared to debate high-profile issues such as the legalization of recreational marijuana and climate change.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The Biden administration said Wednesday it will hold its first offshore wind auction next month, offering nearly 500,000 acres off the coast of New York and New Jersey for wind energy projects that could produce enough electricity to power nearly 2 million homes.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Increasingly destructive Idaho wildfires that the state’s Republican governor blames in part on climate change have resulted in him proposing a budget adding more firefighters and $150 million for future firefighting costs.
LONDON (AP) — Cyberthreats and the growing space race are emerging risks to the global economy, adding to existing challenges posed by climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, the World Economic Forum said in a report Tuesday.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's new climate minister said Tuesday that the country faces a “gigantic” task if it wants to achieve its goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring sufficient energy for its energy-hungry industry.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday proposed a $286.4 billion budget that sets off months of budget talks with his fellow Democrats, who control the state Legislature, before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A snowy owl apparently touring iconic buildings of the nation's capital is captivating birdwatchers who manage to get a glimpse of the rare, resplendent visitor from the Arctic.
Far from its summer breeding grounds in Canada, the snowy owl was first seen on Jan.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland lawmakers will be gathering for their annual 90-day legislative session this week with an enormous budget surplus, while legalizing recreational marijuana, battling COVID-19 and measures to address climate change will be among the major issues before them in an election year.
The United States staggered through a steady onslaught of deadly billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in an extra hot 2021, while the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions last year jumped 6% because of surges in coal and long-haul trucking, putting America further behind its 2030 climate change cutting goal.
BERLIN (AP) — Damage wrought by Hurricane Ida in the U.S. state of Louisiana and the flash floods that hit Europe last summer helped make 2021 one of the most expensive years for natural disasters, reinsurance company Munich Re said Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden faces a steep path to achieve his ambitious goal of slashing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, amid legislative gridlock that has stalled a $2 trillion package of social and environmental initiatives.
The White House's top official on environmental justice is stepping down a year after President Joe Biden took office with an ambitious plan to help disadvantaged communities and overhaul policies that have historically hurt them.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Prince William on Thursday appealed for innovators around the world to submit nominations for his Earthshot Prize, a competition aimed at finding new ways to tackle climate change.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In her first State of the State address Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined an agenda for an economic comeback from the coronavirus pandemic and new government investments in health care, housing and renewable energy.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin has tapped a former coal lobbyist and Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency chief to join his cabinet in a role overseeing the state's environmental policy.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Power has submitted a 20-year plan to state regulators that phases out coal-fired power plants by 2028 as part of its effort to provide only clean energy by 2045, the company said Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Tuesday his opposition to President Joe Biden's roughly $2 trillion package of social and environmental initiatives remains undimmed, as party leaders said work on the stalled measure was on hold until at least later this month.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany on Friday shut down half of the six nuclear plants it still has in operation, a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power.
BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Monday that it considers nuclear energy dangerous and objects to European Union proposals that would let the technology remain part of the bloc’s plans for a climate-friendly future.
The winter grassland fire that blew up along Colorado’s Front Range was rare, experts say, but similar events will be more common in the coming years as climate change warms the planet — sucking the moisture out of plants — suburbs grow in fire-prone areas and people continue to spark destructive blazes.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are flush with money and unfinished business from last year as they return to the state Capitol on Monday, but they head into an election year rife with uncertainty due to the redrawing of legislative districts after the 2020 census.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Draft European Union plans that would allow nuclear and gas energy to remain part of the bloc's path to a climate-friendly future came under immediate criticism over the weekend from both environmentalists and some governing political parties in EU member nations.
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — There’s an old weather adage that’s been passed over cups of coffee and glasses of beer for nearly a century: “It’s not a drought ’til it breaks your heart.”
SANG-E-ATASH, Afghanistan (AP) — Fed by rain and snowmelt from mountains, this valley nestled among northwestern Afghanistan’s jagged peaks was once fertile. But the climate has changed in the last few decades, locals say, leaving the earth barren and its people struggling to survive.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Rain and snow showers fell in California on Wednesday in the first wave of a wet weather pattern that is expected to spread throughout the state and last through Christmas and into next week, forecasters said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, along with progressive and moderate Democrats, appears determined to return to the negotiating table with Sen. Joe Manchin, the holdout Democrat who effectively tanked the party's signature $2 trillion domestic policy initiative.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. officials announced approval Tuesday of two large-scale solar projects in California and moved to open up public lands in other Western states to potential solar power development, as part of the Biden administration’s effort to counter climate change by shifting from fossil fuels.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden appeared determined Tuesday to return to the negotiating table with Sen. Joe Manchin, the holdout Democrat who effectively tanked the party's signature $2 trillion domestic policy initiative with his own jarring year-end announcement.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Drought-stricken California is facing a week of heavy mountain snowfall and widespread rain from another series of the kind of storms that were not expected to be likely this fall and winter due to La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean.
Leonardo DiCaprio has been an outspoken environmental advocate for as long as he’s been famous. But while he’s produced documentaries, contributed millions to the cause through his foundation, sat on several relevant boards and even used his Oscar speech to talk about climate change, the topic has never overlapped with his acting work.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major step to fight climate change, the Biden administration is raising vehicle mileage standards to significantly reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, reversing a Trump-era rollback that loosened fuel efficiency standards.
MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, Mass. (AP) — When highly profitable companies like Microsoft urge shareholders to reject an activist investor's proposal to change corporate policy, investors almost always abide.
A white Christmas seems to be slowly morphing from a reliable reality to a dream of snowy holidays past for large swaths of the United States in recent decades.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Federal wildlife officials say two species of rare insects in the Rocky Mountains will need several thousand acres of glaciers and snowfields if they are to survive a warming world that's threatening them with extinction.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's top financial regulators told Congress Friday that threats to U.S. financial stability remain elevated even though the country has recovered from what appears to be the worst economic shocks from the pandemic.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The leaders of the European Union’s two most important nations faced reporters together during a joint news conference early Friday, a show of unity at the end of the EU's final summit of the year.
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday released a nearly $62 billion supplemental state budget plan that looks to increase spending on efforts related to homelessness, climate change and salmon recovery.
DATE: Various times in 2021
PLACES: Nidderau, Germany; Dhanbad, India; Sequoia Crest, Calif.; Limni, Greece; Suesca, Colombia
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Michael Probst; Altaf Qadri; Noah Berger; Thodoris Nikolaou; Fernando Vergara.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Amid a severe drought, California regulators on Wednesday advanced what could be the state's first major new water storage project in years despite warnings it would hasten the extinction of an endangered salmon species while disrupting the cultural traditions of some native tribes.

