State lawmakers channel grief into fight against opioids

In statehouses across the country, lawmakers with loved ones who fell victim to drugs are leading the fight against the nation's deadly opioid-abuse crisis, drawing on tragic personal experience to attack the problem. A Minnesota state senator whose daughter died of a heroin overdose in a Burger King parking lot - a friend hid the needles instead of calling for help - spearheaded a law that grants immunity to 911 callers.

2 dams illustrate challenge of maintaining older designs

Twelve years ago, widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast helped compel federal engineers 2,000 miles away in California to remake a 1950s-era dam by constructing a massive steel-and-concrete gutter that would manage surging waters in times of torrential storms. The nearly $1 billion auxiliary spillway at Folsom Dam, scheduled to be completed later this year, stands in contrast to the troubles 75 miles away at the state-run Oroville Dam, where thousands of people fled last week after an eroded spillway threatened to collapse - a catastrophe that could have sent a 30-foot wall of floodwater gushing into three counties.

The Loudest Critic of Duterte’s War on Drugs Is Preparing For Arrest

Philippine Senator Leila de Lima delivers a privilege speech at the Senate in Pasay city, Metro Manila, Philippines September 20, 2016. " has been Senator Leila de Lima, a former Secretary of Justice who has used her political platform to denounce the epidemic of extrajudicial murders that have left more than 6,000 dead in the ostensible name of eradicating drug use.

The Latest: Sheriff: Evacuation may not end until fixes made

A state school official says any school forced to close because of evacuations may be able to recover attendance funding, the main revenue source for local districts. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson says he has directed his staff to help affected school administrators to apply for waivers due to school closures.

News | Robert Whitcomb’s Digital Diary: Time for a Bipartisan Carbon Tax & Boston Hate

For stormy days, when he is free from toil, He plans his summer crops, selects his seeds From bright-paged catalogues for garden needs. When looking out upon frost-silvered fields, He visualizes autumn's golden yields; He sees in snow and sleet and icy rain Precious moisture for his early grain; He hears spring-heralds in the storm's turmoil He knows no winter, he who loves the soil."

Ice jam breaks, allowing some Idaho flood waters to recede

The Weiser River in Weiser, Idaho, overflowed early Friday, Feb. 10, 2017, flooding areas south of the river near Cove and Couper roads with ice and water. The Weiser River overflowed early Friday, Feb. 10, 2017, flooding areas south of the river near Cove and Couper roads with ice and water.

California is getting soaked right now, but farmland is still sinking due to lack of water.

A NASA report released Wednesday found that land in one of California's most productive agricultural regions continues to subside rapidly because of heavy groundwater pumping. For decades, and especially during the last five years of drought, growers have relied on pumping water from the ground when surface water wasn't available.

The Latest: California at heaviest snowpack in 22 years

Authorities say inmates used "sharp objects" to take over a Delaware prison and hold three prison guards and a counselor hostage A former death row inmate at the Delaware prison where inmates took employees hostage says the prisoners were protesting what he called "inhumane" conditions at the facility Roaring storms that brought California almost a year's worth of snow and rain in a single month should make state water manager's Sierra snowpack survey Thursday a celebration, marking this winter's dramatic... California water managers say Sierra Nevada snow drifts are at a drought-busting 173 percent of average, with the most snow recorded since 1995 A group of Yemeni business owners plan to shut down their delis, grocery stores and bodegas around New York City in protest of President Donald Trump's travel ban on people hailing from seven Muslim-majority... Many Yemeni business owners ... (more)

California at heaviest snowpack in 22 years

Roaring storms that brought California almost a year's worth of snow and rain in a single month should make state water manager's Sierra snowpack survey Thursday a celebration, marking this winter's dramatic... California water managers say Sierra Nevada snow drifts are at a drought-busting 173 percent of average, with the most snow recorded since 1995 A group of Yemeni business owners plan to shut down their delis, grocery stores and bodegas around New York City in protest of President Donald Trump's travel ban on people hailing from seven Muslim-majority... Many Yemeni business owners have shut down their delis, grocery stores and bodegas around New York City in protest of President Donald Trump's travel ban Some Maine sixth-graders are pushing state lawmakers to pass a bill that would make it easier for residents to keep hedgehogs as pets Some Maine sixth-graders are pushing state ... (more)

Gov. Scott announces $15.8 million…

Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday that he has approved $15.8 million for emergency beach and dune restoration projects in four Northeast Florida counties impacted by Hurricane Matthew in October. The money will be split by St. Johns, Flagler, Volusia and Brevard counties to restore critically eroded beaches and to repair dunes where there is "an imminent threat to beachfront structures, such as roadways, homes and businesses," according to the governor's office.

Hey News Media, If ‘Climate Change’ is Causing Droughts, Why Do They Keep Ending?

Thanks to the news media having no incentive to tell you this, you may not have noticed but the California drought, which eighteen months ago was "historic" and "catastrophic," has suddenly effectively ended. The key mountain range where in 2015 Governor Jerry Brown famously revealed the snowpack to be virtually nonexistent is now at 180% of normal for this time of year, while state-wide "snow water" is 193% .

Death toll rises to 15, at least 43 injured following SWGA storms

Death toll rises to 15, at least 43 injured following SWGA storm - KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports The death toll in Southwest Georgia after severe weather swept through the area has now risen to 15. Due to associations with wind and flooding, several schools and universities have been closed or are delayed from opening Monday. Due to associations with wind and flooding, several schools and universities have been closed or are delayed from opening Monday.

Severe storms: Death toll hits 16 amid Southeast tornadoes

Powerful storms kicked up apparent tornadoes and pushed the weekend death toll to 16 people killed and dozens injured as a fast-moving storm system punched through the Southeast for a second day on Sunday, authorities said. An apparent tornado blew through a mobile home park early Sunday in southern Georgia's rural Cook County - sheering off siding, upending homes and killing seven people, local authorities said.

Severe storms in Southeast U.S.: Death toll hits 16, more tornadoes ahead

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More tornadoes ahead as death toll reach 15 in southeast US

Deadly weather in the Southeast killed 15 people and injured dozens more, authorities said Sunday, as residents along the Georgia-Florida line braced for more intense, fast-moving storms - including unusually strong "long track" twisters. On Sunday, a tornado blew through a mobile home park in rural Cook County in southern Georgia - sheering off siding, upending homes and killing seven people, officials said.

California flood sweeps cabins, cars down coastal canyon

More than 20 people escaped injury when a flood swept cabins and vehicles down a coastal canyon as the second in a trio of storms drenched California with heavy rain and brought more snow to the mountains. The dramatic scene about 115 miles northwest of Los Angeles came during a day of pounding rain in Southern California that caused flooding, rockslides and an avalanche warning.

Senators demand better information from DEA on opioid campaign

Seven U.S. senators sharply criticized the Drug Enforcement Administration on Wednesday for failing to answer questions about enforcement actions against pharmaceutical companies accused of violating laws designed to prevent painkillers from reaching the black market. "We received an insufficient response that ignored those questions almost entirely and recited boilerplate information about the DEA's mission," said the letter to the acting DEA administrator, Chuck Rosenberg.