"The Obama Administration [Thursday] gave Shell approval to prepare for oil drilling in environmentally fragile Chukchi Sea off Alaska although a critical oil spill containment vessel has not been certified. Shell will be permitted to start 'certain limited preparatory activities' for drilling off Alaska’s northwest coast, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters."
"Torrential rainfall from Hurricane Isaac hurt rice, cotton, soybean and sugar cane crops in the Deep South, but elsewhere the storm will bring relief to American farmers suffering from the worst drought in more than 50 years, an agricultural meteorologist said on Thursday."
"Louisiana officials on Thursday ordered people along the Tangipahoa River between the towns of Kentwood and Robert to evacuate due to the expected failure of a dam in Mississippi that was damaged by Tropical Storm Isaac."
"Before the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed 40 years ago, early New Englanders had nearly hunted seals to death. They wanted them for their furs and to keep them from eating cod. Massachusetts even paid bounties on seals: $5 per nose. The act has helped gray seals and harbor seals recolonize New England waters, but fishermen off the coast of Cape Cod say they have become a nuisance."
"West Nile virus cases nationally were up 40% from last week, now totaling 1,590, including 66 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday."
"Two U.S. health and environment organizations sued the federal government on Wednesday for what the groups say is a failure to implement and enforce a new food safety law that could help prevent thousands of deaths caused by food-borne illnesses each year."
"The G.O.P. platform approved Tuesday in Florida included tough language on many expected issues like abortion, but also takes a stand on an issue that has historically been out of the party’s mainstream: Agenda 21."
"NEW ORLEANS — Isaac's whistling winds lashed this city and the storm dumped nearly a foot of rain on its desolate streets, but the system of levee pumps, walls and gates appeared to withstand one of the stiffest challenges yet. To the north and south, though, people had to be evacuated or rescued as Isaac lingered over Louisiana."
"When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited an Ohio coal mine this month to promote jobs in the coal industry, workers who appeared with him at the rally lost pay because their mine was shut down."
"As extremely hot temperatures continue to hit much of the country, high school football teams are busy getting ready for the fall season. Last year, five high school football players died of heat stroke. Across the country, experts are trying to prevent those kinds of tragedies."
Advertisement 
